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Middlesex-London Health Unit mandates masks for transit riders, some businesses – Globalnews.ca

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The Middlesex-London Health Unit (MLHU) says the time has come to implement a mandatory mask policy — in certain, “specific circumstances” — in an effort to protect against the spread of the novel coronavirus.

At a news conference Thursday afternoon, medical officer of health Dr. Chris Mackie announced masks will be required in higher-risk businesses where physical distancing is not practical, as well as on public transit.

Mackie noted that it was important to give people enough time to acquire masks, which is why the order doesn’t come into effect until Monday, July 20.






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Ask an Expert: Face masks 101


Ask an Expert: Face masks 101

In an interview with Global News following the news conference, Mayor Ed Holder suggested Londoners shouldn’t wait for a mandate to take precautions. The full interview will air at 8:48 a.m. Friday, July 3 on The Morning Show with Devon Peacock on Global News Radio 980 CFPL.

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“I’m saying to Londoners: don’t wait,” Holder said.

“Your health is too important and the health of others is too important. Wear your mask now.”

The order, under the Health Protection and Promotion Act, will mandate businesses that provide direct face-to-face service less than two metres away from a customer for more than 15 minutes — for example at hair and nail salons — to ensure everyone involved wear masks. Specific to personal care services, a regulation made under Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act dated June 11 already requires patrons wear face coverings across Ontario.

The health unit says “a separate order will require riders of public transit to wear a mask while onboard.”

The policy is not required for children under age 12 “because of the feasibility and the lower risk of children spreading and acquiring and helping poor outcomes,” Mackie said. He also noted that it is possible that the health unit would expand the policy at a later date, but at this time it’s not believed to be necessary.

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Penalties for non-compliance can be as high as $5,000 for an individual or $25,000 for a business.

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“We really hope to never have to use those penalties and we’ll certainly be focusing on an educational approach. But we won’t hesitate to use those penalties if, if necessary, to achieve compliance.”

During the news conference, Mackie specifically pointed to an outbreak in Kingston involving 27 cases as of Monday tied to a nail salon.

“Kingston Frontenac Lennox and Addington is the health unit, it’s a very similar region to here,” Mackie explained. “You’ve got sort of a mid-sized municipality with proximity to larger municipalities. What happened in Kingston was they had zero to one case for several weeks and over one weekend twenty-seven new cases were announced related to a single outbreak in a nail salon there.”

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Mackie said before that outbreak, rates of the disease in the Kingston region were even lower than in Middlesex and London.

“Although our rates of illness in the community are low, our community is still potentially vulnerable to outbreaks. Because of this, we’ve turned our attention to how to help prevent those outbreaks.”






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4 salons ordered to close in Kingston region over coronavirus issues


4 salons ordered to close in Kingston region over coronavirus issues

Before taking questions, Mackie took the opportunity to preemptively explain why the health unit is not mandating in public across the board. He noted that the health unit strongly recommends that people wear masks, but “the Health Protection Promotion Act, Section 22 orders — and class orders in particular — are a very powerful tool, and it’s absolutely necessary to use that tool carefully.”

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“The reason we’re ordering this in those highest risk settings is because those are the settings that are most likely, in my opinion, to be associated with an outbreak, even in the context of a very low spread of COVID-19 that we currently have in the community.”






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Coronavirus: WHO warns some countries still face ‘long, hard road ahead’ amid pandemic


Coronavirus: WHO warns some countries still face ‘long, hard road ahead’ amid pandemic

Acting mayor Jesse Helmer said the region has done a good job of flattening the curve and reducing the spread of the virus and he believes it’s because “Londoners and folks in Middlesex County have really taken it very seriously.”

“It can be easy, I think, as the case count drops to relax a little bit and to get lulled into a false sense of complacency. And certainly, I think this order is sending a very clear message to folks, especially in those higher risk environments, that we need to do everything we can to protect each other,” said Helmer.

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“And I just want to say the emphasis on keeping the distance at all times, making sure you’re washing your hands — those things aren’t replaced by the fact that you are wearing a mask.”

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Should masks be mandatory? It depends

The policy announcement demonstrates the evolving nature of the pandemic and the public health response to it, as well as the impact of burgeoning research on the virus and its spread on public policy.

