Auxiliary nurse Nadia Knodja administers Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine to Danielle Marceau, an employee of CHSLD St-Antoine, a nursing home in Quebec City on Dec. 14, 2020. Photo courtesy: Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux Quebec.
Jan 02, 2022 —
The COVID-19 omicron variant has driven case counts high in recent days across Eastern Ontario.
The Eastern Ontario Health Unit (EOHU), the local public health department for all of Ontario east of Ottawa between the St. Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers, reported 1,588 active cases of COVID-19 across its territory on December 31. Six people are in hospital and one individual is in intensive care. The highest number of cases on December 31 were in Cornwall with 506 cases. South Stormont had 142 cases, and Clarence-Rockland had 132 cases.
According to EOHU Medical Officer of Health Dr. Paul Roumeliotis, it cannot be confirmed or denied if employees of long-term care and retirement facilities who test positive for COVID-19 are being allowed to remain on the job.
“We have to look at the precautions,” Roumeliotis said on December 31.
Allowing asymptomatic employees who test positive to remain working could be permitted if there are extreme shortages of staff. Roumeliotis said he was not aware if a nurse at a retirement home who tested positive for COVID-19 was allowed to keep working, nor was he aware of other similar examples across the region.
However, Roumeliotis said it is possible he may permit asymptomatic long-term care and retirement facility employees who test positive in the future to remain on the job.
“I’m not ruling it out.”
The Québecgovernment recently announced it will allow asymptomatic health care workers who test positive for COVID-19 to continue working if circumstances warrant.
There were COVID-19 outbreaks at six retirement and nursing homes across the EOHU’s jurisdiction as of December 31.
The Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit, which includes Brockville, Prescott, and Gananoque in its territory, had 613 active cases of COVID-19 among its residents on December 31. The City of Ottawa’s public health department reported 693 active cases of COVID-19 within its jurisdiction.
The Eastern Ontario Heath Unit (EOHU) is advising the public that effective December 31, Ontario is updating its public health measures and guidance as the number of Omicron variant COVID-19 cases across the province rapidly rises.
During a special press conference on Friday morning, Medical Officer of Health Dr. Paul Roumeliotis said the COVID-19 positivity rate for the EOHU’s territory is 21 per cent, and the Ontario positivity rate is 30 per cent. He said most outbreaks in long-term care and retirement facilities are among asymptomatic staff.
In an effort toprotect the province’s most vulnerable residents, Ontario is shifting its strategy and making publicly funded PCR testing only available to high-risk individuals who are symptomatic and/or at risk of severe illness from COVID-19. Workers and residents in the highest risk settings and other vulnerable populations will continue to have access to PCR testing.
However, members of the public who have mild symptoms and are not part of a high-risk population are being asked not to seek testing. As such, individuals with a positive result from a rapid antigen test will no longer have to get a PCR or rapid molecular test to confirm their COVID status. Health units will no longer perform contact tracing and case management for a positive case in a low risk setting.
“Testing was overwhelmed,” said Roumeliotis.
The shift in case and contact management will allow health units to redirect some staff members towards the vaccination effort, where the need is greatest.
Ontario is also changing the isolation period for people who contract COVID-19 as research is demonstrating that healthy individuals who contract the virus are most infectious in the two days before they start having symptoms and the three days afterward.
Fully vaccinated individuals who have COVID-19, as well as children under 12, must isolate for 5 days from the onset of symptoms. Their household members must also isolate for 5 days. Contacts from outside the affected household must self-monitor for symptoms for 10 days.
Individuals who are unvaccinated, partially vaccinated, or immunocompromised must isolate for 10 days.
Effective immediately, Ontario will make fourth doses of mRNA vaccines available to all residents of long-term care homes, retirement homes, Elder Care Lodges and other congregate care settings. In order forresidents to receive their fourth dose, a minimum of three months or 84 days must have passed since their third dose.
In order to bring in additional measures to ensure the safety of students in Ontario’s schools, the province is delaying the return to school by two days. Students who were set to return on January 3 will head back to school on January 5.
As of December 31, 2021, Ontario is restricting spectator capacity in large indoor settings to 50 per cent, or 1,000, whichever is less. The new limit will apply to spectator areas of sports and recreational fitness activities, concert venues and theatres.
Roumeliotis emphasized on December 31 that vaccination is still effective against the omicron variant of COVID-19. Even if vaccination does not entirely prevent illness, it will prevent severe disease in 80 to 90 per cent of people. He said people who are not vaccinated are 20 to 40 times more likely to end up in intensive care if they are infected with COVID-19.
Québec cracks down
On December 30, Québec Premier François Legault and Minister of Health and Social Services, Christian Dubé, announced several measures designed to get the rapid spread of COVID-19 under control across Québec.
According to the Institut national de sante public du Québec (INSPQ), 86,866 active cases of COVID-19 across Québec as of December 30.
There were 939 people in hospital across Québec due to COVID-19 as of December 30, and 139 patients were in intensive care. The new measures announced by Legault and Dubé are in addition to those already in force.
A curfew is in effect between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. nightly across Québec. Penalties ranging from $ 1,000 to $ 6,000 will apply for offenders.
On Friday, Roumeliotis said he is concerned about Québec residents coming to Ontario communities near the provincial boundary to shop and dine and how that could affect the spread of COVID-19.
“We’re going to keep an eye on that,” said Roumeliotis.
In Québec, private gatherings in homes must be limited to occupants of the same residence.
The start of the school year in elementary, secondary, general adult education and vocational training has been postponed to January 17, 2022, in all regions of Québec.
Places of worship across Québecare closed, with an exception for funerals which must be limited to 25 people.
Outdoor events in Québec are still authorized but with a maximum of 250 people.
Indoor dining rooms at all restaurants in Québec are closed. Delivery and take-out orders are still possible.
All stores in Québec will be closed on Sundays, except for certain businesses such as convenience stores, gas stations and pharmacies.
Indoor sports across Québec are suspended, unless they are practiced by a single person, by two people, or by the occupants of the same residence.
The indoor facilities of downhill ski centers and snowmobile relays will be open only to allow people to warm up and have access to the bathrooms. It will be forbidden to consume food inside ski facility buildings. Food services may still offer take-out orders.
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.
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.
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.
