adplus-dvertising
Connect with us

Health

Today's coronavirus news: Ontario COVID-19 vaccine pilot rollout continues at more sites today; Germany faces tough weeks ahead with rising cases – Toronto Star

Published

 on


KEY FACTS

  • 9:06 a.m. Statistics Canada says the economy added 259,000 jobs in February

  • 8:03 a.m. Serbia will close down all nonessential shops, bars and restaurants this weekend

  • 5:41 a.m. India registers worst single-day jump in cases since late December with 23,285

  • 5:01 a.m. Germany faces tough weeks ahead with rising cases

  • 4 a.m. Ontario COVID-19 vaccine pilot rollout continues at more sites

The latest coronavirus news from Canada and around the world Friday. This file will be updated throughout the day. Web links to longer stories if available.

10:15 a.m. Ontario is reporting 1,371 cases of COVID-19 with 18 deaths. The seven-day average is up to 1,269 cases daily or 61 weekly per 100,000, and down to 11.6 deaths per day. Labs are reporting over 64,611 tests completed, with 2.4 per cent positive, which is slightly up from last Friday. Locally, there are 371 new cases in Toronto, 225 in Peel, 111 in York Region and 109 in Hamilton, according to the province. As of 8 p.m. Thursday, 1,062,910 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered.

9:26 a.m. What you need to know about the mass immunization clinics opening next week in Toronto:

Only residents born in 1941 or earlier (people who are turning 80 in 2021 or who are 80 or older now) can attend the three mass vaccination clinics opening Wednesday, March 17.

The clinics are located at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre at 255 Front St. W., Scarborough Town Centre at 300 Borough Dr., and the Toronto Congress Centre, 650 Dixon Rd.

The sites will operate 7 days a week between 11 a.m. and 8 p.m.

You must make an appointment to attend the clinics. Do not line up outside the clinics without an appointment.

On-line registration launches Friday at www.toronto.ca/covid-19. There you will find a dark blue “Register” button that will be in a grey box at the top of the webpage.

Read the full story from the Star’s Francine Kopun

9:06 a.m. Statistics Canada says the economy added 259,000 jobs in February, almost wiping out losses sustained over the previous two months.

The economy lost almost 213,000 jobs in January as lockdown measures erased months of gains, and marked the worst monthly declines since last April.

February’s reopenings reversed that drop with gains largely in Ontario and Quebec, and in sectors highly affected by tightened public health restrictions.

The national unemployment rate fell to 8.2 per cent, the lowest level since March 2020 at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The figures whipped past expectations of a gain of 75,000 and an unemployment rate of 9.2 per cent, according to financial data firm Refinitiv.

The gains now leave the country 599,100 jobs short of where they were in February of last year, or 3.1 per cent below pre-pandemic levels.

8:31 a.m. Thursday marked the one-year anniversary of the first coronavirus shutdowns in the U.S., and the 50th day of Joe Biden’s presidency. In his first televised prime-time address from the East Room of the White House Thursday night, Biden was marking milestones.

Including one milestone he’s promising soon: that every American will be eligible to receive a vaccine shot by May 1, the aim being to have people host small backyard barbecues by Independence Day.

And another milestone just reached: hours earlier, Biden officially signed his COVID-19 $1.9-trillion economic relief package.

“Today, I signed into law the American Rescue Plan, a historic piece of legislation to deliver immediate relief to millions of people,” Biden said.

The President clearly doesn’t plan to allow that achievement to go unnoticed. Biden planned a big formal celebration in the Rose Garden of the White House Friday, followed immediately by a week-long, cross-country “Help is Here” tour to promote the measures.

Read the full story from the Star’s Edward Keenan

8:05 a.m. Serbia will close down all nonessential shops, bars and restaurants this weekend as the Balkan country faces a surge in coronavirus infections.

The government-appointed crisis body said Friday said the measures will take effect on Friday evening and last until Monday. Authorities will decide on Monday how to proceed, officials said.

The decision is expected to be formally endorsed by the government later Friday.

Serbia has recorded more than 4,000 new infections daily in the past week as doctors have warned that hospitals are rapidly filling up and that medical staff are exhausted after a year of the pandemic.

Senior health official Zoran Gojkovic says the government hopes that it vaccination program will also get infections under control in the coming weeks. He says new measures also include children in higher primary school grades switching to remote classes next week.

A wave of new infections is sweeping across the countries of Eastern and Central Europe, driven mainly by new virus variants that are more contagious.

