The Middlesex-London Health Unit reported seven COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, though the total case count tally increased by only six, as well as one death.
The death involved a man in his 60s who was not vaccinated and the death was not associated with a long-term care or retirement home.
In total, the MLHU is reporting 13,662 cases with 180 active (a decrease of 13), 13,245 recoveries (an increase of 18) and 237 deaths.
London Health Sciences Centre says it is caring for seven inpatients with COVID-19 as of Tuesday, unchanged from Monday. Five or fewer patients are in adult intensive care.
Five or fewer inpatients with COVID-19 are in Children’s Hospital, with none in pediatric critical care.
Five or fewer staff are currently positive with COVID-19, the organization reported, a decrease from six on Tuesday.
St. Joseph’s Health Care London (SJHCL) is reporting one non-outbreak case involving a health-care worker.
Outbreaks
There are currently no active institutional outbreaks reported by the MLHU.
2:34 What will happen as more COVID-19 patients fill Alberta ICUs?
What will happen as more COVID-19 patients fill Alberta ICUs?
Schools and child care
The MLHU is reporting cases at the following schools in its jurisdiction:
École élémentaire La Pommeraie, two cases
École secondaire catholique Monseigneur-Bruyère, three cases
Hillcrest Public School, one case
Kensal Park Public School, two cases
Lambeth Public School, one case
Sir Frederick Banting Secondary School, one case
Vaccinations and testing
In updated data released Tuesday covering up to the end of day Sept. 11, the MLHU says 78.4 per cent of residents aged 12 and older are fully vaccinated and 84.7 per cent have had at least one dose.
When looking specifically at the city of London, the number drops to 78.1 per cent fully vaccinated and 84.6 per cent with at least one dose.
For Middlesex County, 79.8 per cent of eligible residents are fully vaccinated and 85.2 per cent have had at least one dose.
The overall age range with the lowest vaccine uptake remains those aged 18 to 24, with 65.1 per cent fully vaccinated and 75.4 per cent with at least one dose.
In total, the MLHU says 738,157 doses of vaccine have been administered in the region as of the end of day Sept. 11.
MLHU data says, in the last six weeks, two deaths involved unvaccinated individuals and one involved a fully vaccinated individual. However, six deaths have been recorded in that time.
On Monday, medical officer of health Dr. Chris Mackie noted that there was an issue with the data that involved “the script that was written” to update the dashboard mistakenly identifying the date of diagnosis as the date of death.
As a result, deaths within the past six weeks that involved cases where symptoms emerged more than six weeks ago were not included in the dashboard.
“We’ll get that corrected as soon as we can,” he said.
According to the available data, only two hospitalizations, or 6.9 per cent of hospitalizations, involved individuals who were fully vaccinated.
As for reported cases in general, 16.89 per cent (or 138 of 817 cases) involved people who were fully vaccinated and 15.67 per cent (or 128 cases) were among those who were partially vaccinated.
Ontario reported 577 COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, 125 of which involved individuals who were fully vaccinated. Seven deaths were also reported, though one occurred over a month ago.
1,068 variant of concern cases, with 769 Alpha, 244 Delta (an increase of five) and 55 Beta or Gamma
The most recent death was reported Aug. 31 and involved a woman in her 80s from Oxford County.
Of the 50 active cases, 15 are in Woodstock, nine in St. Thomas and seven in South-West Oxford. Per-municipality case counts for the pandemic can be found on the health unit’sdashboard.
Four people are hospitalized with COVID-19, with one in the ICU.
There are no active institutional outbreaks, the health unit says.
A outbreak declared Aug. 20 involving Knollcrest Lodge in Perth East remains active and involves a total of 13 cases with seven among residents and six among staff as of Tuesday. Four deaths are associated with the outbreak.
The region’s test positivity rate was 2.2 per cent for the week of Aug. 29, up from an adjusted 1.8 per cent for the week of Aug. 22.
HPPH’s vaccine dashboard showed that as of Sept. 13, 75.7 per cent of residents 12 and older were fully vaccinated while 81.8 per cent have had at least one dose.
Of those aged 12 and older, 73.7 per cent are fully vaccinated and 79.3 per cent have at least one dose.
Lambton Public Health is also working with Lambton County Library to make it easier to obtain vaccine receipts by assisting residents having trouble downloading or printing the receipts.
Those who are able to get vaccinated on short notice are encouraged to sign up for Lambton Public Health’s daily Vaccine Standby List.
Residents can book and re-book COVID-19 vaccine appointments using the health unit’s registration page. People can also call the vaccine call centre at 226-254-8222.
