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2022-05-05

New York City could bring back Covid mask mandate, vaccine checks if hospitals come under pressure

This is a news story from CNBC News by Spencer Kimball. New York City might bring back the mask mandate and vaccine checks if hospitals become too overwhelmed. New York City increased its COVID alert level from low to medium earlier this week as infections have kept on rising. Health Commissioner Ashwin Vasan said New York might reinstate mandatory masking and vaccine checks if the city raises its Covid alert level to high. New York's alert system is based off of CDC guidance and hospital protocols. Mayor Eric Adams ended mandatory vaccine checks at restaurants and other indoor venues in March, in addition to the mask mandate for people attending school. Masks are still required on buses, rail, and on subways in New York City. New York City, as of right now, has 80% of their population fully vaccinated.

2020-08-12

Covid studies

A comic strip about Covid-19

2022-03-29

American Samoa COVID Cases Situational Report #19

This is the nineteenth report released by the American Samoa Department of Public Health regarding the rise of covid cases in American Samoa. As of March 29, 2022, positive cases have risen to 3756 from 3381 on March 27, 2022. A total of five individuals are hospitalized and 4 recorded deaths related to COVID-19 have been documented.

2020-12-10

Analysis of Racial Disparity in COVID by CDC

CDC page outlining racial disparity in the transmission and treatment of COVID-19. There are explanations given for the discrepancies pertaining to economic disparity as well. This illustrates the knowledge of the discrepancies in the transmission of COVID-19 across different racial backgrounds and social classes and possible solutions.

2020-03-25

Myths & Facts: How Coronavirus Is Transmitted

A blog post from Banner Health discussing the myths associated with Covid-19 Transmisson.

2020-10-26

Ontario dog first in Canada to test positive for COVID-19, but researcher says there are likely more

An Ontario dog living with four human COVID-19 patients is the first dog in Canada to test positive for the virus. But researchers say the discovery doesn't mean pet owners need to worry. The animal is from the Niagara Region and lived in a home where four out of six people had the virus, according to Dr. Scott Weese, chief of infection control at the University of Guelph's Ontario Veterinary College. "At last check, both dogs were fine, everyone in household sounds like they're doing well," he said. Weese described COVID-19 as a "human virus." There is some risk of animal-to-human transmission when it comes to mink, and experiments have shown infected cats can pass the virus to other cats, but that has not been shown in dogs, he said. "If your dogs has COVID or is infected with this virus, it got it from you or someone else in the household."

2021-07-01

Pets can catch Covid from owners, study suggests

Swabs were taken from 310 pets in 196 households where a human infection had been detected. Six cats and seven dogs returned a positive PCR result, while 54 animals tested positive for virus antibodies. "If you have Covid, you should avoid contact with your cat or dog, just as you would do with other people," Dr Els Broens, from Utrecht University, said. The researchers say the most likely route of virus transmission is from human to animal, rather than the other way round. "We can't say there is a 0% risk of owners catching Covid from their pets," Veterinary Microbiological Diagnostic Centre Dr Broens said. "At the moment, the pandemic is still being driven by human-to-human infections, so we just wouldn't detect it."

2021-08-04

SUNY Brockport reinstates mask mandate

Today, my college, SUNY Brockport reinstated the mask mandate, now requiring all individuals on campus to wear masks again. I am sure many have mixed feelings about this. I want to protect myself and my community by I am soooo over wearing masks.

2021-07-14

COVID-19: Morelos confirmó primer brote de la variante Delta [COVID-19: Morelos confirmed first delta variant outbreak]

Mexico - La Secretaría de Salud de Morelos confirmó el primer caso de COVID-19 de la variante Delta, la cepa con mayor índice de transmisión y cuyo acelerado crecimiento amenaza, principalmente, a la población joven de 20 a 39 años que no ha sido totalmente inmunizada o se encuentra en proceso de ello. El paciente confirmado se trata de un masculino de 65 años de edad, quien actualmente recibe atención en una unidad del Instituto de Seguridad y Servicios Sociales de los Trabajadores del Estado (ISSSTE) sin reportar complicaciones ni dificultades respiratorias. Mexico - The Ministry of Health in Morelos confirmed the first case of COVID-19 of the Delta variant, the strain with the highest transmission rate and whose rapid growth is mainly threatening to the young population aged 20 to 39 years who have not been fully immunized or are in the process of doing so. The confirmed patient is a 65-year-old male, who is currently receiving care at a unit of the State Workers' Social Security and Services Institute there have been no reports of respiratory complications.

