Canada - Coronavirus COVID-19

[Tadpole12]

Ontario reports 2,417 new COVID-19 cases and 50 more deaths

"the number of active infections has declined by about 20 percent since the province enacted an emergency stay-at-home order."

Order began Jan 12,
so 12 days later


Sunnybrook doctor reflects on receiving Canada's first COVID-19 patient

a year ago


At least 1 in 3 COVID-19 infections are asymptomatic, study suggests

 

[otto]

Ontario reports 2,417 new COVID-19 cases and 50 more deaths

"the number of active infections has declined by about 20 percent since the province enacted an emergency stay-at-home order."

Order began Jan 12,
so 12 days later


Sunnybrook doctor reflects on receiving Canada's first COVID-19 patient

a year ago


At least 1 in 3 COVID-19 infections are asymptomatic, study suggests

Interesting study about asymptomatic infection. It reminds me of the Chinese woman who attended a meeting in Germany and then travelled to Italy, spreading the virus as she travelled. She denied having any symptoms, and later admitted that she had taken some cold medication to suppress symptoms.

Studies like this concern me because one interpretation is that 1/3 of the population has sufficient immunity to the virus and that the government is over-reacting. I'm not convinced that this internet data scraping report gives an accurate picture.

From the study:

Purpose:
To estimate the proportion of persons infected with SARS-CoV-2 who never develop symptoms.

Data Sources:
Searches of Google News, Google Scholar, medRxiv, and PubMed using the keywords antibodies, asymptomatic, coronavirus, COVID-19, PCR, seroprevalence, and SARS-CoV-2.

Symptom detection relies on the subjective reports of patients (73). For example, anosmia has turned out to be a distinctive symptom of COVID-19 (74), and we depend on patients to perceive and report a diminution, however slight, of their normal olfactory abilities. But such self-reports are influenced by many factors, including variability in the ability to recall symptoms and idiosyncratic awareness of bodily sensations.

ACP Journals

 

[musicaljoke]

Nothing seems to be peer reviewed anymore, not even vaccines.

If it is true that 30% of recovered covid patients return to hospital within 5 months, and 1/8 die, I would say there's a lot about the virus that is not understood.

Latest from WHO and Wuhan is that researchers were careless with sick bats.

Just to clarify your comment that vaccines are not peer reviewed anymore, please know that they are indeed peer reviewed. The Centre for Biologics Evaluation (CBE) is responsible for the regulatory and scientific evaluation of vaccines in Canada.

A drug company cannot make random claims about the efficacy of their product and market it, without going through the review process with the CBE and the CFDA. Health Canada's Biologic and Radiopharmaceutical Drugs Directorate (BRDD) regulates vaccines.

Biologic and Radiopharmaceutical Drugs Directorate - Canada.ca

 

[musicaljoke]

Montreal researchers conclude colchicine tablet is effective at treating COVID-19 symptoms | National Post
The results showed the medication helped reduce hospitalizations by a quarter, the need for mechanical ventilation by half and deaths by 44 per cent
“In a news release issued Friday, the institute described its findings as a “major scientific discovery” that could help millions of COVID-19 patients around the world.

Colchicine, an oral tablet that’s inexpensive and easy to make, is already known and used for other diseases. The study looked at its effects on 4,159 COVID-19 patients....”

Here's the research if you'd like to read more :

Can Colchicine as an Old Anti‐Inflammatory Agent Be Effective in COVID‐19?

A bit from the article:
Colchicine is as an old drug, an alkaloid derived from autumn crocus, which has been used to treat several inflammatory diseases for many years. Several mechanisms of action for the anti‐inflammatory effects of colchicine have been reported in the literature. 6 , 7 The ability of colchicine to bind to free tubulin dimers, which may result in the blockage of the following microtubule polymerization, 8 is believed to be one of the most famous mechanisms. This mechanism seems to lead to the interruption of inflammatory cell activities and cytokine release. 9Moreover, colchicine may control the white blood cell (WBC)‐mediated inflammatory activities, counting the inhibiting WBC production of superoxides and release of numerous cytokines and pyrogens. 10 Therefore, it may generally target WBCs, resulting in microtubule depolymerization, which in turn inhibits motility, phagocytosis, and degranulation of the WBCs. Furthermore, colchicine may suppress IL‐1β and IL‐18 release by interacting with Nod‐like receptor protein 3 inflammasome protein complex. 11

 

[otto]

Just to clarify your comment that vaccines are not peer reviewed anymore, please know that they are indeed peer reviewed. The Centre for Biologics Evaluation (CBE) is responsible for the regulatory and scientific evaluation of vaccines in Canada.

A drug company cannot make random claims about the efficacy of their product and market it, without going through the review process with the CBE and the CFDA. Health Canada's Biologic and Radiopharmaceutical Drugs Directorate (BRDD) regulates vaccines.

Biologic and Radiopharmaceutical Drugs Directorate - Canada.ca

Good point! I should be more careful with my words. What I was thinking is that pandemic urgency means vaccine review is fast-tracked and less rigorous today.

 

[dotr]

'It wasn't called COVID at the time:' One year since Canada's first COVID-19 case - CityNews Toronto
Jan 24 2021
''The patient, when he came into the hospital ER with what seemed to be mild pneumonia, wasn’t that sick and might otherwise have been sent home.

Except the man had just returned from China, where a new viral disease was spreading like a brush fire. His chest X-rays were also unusual.

“We’d never seen a case like this before,” says Dr. Jerome Leis. “I’d never seen an X-ray quite like that one.”

