COVID-19 Update
Ending the Year in the Red Zone and Under Lockdown
 Total
cases of COVID-19 in Canada as of December 19, 2020 -- click to
enlarge. (PHAC)
The COVID-19 pandemic is generally worsening across
the country. The total case count has now passed half a million as
records continue to be set in various provinces for numbers of
new daily cases, amidst a situation where neo-liberal governments
continue to equivocate on providing the necessary health and safety
measures in health care facilities and long-term care homes, or are
outright
attacking the workers and the public health care system. Canada's
Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam issued a statement on
December 19, in which she gave an overview of the COVID-19 pandemic
across the country. She explained: "Since the start
of the pandemic, there have been 495,346 cases of COVID-19, including
14,040 deaths reported in Canada; these cumulative numbers tell us
about the overall burden of COVID-19 illness to date. Though many areas
continue to experience high infection rates, it is important to
remember that the vast majority of Canadians
remain susceptible to COVID-19. This is why it is important for
everyone to continue with individual precautions to protect ourselves,
our families and our communities. "At this time,
there are 75,695 active cases across the country. The latest
national-level data indicate daily averages of 6,653 new cases (Dec
11-17). COVID-19 is spreading among people of all ages, with high
infection rates across all age groups. However, nationally, infection
rates remain highest among those aged 80 years and older who are
at highest risk for severe outcomes. "Likewise,
outbreaks continue to occur in high-risk populations and communities,
including hospitals and long-term care homes, congregate living
settings, Indigenous communities, and more remote areas of the country.
The downstream impacts of weeks and months of elevated disease activity
continues to be seen in still rising numbers of
severe illness and death, significant disruptions to health services
and ongoing challenges for areas not adequately equipped to manage
complex medical emergencies. "Nationally,
hospitalizations and deaths, which tend to lag behind increased disease
activity by one to several weeks are still increasing. Provincial and
territorial data indicate that an average of 3,194 people with COVID-19
were being treated in Canadian hospitals each day during the most
recent seven-day period (Dec 11-17), including 650 of
whom were being treated in intensive care units. During the same
period, there were an average of 115 COVID-19-related deaths reported
daily. This situation continues to burden local health care resources,
particularly in areas where infection rates are highest. These impacts
affect everyone, as the health care workforce and health system bear a
heavy strain, important elective medical procedures are delayed or
postponed, adding to pre-existing backlogs. "This
week, we welcomed more exciting news on the vaccine front, from the
first Canadians being vaccinated against COVID-19 to the prospect of
early delivery of doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, pending
regulatory approval assuring quality, safety and effectiveness.
"Even as we move into this hopeful next chapter of Canada's
COVID-19 response, our collective efforts to bend the curve remain
crucial to our success. The latest longer range forecasting, using a
model from Simon Fraser University, forecasts that we could have over
8,000 cases daily by the beginning of January 2021. While lower than
last
week, these numbers are still significant and put us on a trajectory
for a strong resurgence for the next two months. This underscores that
the partnership between public health and the public at large is still
vitally important to bringing down the infection rate. Our continued
efforts are not only helping public health authorities to quickly
interrupt
chains of transmission, they also assist the broader health workforce
to plan for and roll out one of the most complex immunization campaigns
in Canada's history. "While we continue to prepare
the way for widespread and lasting control of COVID-19 through safe and
effective vaccines, Canadians are urged to continue with individual
practices that keep us and our families safer: stay home/self-isolate
if you have any symptoms, follow local public health advice and
maintain individual protective
practices of physical distancing, hand, cough and surface hygiene and
wearing a face mask as appropriate (including when you cannot
consistently keep two metres apart from people outside your immediate
household)." Opioid Crisis Exacerbated by Pandemic
Dr. Tam in remarks on December 18 highlighted how the opioid
and drug overdose crisis has worsened during the pandemic:
"National data released this week on opioid and
stimulant-related harms is a tragic reminder of the broader impacts of
this pandemic, including the worsening of the ongoing overdose crisis.
