covid
It’s not just COVID anymore, or a triple-demic. Welcome to the ‘new norm’ of seasonal illnesses
It’s another busy fall in Canadian hospitals, with emergency department closures, long wait times, and ongoing staff shortages all making headlines. The situation can turn deadly: Two people died while waiting for care at the Anna-Laberge hospital in Châteauguay, Que., just last week. And as health-care teams remain dangerously overstretched, they’re also grappling with the pressure of what some physicians are calling a “new norm” for seasonal illnesses — a range of viral and bacterial infections all back in circulation, with COVID-19 still chief among them. “This is probably the first year since COVID started where weRead more
Early signs suggest fall COVID-19 wave starting in Canada — before updated boosters are available
Positive tests, hospitalizations creeping up as drugmakers seek new vaccine approvals There are early signals Canada is already entering a fall COVID-19 wave, while updated booster shots likely remain weeks away. Earlier this week, the Public Health Agency of Canada said fluctuations in virus activity across the country could be an “early sign” of increased infections. The percentage of COVID tests coming back positive, for example, had been gradually declining since the spring, but started going up again over the last month — most recently hitting nearly nine per cent. Hospitalizations increasedRead more
COVID keeps evolving, but so does our immunity. Are we now at a ‘stalemate’ with this virus?
New study shows 3/4 of Canadians have antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 After billions of global COVID-19 infections, millions of deaths, and countless lives upended by long-lasting health impacts, we’ve finally hit a point in this pandemic where SARS-CoV-2 isn’t the fearsome pathogen it used to be. Once thought to kill up to 20 per cent of those infected in the early days of 2020, COVID’s destructive potential is now being throttled by widespread immunity and regularly-updated vaccines. Even so, this ever-evolving virus is with us to stay. It still causes rolling waves ofRead more