8 a.m. A provincial pilot project allowing people aged 60-64 in some Ontario cities to get a COVID-19 vaccination quickly became a source of frustration Thursday over unclear rules and limited supply, leading to questions for the government at Queen’s Park.

The confusion over eligibility and access came on the same day as the news that several countries were pausing their use of the same AstraZeneca vaccine because of concerns over blood clots.

The Ontario government’s website initially said only people “who were born between 1957 and 1961 (60 to 64 years old)” could sign up to be vaccinated in one of 327 pharmacies and some select clinics in Toronto, Kingston and Windsor.

By Thursday afternoon, the province had updated its website to read that vaccines should also go to people who “will be, or have been, 60 to 64 in 2021.”

Read the full story from the Star’s Ben Cohen and Rob Ferguson

7:50 a.m. Ontario’s progress in lowering COVID-19 has “stalled” and cases are up 15 per cent in a week with more people out and about as contagious variants take a deeper hold, says a leader of the science table advising Premier Doug Ford.

“The risk of catching the disease has increased,” Adalsteinn Brown, head of the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, warned as he presented new computer modelling that shows new infections rising from 1,099 Thursday to about 2,000 daily in early April in a best-case scenario.

“There is still much danger ahead.”

Statistics released by the province showed 43 per cent or 469 of the new cases reported Thursday are variants, up from one-third a week ago. Those case samples will go for genomic sequencing to determine the strain.

Brown said that, as predicted several weeks ago, cases of older, more traditional strains of COVID are falling as fast as the new strains — now dominant in the United Kingdom, South Africa, Brazil and elsewhere — are rising.

“Two pandemics are playing out,” he told a briefing with Ontario’s chief medical officer, Dr. David Williams. “The new variants are not under control.”

Read the story from the Star’s Rob Ferguson

7:40 a.m. After almost a year spent confined in their rooms and distanced from loved ones as COVID-19 tore through long-term-care homes, residents are now longing for a taste of freedom.

But directives from the province around updated visitation guidelines and looser restrictions for long-term-care homes have yet to materialize.

With new data proving high vaccine efficacy in elderly populations and statistics showing much of the province’s nursing home staff and residents have been vaccinated, physicians, advocates, family members and home administrators say it’s time to change COVID-19 guidelines for residents at long-term-care homes.

“Now that we know this population is protected, it’s time to liberate them,” said Nathan Stall, a geriatrician and epidemiologist at Sinai Health in Toronto.

Read the full story from the Star’s Maria Sarrouh

7:32 a.m. Premier Doug Ford is facing demands to apologize after accusing Ontario’s only Indigenous MPP of “jumping the line” for a COVID-19 shot he was invited to get by local medical authorities in hopes of easing vaccine hesitancy in remote First Nations communities.

New Democrat Sol Mamakwa, who represents the new riding of Kiiwetinoong near Kenora in northwestern Ontario, tweeted about the injection earlier this week as the government’s “Operation Remote Immunity” was in full swing to complete shots in fly-in communities at high risk of outbreaks.

Mamakwa later said the premier’s remark serves to undermine vaccination efforts in the far north and showed “a lack of understanding, a lack of respect…a lack of compassion for Indigenous people.”

Chief Gordon Beardy of the Muskrat Dam First Nation, who invited the MPP to get his first shot there last month, said the premier needs to “smarten up.”

Read the full story from the Star’s Rob Ferguson

7:21 a.m. In mid-February, when stay-at-home orders were lifted for most of Ontario, the province described the move as a cautious transition back into a “strengthened” framework for controlling COVID-19. “We saw what happened before, and we don’t want it to happen again,” Premier Doug Ford said at the time.

But three weeks later, there are once again signs of trouble, with many experts fearing a brewing third wave. New variants now account for 42 per cent of all cases, according to estimates by the COVID-19 Science Advisory Table, and most public health units are once again seeing upticks in new infections.

“There is still much danger ahead,” said Adalsteinn Brown, science table co-chair and dean of the Dalla Lana School of Public Health. “Twenty-four out of our 34 public health units have seen an increase in case rates over the past two weeks.

“This growth sometimes is in very small beginning numbers, and so it does not represent huge numbers yet. But this growth isn’t random; it’s a function of how loosening public health measures, increased mobility and growth in new variants come together.”