It was the evening of Jan. 23, 2020, when the team at Toronto’s Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre decided to admit the 56-year-old patient. That same day, Canada’s chief public health officer, Dr. Theresa Tam, told the country:

“The risk of an outbreak in Canada remains low,” Tam said in a refrain she and other officials would repeat for weeks on end.

Less than two days after admission to Sunnybrook, the man would become “Patient Zero” — the first COVID-19 case in Canada.''

 

[dotr]

Jan 24 2021
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/garneau-emergencies-act-pandemic-travel-1.5885770
"We are looking at all potential actions to make sure that we can achieve our aims. The Emergencies Act is something you don't consider lightly," Garneau said in a Sunday interview on Rosemary Barton Live. "But we are first and foremost concerned about the health and safety of Canadians. And if we can do that in a way that we have the regulatory power to do it, we will do it."

The Emergencies Act would give cabinet the power to regulate or prohibit travel "to, from or within any specified area, where necessary for the protection of the health or safety of individuals."

On Friday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau urged Canadians to rethink all travel plans inside and outside Canada's borders, particularly as March break approaches.

"People should not be planning non-essential travel or vacation travel outside of the country, particularly because, as I said a few days ago, we could be bringing in new measures that significantly impede your ability to return to Canada at any given moment without warning," Trudeau cautioned.''

 

[Ontario Mom]

DBM

 

[otto]

Couple who tried to cheat the system identified and charged:

"Couple Rod and Ekaterina Baker are accused of flouting COVID-19 rules, lying about being local motel workers

The former president and CEO of a Canadian casino company and his wife are the couple accused of breaking Yukon COVID-19 rules and chartering a plane to the small community of Beaver Creek to receive doses of the Moderna vaccine.

The pair are accused of violating the territorial Civil Emergency Measures Act (CEMA) by failing to self-isolate and failing to adhere to entry declarations."​

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/great-canadian-gaming-ceo-yukon-covid-vaccines-1.5886734

 

[LadyL]

uh oh

Canadian provinces push back vaccination plans as Pfizer deliveries grind to a halt

 

[LadyL]

Great Canadian Gaming CEO, wife ticketed after allegedly flying to Yukon to get COVID-19 vaccine

COVID-19 outbreaks in Saskatchewan

Alberta reports 24 COVID-19-related deaths Sunday, including woman in her 40s

26 people infected in COVID-19 outbreak at Surrey emergency shelter

Ontario reports 2,417 new coronavirus cases, 50 more deaths

 

[LadyL]

Nearly half of Canadians know someone who has been infected with COVID-19, poll suggests

1 year after Canada's first coronavirus case, the COVID-19 pandemic rages on

 

[otto]

uh oh

Canadian provinces push back vaccination plans as Pfizer deliveries grind to a halt

Someone messed up with the vaccines. I remember a recent headline where Trudeau declined an opportunity to purchase more vaccine. I don't understand that. If Canadians have more than they need, they can donate the surplus to a country that does not have enough. It didn't make sense to decline.

"The federal government has chosen not to exercise its option to buy up to 16 million more doses of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine, Procurement Minister Anita Anand's office told CBC News late Sunday.

Ottawa initially ordered 20 million doses of the Moderna vaccine, with an option to receive up to 56 million total. In December, the federal government announced it had exercised its option for an additional 20 million doses.

But the chance to buy up to 16 million more doses has now expired, the department said today. The government has not disclosed the terms of those options.

Despite this, Procurement Minister Anita Anand says Canada doesn't need to approve additional vaccine candidates to meet its goal of inoculating everyone who wants a COVID-19 shot by September. She also said that target could be reached ahead of schedule."​

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/anita-anand-covid-19-vaccine-rollout-1.5867870

 

[LadyL]

Canadians who travel outside Canada could be stranded abroad, Trudeau warns | National Post

350 Canada Post employees at Mississauga, Ont. facility sent home to self-isolate as cases continue to rise

 

[otto]

Canadians who travel outside Canada could be stranded abroad, Trudeau warns | National Post

350 Canada Post employees at Mississauga, Ont. facility sent home to self-isolate as cases continue to rise

From the first link, I see that early research is confirming fears that new variant is more deadly. That's not good news.

"British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said new research on the variant that has spread rapidly in Britain seems to indicate the mutation is 30 per cent more deadly.

“We have now learned that, in addition to spreading more quickly, the new variant of the virus may be associated with a higher degree of mortality,” Johnson said.
​

Canadians who travel outside Canada could be stranded abroad, Trudeau warns | National Post

 

[margarita25]

 

[Tadpole12]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/covid-19-ontario-january-26-2021-update-1.5887849

Ontario reports 1,740 new COVID-19 cases -
the fewest since mid-December

 

[LadyL]

knew this was coming, what with the warnings

Canada to unveil more steps to restrict foreign travel, sees no vaccine supply problems

news from several provinces

The latest news on COVID-19 developments in Canada for Tuesday, Jan. 26

not sure I believe the family

Civil servant 'betrayed' family with alleged $11-million COVID-relief fraud: docs

 

[otto]

not sure I believe the family

Civil servant 'betrayed' family with alleged $11-million COVID-relief fraud: docs

It sounds like the family was well aware of what he was doing, and now they claim that they told him to do the right thing, that he is suddenly two personalities in one person. Sounds ridiculous.

 

[otto]

knew this was coming, what with the warnings

Canada to unveil more steps to restrict foreign travel, sees no vaccine supply problems

If the measures that are in place are not preventing sick people from entering the country, then stricter measures have to be implemented. The virus first arrived in Canada through travel and the new variants arrived through travel. It's obvious that travel restriction is the only option to prevent more sick people from spreading virus in Canada.