Health & Living

Article Link: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/emergency-public-alert-test-wednesday-canada-1.5814818

Canadians across the country, except for those living in Nunavut, can expect to have their Wednesday interrupted by an emergency public alert that will be broadcast on television and radio and sent to compatible mobile devices as part of a nationwide test of the system. The exact time of the test will vary depending on the province or territory, according to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). The alerts are intended to warn Canadians of potentially life-threatening situations. “The messages will be identified as test alerts and will not require Canadians to take action,” the CRTC said in a statement issued Tuesday.

Article Link: https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/documents-offer-new-details-on-flyers-cost-to-quarantine-and-exemptions-granted-1.5202861

Since Canada’s travel restrictions on non-essential international travellers came into effect in mid-March, more than 335,000 foreign nationals have flown into this country, and 154 national interest exemptions have been granted, according to figures tabled in the House of Commons. According to the Canada Border Services Agency, as of October 335,872 travellers who are not Canadian citizens or permanent residents have flown to Canada since the federal Quarantine Act was imposed, limiting non-essential travel and imposing a 14-day self-isolation on people entering Canada from abroad. The CBSA was unable to provide a breakdown of the reasons for their entry.

Article Link: https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/night-and-day-toronto-doctor-speaks-out-as-hospitals-fill-up-and-covid-19-patients-die-1.5200952

A Toronto doctor who lost three patients to the coronavirus in 36 hours says he’s dismayed by holiday shoppers lining up at malls for discounts while hospitals surpass capacity thresholds amid the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. In an emotional interview on CTV News Channel, infectious disease specialist Dr. Abdu Sharkawy described the difference between life inside the COVID-19 ward and outside of it as “night and day.” “The COVID ward is a place of desolation. It’s a place of quiet — an eerie sense of quiet — where there’s very little in the way of human contact and connection that patients would ordinarily have from their family and their loved ones. Because patients are in individual rooms, they’re isolated in the truest sense,” he said Monday.

Article Link: https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/montreal-paramedics-told-to-suspend-resuscitation-on-some-patients-for-months-due-to-covid-19-risks-1.5201791

For five months this year, Montreal paramedics were told to suspend resuscitation efforts on patients whose hearts had stopped, since it was seen as too risky at a time when COVID-19 wasn’t well understood. “During the summer and spring we just modified our protocol to protect the paramedic, to protect the health system, to protect the people—all people—because we didn’t know… how to protect ourselves, how contagious it was,” said Pierre-Patrick Dupont, the director of care at the Urgences-Santé paramedic service, which serves Montreal and Laval. The decision was made in conjunction with Quebec’s health ministry and its college of physicians, he said in an interview with CTV News. The move was first reported by Le Devoir newspaper.