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Jun 27

The latest on the coronavirus outbreak for June 25 – CBC.ca

Canada's proportion of COVID-19 deaths in long-term care double the average of other countries, study shows

A new study found 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 countries. The analysis released Thursday by the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) provided a damning snapshot of senior care as of May 25, when long-term care residents made up 81 per cent of all reported COVID-19 deaths in the country compared to an average of 42 per cent among all countries studied.

The data compares Canada's record to that of 16 other countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The proportion of long-term care deaths ranged from less than 10 per cent in Slovenia and Hungary to 31 per cent in the United States to 66 per cent in Spain. At 5,324, the reported number of long-term care deaths in Canada was near the average but data varied widely among countries: from 28 in Australia to 30,000 in the U.S., with more than 10,000 in France, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom. Researchers point to limitations that prevent some comparisons countries vary in COVID-19 testing and reporting practices, and in their definition of long-term care. In addition, COVID-19 cases are often under-reported and in the case of Italy, data was available from only 52 per cent of the nursing homes operating in the country.

Nevertheless, Tracy Johnson, CIHI's director of health systems analysis and emerging issues, said the data offers valuable insight into a tragedy many families, caregivers and residents have been trying to illustrate since the pandemic began. Johnson said countries that implemented additional long-term care precautions at the same time as standard stay-at-home orders including Australia, Austria and Slovenia had fewer long-term care infections and deaths. Johnson said the findings suggest such measures could be key to mitigating the impact of a possible second wave but for now, she notes several of Canada's hardest-hit facilities are still grappling with the devastating fallout of existing infections. "Even if all of these [measures are instituted], there will be other folks who will die because some people are infected right now, still, and the outbreaks are still ongoing," she said. "Some of the control measures though will probably help to at least keep the rates the same as they are."

The contrast in long-term care deaths is even more stark between provinces and territories, according to the report, which notes long-term care deaths represented more than 70 per cent of all COVID-19 deaths in Quebec, Ontario and Alberta and 97 per cent of all deaths in Nova Scotia. There were none in Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and the territories at the time of the study. Two long-term care residents have since died in New Brunswick. Dr. Roger Wong, clinical professor of geriatric medicine at the University of British Columbia, said the numbers are "very concerning" and point to long-standing systemic problems that include inadequate staffing and resources and inconsistent standards. "There needs to be a fundamental reprioritization, focusing attention and resources, time and effort into the sector right away. Because I can tell you that what COVID-19 has shown us in terms of a major lesson is a fragmentation [of] seniors' care," said Wong, who is part of a federal task force working on national recommendations on how best to help long-term care homes battle COVID-19.

Following the report's release, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau floated the idea of bringing in national standards and reopening the Canada Health Act to address some of the vulnerabilities the pandemic has exposed in long-term care homes while accusing provincial governments of having "failed to support seniors." "I think one of the things that is very clear is our current system of supporting seniors across this country has not worked," Trudeau said. "What this recent report has shown, and quite frankly what this pandemic has shown from the very beginning, is that the job isn't being adequately done in long-term care centres across the country." Long-term care homes fall under provincial jurisdiction, but the prime minister said the federal government is willing to work with the provinces to address the problems in long-term care. The issue likely will be raised this evening during the weekly call between the prime minister and the premiers.

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Quebec stops publishing daily COVID-19 data despite leading country in number of cases

Quebec's Health Ministry said it will only provide weekly reports about COVID-19, rather than providing a daily rundown of the situation. The Health Ministry and the province's public health institute, INSPQ which had also been publishing daily updates will only publish the data on their respective websites every Thursday, the first of them being July 2. The ministry will also be sending out a news release with the figures on that day every week.

The move from daily to weekly updates appears to make Quebec the province to be providing data less frequently than any other Canadian province, despite leading the country in number of cases. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau addressed the change in his daily news conference on COVID-19, saying it's up to each province to decide how transparent it needs to be. He also said that Quebec still has a "significant number of cases" every day, and a significant number of deaths every day. "I certainly hope that Premier [Franois] Legault would continue to be transparent and open with Quebecers and indeed with all Canadians as he has been from the very beginning," Trudeau said.

The decision was first announced in a news release on Fte nationale, the province's annual holiday. In a follow-up email, Marie-Claude Lacasse, a Health Ministry spokesperson, said the "decision was made due to the evolving epidemiological situation, which is stabilizing." The government announcement appeared to take the INSPQ off guard. A notice on its website Tuesday said it would begin limiting its updates to weekdays only, rather than seven days a week. But on Thursday, following the Health Ministry's announcement, it said it, too, would only provide a weekly update. A spokesperson referred any questions to the Health Ministry. The number of daily cases and deaths in Quebec has declined in recent weeks, and the government has allowed most businesses to reopen, including restaurants, gyms and shopping malls, but bars remain closed.

Read more about what's happening in Quebec

U.S. watchdog details COVID-19 response failings

Incomplete and inconsistent testing data reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention make it more difficult to know the COVID-19 infection rate in the United States and take informed decisions on reopening communities, a U.S. government watchdog said. The report issued by the Government Accountability Office on Thursday marked the first review of the U.S. government's response to the coronavirus pandemic, and made recommendations to lawmakers how to improve the fight to come out of the crisis.

The report detailed difficulties the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) had in determining individual eligibility for stimulus cheques. The challenges included delivering payments to those who did not file tax returns the past two years as well as those without bank accounts or with limited internet access. Crucially, the report said, the Treasury Department rushed to get stimulus cheques out and did not avail itself to third-party data such as death records maintained by the Social Security Administration that the IRS in ordinary times utilizes. "According to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, as of April 30, almost 1.1 million payments totalling nearly $1.4 billion US had gone to decedents," the report said. Additionally, "the absence of complete and consistent COVID-19 testing data reported through May 31, 2020, has made it more difficult to track and know the infection rate, mitigate the effect of infections and inform decisions on reopening communities."

