Viral fragments of bird flu have been identified in samples of milk taken from grocery store shelves in the United States, a finding that does not necessarily suggest a threat to human health but indicates the avian flu virus is more widespread among dairy herds than previously thought, according to two public health officials and a public health expert who was briefed on the issue.
Health
What you need to know about COVID-19 in Ottawa on Sunday, July 25 – CBC.ca
Recent developments:
- Hundreds got vaccinated at pop-up clinic organized by the Escapade music festival.
- Seventy per cent of Ottawa adults are now fully vaccinated.
- Ottawa reported six COVID-19 cases Saturday and no new deaths.
- An Ottawa man endured 100 COVID-19 tests to visit wife in long-term care home.
What’s the latest?
Hundreds of people turned up to get vaccinated against COVID-19 at a pop-up clinic held on Saturday by the organizers of an electronic dance music festival in partnership with the city’s public health department.
While the vaccine clinic was underway, the City of Ottawa announced that 70 per cent of residents over the age of 18 have received both doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, meaning they are now considered fully vaccinated.
Earlier this week, an Ottawa man marked an important, uniquely 2021 romantic milestone — his 100th COVID-19 test, which he needed to visit his wife of 50 years living in a long-term care home.
Things are looking up, <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/OttCity?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#OttCity</a>!<br>It’s hard to believe that 70% of residents 18+ have both doses of their COVID-19 vaccine.<br>Thanks to your hard work, we are starting to get back to the things we love like seeing our friends & family.<br>Thank you for striving for <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/CommunityImmunity?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#CommunityImmunity</a>! <a href=”https://t.co/dycbsxIwzk”>pic.twitter.com/dycbsxIwzk</a>
—@ottawacity
OPH reported six new cases, and no new deaths on Saturday. One patient is in hospital with COVID-19.
Ontario reported 170 new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, 22 fewer than the previous day. The province also reported three additional deaths linked to the virus.
WATCH | Ottawa’s associate medical officer of health says cases rising at higher rate than in previous weeks:
Dr. Brent Moloughney, Ottawa’s associate medical officer of health, says cases are rising at a higher rate than in previous weeks as businesses reopen and residents interact more. 1:24
How many cases are there?
As of Saturday, 27,774 Ottawa residents have tested positive for COVID-19. There are 43 known active cases, 27,138 cases considered resolved, and 593 people have died from the illness.
Public health officials have reported more than 50,300 COVID-19 cases across eastern Ontario and western Quebec, including more than 49,200 resolved cases.
Elsewhere in eastern Ontario, 197 people have died. In western Quebec, the death toll is 215.
Akwesasne has had nearly 700 residents test positive and 10 deaths between its northern and southern sections.
Kitigan Zibi has had 34 cases and one death. Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory has had 11, with one death. Pikwakanagan hasn’t had any.
CBC Ottawa is profiling those who’ve died of COVID-19. If you’d like to share your loved one’s story, please get in touch.
What are the rules?
Eastern Ontario:
Ontario is in Step 3 of its reopening plan.
The latest step allows for indoor dining, with capacity limits based on everyone being able to keep an acceptable distance.
Gyms, movie theatres and museums are able to reach a capacity of 50 per cent inside.
Larger general gathering limits have risen to 25 people inside and 100 people outside. Those limits are even higher for organized events, leading to the resumption of summer festivals and professional sports.
A detailed plan for the next school year is in the works, according to the education minister.
Western Quebec
Western Quebec is now under green zone restrictions, the lowest on the province’s four-colour scale. Its distancing length is now one metre.
Ten people are allowed to gather inside private residences and 20 people outdoors — which increases to 50 if playing sports. Organized games are permitted outdoors again and gyms are open.
People can eat both indoors and outdoors at restaurants and bars.
Personal care services and non-essential businesses can open. As many as 3,500 people can gather in a large theatre or arena and at outdoor festivals.
What can I do?
The novel coronavirus primarily spreads through droplets that can hang in the air.
People can be contagious without symptoms, even after getting a vaccine. Coronavirus variants of concern are more contagious and are established.
This means it is important to take precautions now and in the future like staying home while sick — and getting help with costs if needed — keeping hands and surfaces clean and maintaining distance from anyone you don’t live with, even with a mask on.
Vaccines curb the spread of all types of the coronavirus.
Masks, preferably ones that fit snugly and have three layers, are mandatory in indoor public settings in Ontario and Quebec and recommended in crowded outdoor areas.
There’s federal guidance for what vaccinated people can do in different situations.
