This and that for your Thursday reading. – Kate Irwin reports on new research showing that dozens of the U.S.’ largest corporations are doling out more money to their five top executives than they paid in total federal income tax. And Robert Renger makes the case that windfall gains in
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Accidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Brishti Basu reports on the ill effects of WorkSafeBC’s decision to push people back to work while they continue to suffer from long COVID. And Alex Skopic calls out the CDC’s choice to direct people back to work while they’re still infected
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Erosion of Public Health
You would think that after dealing with Covid for over FOUR years that Public Health would be amazing at stopping Measles in its tracks, unless maybe they’ve been directed otherwise. From Henry Madison: Why persist with Covid questions? Because our greatest achievement in history was the invention of public health.
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Avoiding Pathogens Benefits Babies
My mom was right after all: We really should do everything we can to keep babies from getting sick. When I was close to the due date of my first child, my mom warned me not to pass around the baby to people or let lots of people into the house
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Susan Riley points out the glaring gap between the urgency of the climate crisis, and the Canadian political response which (Charlie Angus aside) ranges from mealy-mouthed corporatism to outright sabotage. And Gillian Steward calls out the UCP’s continued climate denial which is preventing
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Andre Picard highlights the dangers of treating the return of measles (and other threats to health exacerbated by anti-science zealotry) as something to be mocked rather than taken seriously. And John Paul Tasker discusses the widespread frustration Canadians are experiencing trying to
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Infection Control Measures Work
A Lancet study found that there’s little Covid transmission in schools WHEN infection control measures were in place. Since we stopped all mitigation efforts, hospitalizations for Covid in Ontario have increased year-round. We don’t need lockdowns for Covid, but we do still need N95s until we can clean the air.
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: Is There a Conspiracy to Break and Then Fix Health Care ?
So how would this work. I suggest first you underfund public health care as well as simply not spending budgeted funds. As the public facilities fail to meet the needs you claim private facilities are needed. You then transfer funds from public to private facilities further reducing the public facilities
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Ian Welsh discusses how COVID-19 is the second-most important story in the world – and how our failure to respond with appropriate regard for human life and well-being mirrors our inability to address any social challenge. And Ruth Link-Gelles et al. find that
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: N95s Reduce the Risk
There are more studies coming out that show that N95s and fresh air help in schools, and we’re still not going to act on them! A pre-print just came out yesterday that studied university classrooms and the way students interacted, and concluded, “Due to high-population density, frequent close contact, possible poor
Continue readingAlberta Politics: It turns out Shoppers Drug Mart clinic plan does nothing to improve access to primary health care in Alberta
The plan announced Thursday by an Ontario-based drugstore chain to add new stores in Alberta and renovate older ones does nothing to improve access to primary health care in this province. A sign inside an Edmonton-area Shoppers store advertises pharmacy services offered (Photo: David J. Climenhaga). So why was it
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Danielle Smith struggles to pump up new drugstore ‘clinics’ as primary care – no slur on pharmacists, but that dog won’t hunt!
The sight yesterday of Premier Danielle Smith and two of her ministers struggling to pump up the tires of a corporate scheme to pass off pharmacists as practitioners of family medicine and their drugstores as clinics was as embarrassing as it was disturbing. Shoppers Drug Mart Corp. CEO Jeff Leger
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Peak Advancement
Measles cases are on the rise because of lower vaccination rates. It’s one of the most contagious diseases out there, but that’s still not going to budge policy. An article in yesterday’s Guardian explains that we’re actually less prepared to cope with any viral activity now than we were in 2019.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Afternoon Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – KFF Health News offers a reminder that the COVID pandemic is far from over, even if the highly effective public health measures which previously kept us relatively healthy have been discarded in favour of determined denialism. And Hayley Gleeson discusses what Australian scientists
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Afternoon Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Julia Doubleday offers a reminder that any remotely responsible definition of “living with COVID” would include doing everything reasonably possible to upgrade air quality. And Dylan Matthews discusses the prospect that UV light may help to reduce the spread of viruses generally –
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Jessica Wildfire laments the great abdication of mutual responsibility which is resulting in countless preventable dangers being allowed to spread unabated. And Benedict Michael et al. study how COVID-19 is giving rise to sustained cognitive defects even as it’s being treated as a
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Expect more chaos in health care, already overwhelmed and at the brink, as AHS ‘senior leaders’ get orders to cut costs
With Alberta’s overwhelmed public health care system once again teetering at the brink, a memorandum from Alberta Health Services’ acting chief financial officer to its “senior leaders” telling them they must find ways to cut costs has surfaced. Michael Lam, Alberta Health Services acting chief financial officer and vice-president of
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Maura Hohman discusses how the U.S. is going through one of its most severe waves of COVID-19 (with very little attention), while Henna Saeed points out the spate of respiratory illnesses in Alberta. And Ashleigh Furlong reports that an attempt to work out a
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Covid Won’t Go Away On Its Own
I’m feeling a bit frantic today (even more than usual) as it’s two days before school opens again, and wastewater indications show we’re really in the thick of it in my part of the world: Across Ontario, we’ve hit the third highest number of daily hospital admissions since this pandemic
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Afternoon Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Brent Appelman et al. study how mental and physical exertion in the midst of a COVID-19 infection can cause long-term damage. Tom Scocca discusses the devastating health and professional effects of his bout of COVID. And Nathaniel Weixel reports on the tens of
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