2020-04-09

How pets help people cope during a pandemic

This article talks about the numerous health benefits that scientific studies have proven we get from pet ownership. During the pandemic, those health benefits are more important than ever. Given that there is no evidence that people can get COVID from their animal companions, interacting with your pet is a fun, easy, and safe way to stay healthy and happy during the pandemic.

2020-03-15

COVID-19 And Pet Birds

As a parrot owner, I was initially concerned at the start of the pandemic that the virus could be transferred to my avian companions. While I know that viruses are often species-specific, mutations can allow them to jump species. Birds have incredibly delicate respiratory systems, so a respiratory illness in a bird is often deadly. This article from bird food producer Lafaeber explains why caution is warranted by not panic. It is now more than a year since this article has been written, and I am no longer concerned about my parrots catching COVID-19. I belong to many bird groups on social media and have yet to hear of a pet bird who caught the disease.

2021-04-06

COVID-19 variants

This is an article about the variants of COVID-19 that are either present or emerging in the United States. It is meant to keep EMS providers informed with up-to-date information so that they can provide the best care to patients. Some of the variants are more dangerous/have more symptoms than others. It notes that there is 5 variants of concern, which have increased transmissibility and increased hospitalizations/deaths. While this is not great news, it is a good thing that there are currently no variants in the world that are considered variants of high consequence by the CDC, which essentially means that medicine does not have effective means of treating it. Hopefully this remains the case and we can start to see a drop off of the variants of concern soon.

2021-04-10

CDC Science Brief: Transmission of COVID-19 in K-12 schools

(updated March 19, 2021) CDC report on scientific findings in terms of COVID-19, children, adolescents, and the unlikely transmission potential among these two groups (18 or younger). The experiences of other countries opening at various points during the pandemic contribute to the knowledge laid out in the report. One example of a recommended prevention strategy, physical distancing, is explained as a determining factor in preventing transmission. Yet, as the research shows, the prescribed 6-foot distance is less of a stress point when observing children and adolescents. In other words, several US studies have found low transmission rates when children are separated less than 6 feet. The same applies to children and adult interactions.

2021-04-04

News Article: How a local response to COVID-19 helped slow deaths on the White Mountain Apache nation

