From fighting COVID-19 myths to explaining vaccine effectiveness, these experts are helping separate fact from conspiracy. Mariam Matti Updated
(Illustration: iStock)
Public health officials have repeatedly warned that a dual pandemic of disease and misinformation has played out over the last year. COVID-19 has made it clear the types of challenges medical information faces in the age of social media.
Which is why I was glad to find neuroscientist Samantha Yammine, who has helped me understand everything COVID-related over the past year, while debunking the many myths out there. To her growing Instagram followers, she’s known as Science Sam, and she has used her platform to make science more accessible and easy to understand.
Choir director Dawn McCormick leads students as they record vocals in pop-up tents during choir class at Wenatchee High School on February 26, 2021 in Wenatchee, Washington. The school has been using pop-up tents as COVID-19 enclosures for its music programs as students return to classrooms.
David Ryder/Getty Images
Doctors in
Alberta say any further loosening of COVID-19 restrictions should wait until “all high-risk individuals” in the province have been vaccinated. The government could ease
restrictions on many businesses as soon on Monday.
Two regions in
Ontario, Thunder Bay and Simcoe Muskoka, will move into lockdown on Monday amid a spike in cases. Meanwhile, restrictions in seven other areas, including Niagara Region, moved to the second-strictest level. And, the province’s science advisers say priority for the COVID-19 vaccine should be given based on age and neighbourhood. And, universities in the province want $500-million to deal with pandemic pressures.
Opinion: Nurses have helped protect Canadians from COVID-19 But who will protect nurses? theglobeandmail.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from theglobeandmail.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
TORONTO Hailed as heroes during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, front-line health-care workers say they appreciate hearing the kind words, but don t feel that they re being heard themselves. We know that burnout has always been something that nurses have dealt with and faced, but it s turned a corner with COVID-19, Amie Varley said Thursday on CTV s Your Morning. We re overwhelmed and we re exhausted. There has been a steady drumbeat of data warning about mental health challenges facing health-care workers during the pandemic. Last September, 41 per cent of nurses surveyed in British Columbia said they were suffering from severe depression, while 60 per cent reported emotional exhaustion. Nationwide, warnings about burnout escalated along with the second wave. Multiple health-care workers have died by suicide, including Dr. Karine Dion in Granby, Que.
It s hard to say how many health-care workers are feeling uneasy about getting immunized, she told Dr. Brian Goldman, who hosts CBC s radio documentary program
White Coat, Black Art.
A December survey by Safecare B.C., a workplace safety association for long-term care homes, found
In the online survey of nearly 1,500 personal support workers, 15 per cent of respondents said they would not get the vaccine and 28 per cent said they were undecided.
Meanwhile, the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario is aware of thousands of nurses that are anxiously awaiting the vaccine, and has not heard of any members who do not wish to participate, a spokesperson said in an email to CBC Radio.