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Concerns raised about COVID-19 testing delays in Interior Health – Globalnews.ca

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A Penticton, B.C., man is raising concerns about delays in COVID-19 testing in the South Okanagan city and how it could contribute to the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Colin MacDermott, a hotel employee, fell ill on Friday, July 17, and immediately contacted 8-1-1.

“Got a major headache, sore throat, and had alittle bit of a temperature,” he said of his flu-like symptoms that he experienced at the time.

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The 43-year-old was referred to the Penticton Health Centre, but when he contacted the local health unit, he was informed the next available appointment to get a test was on Wednesday.

MacDermott stayed home and self-isolated for four days before getting tested and now must wait another one to three days for the test result.

Read more:
Coronavirus: Test turnaround times at Interior Health slightly above provincial average

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He fears the approximately one-week lagtime between getting sick and obtaining his test result could contribute to the spread of the virus if he, in fact, tests positive.

“I do have two or three people that I see relatively regularly and they are asking me ‘do I need to go get tested’? And I say ‘I’ll let you know as soon as I know.”

MacDermott is also off work, without pay, and hopes he will be eligible for the $1,000 B.C. Emergency Benefit available to residents who stopped working because of COVID-19.






2:07
Should the Kelowna outbreak be considered a ‘superspreader’ event?


Should the Kelowna outbreak be considered a ‘superspreader’ event?

“I realize I am in a privileged position. I don’t live paycheque to paycheque, so I’m not hurting badly financially,” he said.

“But I know some of my co-workers, if they went through the same situation, they wouldn’t be able to pay rent and buy groceries if they had to miss a whole week because they got a cold.

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He said he doesn’t fault the hard-working healthcare workers, but thinks the system could be improved.

“My question is, does Interior Health need to be putting more resources towards testing now that we are over the first bump? But things are ramping up again, it appears,” he said.

Read more:
‘Don’t come here to make new friends’: Kelowna, B.C., mayor on spike in COVID-19 cases

The Interior Health Authority (IHA) says the cluster of cases in Kelowna has “dramatically increased” demand on testing in the Okanagan.

There are now 70 confirmed cases of COVID-19 linked to community exposure in the Kelowna area which began around Canada Day. Many of the patients were visitors to the region and are people in their 20s and 30s, health officials said.

In Kelowna, Interior Health is doing five times the number of tests per week (1,500/week compared to 300 before the most recent case cluster), the health authority said in an email.






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More than 60 COVID-19 cases linked to Kelowna area exposures


More than 60 COVID-19 cases linked to Kelowna area exposures

In Penticton, the number of tests per week has more than doubled (180/week compared to 80 previously).

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Interior Health has increased staffing at the collection centre in Kelowna and moved from being open for four hours of testing per day to 11 hours of testing per day (9:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. daily).

The Penticton centre is open 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. six days per week and is “actively working to increase their capacity in response to the current surge,” Interior Health said.

“Patients who call to book a test are provided with the earliest time possible, in many cases, it is the same day,” said IHA.

Read more:
Young adults given new warnings as coronavirus cases spike across Canada

“Where the wait is longer due to the demand for testing, IH is implementing strategies to increase capacity,” he said.

Since mid-June, test turn-around times are the longest in Interior Health compared to any other health region in B.C., according to data collected by the BC Centre for Disease Control.

As of July 20, it takes 35 hours to get lab results in Interior Health, compared to 20 hours in Vancouver Coastal, 18 hours in both Fraser and Northern Health and 16 hours on Vancouver Island.






1:45
Kelowna mayor fears step backwards from COVID-19 cases


Kelowna mayor fears step backwards from COVID-19 cases

The provincial average is 22 hours.

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Interior Health confirms all Okanagan tests are being analyzed at Kelowna General Hospital (KGH).

“We have testing that is done here in Kelowna as well as the provincial lab in Vancouver and so we strive to have test results back as soon as possible,” said Dr. Sue Pollock, interim chief medical health officer at Interior Health.

“The minimum time we can expect test results is 24 hours and sometimes it can take a little bit longer,” she added.

Norm Letnick, Kelowna-Lake Country Liberal MLA and opposition health critic, says while he is encouraged about the expansion of testing to meet demand in IHA, he will be raising concerns with his counterpart, B.C.’s minister of health Adrian Dix, in regards to testing delays in smaller communities like Penticton.

“You can be sure that on behalf of the people of Penticton and all of British Columbia, I will be talking to him about COVID-19 and the response that his ministry has had towards addressing issues like testing and turnaround time,” he told Global News.