By Amanda Morris of the Arizona Republic: When someone on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation receives a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19, health care workers from the Whiteriver Indian Hospital jump into action. They personally visit the individual's home to test other household members, perform health evaluations on everyone there and trace any other potential contacts at risk for COVID-19 exposure. Health care workers in the community say that could be one reason why, even though the rate of confirmed COVID-19 cases among White Mountain Apache tribal members is nearly triple the state's rate, the death rate is much lower and continues to fall. Over 90% of COVID-19 cases in the White Mountain community are investigated within 24 hours of testing, according to Ryan Close, the director of the Department of Preventative Medicine at the Whiteriver hospital, which is the only hospital on the 1.67 million-acre reservation. "I feel like what we did made a huge difference," Close said. "We evaluated and admitted people aggressively and early. The tribe deserves an incredible amount of credit for mobilizing staff ... to make this response possible, because at some point it would have been very difficult to maintain without their considerable help." The quick response may have also helped the tribe turn the tide against rapid community spread of the virus, which scientists say could have been fueled by a single variant found only in the White Mountain tribal communities. The variant carried a mutation in the spike protein, which scientist theorize could have made it spread more rapidly than other strains of the virus. The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases among White Mountain Apache tribal members accounts for 24% to 28% of their population, according to Close, but the cumulative death rate among known cases is only 1.2%. By comparison, the statewide rate of infection was 11.5% with a 2% death rate among known cases. And over the winter, Close said the rate for the tribe dropped even lower, to about 0.5%. In a community with a high number of individuals with underlying health conditions, the low death rate and work of the tribe has been "remarkable," said David Engelthaler, director of the Translational Genomics Research Institute's infectious disease division in Flagstaff. The death rate also stands out as unusually low when compared with death rates in other Indigenous communities. Indigenous populations have been disproportionally affected by the pandemic. CDC data shows that Indigenous people are 3.5 more likely to be diagnosed with COVID-19 and almost twice as likely to die from COVID-19 than white people. Close credits a proactive strategy to combat COVID-19 that involved rapid contact tracing, in-person health evaluations and frequent outreach to high-risk COVID-19-positive individuals as well as early treatment with monoclonal antibodies and other antiviral therapies. Volunteers and health workers from the White Mountain Apache community were on the Whiteriver hospital's contact tracing team and high-risk COVID-19 outreach team, which Close said helped the team connect better with the people and work faster. One essential part of the team are the tribe's community health representatives, or CHRs, who are members of the community that serve as a cultural bridge between patients and medical establishments. JT Nashio, director of the Community Health Representatives for the tribe, said the "visceral connection" that CHRs have to the community helps them bring cultural awareness to the way questions are asked for contact tracing, which makes the process more effective and allows officials to better distribute information. "On top of that, quite simply, they know how to get around. It’s a big reservation and not all homes are easy to find," Nashio said. "But when you’ve lived here your whole life, you know where to find people. That became invaluable during the tracing and testing push during case surges." Virus mutation may have made it more transmissible When COVID-19 hit the White Mountain Apache nation, it spread rapidly. The community's first documented case was on April 1, 2020, from someone who had likely recently visited the Phoenix area, unknowingly caught COVID-19 and returned, according to Engelthaler. Within the first few weeks, Close said the community experienced a handful of deaths. "We soon had incidence rates that were skyrocketing. Case counts were going up very, very quickly," Close said. It's unclear why the disease spread so rapidly in the community, but the initial strain of COVID-19 that hit the community carried a mutation that Engelthaler believes could have made it more transmissible. "They were seeing the virus just rip through and have an 80 to 90 to 100 percent attack rate," he said. TGen partnered with the tribe and the U.S. Indian Health Services early on to provide tests to diagnose a case of COVID-19 and provide genetic analysis of the virus from each case. It showed one strain of the virus circulating in the tribal community that wasn't present anywhere else in the state. "This virus moved much faster than anything else we were seeing in Arizona at the time," Engelthaler said. "So we actually believe that we had one of these variant strains in Arizona that was causing very large numbers of cases, but it was secluded and maintained really only in that tribal population." The mutation, called the H245Y mutation, occurred in the spike of the virus, which Englethaler said is a "very sensitive" part of the virus where mutations can have a significant impact. Because of the low death rate, Engelthaler said TGen researchers would like to investigate the mutated strain of coronavirus seen among tribal members to see if it is also associated with a lower fatality rate. He acknowledged that other strains of the virus have since entered the community and that the actions of health care workers in the community and at the Whiteriver hospital is also responsible for the lower death rates. 