Jun 25 2020 — Cassandra Szklarski, The Canadian Press — TORONTO — A new study finds the proportion of Canadian COVID-19 deaths that have occurred in long-term care facilities is about twice the average of rates from other developed nations. The analysis released Thursday by the Canadian Institute for Health Information provides a damning snapshot of senior care as of May 25, when LTC residents made up […]
Jun 23 2020 — Cassandra Szklarski, The Canadian Press — TORONTO — The CBC has announced details of its efforts to meet diverse hiring, retention and promotion goals after its "Yukon Morning" radio show host lambasted the broadcaster for its failings live on-air and then quit. The plan, which the CBC says was approved in May, is to ensure that by March 31, 2022 half of all […]
Jun 22 2020 — Cassandra Szklarski, The Canadian Press — TORONTO — The race-based failings of many of the companies seeking help from diversity and inclusion expert Hamlin Grange are not new. Neither are the solutions, he notes wryly — many organizations who've reached out already have diversity plans, or they've completed cultural awareness courses in the past. So what's going wrong? It's tempting to say anti-bias […]
Jun 15 2020 — Cassandra Szklarski, The Canadian Press — TORONTO — When someone broke into her car earlier this month, Meenakshi Mannoe knew the potential consequences of calling police. The Vancouver resident weighed several questions: Would she get her belongings back? Was it even worth the hassle? And the tipping point: What good would it ultimately do? Ultimately, Mannoe believed it wasn't a big deal — […]
Jun 15 2020 — Cassandra Szklarski, The Canadian Press — TORONTO — When someone broke into her car earlier this month, Meenakshi Mannoe knew the potential consequences of calling police. The Vancouver resident weighed several questions: Would she get her belongings back? Was it even worth the hassle? And the tipping point: What good would it ultimately do? Ultimately, Mannoe believed it wasn't a big deal — […]
Jun 12 2020 — Cassandra Szklarski, The Canadian Press — TORONTO — Out of work and far from family, Cora Matheson hit a low point sheltering in place in Toronto. She began debating a summer getaway to her hometown of Kenora, Ont., as she's done many summers before. She knew the scenic region had been discouraging visitors throughout the pandemic, especially from urban centres where […]
May 28 2020 — Cassandra Szklarski, The Canadian Press — TORONTO — The first two COVID-19 patients in Canada to receive plasma transfusions rich in antibodies are showing signs of improvement as the experimental treatment expands to trials in more than a dozen sites in Ontario and Quebec. A senior media adviser for CHU Sainte-Justine hospital in Montreal says the outlook is "favourable" for a female patient […]
May 16 2020 — Cassandra Szklarski, The Canadian Press — TORONTO — No one knows when a fresh surge of COVID-19 cases will emerge in Canada, but experts agree numbers are poised to rise and could very well explode in surveillance blindspots. One need only look to South Korea, where infections spread anew through Seoul's nightclubs and bars, to see how quickly containment successes unravel […]
May 16 2020 — Cassandra Szklarski, The Canadian Press — TORONTO — No one knows when a fresh surge of COVID-19 cases will emerge in Canada, but experts agree numbers are poised to rise and could very well explode in surveillance blindspots. One need only look to South Korea, where infections spread anew through Seoul's nightclubs and bars, to see how quickly containment successes unravel […]
May 13 2020 — Cassandra Szklarski, The Canadian Press — Canada's top doctor says too little is known to consider using a newly approved serology test to identify individuals who could be immune to COVID-19 and allow those people to return to work or gather in public. Instead, Theresa Tam said Wednesday that the new LIAISON test will be used more broadly to look for […]
May 12 2020 — Cassandra Szklarski, The Canadian Press — TORONTO — Any other year, the lakeside grounds of the Canadian National Exhibition would soon be preparing for the summer spectacle's array of amusement rides, carnival games, thumping summer music jams and greasy food temptations. But this year, the building that houses the CNE's "SuperDogs" show and "Rising Star" talent competition is reserved as a hospital overflow site in […]
May 12 2020 — Cassandra Szklarski, The Canadian Press — TORONTO — Any other year, the lakeside grounds of the Canadian National Exhibition would soon be preparing for the summer spectacle's array of amusement rides, carnival games, thumping summer music jams and greasy food temptations. But this year, the building that houses the CNE's "SuperDogs" show and "Rising Star" talent competition is reserved as a hospital overflow site in […]
May 12 2020 — Cassandra Szklarski, The Canadian Press — TORONTO — Any other year, the lakeside grounds of the Canadian National Exhibition would soon be preparing for the summer spectacle's array of amusement rides, carnival games, thumping summer music jams and greasy food temptations. But this year, the building that houses the CNE's "SuperDogs" show and "Rising Star" talent competition is reserved as a hospital overflow site in […]
May 10 2020 — Cassandra Szklarski, The Canadian Press — TORONTO — The spectre of headline-grabbing false-positive test results should not rattle the public's confidence in efforts to track COVID-19 in Canada, observers say. Despite a spate of recent examples including the false alarm in Nunavut, several experts insist the phenomenon remains rare given the scope of tests administered in the country, which reached the benchmark of […]
May 6 2020 — Cassandra Szklarski, The Canadian Press — TORONTO — The Canadian Paediatric Society is closely monitoring reports that COVID-19 may be linked to a strange inflammatory syndrome in some children. The society says it expects to issue advice to clinicians late this week or early next about symptoms similar to Kawasaki disease, although a COVID-19 connection has not been established. A broad study […]