Covid is mostly a problem for seniors – in Cobourg, 65% of Covid Deaths have been for people aged 80 or more and there have been no Covid Deaths for anyone younger than 39. Since Covid statistics were first collected, in Cobourg, there have been 1303 confirmed Covid cases; 53 of these were hospitalized and there have been 12 Covid deaths in Cobourg. Covid cases are now at a steady rate: according to sewage measurements which started in 2022, Covid peaked in April and August in Cobourg. But now there is another problem and it’s primarily with flu like and respiratory diseases amongst young children. In the HKPR Health region, from 28 August to 15 November, 15% of Visits to the Emergency Department have been for “Influenza like Illnesses” and “Respiratory Illnesses”. That’s 481 visits in Cobourg with 40% for children under 10. In the region, there have been 40 cases per week in late October early November and this is twice the normal rate and much earlier in the season. The normal peak is in January through May.
On 17 November, HKPR Medical Officer of Health Dr. Bocking said: “Over the last week, hospital emergency departments in Northumberland County have had 242 visits for respiratory and influenza like illness. This is nearly twice the number of weekly visits that were recorded at the beginning of October. This comes at a time when COVID is very much still with us, and poses a ‘triple threat’, as Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health has described it, (that) we cannot ignore.”
The problem seems to be that Covid is continuing at a moderate level and mostly a problem for older folk and held to a less serious level by vaccinations – but now other lung-attacking viruses are hitting children and overloading the Emergency Departments and Doctors’ offices.
What is being done
To help manage the “triple threat”, there is a deluge of information being provided by Hospitals and the Regional Health unit. There is a lot to read, especially for parents of young children. The short version? Keep vaccinations up to date including a flu shot, learn how to treat affected children, wear a mask when indoors in a crowd.
Be sure to click the links below.
Resources
Information provided by NHH
- Graphic – Summary of Actions – png image
- Actions Parents can take – by Ontario College of Physicians – pdf
- Information on pain killers for children – pdf
- Media Release by Ontario Health Team Northumberland – pdf
Information from Haliburton Kawartha Pine Ridge (HKPR) District Health Unit
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Good info. Thanks, John.
Would the possibility of the sudden unforeseen illness threat to healthy children have anything to do with them receiving the Covid-19 shots ?
No ………….
Double No.
Hahahaha, how ridiculous
Bill Thompson
Strange question. My understanding is that a very small percentage of young children have been fully vaccinated.
Had we all got vaccinated, worn a mask when close to others and washed out hands fequently, most of this whole mess we’re in now, including the existential theat to our healthcare system, could have been avoided.
Keith, we all know the “vaccine” doesnt stop the spread, It lessens the impacts of the virus on most people.
Just look at Joe Biden. He followed the proper dosing regime- 4 jabs-and still got COVID.
China and its zero Covid policy and yet COVID is still present thru out the country.
We will never eradicate COVID. Our best hope is building up natural immunity after multiple exposures
As for the kids, did the isolation and masking for the past 2.5 yrs play a part in why so many are getting sick? We really dont know and to dismiss it with out any study is wrong.
As for the hospital situation, yes we have a staffing problem which is limiting the beds that can be opened on the floors above the emergency room.
But i can tell u from first hand experience with NHH in the past 2 weeks, I was able to get my son in and out in about 4-4.5 hrs. A parent got in to see a specialist in Ptbo Hosp in a week after a trip to the Oshawa ER. And a family member has an MRI in Oshawa in Jan.
Are there challenges yes, but is some of this exaggerated in order to keep pressure on the govt for funding and the public on the side of doctors, who really knows for sure.
What i have learned over the past 2 yrs is never take the media as the sole source for my information.
In watching the Emergencies Act inquiry, I think we can see that truth and government transparency are the first casualties in any crisis.
Pete M
I’m sticking with my posting that argues
the present crisis in our healthcare system is not the fault of the system (which does need improvements such as more family doctors, etc) but with the lack of a fulsome and timely compliance by the public with masking, distancing, etc.
