“China eats weird animals disease”

Throughout the pandemic, medical and scientific institutions have disseminated dubious advice, flawed studies, and even outright falsehoods.

Throughout the pandemic, public-health officials have omitted uncomfortable truths, made misleading statements, and advanced demonstrably false assertions. In the information era, where what one says is easily accessible and anyone may read primary literature, these falsehoods will be increasingly recognized and severely damage the field’s credibility. No doubt, officials and organizations promulgating them had a range of motivations—including honorable ones, such as wanting to encourage salutary choices. Yet the subsequent loss of institutional trust may result in harm that far outweighs any short-term policy objectives.

The French Canadian province has gone in an increasingly authoritarian direction

Never fully in but never fully out, Quebec has always had an awkward status in Canada. Fiercely protective of its French identity, it has long flirted with separating from its anglophone motherland  but, a bit like Scotland, the support was never quite there. Also like Scotland, it has, throughout the pandemic, tried to flex its (limited) autonomy over health policy by consistently pushing for more restrictions than the national government.

Over a quarter of Canadians support putting unvaccinated people in jail for jab refusal, while two-thirds say they would support mandatory vaccinations for all residents over the age of five.

A poll released this week by the Canadian firm Maru Public Opinion claims that 27 per cent of the Canadian public would support the government putting people in prison for a short time simply for being unvaccinated.

Ontario reports over 4,100 COVID-19 hospitalizations, 64 more deaths

Ontario reported more than 4,100 COVID-19 hospitalizations today and 64 virus-related deaths as the province is set to loosen restrictions at the end of the month.

There are currently 4,114 patients with COVID-19 in Ontario hospitals, up from 4,061 a day ago, according to the Ministry of Health.

Health Minister Christine Elliott says 54 per cent of hospitalized patients were admitted for the virus and 46 per cent were admitted for other reasons but have tested positive for COVID-19.

There are 590 people in ICU with #COVID19. 82% of patients admitted to the ICU were admitted for COVID-19 and 18% were admitted for other reasons but have tested positive for COVID-19.

There are 7,165 new cases of COVID-19.

— Christine Elliott (@celliottability) January 21, 2022

Ontario sewage tests indicates COVID-19 may have plateaued but levels still high, experts say

Results from facilities testing sewage for COVID-19 across Ontario indicate that infection rates may have plateaued, yet levels of the Omicron variant appear to remain high, experts say.

Andrea Kirkwood, an associate professor of biological science at Ontario Tech University who is one of a number of researchers involved in the wastewater COVID-19 surveillance project, said at the beginning of the month, all the sites they were monitoring “spiked really high.”

Levels subsequently came down from the peak, but researchers are still detecting a higher virus signal with the Omicron variant compared to previous variants, she said.