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Cycling injuries in Canada surged during first year of pandemic, data shows – CBC.ca

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Hospitalizations for cycling injuries in Canada increased by 25 per cent during the pandemic, according to data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information.

CIHI, a non-profit organization that tracks hospitalizations and emergency visits across the country, reported last week that between April 1, 2020, and March 31, 2021, the overall number of injury hospitalizations dropped across Canada but hospitalizations for cycling injuries increased by more than 1,000.

According to Tanya Khan, manager of clinical administrative databases operations for CIHI, the trend occurred in all jurisdictions, across age groups and genders. The only exception was Saskatchewan, which did not see an increase in cycling-related hospitalizations.

“Although our data doesn’t capture why exactly this happened, it’s possible that some of the public health measures had an impact,” she told CBC News Tuesday.

Many indoor leisure activities were shut down to limit the spread of COVID-19 in 2020 and Canadians were encouraged to practice social distancing. Bicycle shops reported strong sales and many cities opened temporary bike lanes during the boom.

“People still wanted to spend time outside and they may have tried new activities, like cycling, that they may not have necessarily tried in the past, and this may have resulted in the increased injuries,” Khan said.

In Alberta, hospitalizations for cycling injuries increased by 37 per cent. The province’s 813 cycling-related hospitalizations represented about 15 per cent of the total across Canada. 

The data does not distinguish between patients who are transferred from one facility to another or readmitted, so the numbers don’t capture the number of people who sustained cycling injuries, just the number of visits and hospitalizations.

‘Face-first into the ground’

Brent Busch was one of thousands of Canadians who sustained a cycling injury during the pandemic.

Busch said he started cycling more frequently in 2020 to lose weight and one July morning, a vehicle driver ran into him while he was riding between sidewalks in his north Edmonton neighbourhood.

“I saw the vehicle coming, I braced for impact, and boom. Went over the handlebars, went face-first into the ground,” he said Tuesday. 

A man has bloody scrapes on his face.
Brent Busch fell on his face after a car struck his bicycle during July of 2020. His injuries, which sent him to the hospital, were minor. (Submitted by Brent Busch)

Police officers on the scene told him both he and the driver were at fault for the collision, since he had been riding on the sidewalk and the driver failed to check before proceeding through the intersection.

Paramedics took him to Sturgeon Community Hospital in St. Albert, where he had his thumb stitched up.

Busch said he rides more carefully now. He bought a helmet immediately after getting out of the hospital and no longer rides on sidewalks.

Physiotherapists treat cycling injuries

Giri Srinivasan of InStep Physical Therapy in central Edmonton, said he noticed an increase of clients coming in with cycling injuries in July 2020. 

He said many people bought new or used bikes because they were frustrated with public health measures and wanted to spend time outside. 

A physiotherapist wearing a bike helmet stands beside a bike.
Giri Srinivasan, a physiotherapist who owns InStep Physical Therapy in central Edmonton, says he started to notice a surge of cycling injuries in July of 2020. (Submitted by Giri Srinivasan)

He said most of his clients with cycling injuries hurt their necks, shoulders or backs, but some strained their thumbs or developed knee problems.

Srinivasan said cycling-related injury visits to his clinic remain high. He suspects beginner cyclists have become more adventurous during the past year and have started experimenting with mountain biking.

“They gained confidence and they wanted to do more,” he said.

Steven Cindric, a physiotherapist at south Edmonton’s Reach Sports Physiotherapy and Hand Clinic, said drivers’ behaviour is likely another contributor to the rise of cycling-related injuries.

“Vehicles are not necessarily observing and watching cyclists,” he said.

Of the 140 cyclists involved in an injury or fatal collision last year, nearly 70 per cent were struck by drivers while they were following the rules and had the right of way, according to the City of Edmonton.

Cindric speculated that fewer protected bike lanes in Alberta, compared to other provinces, could be one reason why Alberta saw a steeper increase in cycling injuries.

Other sports injuries 

Khan, of CIHI, said there was also a nationwide increase of injuries involving all-terrain vehicles and skateboards. She said injuries related to other sports, including hockey, skiing and snowboarding, decreased.

