Two new large-scale reports are giving a clearer picture of the long-term impacts of COVID-19 infections on Canadians and the health-care system.
One report, published Monday by Statistics Canada, found that nearly 15 per cent of people who’ve contracted COVID-19 say they experienced lingering symptoms such as fatigue, shortness of breath or brain fog three months or more after their initial infection.
But compared with earlier phases of the pandemic, the report found that a much smaller proportion of those infected since the Omicron variant hit Canada late last year reported such long-term symptoms.
StatsCan, which conducted the survey in partnership with the Public Health Agency of Canada, describes it as the first nationally representative report of its kind.
A separate study also published Monday, in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ), found that people who tested positive for COVID-19 in Ontario used more hospital and other health-care resources in the months after their infection cleared than those who tested negative.
The reports are the latest in a growing body of research into the scope of long COVID, a catch-all term for a range of post-infection health effects.
Among adults who contracted COVID-19 before the Omicron wave hit, nearly 26 per cent told Statistics Canada they had symptoms at least three months after their infection. Among those infected from December 2021 onward, that figure decreased to 10.5 per cent. (Ben Nelms/CBC)
Fewer people report long COVID since Omicron: survey
The World Health Organization has estimated that what it calls “post-COVID-19 condition” affects 10 to 20 per cent of those infected, but those figures are based on earlier phases of the pandemic. Newer research suggests long COVID is now occurring at a much lower rate.
StatsCan says its data suggests some 1.4 million Canadian adults — or about five per cent of the total population — experienced symptoms three months after a COVID infection. The survey was conducted among Canadians who tested positive for COVID-19 or suspected they had the disease.
“This is a significant number of people impacted by long COVID,” said Dr. Fahad Razak, an internal medicine specialist and epidemiologist at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, and a former head of Ontario’s COVID-19 science advisory table.
“Clinicians in Canada’s research community have been waiting anxiously for the results of this and the data does tell us that we are like other countries,” said Razak, who was not directly involved in the study, in an interview with CBC News.
Because the survey data is based on people’s self-reports of post-COVID symptoms and isn’t compared with a control group of uninfected people, Razak and other physicians said the results should be interpreted with some caution.
The StatsCan report does not indicate how severe people’s post-COVID symptoms were, nor does it indicate whether symptoms waned at any point after the three-month mark.
Physicians say widespread COVID-19 vaccination likely contributed to the lower rate of long COVID reported by people infected since December 2021, compared with those infected during earlier waves of the pandemic. (Ben Nelms/CBC)
StatsCan’s survey found that a notably smaller proportion of people infected since the Omicron wave report long-term symptoms, compared with those infected during the first year and a half of the pandemic.
The survey found 25.8 per cent of Canadian adults who contracted COVID-19 before December 2021 had symptoms at least three months after their infection.
Among those whose cases date from December 2021 onward, 10.5 per cent reported symptoms three months or more post-infection.
The lower rate of long COVID among Canadians infected since last December is good news, says Dr. Zain Chagla, an infectious diseases specialist in Hamilton, who was not involved in the study.
“The people that are really, really suffering the most are people that were infected very early in the pandemic,” said Chagla in an interview with CBC News.
Vaccines likely key to lower frequency: doctors
Both Chagla and Razak said the benefit of vaccination is likely a key reason for the lower frequency of long COVID among those infected over the past year.
The survey also provides further evidence linking the likelihood of long COVID with the severity of illness when first infected.
Symptoms at least three months post-infection were reported by:
36.4 per cent of Canadian adults who rated their initial case of COVID-19 as severe;
15 per cent of those who rated their initial case as moderate;
6.3 per cent of those who rated their initial case as mild.
Dr. Angela Cheung with Toronto’s University Health Network says both studies are important because they add to knowledge about the impact of long COVID in Canada. (University Health Network)
Dr. Angela Cheung, senior physician scientist with the University Health Network in Toronto, said those figures from the Statistics Canada report are consistent with previous research.
“I’m glad this survey happened and that we are actually trying to get a handle on the number of people affected by COVID-19 with lingering symptoms,” she said in an interview.
Findings can help prepare for demand, researchers say
Cheung, who was not involved with either report, also said the CMAJ study published Monday is important for quantifying increased use of the health-care system after a COVID-19 infection.
The study led by researchers from Toronto’s Sunnybrook Research Institute and at the non-profit research agency ICES looked at the health-care use of more than 530,000 Ontario residents who were tested for COVID-19 via PCR before March 31, 2021.
The researchers matched the demographics of those who tested positive and those who tested negative and found “significantly higher rates of health care use” in the period starting at least eight weeks after a positive test.
The researchers found a 47 per cent increase in the average number of days spent in hospital per year by women who’d tested positive and a 53 per cent average increase among men.
The researchers said the findings can help the system prepare for health-care demand associated with long COVID.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
