Ontario’s chief medical officer of health has denied the Toronto District School Board’s request to maintain a mask mandate when students return to classrooms next week. In a letter to the chair of the board on Thursday, Kieran Moore wrote that many of the safety measures, including masks, can be gradually removed with “the peak…
Category: Community News
What can Ontario learn from Europe’s spring COVID spike?
Cases are expected to rise with most restrictions lifted and the increase of BA.2, but we’re not expected to hit the peak numbers of January. As Ontario gets rid of masking requirements for most indoor settings on Monday, European countries that have already dropped public health restrictions are offering a glimpse of how the province…
Health Canada approves Moderna COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 6-11
March 17 (Reuters) — Moderna Inc MRNA.O said on Thursday Canada authorized its COVID-19 vaccine for use in children between 6 and 11 years of age. The vaccine, branded Spikevax, was recently cleared for use among kids in the same age group in Australia and the European Union. Moderna last year said its two-dose vaccine generated virus-neutralizing antibodies in…
Ontario universities to keep mask mandates in place until end of term
Decision to keep mandates in place is in spite of provincial guidelines that will lift mandatory masking in indoor settings like schools, restaurants and gyms. As Ontario prepares to lift its mask mandate on March 21, universities in the province are opting to keep them in place until the end of the winter term. In a…
What is the Deltacron variant of Covid and where has it been found?
Another new coronavirus variant has been identified, this one containing elements of Delta and Omicron What is Deltacron? As the portmanteau suggests, Deltacron is a Covid variant that contains elements of Delta and Omicron – in other words, it contains genes from both variants, making it what is known as a recombinant virus. “These recombinants…
What does ‘living with’ COVID-19 mean? HIV/AIDS activists offer lessons from pandemics past
When LGBTQ communities helped researchers turn HIV from a death sentence into a chronic illness, they gained a new perspective on risk, social stigma and the duty of care – insights that are still critical now As COVID-19 hospitalizations decline and restrictions loosen across the country, boosted Canadians are slowly moving beyond the crisis stage…
We asked all 34 local medical officers of health if they’ll keep masking after Ontario’s mandate ends. Here’s what they said
With wearing a mask soon going from an obligation to a choice, what will Ontario’s top doctors do? Several of the province’s top doctors say they plan to continue masking in indoor public settings, even after Ontario’s mask mandate ends on March 21. The Star surveyed all 34 local medical officers of health, from Toronto to…
To mask or not to mask, that is the question
Some people are still wearing masks. Some are not. The mask mandates have mostly been lifted. No one is quite sure why. Is it because the pandemic is over? Because masks never worked? Because we’re fed up with COVID-19 and we want everyone to see it on our faces? Or is this just a little respite and…
As China faces worst COVID-19 outbreak since 2020, many blame Hong Kong
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam has expressed her “care and concern” for the people of the neighbouring city of Shenzhen, which is headed into lockdown amid a growing COVID-19 outbreak – one many residents blame her city for. With cases on the rise in the southern tech hub, authorities have ordered all 12.6 million…
New ‘Deltacron’ Variant Is Rare and Similar to Omicron, Experts Say
Scientists have found a handful of cases of a new, hybrid variant in Europe and the United States. It’s unlikely to cause trouble, they say. In recent days, scientists have reported that a hybrid of the Omicron and Delta coronavirus variants has been popping up in several countries in Europe. Here’s what is known so…