Welcome to the ‘new norm’ of seasonal illnesses
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(Lauren Pelley/ CBC News) — It’s another busy fall in Canadian hospitals, with emergency department closures, long wait times, and ongoing staff shortages all making headlines.

The situation can turn deadly: Two people died while waiting for care at the Anna-Laberge   …

People at high risk advised to wear masks as new Covid variant detected
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(Victoria Bekiempis/ The Guardian) — As authorities revealed that a new Covid-19 variant has been detected in the US, medical experts are emphasizing that high-risk persons should resume masking to prevent potentially deadly infection. Warnings from these physicians come amid an ongoing increase in   …

Blood clot risk remained nearly a year after COVID-19 infection, study finds
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(Solarina Ho/ CTV News) — The risk of developing a blood clot remained elevated almost a year after a COVID-19 infection, according to a new U.K. study that looked at the health records of 48 million unvaccinated adults, covering almost the entire adult English and Welsh populations, from the first year of the pandemic.  …

Majority of Canadians have now caught COVID — what does that mean for the future?
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(Adam Miller/ CBC News) — The majority of Canadians have caught COVID-19 since Omicron and its highly contagious subvariants triggered enormous waves of infection this year — with new estimates suggesting almost two-thirds of the population have had it.

Researchers in British Columbia analyzed close to 14,000 blood  …

1 in 8 adults end up with long COVID, new Dutch study finds
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(Aya Al-Hakim/ Global News) — A Dutch study released on Saturday reports that one in eight adults who are infected with COVID-19 experience long-term symptoms or what is often known as long COVID.

Long COVID refers to any of more than two dozens symptoms that linger, recur or first appear at least one   …

Here’s who can get COVID-19 antiviral Paxlovid in Canada, and how
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(Megan DeLaire/ CTV News) -Pfizer’s antiviral medication Paxlovid is designed to reduce the risk of hospitalization in patients with COVID-19, and it’s approved for use across Canada.

Although it has the potential to take some pressure off hospitals during coronavirus surges, some doctors and pharmacists believe   …

Covid study finds millions have long-term smell or taste problems
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(Andrew Gregory/ The Guardian) — Millions of people worldwide may have long-term smell or taste problems as a result of Covid-19, with women more likely to be affected, a study suggests.

About 5% of adults infected with the coronavirus may develop long-lasting changes to their sense of smell or taste, according to the research  …

Workers grapple with new stresses as they return to office
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(Last summer, Julio Carmona started the process of weaning himself off a fully remote work schedule by showing up to the office once a week.

The new hybrid schedule at his job at a state agency in Stratford, Connecticut, still enabled him to spend time cooking dinner for his family  …

Covid: Blood clot risk higher for six months after having virus
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(Philippa Roxby/ BBC News) — The research found people with severe Covid, and those infected during the first wave, had the highest clot risk.

This highlights the importance of being vaccinated against the virus, the researchers say.

Blood clots can also occur after vaccination but the risk is far smaller, a major

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Two years later, coronavirus evolution still surprises experts. Here’s why.
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(Priyanka Runwal/ National Geographic) — Raul Andino knows his pathogens. For more than 30 years the University of California, San Francisco researcher has studied RNA viruses, a group that includes the virus that causes COVID-19. And yet he never imagined he’d witness a pandemic of this scale in his lifetime.

“The magnitude  …