(Coleen Underwood/ CBC News) — Sophie Balisky, 26, says she struggled with anorexia and bulimia through most of her teens but got help three years ago and was doing great — until COVID hit and she lost her job as a flight attendant.

She found herself reverting to old coping patterns in dealing with stressful and uncertain situations.  …

(Ian Sample/ The Guardian) — For scientists, 5 January was a turning point in the fight against the coronavirus. That day, a team led by Prof Yong-Zhen Zhang at Fudan University in Shanghai sequenced the genetic code of the virus behind Wuhan’s month-long pneumonia outbreak.

The process took about 40 hours. Having analysed  …

(Jane E. McArthur/ The Conversation) — Health-care workers in Ontario — a workforce that is predominantly women, many of whom are racialized — have been made especially vulnerable during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The risk of being infected with COVID-19, the lack of preparedness by governments, little success  …

(Jennifer Dimoff, Jacqueline Brady, Stephanie Glibert/ The Conversation) — “It is with broken hearts that we share the news that our baby … was born sleeping. I will not be back into the office for another two weeks, as I need that time to heal, both physically and psychologically. Thank you for your patience and understanding  …

(Matt Robinson/ Vancouver Sun) — Children in B.C. have borne social, educational and economic costs from the COVID-19 pandemic and they will also face its mental health consequences.

That is among the key messages in a new report intended to help policy-makers support kids during the pandemic and beyond.

The study was   …

(Jackie Dunham/ CTV News) — While the holidays are often a difficult time for people experiencing loneliness, this year may be harder than most as pandemic-related restrictions keep loved ones apart.

This increased isolation has led some experts to worry that it will cause an uptick of loneliness, anxiety, and depression  …

(Josh Pringle/ CTV News) — With the Christmas season getting underway, Ottawa’s medical officer of health is urging people to avoid crowded places and close contact with people outside your household to help limit the spread of COVID-19 and protect loved ones over the holidays.

And while the first doses of COVID-19  …

(Christine Birak/ CBC News) — Those who are pregnant or breastfeeding will have to weigh their own risks when deciding whether to be vaccinated to protect against COVID-19 because it hasn’t been studied in clinical trials, Canadian doctors say.

Without data on the safety of the vaccines during pregnancy and breastfeeding,  …

(Kate Dubinski/ CBC News) — Four months after it allowed a handful of palliative care patients to use psilocybin as a way to relieve end-of-life suffering, Health Canada has cleared the way for more than a dozen health professionals to use the psychedelic drug themselves to help develop therapies for future use.

Health   …

(Margaret Gallagher/ CBC News) — A regular dose of nature could be a potent prescription for reducing pandemic-related stress in heath-care workers.

That’s what the B.C. Parks Foundation is hoping to accomplish with the launch of its Nature Therapy Campaign. The program aims to provide up to 10,000  …