coronavirus

Masking alone wouldn’t have eased Ontario’s respiratory virus surge in the fall: PHO document

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TORONTO — Introducing a mask mandate when respiratory viruses surged in the fall may not have eased the crush on pediatric hospitals, a Public Health Ontario science brief obtained by The Canadian Press concludes. The brief — which was not proactively made public, unlike the reports done by the now-defunct science table predecessor — provides … Read more

COVID hospitalizations in Alberta ebb to levels not seen since July

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COVID hospitalizations in Alberta continue a downward trend established in early January, according to the latest numbers released by the province on Wednesday. Ash or Jan. 30, there were 702 COVID hospitalizations provincewide, a reduction of 76 from the week before, and 25 in ICU, down 4 from last week. Albertans across all age cohorts … Read more

Study suggests robust lung mucosal immunity against SARS-CoV-2 can be better achieved through hybrid immunity, as opposed to peripheral vaccination alone

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In a recent study posted to the bioRxiv* preprint server, researchers developed immunological responses by pulmonary mucosal tissues post-coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination and/or severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, to assess the impact of hybrid immune protection on the durability of mucosal immunological responses. Study: Long-term respiratory mucosal immune memory to SARS-CoV-2 … Read more

Covid-19 is a leading cause of death for children in the US, despite relatively low mortality rate

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CNN — Covid-19 has become the eighth most common cause of death among children in the United States, according to a study published Monday. Children are significantly less likely to die from Covid-19 than any other age group – less than 1% of all deaths since the start of the pandemic have been among those … Read more

Children’s immune systems do not develop ‘adaptive’ memory to protect against second time SARS-CoV-2 infection

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Children have largely avoided severe COVID-19 symptoms because they have a strong initial ‘innate’ immune reaction that quickly defeats the virus. And now, researchers led by scientists at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research have uncovered what this might mean for the immune system. Unlike those of adults, children’s immune systems don’t remember the virus … Read more

CDC Study Reports Bivalent Boosters Protect Against COVID-19 Variants | News

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A new study released this week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the new bivalent COVID-19 boosters add protection against the new variants of the virus. Another study showed that the bivalent vaccine also protects against severe disease. Waste water monitoring shows that those variants, XBB and XBB.1.5, make up about … Read more

New booster falls short on US protection against COVID: CDC report

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Americans who got their COVID-19 bivalent booster vaccine are not fully protected against getting sick, according to a new report. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a report that said the updated boosters were just 48% effective at preventing symptomatic infection from the XBB variant of the disease. The World Health Organization has … Read more

FDA has not found stroke risk for seniors who received Pfizer omicron booster

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A nurses fills up syringes for patients as they receive their coronavirus disease (COVID-19) booster vaccination during a Pfizer-BioNTech vaccination clinic in Southfield, Michigan, September 29, 2021. Emily Elconin | Reuters The Food and Drug Administration hasn’t found an increased risk of stroke for seniors who’ve received Pfizer’s omicron booster shot, a federal health official … Read more

Kieran Moore says RSV, COVID-19, flu cases are stabilizing in Ontario but urges caution

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Breaking a weeks-long silence on the state of respiratory virus levels that swamped Ontario children’s hospitals, chief medical officer Dr. Kieran Moore says things are looking up — but urges people to stay cautious. The early flu season peaked at the end of November, the number of RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) cases “are beginning to … Read more

Covid omicron boosters offer some protection against XBB variant

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Pfizer‘s and Moderna‘s omicron boosters reduced the risk of mild illness from the XBB family of subvariants compared to people who did not receive the shot, according to a study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published Wednesday. The CDC study provides the first estimate of the omicron shots’ real-world effectiveness against the … Read more