Skinstitut Holiday Gift Kits take the stress out of gifting
Toronto, October 31, 2024 – Beauty gifts are at the top of holiday wish lists this year, and Laser Clinics Canada, a leader in advanced beauty treatments and skincare, is taking the pressure out of seasonal shopping. Today, Laser Clincs Canada announces the arrival of its 2024 Holiday Gift Kits, courtesy of Skinstitut, the exclusive skincare line of Laser Clinics Group.
In time for the busy shopping season, the limited-edition Holiday Gifts Kits are available in Laser Clinics locations in the GTA and Ottawa. Clinics are conveniently located in popular shopping centers, including Hillcrest Mall, Square One, CF Sherway Gardens, Scarborough Town Centre, Rideau Centre, Union Station and CF Markville. These limited-edition Kits are available on a first come, first served basis.
“These kits combine our best-selling products, bundled to address the most relevant skin concerns we’re seeing among our clients,” says Christina Ho, Senior Brand & LAM Manager at Laser Clinics Canada. “With several price points available, the kits offer excellent value and suit a variety of gift-giving needs, from those new to cosmeceuticals to those looking to level up their skincare routine. What’s more, these kits are priced with a savings of up to 33 per cent so gift givers can save during the holiday season.
There are two kits to select from, each designed to address key skin concerns and each with a unique theme — Brightening Basics and Hydration Heroes.
Brightening Basics is a mix of everyday essentials for glowing skin for all skin types. The bundle comes in a sleek pink, reusable case and includes three full-sized products: 200ml gentle cleanser, 50ml Moisture Defence (normal skin) and 30ml1% Hyaluronic Complex Serum. The Brightening Basics kit is available at $129, a saving of 33 per cent.
Hydration Heroes is a mix of hydration essentials and active heroes that cater to a wide variety of clients. A perfect stocking stuffer, this bundle includes four deluxe products: Moisture 15 15 ml Defence for normal skin, 10 ml 1% Hyaluronic Complex Serum, 10 ml Retinol Serum and 50 ml Expert Squalane Cleansing Oil. The kit retails at $59.
In addition to the 2024 Holiday Gifts Kits, gift givers can easily add a Laser Clinic Canada gift card to the mix. Offering flexibility, recipients can choose from a wide range of treatments offered by Laser Clinics Canada, or they can expand their collection of exclusive Skinstitut products.
Brightening Basics 2024 Holiday Gift Kit by Skinstitut, available exclusively at Laser Clincs Canada clinics and online at skinstitut.ca.
Hydration Heroes 2024 Holiday Gift Kit by Skinstitut – available exclusively at Laser Clincs Canada clinics and online at skinstitut.ca.
LONDON (AP) — Most people have accumulated a pile of data — selfies, emails, videos and more — on their social media and digital accounts over their lifetimes. What happens to it when we die?
It’s wise to draft a will spelling out who inherits your physical assets after you’re gone, but don’t forget to take care of your digital estate too. Friends and family might treasure files and posts you’ve left behind, but they could get lost in digital purgatory after you pass away unless you take some simple steps.
Here’s how you can prepare your digital life for your survivors:
Apple
The iPhone maker lets you nominate a “ legacy contact ” who can access your Apple account’s data after you die. The company says it’s a secure way to give trusted people access to photos, files and messages. To set it up you’ll need an Apple device with a fairly recent operating system — iPhones and iPads need iOS or iPadOS 15.2 and MacBooks needs macOS Monterey 12.1.
For iPhones, go to settings, tap Sign-in & Security and then Legacy Contact. You can name one or more people, and they don’t need an Apple ID or device.
You’ll have to share an access key with your contact. It can be a digital version sent electronically, or you can print a copy or save it as a screenshot or PDF.
Take note that there are some types of files you won’t be able to pass on — including digital rights-protected music, movies and passwords stored in Apple’s password manager. Legacy contacts can only access a deceased user’s account for three years before Apple deletes the account.
Google
Google takes a different approach with its Inactive Account Manager, which allows you to share your data with someone if it notices that you’ve stopped using your account.
When setting it up, you need to decide how long Google should wait — from three to 18 months — before considering your account inactive. Once that time is up, Google can notify up to 10 people.
You can write a message informing them you’ve stopped using the account, and, optionally, include a link to download your data. You can choose what types of data they can access — including emails, photos, calendar entries and YouTube videos.
There’s also an option to automatically delete your account after three months of inactivity, so your contacts will have to download any data before that deadline.
Facebook and Instagram
Some social media platforms can preserve accounts for people who have died so that friends and family can honor their memories.
When users of Facebook or Instagram die, parent company Meta says it can memorialize the account if it gets a “valid request” from a friend or family member. Requests can be submitted through an online form.
The social media company strongly recommends Facebook users add a legacy contact to look after their memorial accounts. Legacy contacts can do things like respond to new friend requests and update pinned posts, but they can’t read private messages or remove or alter previous posts. You can only choose one person, who also has to have a Facebook account.