The mRNA vaccines strengthen the individuals’ immune system which then attacks the virus. That improvement deteriorates over time and requires booster shots, ie the third and fourth, (and now the bivalent shot). Only 81% of Canadians have had 2 shots. From my experiences more than 80% no longer mask. With children under the age of 5, only 6% have been vaccinated.
Since COVID resides in the lungs and is spread via aerosol droplets, masks are effective in stopping the wearer from spreading infection to others and receiving same from others.
Joe Biden had 4 shots and symptoms were mild (as was my slight cough when I tested positive 2 months ago and I’m 5 years older than the President). Neither of us required hospitalization.
As to Emergency Act Inquiry the fact is that after more than 2.5 weeks of chaos no effecive action had been taken. As argued by former Governor of the Bank of Canada, Mark Carney, the growing demands by the over-confident demonstrators were beginning to sound like an insurrection. I’ll wait for the final report by Justice Paul Rouleau.
And thats my point Keith you got jabbed 4 times. I ve been jabbed 2 twice and both of us have had Covid this year. In my case no cough just a cold like symptoms. Everybody I know has stopped testing for Covid. Their approach is that its a cold or virus and will treat it as such without ER or Dr intervention. Jabs aren t going to stop Covid…natural built up immunity. When i took my son into the ER they didnt even.bother testing for Covid.
Keit, people have moved on from COVID, but not good Liberals. Good Liberals believe that once a government program has been implemented it can never be discontinued. It needs to be expanded, especially when the metrics shows it isnt having any positive affect.
The Canadian Government lets 13.6 million doses expires and waste away. That means there wasnt a need for those extras doses in the world and were allowed to expire. The government black hole of waste. Over promise and fail to deliver
13.6 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccines that the government donated to other countries last year and that sat in the manufacturer’s warehouses until they expired, according to new data provided to the National Post by Health Canada.
Unforeseen? How do we know this “triple threat” was unforeseen? Anybody working in the education system knows in a ‘normal’ year there is a significant increase to the number of children with symptoms by mid-September. After a couple of years of reduced contact (masks, at home learning, modified school routines) children have had fewer colds and flues. This was to decrease the rate of Covid but it also decreased other viruses as well. Children who would have been sick with less harmful viruses have not had the opportunity for to get them and strengthen their immune system. Maybe I am completely wrong, but it is normally quite common for children to be spreading viruses this time of the year. It is having a greater impact than normal because immune systems have not had a good work out. When white people first came to the Americas they brought diseases that killed natives. The natives had no previous exposure to these diseases so had no natural immunity. There are still tribes in the Amazon that could be destroyed if modern people make contact with them.
These viruses are a triple threat everywhere – our problem in Ontario is that our healthcare system is failing. There no apparent plans to fix this. And so we’re stuck with endless masking. Why not just mandate people not to ride bikes, drive cars or engage in any activity that could lead to an injury and hospital stay? We are all arguing with each other and screaming about masks when we should be focused on the problem with our system and demanding action.
Well, we had to be mandated to wear helmets while we ride those bikes and to wear seat belts when we drive our cars. Seems we weren’t smart enough to do it on our own even after many suggestions and prodding from on high.
Like Frenchy as a Canadian species we seem unwilling to do or partake in common sense activities. Which unfortunately only encourages folks to believe that big Gov should take care of this. No doubt our health care is lacking, but it isn’t non existent. So what can we do today to make it so that outpatient surgeries can be performed, children, with respiratory issues, can be more quickly attended to, so that hip and knee surgeries are not delayed? Simple things like stay home if feeling ill and or maybe using the mask as recommended by credible doctors, EVERYWHERE.
Lemon Cake
You’ve got it backwards. The real problem is with us and our behavior during the pandemic … not our healthcare system.
What you’re saying is equivalent to blaming your auto insurance company for not paying out sufficient funds to cover the extensive damages you caused when you choose to drive drunk.
Your right Keith the problem is us and by that I mean the world collective us.
We have scientist around the world experimenting with gain of function on viruses and germs that put us and the world at whole at risk.