'The earlier you treat an illness, the better' Close's biggest concern was that an outbreak would cause a "tsunami" of sick COVID-19 patients that would run the risk of overwhelming the Whiteriver hospital, which does not have an intensive care unit. Any patients that require intensive care need to be transported to other hospitals in the state. "We're a small hospital, we cannot take a wave of all very acute patients because there aren't enough ventilators in the hospital," Close said. "There aren't enough helicopters in the state to transport people out from our facility to a higher level of care." Within the first few weeks, Close said the community experienced a handful of deaths, and patients who had the poorest outcomes were the ones who self-presented at the hospital — often meaning they waited until they felt sick enough to go to the hospital. "People don't always bring themselves in early enough," Close said. "The earlier you treat an illness, the better." In response to this phenomenon, the hospital started a high-risk outreach program the third week of April. Health care workers regularly visited the homes of anyone who tested positive for COVID-19 and was at high risk for a poor outcome. Close recalls multiple days when he evaluated patients and found their oxygen levels dangerously low, even though they felt fine. It's a condition associated with COVID-19 known as "silent hypoxia," or "happy hypoxia." "They had no sense that they were even ill. They went on to get pretty sick in the hospital, but they survived and you can't help but think to yourself, 'Yeah, that's a life saved,'" Close said. "That person, if they had stayed home another day or another two days would not have done as well. They would have ended up on a ventilator or something." The Arizona Republic previously reported that the effects of the high-risk outreach program and contact tracing led to a fatality rate among tribal members of 1.6% last June, which was less than the state's rate of 2.5% and country's at 2.7% at the time. But the effect of the outreach program became even more pronounced over the winter, as the tribe and health workers gained access to monoclonal antibody treatments, according to Close. He said the high-risk outreach team started referring patients for antibody treatment in December as part of their protocol after the therapy received emergency use approval from the Food and Drug Administration. Hospital staff at the Whiteriver hospital then administered the antibody treatment. "We give that to people who are asymptomatic or mildly ill to prevent hospitalization," Close said. "The evidence currently suggests that reduces the risk that they're going to get sicker and get hospitalized and reduces the risk that they're going to die." Though there's no data proving the antibody treatments made a difference, Close said that after health care workers started using them, the community's COVID-19 death rate fell to 0.5%. Hospital workers also gave antiviral therapies, such as remdesivir, to patients early and often. "We probably overtreated some people," he said. "But the good news is it definitely led to significant reductions in mortality." Lessons for the future Close believes the different programs were so successful because health care workers were often able to test, trace, diagnose and treat individuals all in the same day — a feat he said was only possible because of how closely integrated hospital workers and community health workers were. "There were no barriers in communication between the public health arm of our response and the clinical care arm of our response," Close said. "It's really a case for an integrated health care system." As the tribe emerges from the pandemic and tribal members get vaccinated against the virus, Close said the hospital may start exploring other health conditions where it can use the high-risk outreach team, which is already trained and experienced in clinical evaluations. "The goal is to take what we've learned from COVID and now apply it to things that are not COVID-related," Close said. Another valuable lesson Close hopes to carry forward is how much of a difference visiting residents in their homes can make and how important building trusting relationships with the community is. Nashio said going door to door to trace and monitor COVID-19 cases was a natural step for CHRs, who had already gone door to door in the past for other community health campaigns. "We know firsthand how difficult it can be to not only connect with patients over the phone but communicate effectively over the phone," Nashio said. "When the community sees their CHRs coming to their door, it helps decrease the stigma of the disease." In addition to performing checkup evaluations and providing information, Nashio said CHRs can also provide food, medical supplies, cleaning supplies or services like grocery shopping and running basic errands. Not every tribal member has reliable internet or phone service, nor access to transportation, so Close said going door to door can be a good way to reach, and help, everyone. "Meeting patients where they are is invaluable," Close said. Amanda Morris covers all things bioscience, which includes health care, technology, new research and the environment. Send her tips, story ideas, or dog memes at amorris@gannett.com and follow her on Twitter @amandamomorris for the latest bioscience updates. Independent coverage of bioscience in Arizona is supported by a grant from the Flinn Foundation.

