Some are deciding not to return to campus altogether for fear of the Omicron variant, while others are reluctantly moving back, unsure what to expect. Many Ontario university and college students will be starting the winter semester online Monday, but some schools are expecting them to return to campus for in-person classes by the end…
Category: Community News
Health Canada approves Pfizer’s oral treatment for COVID-19
Health Canada has approved Paxlovid, Pfizer’s oral antiviral treatment for COVID-19 that has been touted as a way to ease pressure on health-care systems overburdened by rising case counts. OTTAWA—Health Canada’s approval of Pfizer’s oral treatment for COVID-19 was hailed as “good news” by federal officials Monday, despite caveats that the drugs won’t blunt an…
Quebec isn’t the only one targeting the unvaxxed. But is it moral?
Taxes and fines cross a red line, taking us down a road that one ethicist warns ‘will do tremendous damage to our society’ “I think it’s reasonable for the majority who are vaccinated to feel some emotion of resentment or to feel moral disapprobation toward the unvaccinated,” says Arthur Schafer, a bioethics professor at the…
Should you swab your nose – and your throat – for a more accurate at-home COVID test?
While some experts say swabbing both throat and nose can produce more accurate at-home COVID-19 test results, official health guidance still advises you stick to the nose-only package instructions. With gold-standard testing for COVID-19 becoming increasingly difficult to find, debate is swirling over whether a throat swab sample should be collected alongside a nose swab…
We are Black and Indigenous front-line workers. Our own parents died of COVID-19 in Canada’s inequitable health system
We are used to the stories of community members being unable to access medical care when they need it, they write. For so many in Canada, the concept of a collapsing healthcare system is impossible to conceive. For others, like our own families, the healthcare system has always been unreliable, failing and full of gaps….
Adults over 50 saw physical decline even with mild cases of COVID-19: study
Even a mild case of COVID-19 can result in higher odds of decreased mobility and physical function for adults aged 50 years and older, according to a new national study, putting a spotlight on how hundreds of thousands could need physical rehabilitation due to this pandemic. The study, published in the journal JAMA Network Open on…
A Guelph student spent years advocating for a federal minister of mental health. Now that it’s a reality, what’s next?
The naming of Carolyn Bennett as Canada’s minister for mental health and addictions had personal meaning for Noah Irvine. Now he wants to see action. In a cabinet shuffle late last year, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed Canada’s first federal minister for mental health and addictions, Carolyn Bennett. The government hailed the move as a…
Unvaccinated workers are filing for wrongful dismissal — but lawyers say their chances are slim
Courts likely to prioritize public safety measures over the predicaments of terminated employees in most cases, say employment lawyers. A wave of unvaccinated workers have filed wrongful dismissal claims in protest of their employers’ vaccine mandates, but lawyers say the courts are likely to prioritize public safety measures over the predicaments of terminated employees. Canadian…
Ontario parents and teachers have a ‘range of emotions’ as in-person learning set to resume
Students are gearing up to head back to school Monday, but mother nature might have a different plan. Toronto mother Sara Marlowe spent part of the weekend helping her kids prepare for a return to in-person learning on Monday, when schools across the province were set to reopen. Knapsacks were packed, lunches were made and…
Chronic exhaustion, derailed lives and no way out. This is long COVID.
Up to half a million Canadians are suffering from debilitating symptoms of long COVID—and falling through the cracks of a depleted health-care system On Christmas morning in 2020, Carrie Anna McGinn woke up in a silent hotel room. There was no little voice squeaking at her to open presents. Instead, her three-year-old daughter was at…