The level of transparency around U.S. government spending to fight the pandemic has been a contentious issue between various watchdogs and government agencies. According to the watchdog, the U.S. government has set aside $2.6 trillion worth of spending to fight the pandemic, but spending so far is unknown as all agencies are not required to report their expenditures until July 2020. The report also said the country is missing a national aviation-preparedness plan for infectious diseases; as part of its recommendations to U.S. lawmakers, the watchdog said it is urging them to take legislative action to require the Transportation Department to work with others to develop a national plan. It also criticized the Small Business Association for failing to give detailed descriptions of loans made in its data, and not outlining plans to review loans worth less than $2 million. "SBA to date has failed to provide information critical to our review," the watchdog said.

Read more about what's happening in the U.S.

Students can earn up to $5,000 this summer for volunteer service amid pandemic

The federal government launched a new program today aimed at encouraging students to volunteer in the fight against COVID-19 more than two months after first announcing it, and just in time for those who haven't been able to find a summer job. Post-secondary students will be eligible to earn up to $5,000 this summer through a new volunteer service grant.

The Canada student service grant is available for a range of volunteer work, including mask making, tutoring, researching animal behaviour and designing exercise programs for seniors. The grant will be worth between $1,000 and $5,000, depending on the number of hours completed. For every 100 hours worked, a student is eligible for $1,000, which means someone must volunteer 500 hours to receive the full grant. The program opens today and runs until Oct. 31, 2020. Only students and recent graduates 30 years old and younger can enrol; applicants must be enrolled part-time or full-time in a recognized post-secondary education program in the spring, summer or fall of 2020, or must have completed post-secondary studies in December 2019 or later.

Back in April, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the creation of the Canada student service grant a way of giving students who can't find summer jobs a chance to earn some money while volunteering in "national service" activities related to fighting the pandemic. The grant program was part of a multi-pronged, $9-billion investment by the federal government to cushion the economic impact of the pandemic on young people. Ever since, students and organizations that rely on volunteers have been anxiously awaiting details, worried that the window for their summer activities was rapidly narrowing. Today's launch of the "I want to help" https://www.jobbank.gc.ca/volunteer online platform provides details on the grant.

Read more about the program

How Canada could avoid a 2nd wave of COVID-19

The first wave of COVID-19 is subsiding in Canada, with daily case numbers and hospitalizations falling to rates not seen since the beginning of the pandemic. Predictions on when a second wave of COVID-19 could hit have ranged from the fall and winter months of this year when flu season traditionally starts to early next year, similar to the way the pandemic began, writes CBC's Adam Miller. But experts say the likelihood of a second wave isn't set in stone, and Canada could instead see several smaller waves in the coming months or avoid a second wave altogether especially if we keep our guard up.

"There's actually nothing preordained about a second wave," said Steven Hoffman, director of the Global Strategy Lab and a global health law professor at York University in Toronto who studies pandemics. "We might have a second wave, we might have a third, fourth and fifth wave we might not have a second wave at all." Dr. Isaac Bogoch, an infectious disease physician and scientist with Toronto General Hospital, said instead of one cohesive second wave, we'll likely face smaller outbreaks in the coming months that will need to be clamped down on quickly. "We're basically going to be trying to rapidly identify small outbreaks as soon as possible, quelling those small outbreaks and preventing them from snowballing into larger outbreaks and a larger epidemic," he said.

The largest risk factor for another wave of infection is connected to the fact that most Canadians are susceptible to COVID-19 simply because they haven't had it. Canada's Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam said almost 2.5 million Canadians have been tested for COVID-19, with an average of about four per cent testing positive and more than 100,000 confirmed cases. "We have very small penetration of this disease in our society," said Raywat Deonandan, a global health epidemiologist and an associate professor at the University of Ottawa. "That means the vast majority are still susceptible, and if they are susceptible, then it doesn't take a whole lot for something to trigger another explosive growth." For that reason, Deonandan said there is a mathematical probability that another wave of infection is possible, but it may be less severe based on what we've learned about how to control the virus in the past six months.

St. John's fitness instructor finds international success from her basement during pandemic

Gill Whelan had long thought about crushing the barriers to fitness classes by moving online. It took the COVID-19 pandemic to push her to do it. Now the St. John's fitness instructor is thriving from the comfort of her own home, with a following of more than 700 clients and no plans to change it up if and when COVID-19 is a thing of the past.

"The pandemic just allowed me the time to create the content and push it out there," Whelan told CBC News. While gyms in Newfoundland and Labrador are allowed to open as of today, when the province moves to Alert Level 2 of the phased economic reopening, Whelan said some people who fear the virus will inevitably not come back at all. There are also the regular barriers to joining a gym scheduling, social anxiety and cost.

She realized very early in her online venture that people enjoy working out from the comfort of their own home. "I told myself, if I could get a good group of 20 people to work with me in this fashion, it would be a huge success. But in the first month we had 120 participants." The following quickly grew to 700 people from all across Canada, some in the United States and the United Kingdom. Whelan livestreams her class on Zoom at 6 a.m. NT, and has about 250 people join her each morning. The classes are then posted on a private Facebook group where the rest of the members can access it throughout the day.

Read the full story about the online classes

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Still looking for more information on the outbreak? Read more about COVID-19's impact on life in Canada, or reach out to us at covid@cbc.ca.

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The latest on the coronavirus outbreak for June 25 - CBC.ca

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