COVID-19

Report reveals ‘alarming trend’ of private staffing agencies in Ontario hospitals

New report reveals growth in government funding on Ontario’s public hospital systems has been significantly outpaced by spending on private staffing agencies.

Who’ll be Canada’s next Chief Public Health Officer? You should care

We need someone who learns from the past, applies the precautionary principle, engages with evolving science from multiple disciplines, and earns public trust by speaking hard truths.

The simple metal box that could change the world

This quiet, repairable metal air cleaner is an inexpensive long-term disease prevention tool for public spaces.

Vaccine safety, politics and the nocebo effect

The nocebo effect has an important role to play in vaccine uptake and safety. We must vigorously counter the misinformation and political spin that helps to fuel the accelerating vaccine concern vortex.

Public health is dead. As artists, we share some of the responsibility

As a writer who lived with Long Covid for two years, today more than ever, I think it is essential for artists to acknowledge and challenge a pandemic-shaped cultural vacuum.

Without an independent COVID inquiry, we are doomed to ‘rinse and repeat’ past errors

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is the biggest global health-related disaster in living memory. Yet, Canadian governments have refused to hold an independent COVID-19 inquiry into the pandemic response.

‘We might die because you won’t wear a mask’: A plea to health-care workers

Yes, it’s time to mask again. We need to do better. We know how to do better. We can save so many lives and preserve the dignity of patients in the process.

 How denial of airborne COVID transmission broke the world

Five years later, the greatest basic science failure in generations caused the pandemic harms highlighted by people across the political spectrum, and broke our social cohesion.

I was a COVID unicorn

I feared neither the virus nor the vaccine. Why did so few of us fit this profile?

Barriers to Paxlovid are exacerbating our health inequities

Access to Paxlovid has become increasingly challenging. Canada needs to do a better job at making it more accessible to those who would benefit most.

A plea to maskless health-care workers from vulnerable patients

Health-care workers have a responsibility to protect their vulnerable patients. Our lives are in your hands.

‘I would still receive another rather than no vaccine at all’: Chronically ill people left with little choice

Canada will not be procuring the Novavax vaccine for the 2024/25 season, leaving those who would have preferred an alternative to the mRNA vaccine without another option.

National Survey of Canadian Physicians reveals urgent need for digital health upgrades

We desperately need to reimagine and improve our health-care system. Clinicians know that digital health tools can be part of the solution.

Out of sight, out of mind? What the experts say we need to know about COVID-19 as we head indoors

Though we are not “post-COVID,” some say we are “post-crisis.” But the question remains: “What should we be doing about COVID now?”

Protecting HCWs and patients: An essential duty health-care leaders are neglecting

It is beyond time for our health-care leaders to empower an objective review of our system’s handling of this deadly and disabling airborne pandemic. It’s their duty to ensure a safe environment for patients and workers alike.

Private equity and health care: Should Canadians be concerned?

As Canadians, we should be asking questions about why private equity investment firms are so interested in owning parts of our health-care system.

It’s time to make compassion more relevant in our world

A generative compassion approach looks at the bigger picture and proactively asks the question: What more needs to be done to prevent more harm from occurring?

Disability and poverty: Funding and structure of new federal benefit unacceptable

The amount being offered to some people with disabilities, $200 per month, is a drop in the bucket in a time of high inflation, rising rents and significant added costs to living with a disability.

Droplet or airborne? WHO says it’s ‘through the air’ 

The WHO is slowly moving forward on airborne transmission. But language changes seem forced, unnecessary and only seem to benefit those who were unable to use the word "airborne" early in the pandemic.

Access to family doctor crucial step in weeding out fact from fiction

Everyone deserves access to accurate, evidence-based health information. A robust primary care system helps patients weed out fact from fiction, build trusting relationships with providers and ultimately live healthier lives.