Omicron wave in Ontario long-term care homes blunted by vaccines, boosters, province says
CBC
Ontario long-term care homes where the majority of residents have three or four COVID-19 vaccine doses, have been spared mass deaths during the Omicron wave despite infection levels similar to those seen in early 2020, according to new figures from the province.
New data from the province shows 6,572 residents caught the virus between Dec. 15, 2021 and Jan. 29, 2022 — more than the 6,001 infections confirmed during the first wave that ended in August 2020. But during the recent time period noted (Dec. 15, 2021 to Jan. 29, 2022) COVID-19-related deaths of 251 people were reported, compared with those of 1,940 people during the first wave.
Also in contrast to the first wave, the deaths represented a fraction of Ontario's total COVID-19 mortality in December and January. There were over 1,440 deaths attributable to COVID-19 during those two months in the province, according to CBC tracking, with January the second deadliest month of the pandemic in Ontario.
The province provided a breakdown on the vaccination status of those who recently died in long-term care. Out of the 220 residents who died between Jan. 2 and Jan. 29, only one was a resident with four doses of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Of those, 149 had three doses, 36 had two doses, two had one dose and 32 were unvaccinated, according to the figures based on analysis from Public Health Ontario.
WATCH | Families say government must make recommendations happen:
The Ministry of Long-Term Care said the province took "swift action" to protect against Omicron, pointing to the push for resident fourth doses in December, increased testing and mandating third doses for staff.
"The measures the government have put in place are working and we will continue to closely monitor the situation in long-term care homes and adjust measures as necessary," ministry spokesperson Mark Nesbitt said in an email.
Ontario made long-term care residents eligible for fourth vaccine doses at the end of December as Omicron became the dominant virus strain, and four shots appeared to show the strongest protection against illness and death. The province said 36 long-term care residents with four doses were infected last month.
A top Canadian expert in geriatric medicine said the figures demonstrate the value of fourth doses for those in long-term care but said the province could have done more to administer both third and then fourth shots with greater urgency.
"There was a lot of preventable death that could have been avoided," Dr. Samir Sinha said.
The data shows 33,379 long-term care residents had third shots as of Jan. 31, and 30,867 had fourth doses.
Sinha, the director of geriatrics at Sinai Health and the University Health Network in Toronto, said the province could have taken more focused steps to ensure booster uptake when third shots became available to long-term care residents in August.
Instead, he said, the sector was "playing catch-up" when the threat of Omicron became apparent in December — at which time public health resources were already strained with campaigns to vaccinate young children and all adults with third doses.
If it hadn't been for a Google search 10 years ago, Ian Stedman may never have discovered he had a rare disease and, most importantly, wouldn't have known how to treat it.
A man in Fort Severn First Nation, Ont., was injured Tuesday morning in a polar bear attack, said the Nishnawbe Aski Police Service (NAPS).
When Caroline Poorman, 77, listens to recordings her father made of oral stories in the Plains Cree language, memories flood back to her.
When Janice Parente read a CBC story this past spring about a dubious brainwave study targeting primarily Indigenous kids in Saskatchewan, it immediately piqued her interest.
Canada has seen many high-profile food recalls this year — from sweet kale chopped-salad kits to plant-based milks — and even some Listeria cases.
Being exposed to wildfire smoke over a long period of time could increase the risk of developing dementia even more than exposure to other sources of air pollution, according to new research.
WARNING: This story contains details of deaths at residential schools.
Northern Sask. communities using gardening to improve food sovereignty — and they're involving youth
Two northern Saskatchewan communities are using gardening to increase food sovereignty and teach youth valuable skills.
Muddy footprints left on a Kenyan lakeside suggest two of our early human ancestors were nearby neighbours some 1.5 million years ago.
Fewer people are being diagnosed with and dying of HIV/AIDS around the world. But progress is uneven, and only a few countries are on track to meet global targets set by the United Nations to end HIV as a public health threat by 2030, suggests a new study from The Lancet HIV medical journal.