2021-01-08

Where Campuses Reopened, Covid-19 Cases Spiked. Where Colleges Went Remote, They Declined.

This article compares the responses taken by higher ed institutions during the pandemic.

Fraser Health infographic. Image has white writing on a blue background, with yellow rectangles leading off of the main text. A cartoon female construction worker stands at the top of the image. The text reads, "From just one COVID-19 positive employee..."
Top yellow rectangle reads, "48 positive cases in an industrial worksite". Dark blue line leading to the right has the following text in rectangles: "46 households affected. 111 additional people required to self-isolate, unable to go to work or school." Blue line leading from the center of the graphic says, "1 industrial worker admitted to hospital". Blue line leading to the left goes to the following rectangles with text: "7 people who tested positive after interacting with the 48 COVID-19 positive industrial workers. 4 additional worksites put at risk. 1 car dealership. 1 medical clinic. 1 lumber mill. 1 processing plant".

2020-11-11

Just One Positive Wedding Guest

What started with one positive wedding guest, led to 50 infected guests, 10 infected households, and a deadly outbreak in a long-term care home which resulted in 81 cases. In total, this large outbreak triggered three hospitalizations and one COVID-19 death.

2020-01-02

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I think that someone ate something and that caused the pandemic. For example animals carry a variety of diseases that can spread to other people when in food contact. If someone ate a animal that may have had a disease, than that person could get it and spread causing a pandemic.

2020-12-17

SARS-CoV-2 Transmission among Marine Recruits during Quarantine

This is an academic article that discusses the transmission of Covid-19 among Marine recruits in quarantine. Due to the pandemic, recruits have been forced to quarantine before they were able to begin their basic training. Marines were sent to a college campus where they practiced social distancing for two weeks before going to training. This study shows the effectiveness of quarantining, social distancing, and mask-wearing

2021-01-24

Why Are There Different Forms of the Vaccine?

There are a couple of reasons as to why there are different forms of not only the COVID-19 vaccine but of vaccines in general. This is because not much is understood about the COVID-19 virus, so there are multiple vaccines in trial or tested in order to provide as much of a range of protection as possible The two main vaccines use mRNA, which is still relatively new but effective, but the vector vaccines have been used since the 1970s to treat viral diseases Bibliography: CDC. 2020. “Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. February 11, 2020. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/different-vaccines/how-they-work.html?CDC_AA_refVal=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Fcoronavirus%2F2019-ncov%2Fvaccines%2Fabout-vaccines%2Fhow-they-work.html. “Covid-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions.” 2021. New England Journal of Medicine. 2021. https://www.nejm.org/covid-vaccine/faq?cid=DM108101_&bid=351587577.

2021-01-24

Where did it come from?

It is my understanding that the COVID19/Coronavirus originated from Wuhan, China. Since the Chinese government delayed communicating to other countries about the Virus it was able to spread throughout the states at a rapid pace. The Virus can only spread if it has a host, when people would travel internationally at the time, they didn't know how bad the virus really was. People have a lot of theories as to where the virus came from but this is my point of view.

2020-10-29

Testing Positive

I remember the day I tested positive quite well. Two days before that, though, I drove to the local community college to get a test, because we got the news that my sister was exposed. I had experienced no symptoms, so the test was little more than a formality to me. But, on that night, my mom came into my room, telling me that I had tested positive. I was in the car with them getting my test and no one else that I had been in contact with tested positive or had any symptoms. Though it was likely a false positive, my plans for that weekend were canceled along with any that I had for the next two weeks. I was confined to my room wearing a medical N95 mask for 15 days.

2021-01-22

Personal story about how someone you know got covid and has effected you.

Covid is annoying cause it causes everything to go off and on and kind of pauses the world at times. I was sort of effected by covid in a way that my sister was hanging out with her friend that got covid. Before we knew that her friend tested positive, I was hanging out with her. She after that was in her room for about 9-10 days in quarantine. So I haven't been effected by covid much at all.

2020-01-19

Covid Procedures

Because of the arrival of this new virus, Covid, we all need to follow new procedures to keep us safe. The Los Angeles County guidelines state that masks must be worn in public, we need to social distance, and more. The main rule that citizens must follow is to wear a mask. Experts say that masks can lower your chance of transmitting or receiving the virus because it would be harder to be in contact with the air particles. Although the masks are beneficial to keeping us safe, they can also make breathing harder. I personally do not like wearing masks but I respect it. I feel all citizens should respect the rules and wear a mask, even if they do not trust it. Out of all the procedures, we must follow, I wish one day we can stop wearing masks in public and attend big gatherings such as movie theatres and concerts.

2020-02-20

The Covid Virus

I learned that the cause of the covid virus was that someone ate a bat in China. I was confused because I was like why would someone want to eat a bat. My opinions haven't changed because I'm still confused on why someone would want to eat a bat. Once that person ate the bat and they spread their germs with other people than the whole world got it. It is crazy how one person got it and now the whole world has it.

2021-01-12

who started covid

I believe that the man who ate the bat started COVID. For example it is proven that the body of a bat contains COVID in it. I also believe that the spread of COVID started from those 30 meat markets which lead to a rapid spread of COVID.

