🧵I hope Europe remembers that Canada entered the war against Nazi Germany in 1939, only seven days after France and England. An isolationist America was a bystander until the end of 1941, only after being attacked by Japan. Canada deserves more from Europe than crickets. 2/ If nothing else, this should answer false claims that we're not a true nation, a nation worthy of respect. Some earn respect through honour and sacrifice, some try to gain respect by bullying friendly neighbours. My uncle landed at D-Day to fight Nazis. We won't let him down.

The big lies are starting to surface from the Canadian far right as they continue to coddle anti-vax freedom fringers.

https://twitter.com/JMeddings/status/1817579267297071253

My thanks to every nurse who battled on the front lines to save lives and were ethical and smart enough to readily taken vaccines that were proven safe and effective in huge Phase 3 trials. They chose to reduce the risk of infecting their patients and possibly killing them while

1/5 Ontario's #covid wastewater signal continues to rise based on the latest preliminary signal. This is ahead of last year's Fall wave which did not reach this stage until October. I will be updating next week for the last time due to the program's cancellation by Doug Ford. 2/2 More can be found at the PHO link where you will find an extreme preliminary signal for Eastern Ontario and 5 of 7 regions growing, including the GTA.
publichealthontario.ca/en/Data-and-An…

We were fortunate in Ontario that after PCR testing and cases were severely cut back at the start of the Omicron wave in 2022, we had wastewater surveillance as a backup. Now that ww is also being severely cut back, there is no reliable warning before entering hospitals. For my part, I cannot guarantee that I will share sparse and unnormalized PHAC data on a few cities in the future. My role as an independent statistician has been to curate data and share data and information that is reliable and understandable by the public.

🧵There's a myth that people with comorbidities who die with an infectious disease like #covid were "going to die anyways".
People live longer now and as they age they naturally acquire more chronic health conditions (comorbidities) such as diabetes.
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P…
2/ You can see from the above chart that multiple comorbidities are quite common in seniors. This is partly because our healthcare advances (including vaccines, new medications, and improved diagnostics) are better able to identify and treat them.
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P…

🧵Here's a @CBCNews overview of where we are right now with #covid. I'm going to take this opportunity to add some specific notes for Ontario and include a few nuances that might get missed by the general public. /2

cbc.ca/news/health/su… 2/ First of all, the Ontario wastewater signal is in the low range right now and is similar across the province. This is further confirmed by lowered covid hospital bed occupancy counts (346 on May 26). I will use PHO charts here.

New: Update from NACI on the guidance for Fall covid-19 vaccination. /2

canada.ca/en/public-heal…
2. Other points:
- NACI has recognized that the Fall 2023 campaign was late as far as the actual covid wave on the ground. (This was quite obvious in Ontario.)
- The recommended interval between shots is 6 months but flexibility allows for a minimum interval of 3 months.
/3

Update 4/25: Ontario's covid wastewater signal is rising (preliminary data in grey). This appears to be mainly driven by the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). Source: @PublicHealthON
- see GTA in reply 2/ GTA preliminary signal (grey) showing a return to growth.
More details at publichealthontario.ca/en/Data-and-An…

Welcome to 2024. After four years of the pandemic, I feel I need to state this clearly. Too many Canadians let their country down by sharing and promoting false information about vaccines and covid. Many have died and many still suffer while the lies continue to get a free pass. A pandemic inquiry needs to fix this chaos. I suggest they look at establishing a panel that will recommend steps to combat disinformation with a well-funded public health sub-agency that will more aggressively fact check and fine those who commit or promote these harmful acts.

🧵UPDATE: The Ontario covid-19 wastewater signal continues to rise rapidly, up +19.3% over the last 7 days.
All regions are up. Central-East, Central-West, and South West are seeing extreme spikes. See PHO regional charts ⤵️ North West

🧵RSV outlook for Ontario with additional background from last season as well as the suspected role of prior childhood covid infections.
First, the latest PHO projection (red). It is on the rise and poses hospitalization risk, especially to children and older adults. 2/ One year ago I began tracking an extraordinary pediatric ICU surge that forced hospitals to urgently expand provincial capacity. Many of these cases were RSV.

