Hamilton’s medical officer of health is characterizing a COVID-19 outbreak at a downtown gym as an “unfortunate case.”
An investigation has determined that SPINCO’s Downtown Hamilton location, which has been connected to 61 coronavirus cases, was following public health guidelines, according to Dr. Elizabeth Richardson.
In the city’s emergency operations centre update on Tuesday, Richardson said a review determined the outlet had been operating at 50 per cent capacity in keeping with provincial guidelines amid the pandemic which included customer screening, sanitation, and a two-metre radius around each bike.
“When we talked to them about what they were doing beforehand they had removed 50 percent of the bikes so that people were further apart, they had made sure they were laundering towels. They had done all sorts of things to try and reduce the potential for spread,” Richardson said.
The city’s MOH says gyms are simply high-risk places since people generally don’t wear masks, breathe at a higher rate during physical activity, and tend to be boisterous due to loud music.
Richardson says public health is not sure how many people have been potentially affected by the outbreak but said it appears to be about 100 or so.
“There were several particular classes that happened over a few day period that we were looking at as might have been the classes where people may have become infected,” Richardson said.
“There’ve been 17 more cases that are what we call secondary cases that have happened outside of this SPINCO membership group, where there’s been transmission to others.”
On the weekend, the owners of the studio admitted to being “hesitant” to open when they got a green light from the province in July to open.
“We took all the measures public health offered, even added a few, and still the pandemic struck us again!” the gym said in a post on Instagram.
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SPINCO says it was open for three and a half months after a provincial lockdown before being hit by the outbreak and says it will reopen once given clearance from public health.
“So while we wait and remain closed, you have our commitment, that we will not re-open until It is safe to do so, we need to show our city and the rest of our province that the SPINCO community is not going anywhere,” the gym said.
During his regular COVID-19 briefing on Tuesday, premier Doug Ford was non-committal in regards to tightening restrictions on gyms in light of the SPINCO outbreak.
“Well, right now I’ll take the direction from Dr. Williams and see what the health team and the chief medical officer of the Hamilton region have to say,” Ford said. “Then we’ll make a decision from there.”
Hamilton public health reported 12 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, pushing the city’s total number of confirmed cases since the pandemic began to 1,407.
Officials say 42.1 per cent (91) of the city’s 216 new coronavirus cases in the last 10 days have been among people under the age of 30.
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Hamilton has 195 active cases as of Oct. 13.
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The city has only three outbreaks with 44 cases recorded at downtown gym SPINCO, which has seen the virus spread among 42 people with ties to the gym’s customers and cases in two staff members.
There are also outbreaks at Salvation Army Lawson Ministries on Main Street East and Dundurn Place Care Centre in Downtown.
Halton Region reports 30 new COVID-19 cases
Public Health Halton reported 30 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, with Burlington reporting 13 new cases and Oakville reporting 11.
The region has had 1,640 cases since the pandemic began. Public health says there are 212 active cases as of Oct. 13. Burlington has 95 active cases and a total of 425 coronavirus cases since March.
The region has a total of four outbreaks at two long-term care homes (Creek Way Village and Cama Woodlands in Burlington) and two retirement homes (Chartwell Waterford in Oakville and Village of Tansley Woods in Burlington).
The outbreak at Tansley Woods has 22 total cases in 14 residents, six staff members and 2 other people connected to the home. Two people have died in the latest outbreak at the home.
Public Health Halton says 48.7 per cent (151) of its 310 cases in the last 10 days were among residents under the age of 39. Burlington accounts for 136 of those cases with 52 (38.2 per cent) under the age of 39.
Niagara Region reports one new COVID-19 case
Niagara public health reported one COVID-19 case on Tuesday, bringing the region’s total number of cases to 1,214 since the pandemic began.
There are currently 99 active cases as of Oct. 13.
The region has five outbreaks connected to the coronavirus, which includes four retirement homes (Pioneer Elder Care in St. Catharines, Shalom Gardens in Grimsby, and The Meadows of Dorchester and Lundy Manor in Niagara Falls) and one nursing home (Millennium Trail Manor in Niagara Falls).
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Since the pandemic was declared, 42.2 per cent (512) of the region’s 1,214 cases have occurred in people under the age of 39.
Haldimand-Norfolk reports two new COVID-19 cases
The Haldimand-Norfolk Health Unit (HNHU) reported two new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday. The region has an overall total of 500 lab-confirmed positive cases.
Officials say there are eight active cases as of Oct. 13.
Public health says 33.4 per cent (167) of all cases in the region involve people between the ages of 20 and 39.
The HNHU announced a new outbreak on the weekend tied to two staff members at the Caressant Care long term care home in Courtland.
Brant County reports one new COVID-19 case
Brant County’s health unit reported one new COVID-19 case on Tuesday. The region has a total of 206 confirmed cases since the pandemic began.
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.