Keep it up and the climate crisis will be the least of our worries when a rogue virus can kill more people in 24 months than the climate can.
You’re right, Keith: it’s the old argument about whether to buy an ambulance to collect the bodies of those that fall over the cliff vs. buying a fence for the top of the cliff to prevent them from falling over at all.
Keith that example missed the mark…we trust in our government to be good stewards of our hard-earned dollars (a critical mistake on our part) and the pandemic pulled back the curtain and exposed gratuitous mismanagement which they are again attempting to throw back at us. We have a significant lack of manufacturing capability for critical goods and services. We lack vaccination research and development capacity. Our health care system is underfunded, poorly managed, understaffed, lacks efficiency and is not about health care, it is about sick care. We have not promoted wellness in this country as a means to longevity and a healthy life. Our inattention to our LTC system with undertrained, ill-equipped, underpaid staff relying on poor processes.
Canadians rolled up their sleeves unlike anywhere in the developed world. We stayed home, wore masks, washed our hands and socially distanced. We were locked down and shut out more than any other democratic country in the world. We lost connection, lost friends, lost jobs and loved ones because we were told to.
You are right about one thing – there is plenty of blame to go around but the behaviour of our Government is the real problem.
Rob
As usual blame the Government and ignore Canadas’ limited circumstances and praiseworthy achievements.
While we have the world’s 10th largest economy, on a per capita basis we rank 16th. Our debt to GDP ratio is the lowest of the G7 economies. Our home market is limited by having a population of only 38 million along with the related low number of qualified personnel.
We therefore are forced to compete with countries who are much better abled to develop the home-growen industries you refer to; countries like the US, Germany, Britain.
Dispite these handicaps, the worlds’ most effective Ebola vaccine was developed at Winnipegs’ National Microbiology Lab. A Quebec firm, Medicago, has developed a yet to be approved COVID vaccine. Canada is well known for biotech innovation through the successes of Adela, Deep Genomics, Inversago Pharma, Notch Therapeutics, Virgin Biotech, to name a few.
The Federal Government performed well during the pandemic along with the wise advice put forward by Canadas’ Chief Medical Officer Dr Theresa Tam and BCs’ Dr Bonnie Henry as the nature of Covid-19 began to be understood.
The failure was at the Provincial level where public healthcare and long term care is the responsibility of each province. Ontario under Ford was exceptionally poor despite the 2.3 billion dedicated but unspent dollars it had on hand by the end of the first summer. Over 50,000 Canadians either voluntarily went abroad for medical treatment last year or were sent by their provincial healthcare system.
Repairing all the inadequacies you list will require a substantial increase in the taxes we now pay, taxes that you believe are excessive. Cann’t have it both ways!
Keith, spending more is not the solution; we already spend more per capita than many other OECD countries yet we get poorer results. Why do we refuse to even consider a mix of public/private funding? How can we reduce the bureaucracy? How can we make better use of existing resources?
“How can we reduce the bureaucracy?“
Has that ever happened? Anywhere?
Ken
Check Robs’ posting. He’s the one talking about spending more not me.
I approve of public/private partnerships provided the healthcare system sets the standards and the rate it will pay the practice.
In the last year that I lived and worked in the US I developed an inguinal hernias. I had cancelled my private health insurance ($4,000 a year) before the hernia appeared. My mother in London put me in touch with her doctor who told me about the Shouldice public/private hernia clinic north of Toronto.
In the States the cost was $3,000 and in and out in 24 hours. At Shouldice it was $1,100 and 3 days in to make sure all was well. On discharge when they found out I was Canadian I was charged $700.
An example of how public/private can work as long as it is not unlimited for-profit free-enterprise and healthcare system still is in control.
Like our university system which is effectively subsidized by foreign students who pay full price, Shouldice, who specializes in all types of hernias, attracts patients from all over the world who pay full price. At my dinner table there were people from Israel and the Sudan. I couldn’t wait for my second hernia which appeared 15 years later. As I was going under, the surgeon introduced himself as the one who repaired my first one.