As new cases of COVID-19 surge across Canada, the federal government and the provinces have been imposing stricter measures to try to limit the illness’s spread.
The Canadian Press interviewed three leading Canadian experts in disease control and epidemiology, asking their thoughts on Canada’s handling of the pandemic, the new restrictions on activities — and what else can be done. Here’s what they had to say.
John Brownstein, Montreal-born Harvard University epidemiologist and chief innovation officer at Boston Children’s Hospital
Having a national testing strategy in Canada that uses rapid tests people could do at home would limit the spread of the virus, Brownstein says.
“That would enable us to get insight on infection and actually have people isolate,” he says.
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No such tests have been approved in Canada yet.
3:18 The push to expand the use of rapid COVID-19 testing
The push to expand the use of rapid COVID-19 testing
“We’ve been saying this all along, so it’s not just a purely Canadian issue, but having a strategy that implements that kind of information would go a long way to drive infections down in communities while we wait for the vaccine.”
Brownstein says curfews have unintended consequences because they force people to get together over a shorter period of time during the day.
“We haven’t seen a lot of evidence that curfews have driven down infection.”
He says a mix of testing and quarantine is the best way to make sure international travellers don’t cause outbreaks when they return from the pandemic hot spots.
Testing alone is not enough, he says, because tests can come back negative during the novel coronavirus’s incubation period; people should be careful about relying on test results that could give a false sense of security.
He says promoting low-risk activities, including walking and exercising outdoors, is also important.
“Whatever we can do to allow for people to spend more time outside, probably the better.”
David Juncker, professor of medicine and chair of the department of biomedical engineering at McGill University
Canada needs a national strategy for how to use rapid tests for the virus that causes COVID-19, says Juncker.
Juncker is an adviser for Rapid Test and Trace, an organization advocating for a mass rapid-testing system across Canada.
“Initially the Canadian government (spoke) against (rapid tests) and then they pivoted sometime in October or September,” he says. The federal government then bought thousands of rapid tests and sent them to the provinces, where they’ve mostly sat unused.
“Every province is trying to come up with their own way of trying them — running their own individual pilots. There’s a lack of exchange of information and lack of guidelines in terms of how to best deploy them,” he says.
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1:23 Private COVID-19 testing in Alberta
Private COVID-19 testing in Alberta – Jan 8, 2021
Juncker says the testing regime based on swabs collected in central testing sites was working in the summer but it collapsed in the fall.
He says medical professionals prefer those tests because they are more accurate and can detect low levels of the virus, which is important for diagnoses, but rapid tests can be useful for public health through sheer volume, if they’re used properly.
A federal advisory panel’s report released Friday, laying out the best uses for different kinds of tests, is a step in the right direction, he says.
“I’m happy to see we’re slowly shifting from the point of view of ‘Should we use rapid tests?’ to a point of view (of) ‘How can we best use them?”’
More recent research suggests that rapid tests are more accurate than was previously thought, he says.
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“We still don’t have enough capacity to test everyone so we’d have to use them in a strategic way.”
Juncker says the lockdowns in Ontario and Quebec should have happened earlier in the fall, when cases started to rise.
He says the late lockdowns in Canada won’t be as effective as those in countries such as Australia, New Zealand and South Korea, where early lockdowns effectively stopped the disease from spreading.
“Countries that were most aggressive early on, are the ones that have, I think, the best outcome.”
He says countries where health decisions are fragmented across the country, including Canada, have added challenges.
“If you live in Ottawa-Gatineau, you have one province (that) allows one thing, the other province allows another thing, so this creates confusion among the citizens,” he said.
Donald Sheppard, chair of the department of microbiology and immunology in the faculty of medicine at McGill University and member of Canada’s COVID-19 therapeutics task force:
Canada’s federal-provincial sharing of power over health care is highly inefficient and has led to major problems, says Sheppard.
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“There’s a lot breakdown in communication, a lot of territorialism. It’s greatly impacted the efficiency of the response,” he says.
2:18 Alberta eases COVID-19 restrictions as cases drop
Alberta eases COVID-19 restrictions as cases drop
The problems in long-term care homes are examples.
“Quebec is screaming they want money but they’re refusing to sign on to the minimum standards of long term care,” he says. “I think it’s heinous.”
He says highly centralized authority and decision-making has had a stifling effect on innovation.
“It puts up roadblocks, and has led to the Canadian health-care system having lost any attempt to be innovative and nimble,” he says.
Sheppard says he doesn’t think there will be mass vaccinations for Canadians this summer and the September timetable that the federal government is talking about for vaccinating everybody is optimistic.
“Remember that we don’t have vaccines that are approved in under-11-year-olds,” he says. “There will still be opportunities for the virus to circulate in children, particularly children are in school settings.”
He suggested that the current immunization campaign’s goal is not herd immunity, eliminating transmission of the virus and rendering is extinct.
“The goal here is to create an iron wall of immunity around the ‘susceptibles’ in our population, such that this becomes a virus of the same public health importance as influenza.”
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Nick Saban has a message for Tua Tagovailoa: Listen to experts, then decide what happens next.
Antonio Pierce had another message: It’s time to retire.
Saban, Pierce and countless others within the game were speaking out Friday about Tagovailoa, the Miami Dolphins quarterback who is now dealing with the third confirmed concussion of his NFL career — all coming within the last 24 months. He was hurt in the third quarter of the Dolphins’ 31-10 loss to the Buffalo Bills on Thursday night, leaving the game after a scary and all-too-familiar on-field scene.