Fully vaccinated Canadians and permanent residents can now skip the 14-day quarantine. People have to show proof of a recent negative COVID-19 test to enter Canada by land without a fine.
The federal government has announced fully vaccinated U.S. citizens and permanent residents living there would be able to visit Canada without having to quarantine starting Aug. 9, while tourists from all other countries would be allowed as of Sept. 7.
Health Canada recommends older adults and people with underlying medical conditions get help with errands.
Anyone with COVID-19 symptoms should self-isolate, as should those who’ve been ordered to do so by their public health unit. The length of self-isolation varies in Quebec and Ontario.
Vaccines
Four COVID-19 vaccines have been deemed safe and approved in Canada. Three are in use, with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine the only one approved for children aged 12 to 17.
Canada’s task force says people can wait up to 16 weeks between doses. There are factors pushing provinces to drastically speed up that timeline, including supply and the more infectious delta variant.
That same task force says it’s safe and effective to mix first and second doses.
There is evidence giving a second dose of a Pfizer or Moderna vaccine offers better protection for people who got a first AstraZeneca-Oxford shot. Both Ontario and Quebec are giving people who got a first AstraZeneca dose the option to get a second of the same kind.
More than 2.8 million doses have been given out in the Ottawa-Gatineau region since mid-December, including more than 1.36 million in Ottawa and more than 450,000 in western Quebec.
Eastern Ontario
Ontario is vaccinating anyone age 12 or older.
People can look for provincial appointments opening up online or over the phone at 1-833-943-3900. Pharmacies continue to offer vaccines through their own booking systems, as do some family doctors.
Local health units have flexibility in the larger framework, including around booking, so check their websites for details. They offer standby lists for doses on short notice and recently, more walk-in options.
Campaigns are shifting to target those who are eligible to get their a second shot sooner or who haven’t yet got their first. Some mass clinics have closed.
Check out this weeks <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/COVID19Vaccine?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#COVID19Vaccine</a> walk-in clinic schedule. These walk-in clinics are available to RCD residents 12 years of age and older! <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/IGotTheShot?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#IGotTheShot</a> <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/VaccinesWork?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#VaccinesWork</a><br><br>You can find this schedule by visiting our <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/COVID19Vaccine?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#COVID19Vaccine</a> Rollout Webpage here: <a href=”https://t.co/OhXjNC74WM”>https://t.co/OhXjNC74WM</a> <a href=”https://t.co/9G4mUIHqbT”>pic.twitter.com/9G4mUIHqbT</a>
—@RCDHealthUnit
Vaccine bookings depend on the supply being sent to health units, which generally aren’t reporting the supply problems of previous months.
Western Quebec
Quebec is vaccinating anyone 12 and older. Its goal is to provide second doses four weeks after the first.
People who qualify can make an appointment online or over the phone or visit one of the province’s permanent and mobile walk-in clinics.
People may have to show proof of being fully vaccinated to access certain services if there is an autumn surge of cases.
Symptoms and testing
COVID-19 can range from a cold-like illness to a severe lung infection, with common symptoms including fever, a cough, vomiting and loss of taste or smell. Recently, a runny nose and headache have become more common.
Children tend to have an upset stomach and/or a rash.
If you have severe symptoms, call 911.
Mental health can also be affected by the pandemic, and resources are available to help.
In eastern Ontario:
Anyone seeking a test should make an appointment. Check with your health unit for clinic locations and hours.
Ontario recommends only getting tested if you fit certain criteria, such as having symptoms, exposure or a certain job.
Staff, caregivers and visitors who have been fully-immunized and show no symptoms of the coronavirus no longer need to be tested before entering a long-term care facility.
People without symptoms but who are part of the province’s targeted testing strategy can make an appointment at select pharmacies. Rapid tests are available in some places.
Travellers who need a test have a few more local options to pay for one.
In western Quebec:
Tests are strongly recommended for people with symptoms and their contacts.
People can make an appointment and check wait times online. Some walk-in testing is available.
Call 1-877-644-4545 with questions, including if walk-in testing is available nearby.
First Nations, Inuit and Métis:
First Nations, Inuit and Métis people, or someone travelling to work in a remote Indigenous community, are eligible for a test in Ontario.
Akwesasne has COVID-19 vaccine clinics, with information online or at 613-575-2341. Anyone in Tyendinaga who’s interested in a test can call 613-967-3603 and should watch the website for dedicated vaccine clinics.
