Health
Alberta launches new contact tracing app to fight COVID-19 pandemic – CityNews Calgary
EDMONTON (660 NEWS) — A new mobile application has been released by the Alberta government to help slow transmission and reduce the spread of COVID-19.
The new program named ABTraceTogether is a voluntary program that uses Bluetooth to log interactions as an “encrypted digital handshake.”
“This happens when two phones, which each have the app, get within two metres of one another for an overall total of 15 minutes within a 24-hour period of time,” Alberta’s Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw said Friday.
Those who acquire the app and later test positive for the virus are asked to voluntarily upload encrypted data to Alberta Health Services (AHS) contact tracers.
This allows AHS tracers to use that information to track down people who had close contact with the infected person.
If an infected person person has the app they will be asked to VOLUNTARILY upload data to AHS contact tracer. This information will be used to reach others with app who have had close contact with the infected person and provide necessary steps
— Jeff Slack (@Jeffslack660) May 1, 2020
“The faster Alberta Health Services contact tracers can inform expose people or closed contacts, the quicker we will be able to prevent potential outbreaks and identify when Albertans must self-isolate,” Hinshaw added.
“These tactics yield valuable data that can help us get a better understanding of how the disease spreads and what underlying factors can contribute to cases of severe disease.”
Since Alberta reported its first COVID-19 case in March, Hinshaw says they have learned a lot about the virus.
Older people with the illness remain at high risk of severe symptoms, however, the average age of cases in the province is 41.5 years.
Investigations also uncovered the conditions that tend to be present in cases with severe disease. Hinshaw said they looked at whether cases had been previously diagnosed with cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, respiratory disease, and immune deficiency.
They also looked at cases reported to have obesity or a history of smoking.
“From the data so far, we’ve found that people between the ages of 30 and 64 are more likely to have a severe outcome, needing hospital or ICU treatment, or in the worst outcome, leading to death, if they had at least one of these health conditions.”
Among this age group, investigators found two-thirds of hospitalized cases, and almost three-quarters of people who died of the virus had at least one of those conditions.
More details have emerged about the most common symptoms of COVID-19, which include:
- Cough being found in 62 per cent of all cases
- Sore throat in 33 per cent
- Fever 28 per cent
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Grande Prairie RCMP issued a warning Friday after it was revealed fentanyl linked to a deadly overdose was mixed with a chemical that doesn’t respond to naloxone treatment.
The drugs were initially seized on Feb. 28 after a fatal overdose, and this week, Health Canada reported back to Mounties that the fentanyl had been mixed with Bromazolam, which is a benzodiazepine.
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Mounties say this is the first recorded instance of Bromazolam in Alberta. The drug has previously been linked to nine fatal overdoses in New Brunswick in 2022.
The pills seized in Alberta were oval-shaped and stamped with “20” and “SS,” though Mounties say it can come in other forms.
Naloxone treatment, given in many cases of opioid toxicity, is not effective in reversing the effects of Bromazalam, Mounties said, and therefore, any fentanyl mixed with the benzodiazepine “would see a reduced effectiveness of naloxone, requiring the use of additional doses and may still result in a fatality.”
From January to November of last year, there were 1,706 opioid-related deaths in Alberta, and 57 linked to benzodiazepine, up from 1,375 and 43, respectively, in 2022.
Mounties say officers responded to about 1,100 opioid-related calls for service, last year with a third of those proving fatal. RCMP officers also used naloxone 67 times while in the field, a jump of nearly a third over the previous year.
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Health
CFIA continues surveillance for HPAI in cattle, while sticking with original name for disease – RealAgriculture
The Canada Food Inspection Agency will continue to refer to highly pathogenic avian influenza in cattle as HPAI in cattle, and not refer to it as bovine influenza A virus (BIAV), as suggested by the American Association of Bovine Practitioners earlier this month.
Dr. Martin Appelt, senior director for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, in the interview below, says at this time Canada will stick with “HPAI in cattle” when referencing the disease that’s been confirmed in dairy cattle in multiple states in the U.S.
The CFIA’s naming policy is consistent with the agency’s U.S. counterparts’, as the U.S. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has also said it will continue referring to it as HPAI or H5N1.
Appelt explains how the CFIA is learning from the U.S. experience to-date, and how it is working with veterinarians across Canada to stay vigilant for signs of the disease in dairy and beef cattle.
As of April 19, there has not been a confirmed case of HPAI in cattle in Canada. Appelt says it’s too soon to say if an eventual positive case will significantly restrict animal movement, as is the case with positive poultry cases.
This is a major concern for the cattle industry, as beef cattle especially move north and south across the U.S. border by the thousands. Appelt says that CFIA will address an infection in each species differently in conjunction with how the disease is spread and the threat to neighbouring farms or livestock.
Currently, provincial dairy organizations have advised producers to postpone any non-essential tours of dairy barns, as a precaution, in addition to other biosecurity measures to reduce the risk of cattle contracting HPAI.
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Health
Toronto reports 2 more measles cases. Use our tool to check the spread in Canada – Toronto Star
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Canada has seen a concerning rise in measles cases in the first months of 2024.
By the third week of March, the country had already recorded more than three times the number of cases as all of last year. Canada had just 12 cases of measles in 2023, up from three in 2022.
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