Health

Seventh wave of COVID-19 hits Sudbury area – The Sudbury Star

Published

9 months ago

July 12, 2022

Harry Miller

‘The issue with this strain is that it can cause what we call reinfection. That means people who had COVID in the past can get infected again’

Specimens to be tested for COVID-19 are seen at a laboratory. Photo by Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press/File

Like much of Ontario, Sudbury is already feeling the effects of new subvariants fuelling a seventh wave of COVID-19, according to Public Health Sudbury and Districts.

“In our catchment area, the COVID cases that are accounted for, half of them are the BA.5 variant,” said Justeen Mansourian, a public health nurse in the organization’s health protection division.

Along with another subvariant dubbed BA.4, BA.5 is a mutation of the Omicron variant that first appeared late last year. Public health officials in Ontario have raised concerns that the new subvariants are beginning to dominate COVID transmission, with BA.5 accounting for 50 per cent of new cases in the province, and BA.4 40 per cent.

According to Mansourian, Public Health has noticed similar trends in the Sudbury-Manitoulin region.

“The issue with this strain is that it can cause what we call reinfection,” she said. “That means people who had COVID in the past can get infected again. It can also cause breakthrough infections. That means infections in people who have been fully vaccinated.”

Accurate reporting on new variant case numbers are difficult to determine, Mansourian said, because streamlined testing has meant infections aren’t being reported like they were before.

“If there are COVID cases in the community, we’re not going to be made aware of all of them,” she said. “If people develop symptoms, most of them are antigen testing and home, and those aren’t always reported to Public Health.”

Instead, Public Health has been evaluating viral load in wastewater, keeping track of hospitalization rates, ICU case numbers, and outbreaks across the city.

While Mansourian said there is concern about the variants’ rapid spread, members of the public are encouraged to continue the same precaution they’ve practised since the pandemic started more than two years ago.

“Although some of the provincial mandates have been lifted, from a public health perspective, we’re still going to encourage people and ask them to mask as much as possible when they’re in a public place, especially if they’re in an indoor public place and if that place is overcrowded,” she said. “(With the new variants) it’s really important to be proactive and take those precautions.”

She also encourages the public to continue maintaining hand hygiene, and the self-screen daily. If you have any symptoms, stay home and get tested, she said. At-home rapid antigen test kits are currently available for free at several supermarkets and pharmacies across the city.

THIS WEEK’S COVID NUMBERS

Public Health reportrf 105 active cases of COVID-19 in the region Monday.

Since Public Health’s last report Friday, there have been 46 new cases reported, while 53 cases have since been resolved.

Since the pandemic began in March 2020, a total of 16,435 cases of the virus have been identified in the Sudbury-Manitoulin region.

No new COVID-related deaths have been reported since Friday, keeping the total number steady at 154 since the pandemic began.

In hospital currently, 20 Sudbury-area patients have confirmed cases of COVID-19, compared to 21 reported Friday. Of those patients, nine were admitted due to the virus, and the remaining 11 were admitted for other reasons.

Currently, there is one person in the ICU with a confirmed case of the virus, who was admitted to intensive care for reasons other than COVID.

The hospital is investigating 14 patients for potential COVID-19 infection, a drop from the 36 under investigation at the end of last week

This week, there are four active outbreaks of the virus in the region.

The outbreaks include Floor 8 North at Health Sciences North, the Sunnyside unit at St. Joseph’s Villa, and two separate outbreaks at Imagine Therapeutic Services Westmount and Val Therese locations, respectively.

Additionally, a previously reported outbreak at Finlandia Village’s Manty Area has been declared over.

Since vaccination efforts began, 82 per cent of the region’s population have received at least two shots or are fully vaccinated. Vaccination efforts continue this week. Clinics include:

Tuesday, July 12

Appointment and walk-in clinics: Freshwater Community Church (old Mindemoya Missionary Church), Mindemoya, Manitoulin Island; Food Basics, 1800 Lasalle Blvd., Greater Sudbury (mobile bus clinic); Southridge Mall, Greater Sudbury.

Wednesday, July 13

Appointment and walk-in clinics: Southridge Mall; M’Chigeeng Community Complex, Manitoulin Island (mobile bus clinic).

Thursday, July 14

Appointment-only clinics: Walden Kinsmen Hall, 15 Kin Street, Lively.

Appointment and walk-in clinics: Coniston Public Library; Sagamok Multi-Educational Centre (mobile bus clinic).

Friday, July 15

Appointment and walk-in clinics: Wanup General Store, Greater Sudbury (mobile bus clinic).

Appointment only clinics: Centennial Community Centre and Arena, Hanmer.

Saturday, July 16

Appointment and walk-in clinics: Dr. Edgar Leclair Community Centre and Arena, Azilda; Sudbury Arena, back parking lot on Brady Street (mobile bus clinic).

The Local Journalism Initiative is made possible through funding from the federal government.

mjensen@postmedia.com

Twitter: @mia_rjensen

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Health

Nearby regions report spike in whopping cough – BlackburnNews.com

Published

11 hours ago

March 24, 2023

Harry Miller

Nearby regions report spike in whopping cough

Lambton Public Health on Exmouth Street in Sarnia. 27 April 2020. (BlackburnNews.com photo by Colin Gowdy)

By Natalia Vega
March 24, 2023 12:01pm

While some communities in southwestern Ontario are seeing an increase in pertussis, commonly referred to as whooping cough, Lambton Public Health (LPH) has not noted any recent cases within its jurisdiction.

The last case of pertussis reported in Sarnia-Lambton was in 2019.