Interior Health says it is difficult to compare IH’s lab analysis time to other health authorities given its large geographic area serving many rural and remote communities.

“We recognize there are cases where people are waiting longer than they expect, and we know that is stressful. Individuals waiting for test results are asked to stay home and self-isolate,” Interior Health said.

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© 2020 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

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We all experience stress. How we handle it is key to our health, say experts – CBC.ca

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The Dose24:36What’s the connection between stress and my health and well-being?

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It could be a morning traffic jam. A deadline at work. A conflict with a family member. Taking care of kids and aging parents. 

Stressful situations are all around us, and experts say how we manage stress is key to preventing it from causing long-term health problems — both physical and mental. 

Short-term stress doesn’t have to be negative, but research shows that ongoing stress wears away at the body’s systems and can lead to an increased risk of heart attack, stroke, Type 2 Diabetes, and mental health challenges.

“It’s like walking around with a ten or fifteen-pound weight continually on your back and not being able to shed that weight,” psychologist Dr. Zindel Segal told Dr. Brian Goldman, host of CBC’s The Dose

There are techniques and strategies to decrease that stressful load, however, and lessen the impact of stress on the body and the mind. 

Is stress good or bad? 

Stress means that we are unable to use our personal or social resources to meet the demands being placed on us, said Dr. Eli Puterman, a health psychologist and associate professor in the school of kinesiology at UBC. 

But not all stress is bad stress, said Puterman. 

“It sometimes can motivate you to also move in the direction of, ‘Let’s change our goals,'” he said. 

From an evolutionary perspective, our bodies are engineered to handle stress, said Segal, a distinguished professor of psychology and mood disorders at the University of Toronto Scarborough. 

But after the stress response, we need a period of rest and recovery, which allows the body to recoup the resources that were used up during the stressful situation. 

Chronic stress is when we’re unable to step out of the situation and take advantage of our own natural capacity to restore, said Segal. 

It’s a system that is “stuck in the fifth gear without the ability to downshift,” he said. 

Connecting with your senses

The first step to managing stress is recognizing it, said Segal, and that means tuning into our bodies. 

“Are you noticing that maybe your heart is racing, or that your palms are sweating, or that your temple and forehead are pounding?” he said. 

Grounding techniques can anchor us in the present moment and help pull us away from intrusive thoughts or feelings to take a broader view of the situation, said Segal. 

Deep breathing and meditation can both help you tune into your senses during stressful moments. (Maggie MacPherson/CBC)

“One of the things that we lose the ability to connect with is the sensory world,” he said, which is why so many techniques for managing stress are about reconnecting with your senses. 

“Sensations are a way of actually helping us step out of thinking, to ground ourselves.” 

A breath of fresh air 

Doing yoga, meditating, exercising and deep breathing can all help ground us in our bodies and change our perspectives on stress, said Segal. 

However, stress can cause barriers to being physically active, said Puterman, so he prefers to think about moving our bodies as opposed to exercising. 

“Getting outside and going for some walks for 10, 15 minutes per day can help us start having those moments where we’re taking care of our bodies,” he said. 

LISTEN | Try this guided exercise in box breathing with Dr. Zindel Segal: 

The Dose1:50A guided exercise in box breathing

One simple exercise Segal recommends is a technique called box breathing. Here’s how to try it: 

  • Sit in a chair and notice the sensations of sitting: the feet pressing down into the floor, the hands folded in the lap or on the thighs. 
  • Breathe in for four beats (visualize the left side of the box). 
  • Hold for four beats (visualize the top of the box).
  • Breathe out for four beats (visualize the right side of the box). 
  • Hold for four beats (visualize the bottom of the box). 
  • Repeat as many times as you like. 

What stress does to the body 

It may be easy to understand how stress can take an emotional and mental toll, but research also shows that stress can have an impact on our physical health — including an increased risk of heart attack or stroke. 

“In the short term, it rapidly increases your blood pressure, which can potentially result in a tear in the plaque that is in your arteries and then subsequently cause a heart attack or a stroke,” said Dr. Hassan Mir, a cardiologist at the Ottawa Heart Institute. 

When we’re feeling stress, it activates our sympathetic nervous system, the part of our nervous system that carries signals related to our fight-or-flight response. 

That can cause an increase in our blood pressure and heart rate, said Mir. 

Another reaction to acute stress is a condition called takotsubo cardiomyopathy, or a weakened heart muscle, he said.

“When you’re really stressed, you can have this release of adrenaline in your body,” Mir said. 