2020-03-14

The Beginning of Covid-19

There are many stories about how it all began but only one is correct. Although we don't have a confirmed answer about how it started everyone has their theories. In my opinion, I think that Covid-19 started in someone. I believe that someone caught the virus by touching bad bacteria. So, it got into one person now all this virus has to do to stay alive is keep moving from people to people which is exactly what it does. Since everyone is not yet immune to this virus it will just keep spreading, but hopefully, we can help prevent it from spreading. Alright back to the beginning of where this all began. You may be thinking how did the bacteria come to be in the first place, well the bacteria could have started by anything like and bad egg, dirty water, or someone could have even brought it over from another country. I believe that someone brought it over from another country. I think that this makes the most sense because we were not aware of the virus until they gave it to someone in the USA or even in another country.

2020-04-10

Covid-19 Origin

I was watching the news and in the broadcast, I first learned the cause of the virus. The cause was from bats. I thought this was a little odd since I thought only insects could spread a virus. My opinions/knowledge has changed since I learned that any animal could spread a virus. Now that I know the true cause of the virus, I am more informed and I can tell people who are uneducated on the cause of the virus, the real cause of it.

2020-01-01

Explain what you think the cause of the virus is.

Many people believe the virus originated from a bat in Wuhan, China. I believe it came from an animal, that could be a bat, rat, etc. After the animal transmitted its sickness to a human, the virus did the work from there. It kept on spreading throughout the Earth. It is likely that it came from a bat, as that is what scientist's best guess was, but nobody knows exactly how it happens. Bats are known for spreading new diseases around, and are very unsanitary.

0021-01-11

My Experience

Coronavirus has been hard for our economy and has affected everyone. This virus has shut down schools, people have lost their jobs and everyone has had to adjust to the new rules. This pandemic has being going on for a whole year and 1,899,285 have died. The epidemic started in Wuhan, China, it started spreading through the world. The disease then spread across several countries and affected a large number of people, it was classified as a pandemic.Jul 1, 2020

2021-01-11T12:15

Covid origin

When the Virus first started to deeply affect America (mid-march) everyone wanted to know how it began. People said it was bats and when I first heard it I was a little unsure. I was uncertain if it was real or just something chosen to put blame on. As weeks gone by I accepted that as the origin because animals carrying a virus was not very unusual or far fetched. To be honest as the virus continues I haven't heard any other causes probably because after a while the need to know sort of settled down. People stopped talking about it because there are way more important things to worry about such as schools, business, hospital room, and peoples general safety. When I was first learning information about Covid as a whole I took everything with a grain of salt until there was more research.

2021-01-11

The Cause of Covid-19

I have heard many different stories about how the Corona virus started. Everything from the government made it, to its warfare. At this point the only story I really believe is the one that takes place in Wuhan, China. My dad's side of the family lives in China, Taiwan, and Japan and we visit there a lot. There are these night markets where they sell everything that you could ever need and more. They have things from food, to arcade machines, and even fake luxury goods! I know that in the more parts of china they have markets that sell animals that the Americans would gag at. So the story goes that there was a person who got a bat to eat at one of these markets. However, this bat was infected with a disease. They didn't know and they saw people and that person saw other people. That's how I believe that it started.

2021-01-11

The cause of Covid-19

This is how I think Covid started. Covid has been a thing for a very long time but it was never carried by humans. It was actually carried by bats! The way the sickness actually started was someone killed a bat and then made it into a soup and ate it! When he ate it the sickness some how transported into his body. Then he got corona and spread it, and now it is a world wide sickness that has the world scared.

2020

What I think about who/what caused Covid-19

I think that the cause of covid-19 is that the covid virus mutated in an unexpected way, and people didn't realize that they had it, and brought it to other countries. Then it spread throughout the world, becoming a rather deadly virus, but we don't really know, because the statistics are so skewd.

2021-01-11

Origins of COVID-19

January of 2020 is when I started learning about COVID-19 and its origins. I first heard about the Coronavirus from my parents and news channels which stated there is a new virus around foreign countries that is spreading quickly and cannot be identified with any existing sicknesses. Rumors became of a bat that was carrying the virus and either had been consumed by humans or had transmitted the virus to man. The virus originated in Wuhan, China, but was also existing in Europe and the rest of Asia, at the time. I personally had no concern or worries with it when first hearing this news early on, but it was quite interesting hearing updates about it. My reasoning for this was it had not yet reached America or anywhere near the country. The thought of having to shut down stores, schools, restaurants, and cities did not even cross my mind because of the insanity that sounded of. Today, it seems completely normal hearing and thinking about quarantined, isolated societies because of how we've been living the past year. Speaking of today, I currently know a lot more about COVID. The symptoms, testing, origins, and biology of it are more clear now, a year after its discovery. I feel comfortable with the idea of the Coronavirus and am not scared of it. That opinion hasn't changed since the start of quarantine and COVID. There is still plenty more to learn about the Coronavirus, especially now that vaccines are out, but my adequate understanding of it and its origins is acceptable.