Read the full story from the Star’s Jennifer Yang, Andrew Bailey and Cameron Tulk

6:41 a.m. It’s been a year since most of the city shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but most restaurants continued to operate when they were declared essential by the province.

But staying open for takeout has costs many customers don’t think about, including takeout containers, building a patio and credit card fees. This is in addition to making a fraction of the revenue they were used to seeing and having to continue paying monthly costs for rent, ingredients and alcohol.

Nick Liu, chef and owner of DaiLo, says he spent $18,260.65 on takeout packaging since July 2020, including bags, boxes and some specialty packaging for holiday specials. The boxes he uses for his tasting menus to-go are cardboard and cost $1.25 each. They are a compromise from the boxes the restaurant initially used when indoor dining was first shut down.

“Me and my business partners really fought over the type of packaging we used for awhile,” he said. “In the beginning, we used recycled bamboo boxes, but it was really too expensive and we sacrificed the amount of food we sold.”

Read the full story on the costs many Toronto restaurants endured during the pandemic from the Star’s Karon Liu.

6 a.m. New Zealand has removed remaining coronavirus restrictions on the city of Auckland after containing a small outbreak.

Loading…

Loading…Loading…Loading…Loading…Loading…

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced Friday the city of 1.6 million would join the rest of the country in having no restrictions other than an ongoing requirement to wear masks on public transport and planes.

After a community outbreak of 15 cases last month, Auckland was placed first into a three-day lockdown and later into a weeklong lockdown. Since the end of the second lockdown Sunday, the city had continuing restrictions on crowd sizes.

New Zealand has adopted a zero-tolerance approach to the virus and eliminated community spread.

5:41 a.m. India has registered its worst single-day jump in coronavirus cases since late December with 23,285.

The sharp spike is being attributed to the western state of Maharashtra.

India has so far reported more than 11.3 million cases, the world’s second-highest after the United States. Infections have been falling steadily since a peak in late September, but experts say increased public gatherings and laxity is leading to the latest surge.

The increase is being reported in six states, including Maharashtra where authorities have announced a weeklong lockdown in the densely populated Nagpur city next week. The vaccinations there will continue.

India is in its second phase of the COVID-19 inoculation campaign and plans to vaccine 300 million people by August. The vaccination drive that began in January is still running way below capacity.

More than 26 million people have gotten a shot, though only 4.72 million are fully vaccinated with both doses.

5:11 a.m. Thailand delayed use of the AstraZeneca vaccine on Friday after several European countries temporarily suspended the jabs following reports of blood clots in some people.

A publicity event with Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha receiving his first shot was cancelled with dozens of media attending, less than an hour before the scheduled start. Instead, health officials held a news conference to explain the delay was based on the decision made by Denmark, Austria and others as a precaution. The Danish health authority said Thursday it has no evidence the vaccine was responsible for blood clots.

Other experts pointed out that of the millions of AstraZeneca vaccine shots administered elsewhere, including in Britain, there have been no reported cases of the vaccine causing blood clots or related problems.

Yong Poovorawan, an advisor to Thailand’s vaccination program, said the delay, pending an investigation into the cause of the reported side effect, will not have a big impact on the rollout.

Thailand started its vaccination drive last month with an initial 200,000 doses of China’s Sinovac and 117,000 doses of AstraZeneca, which is also being manufactured locally.

5:05 a.m. The World Health Organization says it’s assessing reports of rare blood coagulation problems faced by some people in the European Union who received doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine against COVID-19.

The U.N. health agency noted the decision of a few European Union countries to suspend use of the vaccine based on reports of the rare disorder in people who received the vaccines from a particular batch.

It noted that the European Medicines Agency has determined that the vaccine’s benefits outweigh the risks, and said that no cases of death have been found to be caused by any COVID-19 vaccines so far.

A WHO advisory committee on vaccine safety is “carefully assessing” the reports and will communicate its findings and any changes in its recommendations to the public.

“Deaths from other causes will continue to occur, including after vaccination, but causally unrelated,” WHO said.

5:01 a.m. Germany’s health minister says the country should prepare for “several very challenging weeks” amid a rise in coronavirus cases.

Health Minister Jens Spahn told reporters in Berlin on Friday that “the situation remains tense,” as the country’s disease control centre reported 12,834 newly confirmed cases in the past day, and 252 new COVID-related deaths.

The head of the agency, Lothar Wieler, said Germany is “at the beginning of the third wave” of infections following surges in cases last spring and in the fall.

