Canadian COVID-19 News

[Mike OReilly]

More slightly good news (G&M):
As COVID-19 cases rise, Ontario study suggests Omicron is less severe

In the study, Public Health Ontario compared Omicron cases with symptoms that emerged between Nov. 22 and Dec. 17 with Delta cases and found that, after adjusting for vaccination status and region, the risk of hospitalization or death was 54 per cent lower with Omicron.

The agency says Omicron appears to be the first dominant variant to show a decline in severity, but warns that due to its higher transmissibility, “the absolute number of hospitalizations and impact on the health-care system is likely to be significant, despite possible reduced severity.”

[GordMay]

Why were some isolation periods shortened for vaccinated people with COVID-19?

"British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and New Brunswick have each announced shorter isolation periods for vaccinated individuals who test positive for COVID-19. The moves this week follow similar measures from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to also shorten the isolation period in the United States.

Under the new guidelines, vaccinated people who test positive with COVID-19 will only be required to self-isolate for a minimum of five days following the date when their symptoms started or a positive test, instead of 10 days. Some health officials have suggested the new rules will be easier for people to follow and help alleviate worker shortages.

If, after five days, their symptoms have improved or subsided for at least 24 hours, they can end the isolation period. But they still should be masking and physical distancing.

And there are no changes to timelines for those who are unvaccinated.

Here's what you need to know about the new measures and the rationale behind the province's decisions ..."

More ➥ https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/short...id19-1.6301335

[sv_pelagia]

Which contrasts with the recent change by CDC, which does not differentiate between vaccinated and unvaccinated (even though data indicates unvaccinated show a longer time frame before becoming non-infectious). https://yourlocalepidemiologist.subs...affairs-dec-28

[Scorpius]

Originally Posted by GordMay

Why were some isolation periods shortened for vaccinated people with COVID-19?

"British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and New Brunswick have each announced shorter isolation periods for vaccinated individuals who test positive for COVID-19. The moves this week follow similar measures from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to also shorten the isolation period in the United States.

Under the new guidelines, vaccinated people who test positive with COVID-19 will only be required to self-isolate for a minimum of five days following the date when their symptoms started or a positive test, instead of 10 days. Some health officials have suggested the new rules will be easier for people to follow and help alleviate worker shortages.

If, after five days, their symptoms have improved or subsided for at least 24 hours, they can end the isolation period. But they still should be masking and physical distancing.

And there are no changes to timelines for those who are unvaccinated.

Here's what you need to know about the new measures and the rationale behind the province's decisions ..."

More ➥ https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/short...id19-1.6301335

It seems to me that a big problem, as it has been all along, is enforcement. How do you tell, without roadside checkpoints, or stop-and-frisk for vaccine passports, who is vaccinated and who is not? I suspect we are now down to the hardcore anti-vaxxers and deniers and they are unlikely to follow anyone's rules or guidelines.

[sv_pelagia]

Originally Posted by Scorpius

It seems to me that a big problem, as it has been all along, is enforcement. How do you tell, without roadside checkpoints, or stop-and-frisk for vaccine passports, who is vaccinated and who is not? I suspect we are now down to the hardcore anti-vaxxers and deniers and they are unlikely to follow anyone's rules or guidelines.

Unfortunately, this is true for too many, and it's not limited to anti-vaxxers/deniers, etc. I just learned of distant inlaws who came down with the key symptoms and still hopped on a cross-Canada flight. Arriving home, they tested positive.

Their irresponsible behaviour contrasts with a neighbour friend (an urgent care nurse), who came down with symptoms 2 days before Christmas. She got tested and then, while waiting on results, cancelled all her Christmas plans (she was hosting) and isolated. Day after Christmas, PCR results came back negative. She did the responsible right thing, despite meaning she had to isolate and be alone on Christmas.

[JPA Cate]

Posts have been deleted for rudeness, pot stirring, along with posts that quoted deleted content.

[Montanan]

Wishing all a very happy and healthy new year.

Let's hope it is not 2020 too.