“This has to be a medical decision,” Saban said on ESPN, where the now-retired coach works as an analyst. “I mean, you have to let medical people who understand the circumstances around these injuries, these concussions — and when you have multiple concussions, that’s not a good sign.
“I think Tua and his family and everyone else should listen to all the medical evidence to make sure you’re not compromising your future health-wise by continuing to play football.”
That process — gathering the medical facts — was getting underway in earnest on Friday, when Tagovailoa was set to be further evaluated at the team’s facility. He was diagnosed with a concussion within minutes of sustaining the injury on Thursday and there is no timetable for his return.
“I’ll be honest: I’d just tell him to retire,” Pierce, the coach of the Las Vegas Raiders, said Friday. “It’s not worth it. It’s not worth it to play the game. I haven’t witnessed anything like I’ve seen that’s happened to him three times. Scary. You could see right away, the players’ faces on the field, you could see the sense of urgency from everybody to get Tua help. He’s going to live longer than he’s going to play football. Take care of your family.”
Concern — and opinions — have poured in from all across the football world ever since Tagovailoa got hurt. It is not a surprising topic — the questions of “should he? or shouldn’t he?” continue to play — nor is this the first time they have been asked. Tagovailoa himself said in April 2023 that he and his family weighed their options after he was diagnosed twice with concussions in the 2022 season.
But Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said it’s not his place, nor is it the time, to have discussions about whether Tagovailoa should play again.
“Those types of conversations, when you’re talking about somebody’s career, it probably is only fair that their career should be decided by them,” McDaniel said.
The Dolphins said Friday that they will bring in another quarterback, and for now are entrusting the starting job to Skylar Thompson. McDaniel said the team will not rush to any other judgments, that the only opinions that truly matter right now come from two sides — Tagovailoa and his family, and the medical experts who will monitor his recovery.
“The thing about it is everybody wants to play, and they love this game so much, and they give so much to it that when things like this happen, reality kind of hits a little bit,” Jacksonville coach Doug Pedersen said Friday. “It just shows the human nature, or the human side of our sport.”
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AP Sports Writer Mark Long in Jacksonville, Florida, contributed to this report.
BRUSSELS – Canadian shot putter Sarah Mitton rebounded from a disappointing performance at the Paris Olympics by capturing Diamond League gold on Friday.
Mitton, of Brooklyn, N.S., won the competition, the final Diamond League event of the season, with a heave of 20.25 metres on her third throw.
Chase Jackson of the U.S. placed second with a throw of 19.90, while German’s Yemisi Ogunleye, the Olympic gold medallist, claimed bronze with a toss of 19.72.
Mitton, the runner-up of last year’s world championship, failed to qualify for the top eight in Paris.
Edmonton runner Marco Arop, who won silver for Canada in the men’s 800 metres at the Paris Games, was scheduled to race in the 800 on Saturday.
Olympic bronze-medallist Alysha Newman, of London, Ont., also competes Saturday in the women’s pole vault.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — Greg Harden, who counseled countless people at the University of Michigan from Tom Brady to Michael Phelps, and Desmond Howard to J.J. McCarthy, has died. He was 75.
Michigan athletics spokesman Dave Ablauf said the family informed the athletic department that Harden died Thursday due to complications from surgery.
The late Bo Schembechler, a College Football Hall of Fame coach, hired Harden in 1986 as a staff consultant and student-athlete personal development program counselor.
“He meant the world to me and I could never have had the success I had without the time, energy, love and support he had given me,” said Brady, a former Michigan quarterback who went on to win seven Super Bowls in a 22-year career.
Howard, who won the Hesiman Trophy in 1991, was part of the first wave of Wolverines to count Harden as a confidant, mentor and friend.
“Greg brought wisdom, joy and his calming nature to every encounter,” Howard said. “His presence will be missed by all of us.
“Although my family and I are heartbroken, we hold on to the lessons, guidance and memories that will forever be Greg’s legacy. We are blessed beyond measure to have had him in our lives.”
Harden, who was from Detroit, earned undergraduate and master’s degrees at Michigan.
Phelps lived and trained in Ann Arbor, Michigan, after emerging as swimming star at the 2004 Athens Olympics, and worked on his mental health with Harden.
Harden retired from his role as director of counseling for Michigan’s athletic department in 2020. He still continued to work, advising student-athletes at Michigan along with the Toronto Maple Leafs as the NHL team’s peak performance coach.
He published his first book, “Stay Sane in an Insane World: How to Control the Controllables and Thrive,” last year.
Michigan athletics announced Harden’s death, and shared statements from some of the many people who knew him.
McCarthy, a Minnesota Vikings rookie quarterback, sent the school his thoughts in the form of a letter to Harden.
“You gave me the courage and belief as we fought hand and hand against the demons that I’ve spent my entire life fighting,” McCarthy wrote. “You have inspired me by your ability to unconditionally love everyone and everything.”
While many famous football players worked with Harden, he also was a trusted adviser for women and men in all sports and walks of life, including broadcaster Michelle McMahon, who played volleyball at Michigan.
“He poured his heart into thousands of students, athletes, and celebrities alike without any expectation of gaining anything in return,” McMahon said. “He dedicated his entire life to making a difference and investing in the growth of the young impressionable minds that were lucky enough to meet him.
“His captivating presence and charisma captured the rooms he walked in. Greg’s gift to the world was his unwavering ability to help people see themselves fully, in full acceptance of their flaws and their gifts. His relentless approach made it impossible for his mentees to give up on themselves.”