From April to June, there were 1,628 opioid toxicity deaths in Canada,
which is the highest number recorded in a single quarter since national
surveillance
began in 2016. Now more than ever, we must work together to curb this
devastating trend, never forgetting that each and every opioid toxicity
death represents a life cut short and a person whose loss is grieved by
family, friends and community. "The overdose
crisis, and substance use more broadly, is a highly complex health and
social issue. We know, however, that there are interventions that can
and do save lives. Prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we were
seeing early signs that opioid toxicity deaths were declining in parts
of the country. Sadly, as the latest data show,
we are now seeing a loss in these hard fought gains, as COVID-19 and
associated public health measures have impacted the toxic illegal drug
supply as well as the accessibility of substance use supports.
"We can do more to save lives -- both during the COVID-19
pandemic and beyond -- and must redouble our collective efforts to
expand the availability of evidence-based harm reduction services --
like supervised consumption sites and take home naloxone programs --
and of treatment options, including safer, pharmaceutical alternatives
to the
toxic illegal drug supply. Vaccines
As concerns COVID-19 vaccinations, the Public Health Agency of
Canada in a statement to CBC News stated that "Based on current data,
by the end of Q3 2021, Canada projects having a sufficient number of
doses to be able to offer a vaccination to every Canadian." This date
is based on the fact that the Canadian government has signed purchase
agreements with seven different pharmaceutical companies for up to 418
million doses of the various shots under development. This is said to
be hedging bets in case some vaccines do not pan out as well as to give
the possibility of donations to other countries. These companies are
Pfizer-BioNTech (U.S.-Germany), Moderna (U.S.), Medicago
(Canada), University of Oxford-AstraZeneca (UK-Sweden), Johnson
& Johnson (U.S.), Novavax (U.S.) and Sanofi-GlaxoSmithKline
(France-Britain).
Traditionally, anti-viral vaccines are based on
weakened versions of a virus that is used to stimulate an immune
response to the actual virus and thus convey immunity to infection from
the live virus. However, the Pfizer vaccine (the first to be approved
for use in Canada) and the Moderna vaccine instead carry the
instructions for making a
distinct spike protein on the outside of the coronavirus in the form of
single-stranded ribonucleic acid (RNA). The spike protein is then
produced within the human body to generate an immune response.
The vaccines being tested by AstraZeneca and Johnson &
Johnson are somewhat similar, except the coronavirus spike protein is
spliced into another virus called an adenovirus in the form of
double-stranded deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). This method was used to
produce a vaccine for Ebola. Techniques based on RNA and DNA are said
to have
had a relatively shorter development time, as they are based on genetic
sequencing of COVID-19 that was provided by China in January.
The Novavax and Sanofi-GlaxoSmithKline vaccines contain a
coronavirus protein to stimulate an immune response. The
Medicago vaccine uses "living plants as bioreactors to produce
non-infectious versions of viruses (called Virus-like Particles, or
VLPs)." Presently,
Canada has acquired 4 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine,
which requires recipients to receive two doses 21 days apart for
maximum efficacy. The first doses were administered on December 14, to
those deemed to be in priority groups. Every province is responsible
for their own vaccine deployments. Preliminary guidance from the
National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) says that key
populations to prioritize for vaccination are "those at high risk of
severe illness and death from COVID-19" due to "advanced age" and
"other high-risk conditions (to be defined as the evidence base
evolves)." The NACI also advises prioritizing vaccinations for "those
most likely to transmit COVID-19 to those at high risk of severe
illness and death from COVID-19 and workers essential to maintaining
the COVID-19 response," as well as "those contributing to the
maintenance of other essential services for the functioning of society"
and also "those whose living or working conditions put them at elevated
risk of infection and where infection could have disproportionate
consequences, including Indigenous communities."
This article was published in
Volume 50 Number 49 - December 19, 2020
Article Link:
COVID-19 Update: Ending the Year in the Red Zone and Under Lockdown
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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