You can also ask Facebook or Instagram to delete a deceased user’s account if you’re a close family member or an executor. You’ll need to send in documents like a death certificate.
TikTok
The video-sharing platform says that if a user has died, people can submit a request to memorialize the account through the settings menu. Go to the Report a Problem section, then Account and profile, then Manage account, where you can report a deceased user.
Once an account has been memorialized, it will be labeled “Remembering.” No one will be able to log into the account, which prevents anyone from editing the profile or using the account to post new content or send messages.
X
It’s not possible to nominate a legacy contact on Elon Musk’s social media site. But family members or an authorized person can submit a request to deactivate a deceased user’s account.
Passwords
Besides the major online services, you’ll probably have dozens if not hundreds of other digital accounts that your survivors might need to access. You could just write all your login credentials down in a notebook and put it somewhere safe. But making a physical copy presents its own vulnerabilities. What if you lose track of it? What if someone finds it?
Instead, consider a password manager that has an emergency access feature. Password managers are digital vaults that you can use to store all your credentials. Some, like Keeper,Bitwarden and NordPass, allow users to nominate one or more trusted contacts who can access their keys in case of an emergency such as a death.
But there are a few catches: Those contacts also need to use the same password manager and you might have to pay for the service.
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Is there a tech challenge you need help figuring out? Write to us at onetechtip@ap.org with your questions.
The Canadian Paediatric Society says doctors should regularly screen children for reading difficulties and dyslexia, calling low literacy a “serious public health concern” that can increase the risk of other problems including anxiety, low self-esteem and behavioural issues, with lifelong consequences.
New guidance issued Wednesday says family doctors, nurses, pediatricians and other medical professionals who care for school-aged kids are in a unique position to help struggling readers access educational and specialty supports, noting that identifying problems early couldhelp kids sooner — when it’s more effective — as well as reveal other possible learning or developmental issues.
The 10 recommendations include regular screening for kids aged four to seven, especially if they belong to groups at higher risk of low literacy, including newcomers to Canada, racialized Canadians and Indigenous Peoples. The society says this can be done in a two-to-three-minute office-based assessment.
Other tips encourage doctors to look for conditions often seen among poor readers such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder; to advocate for early literacy training for pediatric and family medicine residents; to liaise with schools on behalf of families seeking help; and to push provincial and territorial education ministries to integrate evidence-based phonics instruction into curriculums, starting in kindergarten.
Dr. Scott McLeod, one of the authors and chair of the society’s mental health and developmental disabilities committee, said a key goal is to catch kids who may be falling through the cracks and to better connect families to resources, including quicker targeted help from schools.
“Collaboration in this area is so key because we need to move away from the silos of: everything educational must exist within the educational portfolio,” McLeod said in an interview from Calgary, where he is a developmental pediatrician at Alberta Children’s Hospital.
“Reading, yes, it’s education, but it’s also health because we know that literacy impacts health. So I think that a statement like this opens the window to say: Yes, parents can come to their health-care provider to get advice, get recommendations, hopefully start a collaboration with school teachers.”
McLeod noted that pediatricians already look for signs of low literacy in young children by way of a commonly used tool known as the Rourke Baby Record, which offers a checklist of key topics, such as nutrition and developmental benchmarks, to cover in a well-child appointment.
But he said questions about reading could be “a standing item” in checkups and he hoped the society’s statement to medical professionals who care for children “enhances their confidence in being a strong advocate for the child” while spurring partnerships with others involved in a child’s life such as teachers and psychologists.
The guidance said pediatricians also play a key role in detecting and monitoring conditions that often coexist with difficulty reading such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, but McLeod noted that getting such specific diagnoses typically involves a referral to a specialist, during which time a child continues to struggle.
He also acknowledged that some schools can be slow to act without a specific diagnosis from a specialist, and even then a child may end up on a wait list for school interventions.
“Evidence-based reading instruction shouldn’t have to wait for some of that access to specialized assessments to occur,” he said.
“My hope is that (by) having an existing statement or document written by the Canadian Paediatric Society … we’re able to skip a few steps or have some of the early interventions present,” he said.
McLeod added that obtaining specific assessments from medical specialists is “definitely beneficial and advantageous” to know where a child is at, “but having that sort of clear, thorough assessment shouldn’t be a barrier to intervention starting.”
McLeod said the society was partly spurred to act by 2022’s “Right to Read Inquiry Report” from the Ontario Human Rights Commission, which made 157 recommendations to address inequities related to reading instruction in that province.
He called the new guidelines “a big reminder” to pediatric providers, family doctors, school teachers and psychologists of the importance of literacy.
“Early identification of reading difficulty can truly change the trajectory of a child’s life.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 23, 2024.
