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Alberta's chief health officer says increase in COVID-19 cases a wake-up call – Canada.com

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Alberta chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw updates media on the COVID-19 situation in Edmonton on Friday March 20, 2020. Alberta’s chief medical officer of health says ballooning COVID-19 numbers in the province are worrying and should serve as a wake up call for those individuals who are no longer practicing social distancing measures.


JASON FRANSON / THE CANADIAN PRESS

EDMONTON — Alberta’s chief medical officer of health says ballooning COVID-19 numbers in the province are worrying and should serve as a wake-up call for those who are no longer practising physical distancing.

Dr. Deena Hinshaw said Thursday there are 114 new cases in the province and 106 people are in hospital.

That’s the largest number of people in hospital since April 30.

“This needs to be a wake up call,” said Hinshaw. “I am very concerned by these numbers.”

Hinshaw said 21 of the hospitalized patients are in intensive care.

Another two people have died, bringing that total to 176 in Alberta since the pandemic began.

She said she understands many Albertans are suffering from COVID-19 fatigue and might believe that they no longer need to worry about its spread.

“After several months of not catching the virus it is easy to say that you feel fine so why wash your hands? Why stay two metres apart in public? Why avoid sharing food at a barbecue?” Hinshaw asked.

“We’re all still at risk of catching the infection and passing the virus to others.”

Hinshaw said parents should include a cloth reusable mask on their back-to-school lists for fall. But she isn’t advocating making masks at school mandatory at this point until more evidence is in.

“We know for example that young people may feel that wearing a mask is uncomfortable and they may be likely to touch their face or fiddle with their mask during the day,” she said.

“I don’t know if we have enough evidence yet to understand how young children will potentially react to wearing masks.”

Hinshaw said the same logic applies when it comes to making masks mandatory across the province since some areas may be at a higher risk than others.

She said it’s also important not to focus entirely on mask wearing as a way of preventing COVID-19.

“We could distract from all of the other measures that are critically important and there is some evidence to suggest that for example, consistent physical distancing, when that’s achieved, is more effective than masking,” she said.

“We need to make sure we’re assessing the evidence.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 23, 2020

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Some Ontario docs now offering RSV shot to infants with Quebec rollout set for Nov.

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Some Ontario doctors have started offering a free shot that can protect babies from respiratory syncytial virus while Quebec will begin its immunization program next month.

The new shot called Nirsevimab gives babies antibodies that provide passive immunity to RSV, a major cause of serious lower respiratory tract infections for infants and seniors, which can cause bronchiolitis or pneumonia.

Ontario’s ministry of health says the shot is already available at some doctor’s offices in Ontario with the province’s remaining supply set to arrive by the end of the month.

Quebec will begin administering the shots on Nov. 4 to babies born in hospitals and delivery centers.

Parents in Quebec with babies under six months or those who are older but more vulnerable to infection can also book immunization appointments online.

The injection will be available in Nunavut and Yukon this fall and winter, though administration start dates have not yet been announced.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.

-With files from Nicole Ireland

Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.

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Polio is rising in Pakistan ahead of a new vaccination campaign

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ISLAMABAD (AP) — Polio cases are rising ahead of a new vaccination campaign in Pakistan, where violence targeting health workers and the police protecting them has hampered years of efforts toward making the country polio-free.

Since January, health officials have confirmed 39 new polio cases in Pakistan, compared to only six last year, said Anwarul Haq of the National Emergency Operation Center for Polio Eradication.

The new nationwide drive starts Oct. 28 with the aim to vaccinate at least 32 million children. “The whole purpose of these campaigns is to achieve the target of making Pakistan a polio-free state,” he said.

Pakistan regularly launches campaigns against polio despite attacks on the workers and police assigned to the inoculation drives. Militants falsely claim the vaccination campaigns are a Western conspiracy to sterilize children.

Most of the new polio cases were reported in the southwestern Balochistan and southern Sindh province, following by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and eastern Punjab province.

The locations are worrying authorities since previous cases were from the restive northwest bordering Afghanistan, where the Taliban government in September suddenly stopped a door-to-door vaccination campaign.

Afghanistan and Pakistan are the two countries in which the spread of the potentially fatal, paralyzing disease has never been stopped. Authorities in Pakistan have said that the Taliban’s decision will have major repercussions beyond the Afghan border, as people from both sides frequently travel to each other’s country.

The World Health Organization has confirmed 18 polio cases in Afghanistan this year, all but two in the south of the country. That’s up from six cases in 2023. Afghanistan used a house-to-house vaccination strategy this June for the first time in five years, a tactic that helped to reach the majority of children targeted, according to WHO.

Health officials in Pakistan say they want the both sides to conduct anti-polio drives simultaneously.

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White House says health insurance needs to fully cover condoms, other over-the-counter birth control

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Millions of people with private health insurance would be able to pick up over-the-counter methods like condoms, the “morning after” pill and birth control pills for free under a new rule the White House proposed on Monday.

Right now, health insurers must cover the cost of prescribed contraception, including prescription birth control or even condoms that doctors have issued a prescription for. But the new rule would expand that coverage, allowing millions of people on private health insurance to pick up free condoms, birth control pills, or “morning after” pills from local storefronts without a prescription.

The proposal comes days before Election Day, as Vice President Kamala Harris affixes her presidential campaign to a promise of expanding women’s health care access in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to undo nationwide abortion rights two years ago. Harris has sought to craft a distinct contrast from her Republican challenger, Donald Trump, who appointed some of the judges who issued that ruling.

“The proposed rule we announce today would expand access to birth control at no additional cost for millions of consumers,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement. “Bottom line: women should have control over their personal health care decisions. And issuers and providers have an obligation to comply with the law.”

The emergency contraceptives that people on private insurance would be able to access without costs include levonorgestrel, a pill that needs to be taken immediately after sex to prevent pregnancy and is more commonly known by the brand name “Plan B.”

Without a doctor’s prescription, women may pay as much as $50 for a pack of the pills. And women who delay buying the medication in order to get a doctor’s prescription could jeopardize the pill’s effectiveness, since it is most likely to prevent a pregnancy within 72 hours after sex.

If implemented, the new rule would also require insurers to fully bear the cost of the once-a-day Opill, a new over-the-counter birth control pill that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved last year. A one-month supply of the pills costs $20.

Federal mandates for private health insurance to cover contraceptive care were first introduced with the Affordable Care Act, which required plans to pick up the cost of FDA-approved birth control that had been prescribed by a doctor as a preventative service.

The proposed rule would not impact those on Medicaid, the insurance program for the poorest Americans. States are largely left to design their own rules around Medicaid coverage for contraception, and few cover over-the-counter methods like Plan B or condoms.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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