In a release outlining Thursday’s announcement, the health unit emphasized that “evidence continues to mount that even non-medical masks can help reduce the spread of viruses by containing respiratory droplets that are emitted when a person who may be infected with the virus talks, sneezes or coughs.”

Mackie previously stated on June 22 that while masks were advised, mandating them was not yet necessary. At that time, Mackie noted that regions that had implemented policies — like Windsor and Guelph — had much higher rates of cases.

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A policy of mandating masks inside of commercial settings in Windsor-Essex was announced June 19 and implemented the following week. The region has seen a huge influx of cases related to the agri-farm sector, specifically among migrant workers in “congregate living settings.”

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Earlier this week, it was revealed that three MLHU staff, including associate medical officer of health Dr. Alex Summers, would be supporting the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit (WECHU) in responding to the massive caseload. On Wednesday, WECHU medical officer of health Dr. Wajid Ahmed ordered a work stoppage at a farm experiencing a large outbreak of COVID-19. The local public health unit says 191 cases of the virus were recorded at the farm over the weekend.






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Coronavirus: Toronto passes bylaw making masks mandatory indoors


Coronavirus: Toronto passes bylaw making masks mandatory indoors

Elsewhere in Ontario, Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) mayors and chairs met virtually on Monday and unanimously approved a request to the province for a mandatory face-covering policy for large municipalities to help curb the spread of the virus.

The request was denied that night by the Ontario government, which noted in a statement that a policy “isn’t necessary as local medical officers of health have the authority to institute the same policy the mayors requested.”

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The following day, Toronto city council approved a bylaw making face coverings mandatory in indoor businesses and enclosed public spaces. It comes into effect July 7. Peel Regional mayors and health officials made moves to enact mandatory face mask use in indoor public spaces that, if passed on Thursday, would also come into effect next week.

In Guelph and Wellington County, the local medical officer of health mandated in early June that residents wear masks or face coverings while in commercial businesses. As previously mentioned, Windsor-Essex implemented a face mask policy in late June.

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Between March and July, the rhetoric surrounding the use of masks in Canada has changed dramatically, in accordance with the latest scientific evidence through ongoing research in relation to the virus. After initially advising against wearing non-medical masks, federal health officials said in April that people who don’t have symptoms of COVID-19 could wear non-medical masks when in public as “an additional measure” to avoid spreading droplets, but it wasn’t presented as an official recommendation.

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On May 20, federal public health officials began officially recommending people wear non-medical masks to help protect others from the novel coronavirus in situations where physical distancing isn’t possible. Recommendations on the use of non-medical masks amid the ongoing pandemic can be found on the government’s website.

— With files from Gabby Rodrigues, Beatrice Britneff, Laura Hensley and The Canadian Press.

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

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Canada to donate up to 200,000 vaccine doses to combat mpox outbreaks in Africa

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The Canadian government says it will donate up to 200,000 vaccine doses to fight the mpox outbreak in Congo and other African countries.

It says the donated doses of Imvamune will come from Canada’s existing supply and will not affect the country’s preparedness for mpox cases in this country.

Minister of Health Mark Holland says the donation “will help to protect those in the most affected regions of Africa and will help prevent further spread of the virus.”

Dr. Madhukar Pai, Canada research chair in epidemiology and global health, says although the donation is welcome, it is a very small portion of the estimated 10 million vaccine doses needed to control the outbreak.

Vaccine donations from wealthier countries have only recently started arriving in Africa, almost a month after the World Health Organization declared the mpox outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.

A few days after the declaration in August, Global Affairs Canada announced a contribution of $1 million for mpox surveillance, diagnostic tools, research and community awareness in Africa.

On Thursday, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said mpox is still on the rise and that testing rates are “insufficient” across the continent.

Jason Kindrachuk, Canada research chair in emerging viruses at the University of Manitoba, said donating vaccines, in addition to supporting surveillance and diagnostic tests, is “massively important.”

But Kindrachuk, who has worked on the ground in Congo during the epidemic, also said that the international response to the mpox outbreak is “better late than never (but) better never late.”

“It would have been fantastic for us globally to not be in this position by having provided doses a much, much longer time prior than when we are,” he said, noting that the outbreak of clade I mpox in Congo started in early 2023.

