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 readingTag: Health Care
THE 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
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: McKinsey’s Effect on Public Health
Almost two years ago, the Canadian government published a Covid response plan that they appear to be largely ignoring. The 3rd edition of the guide was published in March 2022, and it appears to be the most recent edition. They outline the “worst case scenario,” and it’s pretty much what
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Can We Get Some Leadership Here?
Hopefully more people will start paying attention to the dangers of Covid and wear a simple N95 to protect themselves and others now that JN.1 seems to be in the news more. But leadership would help. The concern with JN.1 is that the “variant appears to have an increased affinity
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – David Macdonald highlights yet another record-breaking year of Canadian CEO income compared to the pay of the average worker. – Lisa Young’s wish for the new year is for better public health – though the hostility to the concept from Danielle Smith
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Afternoon Links
Assorted content to end your 2023. – Shannon Hall discusses new research showing that the positive effects of COVID-19 vaccination include a reduction in long COVID in children. And Erin Prater warns about the building Pirola wave which is already causing record-high infection levels in some countries. – Meanwhile, Carly
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Long Covid Tag
Mentioning Long Covid symptoms to people can set off a series of other stories from people with similar symptoms. It’s out there, but we don’t want to talk about it. This is from Nikki S’s thread, a founding member of Long Covid Support in the UK: “I was at a get-together
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Ryan Meili discusses how a blinkered focus on austerian “efficiency” and exit strategies prevents the development of care systems capable of meeting long-term needs. And Dione Wearmouth reports on the fallout from the UCP’s insistence on putting performative politics over even those
Continue reading