WATCH We can’t avoid stress, but we can learn how to deal with it: 

Stress can create long-term health impacts: ‘It’s all about how you cope,’ says psychologist

6 months ago

Duration 1:49

Mir has seen people who come into the hospital because their partner had a cardiac arrest, and then they suddenly get rushed to the ER because it looks like they’re having a heart attack. 

“You go and look inside and the coronary arteries look completely fine, but their heart muscle looks like it’s completely weakened,” Mir said. 

If you’re frequently activating your sympathetic nervous system due to stress, that can cause other issues in the body, said Puterman. 

“If you’re starting to shift your baseline of the functioning of your physiology, you’re now entering the state where now you have too much cortisol that’s then activating too much glucose release,” he said. 

Too much glucose released into the body can cause people to enter a pre-diabetes state, said Puterman. 

How much stress is too much?  

A little bit of stress could help us handle more stressful events in the future, a theory called the inoculation hypothesis, said Puterman. 

“Some stress on a daily basis or in life actually inoculates you to future exposures to stressors,” he said. 

But there are some telltale signs that the stress you’re experiencing is causing harmful effects, said Puterman. They include: 

  • Not sleeping well.
  • Not getting as much exercise as usual.
  • Consuming more alcohol or drugs.
  • Withdrawing from others socially.
  • Getting into more arguments with family or friends.

The trick is finding that sweet spot, said Segal, between having enough stress and too much. 

“We don’t want to tip over into a point where the stress that we’re facing is overwhelming,” Segal said. 

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Medical officer encourages measles vaccinations as global cases rise – SteinbachOnline.com

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As cases of measles are increasing in parts of Canada and around the world, Manitobans are reminded that staying up to date on their vaccinations is one of the most important ways to prevent and reduce the risk of measles and other serious illnesses. 

Measles is very contagious, says Dr. Mahmoud Khodaveisi, Medical Officer of Health for Southern Health-Santé Sud. 

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The most recognized symptom of measles is a red, blotchy rash, which often begins on the face and spreads down the body. Other common symptoms include fever, runny nose, cough, drowsiness, irritability and red eyes. Measles is a serious illness, especially for young children, and can result in lung and brain infections and other conditions that lead to serious complications or death. 

Although there have been no recent confirmed cases of measles in our province since 2019, there is increasing concern as the number of cases are rising in Canada and around the world. 

Dr. Khodaveisi says that before the vaccine was available, measles was a significant cause of childhood illness, and as a result, people born before 1970 are considered immune to measles as they were likely exposed growing up. 

As part of Manitoba’s routine immunization schedule, children can receive two doses of a vaccine that protects against measles, first at 12 months and again between the ages of four and six. Together, these doses provide 97 per cent protection against measles. 

The province reports that the most recent data available shows that about 80 per cent of children in Manitoba have received one dose of the vaccine that protects against measles by age two. Nearly 75 per cent of children have received two doses of the vaccine by age seven and this rate increases to over 88 per cent by the age of 17. 

The province has sent information out about measles to health-care providers. 

Measles is a reportable disease, meaning public health must be informed about cases by laboratories and health-care providers. Once a case is reported, public health will launch an investigation. This includes identifying close contacts, offering vaccination where appropriate and notifying the public of relevant exposures if needed. 

Manitoba’s immunization registry was established in 1988, so records for anyone who has received immunizations since then should be contained in the registry. 

If you are not sure if you or your children have been vaccinated, immunization records can be requested online at https://forms.gov.mb.ca/immunization-update-request/. Alternatively, you can contact your local public health office or contact your health-care provider.

-With files from Corny Rempel. 

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Measles in Toronto: 2nd case confirmed

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A second lab-confirmed case of measles has been identified in Toronto.

The city’s public health agency said that an infant who recently returned from travel has contracted the disease. The child is recovering at home.

The first Toronto case was identified on Feb. 16.

Toronto Public Health is warning that anyone who attended the Agincourt Public Library between 1 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. on March 11 may have been exposed. Individuals should monitor for symptoms until April 1 and double check that their vaccinations are up to date.

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Symptoms of measles include red rashes, fever, cough, runny nose, red eyes and fatigue. Individuals can also get unusual white spots in their mouth.

The number of measles infections in Ontario so far this year has already surpassed the total number of cases reported in 2023.

As of March 13, Public Health Ontario had confirmed at least eight cases of measles across the province. Cases have been identified in Peel Region, Hamilton, Brant County and Windsor-Essex County.

Of those infections, six were related to travel and two had an unknown source of exposure.

In 2023, there were seven cases of measles confirmed in Ontario.

Canada-wide data is less detailed, with the Public Health Agency of Canada reporting 17 cases of measles as of March 2, along with one case of congenital rubella syndrome.

 

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