Inuit in Ottawa can call the Akausivik Inuit Family Health Team at 613-740-0999 for service, including testing and vaccines, in Inuktitut or English on weekdays.
The last day for Ottawa’s Indigenous vaccination clinic is July 29.
For more information
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Health
Bird flu virus found in grocery milk as officials say supply still safe – The Washington Post
The Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday that it had been testing milk samples throughout the dairy production process and confirmed the detection of viral particles “in some of the samples,” but it declined to provide details.
The presence of genetic fragments of the virus in milk is not unexpected. Pasteurization typically works to inactivate pathogens, said Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Pandemic Center at the Brown University School of Public Health. It generally does not remove genetic material, Nuzzo said, but typically renders pathogens unable to cause harm to people.
The greater concern, however, “is that it’s showing up in a lot more samples, meaning the infection is more widespread in dairy herds than we thought,” said one public health official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share information not yet made public.
In a four-page statement, the FDA said some of the samples collected have “indicated the presence” of the bird flu virus based on testing that detects viral particles but does not distinguish whether they are active or dead. The finding of virus “does not mean that the sample contains an intact, infectious pathogen,” the agency’s statement said.
Additional laboratory testing is underway to grow the virus in cells and in fertilized eggs, the latter being the “gold standard” for sensitive detection of active, infectious virus, the FDA said. “Importantly, additional testing is required to determine whether intact pathogen is still present and if it remains infectious, which determines whether there is any risk of illness associated with consuming the product,” the FDA statement said.
FDA officials said results are expected in the next few days to weeks.
“To date, we have seen nothing that would change our assessment that the commercial milk supply is safe,” the agency said in its statement.
Officials and experts did not have additional details about the number of milk samples that were positive for particles of bird flu or where the samples originated.
Although this strain of avian flu has been circulating for more than 20 years, its leap into cows is of substantial concern, surprising even longtime observers of the virus. More than two dozen livestock herds in at least eight states have been infected with avian flu since March 25, prompting investigations by federal and state officials.
For weeks, key federal agencies have expressed confidence in the safety of the commercial milk supply, including pasteurized products sold at grocery stores. The FDA has highlighted data showing pasteurization inactivates other viruses and pointed to studies showing that the pasteurization process for eggs — which occurs at a lower temperature than what is used for milk — deactivates the highly pathogenic avian influenza.
The International Dairy Foods Association, which represents the nation’s dairy manufacturing and marketing industry, said that viral fragments are “nothing more than evidence that the virus is dead.”
“Milk and milk products produced and processed in the United States are among the safest in the world,” spokesman Matt Herrick wrote in an email, adding that “viral fragments are simply indicative of pasteurization doing its job effectively and protecting our commercial milk supply.”
In recent weeks, multiple experts expressed confidence that the pasteurization process ensures there is no threat to the safety of the nation’s milk supply but said the federal government should still perform tests to confirm that is the case.
Flu is a “fairly wimpy virus,” meaning it is “fairly readily inactivated,” said Richard J. Webby, a virologist at St Jude Children’s Research Hospital. “But that’s something that has to be tested.”
One case of avian flu has been reported in a Texas farmworker in recent weeks, only the second human case ever of bird flu in the United States.
So far, the virus has not acquired the ability to spread efficiently in people.
But as it is able to jump from animal to animal, prospects increase for it mutating to cause sustained person-to-person transmission — a development that could fuel a pandemic.
State health officials have tested 23 people with flu-like symptoms, but only the dairy worker in Texas has tested positive during the current outbreak. Ongoing surveillance of emergency department visits and flu tests in regions where bird flu has been detected has not flagged unusual trends in flu-like illnesses, or eye inflammation, the only symptom experienced by the dairy worker, according to officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who say the risk to the general public of bird flu remains low.
The lack of more human cases is a good sign, health officials say.
The key to containing the outbreak resides in livestock herds. Testing of cows is voluntary. U.S. Department of Agriculture protocols restrict testing to cows with specific symptoms and limits the number of tests per farm.
Health
Avian influenza spread: WHO gives public health warning as FDA calms food safety concerns – Food Ingredients First
23 April 2024 — The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that the ongoing spread of avian influenza poses a “significant public health concern” and urged health authorities, especially in the US, to closely monitor infections in cows. However, the US FDA maintains that the virus is not currently a concern to consumer health and downplayed its impact on commercial milk production.
Earlier this month, the largest producer of fresh eggs in the US halted production at a Texas plant after bird flu was detected in its chickens. Cal-Maine Foods said that about 3.6% of its total flock was destroyed after the infection.