“These were probably a result of public health measures, but we’re unable to see through the data,” she said.

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Penn State police investigate cellphone incident involving Jason Kelce and a fan

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Penn State University police are investigating an altercation between retired Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce and a fan over a cellphone that occurred over the weekend before the game between the Nittany Lions and Ohio State.

The police department’s incident log includes an entry registered Saturday in which an “officer observed a visitor damaging personal property.”

PSU public information officer Jacqueline Sheader confirmed to The Associated Press on Tuesday that the incident involved Kelce and said that the process is ongoing. The report listed the potential offenses as criminal mischief and disorderly conduct.

Video on social media showed Kelce walking through a crowd near Beaver Stadium and fans asking for photos and fist bumps when one fan began to heckle Kelce and appeared to shout an anti-gay slur about his brother, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, for dating pop star Taylor Swift.

At that point, video showed Kelce grabbing the fan’s phone and throwing it to the ground, then turning to confront the man dressed in Penn State attire. Kelce appeared to use the same anti-gay slur during the exchange before another fan stepped between them before the altercation could escalate.

Kelce apologized during ESPN’s pregame show Monday night.

“In a heated moment, I decided to greet hate with hate,” Kelce said before ESPN’s broadcast of the Buccaneers-Chiefs game. “I fell short this week.”

Kelce added he’s “not proud” of the interaction with the fan, saying he “fell down to a level that I shouldn’t have.”

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A TV as big as a bed? With the holidays approaching, stores stock more supersize sets

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NEW YORK (AP) — For some television viewers, size apparently does matter.

Forget the 65-inch TVs that were considered bigger than average a decade ago. In time for the holidays, manufacturers and retailers are rolling out more XXL screens measuring more than 8 feet diagonally. That’s wider than a standard three-seat sofa or a king-size bed.

Supersize televisions only accounted for 1.7% of revenue from all TV set sales in the U.S. during the first nine months of the year, according to market research firm Circana. But companies preparing for shoppers to go big for Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa have reason to think the growing ultra category will be a bright spot in an otherwise tepid television market, according to analysts.

The 38,100 televisions of at least 97 inches sold between January and September represented a tenfold increase from the same period last year, Circana said. Best Buy, the nation’s largest consumer electronics chain, doubled the assortment of hefty TVs — the 19 models range in price from $2,000 to $25,000 — and introduced displays in roughly 70% of its stores.

“It’s really taken off this year,” Blake Hampton, Best Buy’s senior vice president of merchandising, said.

Analysts credit the emerging demand to improved technology and much lower prices. So far this year, the average price for TVs spanning at least 97 inches was $3,113 compared to $6,662 last year, according to Circana. South Korean electronics manufacturer Samsung introduced its first 98-inch TV in 2019 with a hefty price tag of $99,000; it now has four versions starting at $4,000, the company said.

Anthony Ash, a 42-year-old owner of a wood pallet and recycling business, recently bought a 98-inch Sony for his 14,000-square-foot house in Bristol, Wisconsin. The device, which cost about $5,000 excluding installation fees, replaced an 85-inch TV in the great room off his kitchen. Ash now has 17 televisions at home and uses some to display digital art.

“We just saw that the price was affordable for what we were looking for and thought, ‘Why not?’” he said of deciding to upsize to the Sony. “You get a better TV experience with a bigger TV. You’re sitting watching TV with a person on TV that is the same size as you. You can put yourself in the scene.”

The amount of time that many people spend staring at their cellphones and tablets, including to stream movies and TV shows, is another factor driving the growth of widescreen TV screens. Overall TV sales revenue fell 4%, while the number of units sold rose 1% from the January through September period, Circana said.

Most people only invest in a television every seven years, but when they do, they typically choose bigger ones, according to Rick Kowalski, the senior director of business intelligence at the Consumer Technology Association. In the past 15 years, the size of flat-panel TVs that were shipped to U.S. retailers and dealers grew an average of one inch a year, Kowalski said.