Spahn noted there has been a drop in serious illnesses and deaths among the elderly, as most people over 80 in Germany have now received a virus vaccine.

He said Germany has managed to administer more than 200,000 first shots daily this week. As more supplies arrive, shots will be administered not just in special vaccine centres but, from mid-April, also in doctors’ practices, said Spahn.

4:55 a.m. Japan will not take part in China’s offer — accepted by the International Olympic Committee — to provide vaccines for “participants” in the postponed Tokyo Games and next year’s Beijing Winter Games.

Olympic Minister Tamayo Marukawa said Friday that Japan had not been consulted by the IOC about the Chinese vaccines, and that Japanese athletes would not take them. She said the vaccines have not been approved for use in Japan.

“We have been taking comprehensive anti-infectious disease measures for the Tokyo Games in order to allow participation without vaccinations,” Marukawa said. “There is no change to our principle of not making vaccinations a prerequisite.”

Announced by IOC President Thomas Bach on Thursday, the surprise deal comes as China faces mounting international pressure over the internment of at least 1 million Muslim Uyghurs, which has been labeled a “genocide” by several governments and human-rights bodies.

The IOC has indicated it is a sports body and will not meddle in domestic issues in China.

The IOC initially said it would not require athletes to get vaccines, but only encourage it. The deal with China puts more emphasis on getting vaccines to young, healthy athletes and others.

Friday 4 a.m. A pilot project offering COVID-19 vaccines in pharmacies is expanding more broadly today.

Some pharmacies in Toronto, Windsor and Kingston health units have already started offering Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines to residents between the ages of 60 to 64.

Justin Bates of the Ontario Pharmacists’ Association says additional shots were to arrive yesterday.

That means vaccinations are set to begin at more sites today.

He says interest in the pilot has been overwhelming.

Individual pharmacies are using their own booking systems and Bates says people should check online before calling due to high call volumes.

Thursday 10 p.m.: Canadian health authorities are keeping a watchful eye on European investigations of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine after reports of blood clots following inoculations, but say there is no evidence they were caused by the vaccine.

At least nine European countries hit pause on their use of AstraZeneca’s doses — some entirely, and others only on specific batches — pending further investigation of blood clots, though none suggested there is a link between the clots and getting the vaccine.

Canada’s first 500,000 doses of AstraZeneca are being put to use just this week.

Late Thursday, Health Canada issued a release saying it is aware of the reports out of Europe and would like to reassure Canadians “that the benefits of the vaccine continue to outweigh its risks.”

Health Canada said it authorized the vaccine based on a thorough, independent review of the evidence and determined that it meets Canada’s stringent safety, efficacy and quality requirements.

“At this time, there is no indication that the vaccine caused these events,” reads the release.

“To date, no adverse events related to the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, or the version manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, have been reported to Health Canada or the Public Health Agency of Canada.”

Health Canada said none of the identified batches under investigation have been shipped to Canada.

Officials in several provinces said Thursday they don’t intend to stop the rollout.

Click here to read more of Thursday’s COVID-19 coverage.

Let’s block ads! (Why?)

728x90x4

Source link

Continue Reading

Health

What’s the greatest holiday gift: lips, hair, skin? Give the gift of great skin this holiday season

Published

 on

Give the gift of great skin this holiday season

Skinstitut Holiday Gift Kits take the stress out of gifting

Toronto, October 31, 2024 – Beauty gifts are at the top of holiday wish lists this year, and Laser Clinics Canada, a leader in advanced beauty treatments and skincare, is taking the pressure out of seasonal shopping. Today, Laser Clincs Canada announces the arrival of its 2024 Holiday Gift Kits, courtesy of Skinstitut, the exclusive skincare line of Laser Clinics Group.

In time for the busy shopping season, the limited-edition Holiday Gifts Kits are available in Laser Clinics locations in the GTA and Ottawa. Clinics are conveniently located in popular shopping centers, including Hillcrest Mall, Square One, CF Sherway Gardens, Scarborough Town Centre, Rideau Centre, Union Station and CF Markville. These limited-edition Kits are available on a first come, first served basis.

“These kits combine our best-selling products, bundled to address the most relevant skin concerns we’re seeing among our clients,” says Christina Ho, Senior Brand & LAM Manager at Laser Clinics Canada. “With several price points available, the kits offer excellent value and suit a variety of gift-giving needs, from those new to cosmeceuticals to those looking to level up their skincare routine. What’s more, these kits are priced with a savings of up to 33 per cent so gift givers can save during the holiday season.