Clade II mpox, endemic in regions of West Africa, came to the world’s attention even earlier — in 2022 — as that strain of virus spread to other countries, including Canada.

Two doses are recommended for mpox vaccination, so the donation may only benefit 100,000 people, Pai said.

Pai questioned whether Canada is contributing enough, as the federal government hasn’t said what percentage of its mpox vaccine stockpile it is donating.

“Small donations are simply not going to help end this crisis. We need to show greater solidarity and support,” he said in an email.

“That is the biggest lesson from the COVID-19 pandemic — our collective safety is tied with that of other nations.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.

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

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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How many Nova Scotians are on the doctor wait-list? Number hit 160,000 in June

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HALIFAX – The Nova Scotia government says it could be months before it reveals how many people are on the wait-list for a family doctor.

The head of the province’s health authority told reporters Wednesday that the government won’t release updated data until the 160,000 people who were on the wait-list in June are contacted to verify whether they still need primary care.

Karen Oldfield said Nova Scotia Health is working on validating the primary care wait-list data before posting new numbers, and that work may take a matter of months. The most recent public wait-list figures are from June 1, when 160,234 people, or about 16 per cent of the population, were on it.

“It’s going to take time to make 160,000 calls,” Oldfield said. “We are not talking weeks, we are talking months.”

The interim CEO and president of Nova Scotia Health said people on the list are being asked where they live, whether they still need a family doctor, and to give an update on their health.

A spokesperson with the province’s Health Department says the government and its health authority are “working hard” to turn the wait-list registry into a useful tool, adding that the data will be shared once it is validated.

Nova Scotia’s NDP are calling on Premier Tim Houston to immediately release statistics on how many people are looking for a family doctor. On Tuesday, the NDP introduced a bill that would require the health minister to make the number public every month.

“It is unacceptable for the list to be more than three months out of date,” NDP Leader Claudia Chender said Tuesday.

Chender said releasing this data regularly is vital so Nova Scotians can track the government’s progress on its main 2021 campaign promise: fixing health care.

The number of people in need of a family doctor has more than doubled between the 2021 summer election campaign and June 2024. Since September 2021 about 300 doctors have been added to the provincial health system, the Health Department said.

“We’ll know if Tim Houston is keeping his 2021 election promise to fix health care when Nova Scotians are attached to primary care,” Chender said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.

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Newfoundland and Labrador monitoring rise in whooping cough cases: medical officer

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ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Newfoundland and Labrador‘s chief medical officer is monitoring the rise of whooping cough infections across the province as cases of the highly contagious disease continue to grow across Canada.

Dr. Janice Fitzgerald says that so far this year, the province has recorded 230 confirmed cases of the vaccine-preventable respiratory tract infection, also known as pertussis.

Late last month, Quebec reported more than 11,000 cases during the same time period, while Ontario counted 470 cases, well above the five-year average of 98. In Quebec, the majority of patients are between the ages of 10 and 14.

Meanwhile, New Brunswick has declared a whooping cough outbreak across the province. A total of 141 cases were reported by last month, exceeding the five-year average of 34.

The disease can lead to severe complications among vulnerable populations including infants, who are at the highest risk of suffering from complications like pneumonia and seizures. Symptoms may start with a runny nose, mild fever and cough, then progress to severe coughing accompanied by a distinctive “whooping” sound during inhalation.

“The public, especially pregnant people and those in close contact with infants, are encouraged to be aware of symptoms related to pertussis and to ensure vaccinations are up to date,” Newfoundland and Labrador’s Health Department said in a statement.

Whooping cough can be treated with antibiotics, but vaccination is the most effective way to control the spread of the disease. As a result, the province has expanded immunization efforts this school year. While booster doses are already offered in Grade 9, the vaccine is now being offered to Grade 8 students as well.

Public health officials say whooping cough is a cyclical disease that increases every two to five or six years.

Meanwhile, New Brunswick’s acting chief medical officer of health expects the current case count to get worse before tapering off.

A rise in whooping cough cases has also been reported in the United States and elsewhere. The Pan American Health Organization issued an alert in July encouraging countries to ramp up their surveillance and vaccination coverage.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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