The coronavirus pandemic accelerated the elongation trend as people spent more time at home. In fact, screen sizes increased an average of two inches in both 2021 and 2022, and 85-inch TVs began gaining traction with consumers, Kowalski said. Shipments of 98-inch TVs to the U.S. are picking up pace this year, and models as huge as 110-115 inches are on the market right now, he said.

“You get better resolution over time,” Kowalski said. “You get better picture quality. And so just over time, it’s easier to produce those sets and improve the technology.”

Best Buy’s Hampton said a benefit of a colossal TV is the viewer can watch multiple shows at once, an experience he described as “incredible.”

“If you’re watching YouTube TV content or ‘ NFL Sunday Ticket,’ you can actually get four screens up, and that’s four 48-inch screens on it,” he said.

Manufacturers are also adding new features. Samsung said it designed its 98-inch lineup with a component that analyzes what the viewer is watching to increase sharpness and reduce visible noise across every scene.

James Fishler, senior vice president of the home entertainment division of Samsung’s U.S. division, said the way people watch TV and experience content is shifting.

“It’s even more so about watching TV as a shared experience,” Fishler said. “They want to host a watch party and gather around their TV to watch the big game, or set up a cinematic movie experience right at home. ”

Walmart, the nation’s largest retailer, its Sam’s Club division, and Chicago retailer Abt Electronics, also say they are expanding their TV ranges to meet customer demand for supersize screens.

TV industry experts say these monster TVs are beginning to encroach on home theater projectors, which create a 100- to 120-inch image that is less sharp and require rooms with blackout curtains or without windows.

“A dedicated viewing room for watching movies was exclusively the purview of projectors,” Andrew Sivori, vice president in the entertainment division of LG Electronics, another Korean manufacturer. “But you can get a much better viewing experience with direct TV.”

Retailers and TV makers said the buyers trading up range from millennials and members of Generation X to the tech-native Gen Z crowd. But as Jon Abt, co-president of Abt Electronics said, “It’s still a niche business.”

“A lot of people just don’t have the space to put one of those in,” he added.

Before dreaming big for the holidays, shoppers therefore should make sure a 98-inch TV will fit. Best Buy said its Geek Squad team asks if stairwells and entry halls are large enough to accommodate delivery and installation. An augmented reality feature on the Best Buy app that allows customers to see if products are the right size has been especially helpful for XXL TVs, the retailer said.

But for those worried about having the space for viewing, the good news is that the recommended distance for a 98-inch TV is actually just 6-12 feet from the seating area. The rule of thumb is to multiple the diagonal length of the TV by 1.2 to determine the ideal viewing distance, Samsung’s Fishler said.

If bigger is better in the TV department, how big can they go?

“I think we’ll have to wait and see,” Fishler said.

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This story was first published on Nov. 3, 2024. It was updated on Nov. 5, 2024 to correct that TV sizes are measured on the diagonal, not by width.



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B.C.’s chief electoral officer defends election integrity after ‘human errors’

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British Columbia’s chief electoral officer says “extremely challenging weather conditions” and a new voting system factored into human errors that saw ballots go uncounted in the provincial election — though none were large enough to change results.

Anton Boegman says the agency is investigating the mistakes to “identify key lessons learned” to improve training, change processes or make recommendations for legislative change to ensure “errors can be prevented in the future.”

Boegman says the issues will be “fully documented” in his report to the legislature on the provincial election, the first held using electronic tabulators.

He says he’s confident election officials found all “anomalies,” which included a ballot box in Prince George-Mackenzie that went uncounted, and other issues involving out-of-district votes tied to the province’s “unique” vote-anywhere model.

Boegman says the vote was administered by approximately 17,000 workers, less than half than would’ve been needed under the old paper-based system, many of whom worked long hours on a day when an atmospheric river washed over the B.C. coast.

He says results for the election will be returned in 90 of the province’s 93 ridings today, while judicial recounts will be held in Surrey-Guildford, Kelowna-Centre and Prince George-Mackenzie.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 5, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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