There are two kits to select from, each designed to address key skin concerns and each with a unique theme — Brightening Basics and Hydration Heroes.

Brightening Basics is a mix of everyday essentials for glowing skin for all skin types. The bundle comes in a sleek pink, reusable case and includes three full-sized products: 200ml gentle cleanser, 50ml Moisture Defence (normal skin) and 30ml1% Hyaluronic Complex Serum. The Brightening Basics kit is available at $129, a saving of 33 per cent.

Hydration Heroes is a mix of hydration essentials and active heroes that cater to a wide variety of clients. A perfect stocking stuffer, this bundle includes four deluxe products: Moisture 15 15 ml Defence for normal skin, 10 ml 1% Hyaluronic Complex Serum, 10 ml Retinol Serum and 50 ml Expert Squalane Cleansing Oil. The kit retails at $59.

In addition to the 2024 Holiday Gifts Kits, gift givers can easily add a Laser Clinic Canada gift card to the mix. Offering flexibility, recipients can choose from a wide range of treatments offered by Laser Clinics Canada, or they can expand their collection of exclusive Skinstitut products.

 

Brightening Basics 2024 Holiday Gift Kit by Skinstitut, available exclusively at Laser Clincs Canada clinics and online at skinstitut.ca.

Hydration Heroes 2024 Holiday Gift Kit by Skinstitut – available exclusively at Laser Clincs Canada clinics and online at skinstitut.ca.

Continue Reading

Health

Here is how to prepare your online accounts for when you die

Published

 on

 

LONDON (AP) — Most people have accumulated a pile of data — selfies, emails, videos and more — on their social media and digital accounts over their lifetimes. What happens to it when we die?

It’s wise to draft a will spelling out who inherits your physical assets after you’re gone, but don’t forget to take care of your digital estate too. Friends and family might treasure files and posts you’ve left behind, but they could get lost in digital purgatory after you pass away unless you take some simple steps.

Here’s how you can prepare your digital life for your survivors:

Apple

The iPhone maker lets you nominate a “ legacy contact ” who can access your Apple account’s data after you die. The company says it’s a secure way to give trusted people access to photos, files and messages. To set it up you’ll need an Apple device with a fairly recent operating system — iPhones and iPads need iOS or iPadOS 15.2 and MacBooks needs macOS Monterey 12.1.

For iPhones, go to settings, tap Sign-in & Security and then Legacy Contact. You can name one or more people, and they don’t need an Apple ID or device.

You’ll have to share an access key with your contact. It can be a digital version sent electronically, or you can print a copy or save it as a screenshot or PDF.

Take note that there are some types of files you won’t be able to pass on — including digital rights-protected music, movies and passwords stored in Apple’s password manager. Legacy contacts can only access a deceased user’s account for three years before Apple deletes the account.

Google

Google takes a different approach with its Inactive Account Manager, which allows you to share your data with someone if it notices that you’ve stopped using your account.

When setting it up, you need to decide how long Google should wait — from three to 18 months — before considering your account inactive. Once that time is up, Google can notify up to 10 people.

You can write a message informing them you’ve stopped using the account, and, optionally, include a link to download your data. You can choose what types of data they can access — including emails, photos, calendar entries and YouTube videos.

There’s also an option to automatically delete your account after three months of inactivity, so your contacts will have to download any data before that deadline.

Facebook and Instagram

Some social media platforms can preserve accounts for people who have died so that friends and family can honor their memories.

When users of Facebook or Instagram die, parent company Meta says it can memorialize the account if it gets a “valid request” from a friend or family member. Requests can be submitted through an online form.

The social media company strongly recommends Facebook users add a legacy contact to look after their memorial accounts. Legacy contacts can do things like respond to new friend requests and update pinned posts, but they can’t read private messages or remove or alter previous posts. You can only choose one person, who also has to have a Facebook account.

You can also ask Facebook or Instagram to delete a deceased user’s account if you’re a close family member or an executor. You’ll need to send in documents like a death certificate.

TikTok

The video-sharing platform says that if a user has died, people can submit a request to memorialize the account through the settings menu. Go to the Report a Problem section, then Account and profile, then Manage account, where you can report a deceased user.

Once an account has been memorialized, it will be labeled “Remembering.” No one will be able to log into the account, which prevents anyone from editing the profile or using the account to post new content or send messages.