And, uh, just saying:

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by CatNewBee

I would say don't thrust any science that is not censored or is promoted as "all scientists agreed on this". [emoji12]

Sometimes they do however mostly all agree

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

I read an article somewhere recently (can't put my hands on it right now), indicating that some authorities in Quebec were exploring the idea of allowing asymptomatic vaccinated people to continue to work even after testing positive.

This might become a necessity as cases rise everywhere. It might even be desirable IF hospitalizations don't rise as much. The data from South Africa continues to look good regarding low hospitalizations due to Omicron.

I think soon most authorities will lift the isolation procedures for non symptomatic close contacts. Italy is being to do it this week. Otherwise no one will be working

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

I think soon most authorities will lift the isolation procedures for non symptomatic close contacts. Italy is being to do it this week. Otherwise no one will be working

Yes... given the massive upsurge in cases thanks to Omicron I think policy makers will have little choice. Otherwise, who's going to keep delivering our Amazon packages and check us out at the grocery store? Let alone care for us in the hospital.

[GordMay]

Test positivity rate tops 50% over 2 days in Bearskin Lake as First Nation in Ontario in emergency state
More ➥ https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thund...ency-1.6300511

[Mike OReilly]

The trend I'd hoped would not happen... So much for Omicron being less virulent .

G&M: Canada’s COVID-19 hospitalizations up 67 per cent in week as Omicron takes hold

The number of COVID-19 patients in Canadian hospitals climbed by 67 per cent over the past week, including a 9-per-cent increase in infected people in intensive care units, according to data compiled by The Globe and Mail.

The highly transmissible Omicron variant of COVID-19 has swept across Canada in little over a month. Now, as daily infections break record after record, medical professionals are nervously watching as this new uptick in people with symptoms begins to affect the health care system.

Hospitals in Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba recorded the most significant increases.

[Montanan]

And then there remains the baffling illness affecting growing number of young adults in New Brunswick.

"Speaking to the Guardian, an employee with Vitalité Health Network, one of the province’s two health authorities, said that suspected cases are growing in number and that young adults with no prior health triggers are developing a catalog of troubling symptoms, including rapid weight loss, insomnia, hallucinations, difficulty thinking and limited mobility.

The official number of cases under investigation, 48, remains unchanged since it was first announced in early spring 2021. But multiple sources say the cluster could now be as many as 150 people, with a backlog of cases involving young people still requiring further assessment."

https://www.yahoo.com/news/whistlebl...110015762.html

[Montanan]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

The trend I'd hoped would not happen... So much for Omicron being less virulent .

Indeed ditto elsewhere, for example, New Jersey: "An Omicron Tsunami"

"The current surge of COVID hospitalizations in New Jersey continued its steep rise on New Year's Eve, reaching 4,005, the highest daily count since the pandemic's first surge back in May of 2020.

Of those hospitalized, 297 needed ventilators. State Health Commissioner Judy Persichilli said 70% of the people hospitalized for COVID-19 in New Jersey are unvaccinated.
. . .

Taking care of those who need to be hospitalized is being complicated by the fact that so many employees in the state's 71 hospitals are getting sick as well. On New Year's Eve, 681 new COVID infections were reported among New Jersey hospital staff, following daily new case counts of 580, 750 and 806 earlier in the week. . . . When hospital workers test positive they must quarantine for seven days, making it harder for hospitals to care for the growing number of patients"

I suspect that there is a high degree of vaccinations amongst the hospital staff which should avail them with considerable protection from severe Covid disease. Albeit, a sizeable percentage of the infected hospital workers will develop symptoms which may endure into becoming long covid and could even become inpatients themselves.

Likely to be a challenging winter during 2022.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/omicron-t...165110741.html

[nwdiver]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

The trend I'd hoped would not happen... So much for Omicron being less virulent .

G&M: Canada’s COVID-19 hospitalizations up 67 per cent in week as Omicron takes hold

Your own understanding of stats should show you why this is happening. If as some suggest we will all have Omicron in the next 2 months the hospitals will overflow…….