2020

Re-Open Saskatchewan

An essential element of our province's plan to battle COVID-19 was widespread testing of residents along with the implementation of preventative measures, such as handwashing and physical distancing. This has enabled us to manage and flatten the curve, as well as strengthen the capacity of our health care system. Another important aspect of this approach was to develop a plan that would eventually allow Saskatchewan residents and our provincial economy to emerge from isolation.

2020-12-09

Indigenous communities to sit tight and wait for vaccine roll out

Canada will receive up to 249,000 doses of the vaccine by the end of the month. This will vaccinate up to 124,500 people as a person has to take two doses for it to be effective. However, it's up to the provinces and territories to determine how the doses will be distributed. Indigenous communities are on the priority list but they will have to patient, since there aren't enough vaccines and there are difficulties in distributing it to communities who do not have the proper facilities to store it. Most Indigenous communities are disproportionally affected by the disease. First Nations people in Manitoba living off reserve make up 65 per cent of the overall First Nations COVID cases in the province.

2020-03-18

UPDATED: Saskatchewan government declares provincial state of emergency due to COVID-19

The Government of Saskatchewan has declared a provincial state of emergency, giving the government broad powers to address the COVID-19 pandemic. This includes measures like the ability to limit travel to or from a community or region of the province and directing that property or equipment be deployed to address the COVID-19 pandemic.

2020-12-14

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Coronavirus Tracker

An interactive website that lets users look through the path of COVID-19 in Canada

2020

Contact Tracing Explained

An infographic of how and why contact tracing is done.

2020-09-15

University of Western Ontario Student Outbreak

Three University of Western Ontario students test positive for COVID-19. Sadly, their movement around the city, visiting downtown bars and restaurants, and with students in neighbouring housing units, has led to a large outbreak.

2020

Know the Difference: Self-Monitoring, Self-isolation, and Isolation for COVID-19

Table created by the Public Health Agency of Canada, for determining the difference between self-monitoring, self-isolation, isolation

2020-10-19

SpinCo Hamilton Outbreak

What started with a COVID-19 case in one person at a downtown Hamilton spin studio has led to at least 74 people being infected. The Hamilton Health Services created this visualization of the super-spreader event to reveal to the public how the virus can easily spread.

2020-11-25

Unimpressive WinCo Precautions

While going grocery shopping for Thanksgiving, I was surprised to see this green bean display that people were going through with uncovered hands. Though most of the bulk goods at WinCo have been partitioned into pre-packaged bags, some of the produce is still open for people to touch. I know that COVID isn't highly transmissible via surface contact, but it was still off-putting to see people touching food that others would eat. I'll be washing my vegetables more thoroughly after seeing this!

2020-06-18

Corona in Warm Weather

When I saved the meme, I did so because it references the game Plague INC. In the game, the player controls attributes about an illness (transmission, symptoms, and other attributes) the red symbols represent heat resistance.

2020-06-12

Virus Exposes Weak Links in Peru’s Success Story

Peru has become a hotspot for coronavirus, despite an intense lockdown and track & trace technology. The article highlights that COVID-19 cases have overwhelmed Peru's hospitals and healthcare capacity, what's understated is that Peru did take the right measures, they did react correctly and with national leadership. The problem is that they could not sustain an extended quarantine period. If it had been a true quarantine and the borders were closed, things might look differently, but the U.S. and Peru took weeks to negotiate repatriation of citizens, and groups of migrants began returning to the countryside or leaving Peru for their homeland, such as in the case of Venezuelans. With all of that movement, it is impossible to control the spread of an infectious disease.

2020-05-25

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