What is the scientific term for the current “flu” running around Ontario?
“SARS-COV-2” What does “SARS” stand for?
“Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome”

It's hard to explain how rare reported serious adverse events from covid vaccinations have been in Canada. This chart may help. 99,034,000 covid vaccine doses and 11,231 serious adverse events (.011%).
Approved Covid vaccines are overwhelmingly safe. Of those rare events, some have been deaths following vaccination. Only 4 have been linked causally to vaccines. The best way to explain is that if I looked at all Canadians who died in the week after they had a Tim Horton's coffee with strawberry muffin, I'd get a big number.

I sometimes will criticize specific CBC articles but I want to be clear on where I stand. I stand 100% behind the CBC because if it is defunded, the vacuum will be increasingly filled by foreigners, extremist/partisan media, and unchallenged false info.
cbc.ca/news/politics/… Our Canadian institutions are increasing under attack. It's not just the CBC, it's our Canada Pension Plan, our flag being removed in one province before Remembrance Day, our parliament being intimidated by an occupation, attacks on judiciary, and more. This needs to stop.

🧵There is a detailed and buried MoH document with the latest XBB covid vaccine info. For the general 5 years+ population, you are eligible at 84 days from last shot or known infection. The recommended interval is 168 days (~ 6 months).
health.gov.on.ca/en/pro/program… 2/ Notes: "Recommended intervals are based on NACI recommendations. A longer interval between doses ... results in a more robust and durable immune response and higher vaccine effectiveness. The minimum interval is the shortest interval at which the product should be given..."

The arrogance of hospitals refusing to protect patients, saying "there is no excuse for abuse".
The abuse is happening in reverse: a govt and hospitals who have refused to adopt universal masking two months into a covid surge. That is the real abuse to the people of Ontario. They claim they are doing the best for everyone. No, that is a shameless lie. The staff still not sick are trying. But hospitals and the CMOH have been blatantly negligent when I and others warned months ago on what was coming. They sow what they reap. Universal masking now.

1/ I have some things I feel it is my duty as a human being to share about what is going on in the Middle East. But X is a terrible place to convey multiple thoughts and emotions without being taken out of context or being misrepresented. So bear with me. 2/ I have been haunted by the profound evil we have seen from Hamas. There are partly censored videos and images that we must watch, it’s our duty in this time to bear witness to the horror and never let it be minimized or skirted over. The perpetrators must be hunted down

1/3 Ford govt:
1. Left elderly to die in mismanaged LTC crisis
2. Ignored science advisor warnings of a new wave in Spring 2021, causing 1000+ additional covid deaths
3. Shortcut process to start 413 highway to nowhere favouring developer supporters 2/3
4. Drove heroic nurses away by freezing wages
5. Policies encouraged public healthcare failures as staffing collapsed and ERs closed
6. Muzzled Ontario Public Health and dismantled Science Table
7. Shortcut process to arbitrarily award unpopular Ontario Place plan

Thread of science and data-focused articles and threads on #covid19.
1. The case for temporary and targeted mask mandates
billius27.substack.com/p/the-case-for… 2. Masking and why I recommend N95 masks for the public
billius27.substack.com/p/masks-eviden…

🧵I said the 5 day isolation rule is a lie. Now let's talk about it based on science. Because one of the greatest public risks is someone leaving isolation while infectious, thinking they're not. I'm going to start with science and then walk through isolation. #covid19 #onhealth 2. Back when the CDC then Ontario and others went to a 5 day rule, this important study out of Japan clearly showed that the rule was wrong. High Omicron viral load (and infectiousness) was found up to 9 days for many.
niid.go.jp/niid/en/2019-n…