However, the virus, also known as H5N1, has now been found in at least 26 dairy herds across eight US states, marking the first time this strain of bird flu has been detected in cattle, according to officials.
At least 21 states have restricted cattle importations from states where the virus is known to have infected dairy cows.
The US Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service strongly recommends minimizing the movement of cattle, but has not issued federal quarantine orders.
Public health threat
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed this month that a dairy worker in Texas, who reportedly had exposure to dairy cattle presumed to have had avian influenza, contracted the virus and is now recovering.
“This infection does not change the H5N1 bird flu human health risk assessment for the US general public, which CDC considers to be low,” the agency said in a press release, while acknowledging that people who come into more frequent contact with possibly infected birds or other mammals have a higher risk.
Meanwhile, WHO’s chief scientist, Dr. Jeremy Farrar, told reporters recently in Geneva, Switzerland, that H5N1 has had an “extremely high” mortality rate among the several hundred people known to have been infected with it to date.
US health officials have downplayed the impact of bird flu on food safety and industry production.However, no human-to-human H5N1 transmission has yet been recorded.
“H5N1 is an influenza infection, predominantly started in poultry and ducks and has spread effectively over the course of the last one or two years to become a global zoonotic — animal — pandemic,” said Farrar.
“The great concern, of course, is that in doing so and infecting ducks and chickens — but now increasingly mammals — the virus now evolves and develops the ability to infect humans.
“And then critically, the ability to go from human-to-human transmission.”
Concerns with cattle
US health officials have stressed that bird flu’s risk to the public is low, and the country’s food supply remains safe and stable.
“At this time, there continues to be no concern that this circumstance poses a risk to consumer health or that it affects the safety of the interstate commercial milk supply,” the FDA said in a statement.
According to officials, farmers are being urged to test cows that show symptoms of infection and separate them from the herd, where they usually recover within two weeks.
US producers are not permitted to sell milk from sick cows, while milk sold across state lines must be pasteurized or heat-treated to kill viruses, including influenza.
A dairy worker in Texas reportedly contracted the virus after exposure to cattle.
“We firmly believe that pasteurization provides a safe milk supply,” Tracey Forfa, director of the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine, told a webinar audience last week.
However, WHO’s Farrar has urged further caution by public health authorities “because it [the virus] may evolve into transmitting in different ways.”
“Do the milking structures of cows create aerosols? Is it the environment which they’re living in? Is it the transport system that is spreading this around the country?” he said.
“This is a huge concern, and I think we have to…make sure that if H5N1 did come across to humans with human-to-human transmission that we were in a position to immediately respond with access equitably to vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics.”
According to a new European Food Safety Authority report, outbreaks of avian influenza continue to spread in the EU and beyond.
By Joshua Poole
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York Region Public Health is reminding residents to keep up to date on their vaccinations as National Immunization Awareness Week begins.
The regional municipality said it is important to stay up to date on recommended vaccinations to ensure protection from contagious diseases. That includes updated COVID-19 vaccinations for vulnerable populations, recommended as part of a spring vaccination campaign.
“We know vaccines are safe and the best way to stay protected against vaccine-preventable disease,” the region said in a news release.
National Immunization Awareness Week runs from April 22 to 30, with this year’s theme being “Protect your future, get immunized.”
This spring, the region is still doing COVID-19 vaccinations. While walk-ins are no longer available as of April 2, you can book an appointment to visit a York Region clinic.
The spring COVID-19 vaccination campaign is aimed at more vulnerable groups who have received a COVID-19 vaccine before. Those include seniors, those living in seniors living facilities like long-term care homes, immunocompromised individuals and those in Indigenous households who are 55 or older. Public health also recommends the COVID-19 vaccine for those who have not yet received one.
York Region Public Health is also reminding residents of the need for other vaccines.
Measles cases have sprung up in Ontario and York Region recently. The region is recommending that people ensure they previously raised two valid doses of the measles vaccine. The region will also start providing measles vaccines April 29 for those overdue and for who do not have access to the vaccine through a health-care provider.
School-aged vaccinations are also available for free for children in junior kindergarten to Grade 12.
You can access immunization information at york.ca/immunziations or by contacting Access York at 1-877-464-9675.
“Vaccination helps protect everyone in our families, communities and schools,” the region said. “ By continuing to stay up to date on your immunizations, you help protect infants who are too young to be vaccinated and those not able to get vaccinated due to medical conditions.”
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