COVID-19
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COVID, Cold, or Flu?
One of the most common questions that healthcare professionals are asked lately, is how can someone tell the difference between COVID-19, the common cold, and flu. While these are all considered respiratory illnesses, there are some differences in the way they are clinically diagnosed, as the symptoms of each illness will also slightly differ while sharing some similarities at the same time. First, we’ll start with the common cold. Common colds are viral in nature, meaning that there are no antibiotics that will act as a magic cure, and you unfortunately just have to let nature take its course and deal with those aggravating (and sometimes uncomfortable) symptoms, such as…
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Clinic and Emergency Room Visits During COVID-19
One of the most common concerns that people have as a result of COVID-19 is whether or not it is still considered safe to visit the ER for other maladies unrelated to the virus. Prior to COVID-19 being declared a public health emergency by our officials back in March of 2020, British Columbia saw as many as 6,559 visits to ERs across the province in just one day. However, just one month later, on April 6th, 2020, that number dropped to approximately 2,995 ER visits. While this ultimately shows that people were doing what they needed to be doing by staying home – and that the system, as a whole,…
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Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
You’ve likely heard the term PPE – otherwise known as Personal Protective Equipment – talked about a lot in relation to COVID-19. PPE refers to protective clothing and other items, such as: • Gloves • Face masks (surgical masks, N95 respirators) • Face shields • Hair covers • Goggles • Gowns • Other equipment designed to protect the wearer’s body from injury/infection Because frontline workers, such as nurses and physicians, come into extremely close contact with patients who are ill, and because COVID-19 is an extremely contagious virus, these frontline workers need this protective equipment to not only protect themselves from developing the virus, but to also stop it from…
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What To Do If You Exhibit Symptoms of COVID-19
One of the most common questions that people are asking in relation to COVID-19 is, “What do I do if I think I have the virus?” It can be particularly difficult to self-diagnose based on symptoms, simply due to the fact that the symptoms associated with COVID-19 are very similar in nature to other types of illnesses such as the common cold or influenza. Symptoms, for example, that can include things like fatigue, fever, coughing, sore throat, nasal congestion, and general body aches and pains. This is why, whether you have a confirmed case of COVID-19 or if you’re still awaiting test results, it is important that you self-isolate until…
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COVID-19 Vaccine Side Effects
Like any medication that someone might be prescribed, people will no doubt have questions about any potential side effects that may be attributed to them. That is also no different when it comes to the vaccines that are available to help prevent COVID-19. While there are certain risks that have been associated with the vaccines – most notably AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson, where there have been reported cases of rare blood clots associated with both – the vaccines are, overall, generally well-tolerated, and health officials worldwide continue to watch for any reports of adverse events associated with these particular vaccines (in addition to the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines) and…
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COVID-19: One Year Later
On March 11th, 2020, the WHO (World Health Organization) officially declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. Below is some insight into how the virus has impacted Canadians, how it has shaped the way we live our lives, how vaccines are now crucial in helping prevent transmission, and what we can take from everything we’ve learned in the last year as we move forward. First Case of COVID-19 in Canada The first case of SARS-CoV-2 was found in a Toronto man who had recently travelled to Wuhan, China – the epicentre of the COVID-19 outbreak – and was announced by Health Canada on January 25th, 2020. As a result, new screening measures…
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COVID Vaccines in Canada
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, scientists all over the world have been hard at work studying the virus, how it impacts individuals of all ages, races and genders, and creating vaccines to help prevent infection and transmission. To date, Health Canada has approved the use of the following vaccines: • Pfizer-BioNTech • Moderna • AstraZeneca • Johnson & Johnson Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna Vaccines Both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are what’s known as messenger RNA vaccines (also referred to as mRna.) These particular vaccines work by teaching our tells to create proteins which trigger an immune response. Once that immune response is triggered, your body will then…
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COVID-19 Variants
In recent months, news of variants of the SARS-CoV-2 have been making waves. A strain of a virus is considered a variant when it has mutations that change its genetic code. Variants of a virus can affect who is most impacted by it, the symptoms that one might experience, how quickly the virus spreads, how deadly it may be, as well as its response to vaccines. Currently, the known variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus include: • B.1.1.7 (first identified in the United Kingdom) • B.1.351 (first identified in South Africa) • P.1 (first identified in Brazil) In British Columbia, we have so far seen a total of 25 cases of…
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Managing Stress and Anxiety During COVID-19
Stress and anxiety are two things that most people have experienced in their lives at some point or another. While there are certain things that we can do in effort to prevent them from being daily re-occurrences in our lives, there are also times when the stress and anxiety we live through is often brought on by things we don’t have any control over. For example, the COVID-19 pandemic. As a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a significant increase in the number of Canadians that are experiencing a decline in their psychological health – including not just an increase in stress and anxiety, but also an…
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British Columbia’s COVID-19 Vaccine Plan
This week, healthcare workers and residents in long-term care in the United Kingdom were among the first in the world to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. Today, Health Canada announced its approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for use in our country, with an expected 249,000 doses of the vaccine to be made available by the end of December, marking the launch of the largest inoculation campaigns in Canada’s history. Right here in British Columbia, it was announced that the initial rollout of the vaccine would begin the week of December 14th, with 4,000 doses being administered to those who work in long-term care followed by other healthcare workers in addition to…