Earlier this week, the health units in Windsor-Essex and Huron-Perth reported increases in whooping cough cases.

There have been 18 cases since November 2022 in Windsor-Essex, and in Huron-Perth there have been 21 confirmed cases so far this year.

“As always, Lambton Public Health encourages parents and caregivers of children to stay up-to-date on their routine immunizations, which include pertussis, as this greatly reduces the risk of outbreaks and serious illness,” read an emailed statement to Sarnia News Today.

“Other eligible populations for pertussis vaccine include adolescents around 14 to 16 years of age, pregnant individuals preferably between 27 and 32 weeks of gestation, and one adult booster dose for those 18 years of age and older.”

Pertussis is a contagious infection in the lungs and is most dangerous for infants.

In February, LPH said 6,589 letters would be sent to students about routine immunizations.

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Waterloo regional COVID-19, cold and flu care clinic closing its doors | CTV News – CTV News Kitchener

Published

12 hours ago

March 24, 2023

Harry Miller

It might be a sign of change in the pandemic that has gripped the world for three years.

The regional COVID-19 Cold & Flu Care Clinic run by Grand River Hospital is closing its doors.

The clinic has been open for the last six months, first at 66 Pinebush Road in Cambridge and later at 50 Sportsworld Drive in Kitchener, after the hospital announced it would be expanding the services offered by the clinic.

Healthcare workers said it’s a bittersweet day, noting there is still a need for its services in the community.

“At our peak, we were seeing up to 400 patients per week, and it was incredible to see the way this team would perform. Everyone did their part, everybody held their own,” Lisa Anstey, manager of the regional COVID care clinic, said.

She added that it never felt chaotic or busy at the clinic because it was well organized.

“The patients were all very pleased with the care they received,” she said.

The clinic has cared for over 8,000 patients over the last six months.

The hospital said the clinic`s closure comes with the return of warmer weather and anticipated seasonal decline of cold and flu.

“If their symptoms are severe and worsening they should go to a local emergency department… pharmacies are a wonderful resource as well. They can provide Plaxlovid prescriptions or they can support through PCR testing,” said Anstey.

Care will now transition to family physicians, urgent care clinics and community pharmacies.

The hospital says the regional clinic grew out of the COVID-19 assessment clinics which were run by local hospitals starting in 2020. Their goal was to divert patients away from hospitals and get the COVID-19, cold and flu care they need.

The clinic’s doors closed at 4 p.m. Friday.

Nurses Marilyn Boehm and Lannie Butler have been working side-by-side since March 2020, the pair taking on the pandemic together.

They have worked at the drive-thru testing clinic, vaccine clinic and at the regional COVID-19, Cold & Flu Care Clinic.

“This is our final journey, we’re sad it’s closing,” the duo said. “We worry about what’s going to happen to our patients out there in our community.”

“That’s the only recourse that some of the sicker folks have is to go to the emergency department and we know about the long waits and the high volumes there.”

The clinic has helped divert patients from the emergency rooms, and they say the closure could place the burden back on hospitals.

The Ontario Pharmacist Association also has concerns.

“There can be a challenge with needing to ramp those efforts up again very rapidly given the challenges everyone is facing with workforce, health human resources,” Jen Belcher, vice-president of member relations with the Ontario Pharmacist Association, said

The association is stressing that the pandemic isn’t over yet, despite mandates being dropped.

“It’s absolutely not from what we’ve seen from the impact of the disease on our population both through new infection and some of those longer-term complications associated with people with long COVID for example,” Belcher said.

As for Boehm and Butler, they say they will return if they get called back to the frontlines to continue fighting COVID-19.

OTHER CLINICS SET TO CLOSE

The Grand River Hospital’s COVID-19 clinic is not the only one closing in southern Ontario.

On Friday, the Huron Perth Healthcare Alliance (HPHA) said it will be closing its COVID-19, cold and flu care clinic.

According to the HPHA, the last day of operation for COVID-19 testing will be March 30.

“The contribution this team has made to the quality of our local health system during the pandemic has been outstanding,” said Andrew Williams, President and CEO of HPHA in a news release. “As we close our CCFCC a huge thank you is extended to our community partners including the Stratford Rotary Complex, the wonderful staff at the Stratford Family Health Team, Emad Salama of PrinceRx Pharmacy for generously paying the parking fees for all the CCFCC patients and, of course, all the staff and physicians that worked tirelessly provide this service.”

THE HPHA said over 54,000 PCR tests and over 2,000 clinical assessments have been completed.

Over in Guelph, the Guelph-Wellington-Dufferin Public Health unit said it will be closing its clinic on March 31.

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Huron Perth Healthcare Alliance closes COVID, Cold and Flu Care Clinic

Published

13 hours ago

March 24, 2023

Harry Miller

The Huron Perth Healthcare Alliance’s (HPHA) COVID, Cold and Flu Care Clinic (CCFCC) will be closing due to a steady decline in patients.

The last day of operation for COVID-19 testing will be Thursday, March 30. The last day for physician assessment will be Friday, March 31.

“The contribution this team has made to the quality of our local health system during the pandemic has been outstanding,” said President and CEO Andrew Williams. “As we close our CCFCC, a huge thank you is extended to our community partners including the Stratford Rotary Complex, the wonderful staff at the Stratford Family Health Team, Emad Salama of PrinceRx Pharmacy for generously paying the parking fees for all the CCFCC patients and, of course, all the staff and physicians that worked tirelessly to provide this service.”

For patients seeking COVID-19 assessment, testing, or antiviral treatment after March 31, contact your family doctor or visit Ontario’s COVID-19 web page.

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