X

It’s not possible to nominate a legacy contact on Elon Musk’s social media site. But family members or an authorized person can submit a request to deactivate a deceased user’s account.

Passwords

Besides the major online services, you’ll probably have dozens if not hundreds of other digital accounts that your survivors might need to access. You could just write all your login credentials down in a notebook and put it somewhere safe. But making a physical copy presents its own vulnerabilities. What if you lose track of it? What if someone finds it?

Instead, consider a password manager that has an emergency access feature. Password managers are digital vaults that you can use to store all your credentials. Some, like Keeper,Bitwarden and NordPass, allow users to nominate one or more trusted contacts who can access their keys in case of an emergency such as a death.

But there are a few catches: Those contacts also need to use the same password manager and you might have to pay for the service.

___

Is there a tech challenge you need help figuring out? Write to us at onetechtip@ap.org with your questions.

Source link

Continue Reading

Health

Pediatric group says doctors should regularly screen kids for reading difficulties

Published

 on

 

The Canadian Paediatric Society says doctors should regularly screen children for reading difficulties and dyslexia, calling low literacy a “serious public health concern” that can increase the risk of other problems including anxiety, low self-esteem and behavioural issues, with lifelong consequences.

New guidance issued Wednesday says family doctors, nurses, pediatricians and other medical professionals who care for school-aged kids are in a unique position to help struggling readers access educational and specialty supports, noting that identifying problems early couldhelp kids sooner — when it’s more effective — as well as reveal other possible learning or developmental issues.

The 10 recommendations include regular screening for kids aged four to seven, especially if they belong to groups at higher risk of low literacy, including newcomers to Canada, racialized Canadians and Indigenous Peoples. The society says this can be done in a two-to-three-minute office-based assessment.

Other tips encourage doctors to look for conditions often seen among poor readers such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder; to advocate for early literacy training for pediatric and family medicine residents; to liaise with schools on behalf of families seeking help; and to push provincial and territorial education ministries to integrate evidence-based phonics instruction into curriculums, starting in kindergarten.

Dr. Scott McLeod, one of the authors and chair of the society’s mental health and developmental disabilities committee, said a key goal is to catch kids who may be falling through the cracks and to better connect families to resources, including quicker targeted help from schools.

“Collaboration in this area is so key because we need to move away from the silos of: everything educational must exist within the educational portfolio,” McLeod said in an interview from Calgary, where he is a developmental pediatrician at Alberta Children’s Hospital.

“Reading, yes, it’s education, but it’s also health because we know that literacy impacts health. So I think that a statement like this opens the window to say: Yes, parents can come to their health-care provider to get advice, get recommendations, hopefully start a collaboration with school teachers.”

McLeod noted that pediatricians already look for signs of low literacy in young children by way of a commonly used tool known as the Rourke Baby Record, which offers a checklist of key topics, such as nutrition and developmental benchmarks, to cover in a well-child appointment.

But he said questions about reading could be “a standing item” in checkups and he hoped the society’s statement to medical professionals who care for children “enhances their confidence in being a strong advocate for the child” while spurring partnerships with others involved in a child’s life such as teachers and psychologists.

The guidance said pediatricians also play a key role in detecting and monitoring conditions that often coexist with difficulty reading such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, but McLeod noted that getting such specific diagnoses typically involves a referral to a specialist, during which time a child continues to struggle.

He also acknowledged that some schools can be slow to act without a specific diagnosis from a specialist, and even then a child may end up on a wait list for school interventions.

“Evidence-based reading instruction shouldn’t have to wait for some of that access to specialized assessments to occur,” he said.

“My hope is that (by) having an existing statement or document written by the Canadian Paediatric Society … we’re able to skip a few steps or have some of the early interventions present,” he said.

McLeod added that obtaining specific assessments from medical specialists is “definitely beneficial and advantageous” to know where a child is at, “but having that sort of clear, thorough assessment shouldn’t be a barrier to intervention starting.”

McLeod said the society was partly spurred to act by 2022’s “Right to Read Inquiry Report” from the Ontario Human Rights Commission, which made 157 recommendations to address inequities related to reading instruction in that province.

He called the new guidelines “a big reminder” to pediatric providers, family doctors, school teachers and psychologists of the importance of literacy.

“Early identification of reading difficulty can truly change the trajectory of a child’s life.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 23, 2024.

Source link

Continue Reading

Trending