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April 21, 2020 RNAO COVID-19 update

COVID-19
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Tags: 
RNAOCOVIDUpdates
I want to begin my report expressing our collective shock and mourning over the lives lost in the Nova Scotia rampage shooting. The pain is numbing and our love for the families and friends must be constant and vibrant. Only this collective demonstration of love can help the NS family, and the families and friends of each robbed life, carry on with their own. Please RT and add your commentary of love and strength to RNAO’s tweet. 

We require expanded and accessible COVID-19 data in Ontario

COVID-19
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Tags: 
PandemicCurve
Epidemiology
SDOH
SupportingWorkers
CriticalCare
Testing
Issues of fullness and accessibility of data are central to the understanding of any pandemic and the design of effective policy responses. We have asked Dr. Jennifer Kwan, a family physician in Burlington, Ontario, to expand on this key topic. What follows is her article. I encourage you to follow her on Twitter – @jkwan_md – her feed is an excellent source of useful data on COVID-19.

Can loss of smell and taste help screen for COVID-19?

COVID-19
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Tags: 
Research
Epidemiology
COVID-19 is a mysterious disease with high rate of transmission even among individuals with virtually no symptoms. Recent news articles and studies from around the world have suggested that loss of smell and taste may be specific and early symptoms for COVID-19. In Ontario, a research group led by Dr. John Lee from the University of Toronto based out of St. Michael’s Hospital is working on this project.

Letter from Ottawa Public Health

COVID-19
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Tags: 
VIANurse
HHR
RNAOAction
Ottawa Public Health thanks RNAO for recruiting nurses through the VIANurse program. OPH was able to quickly enhance its capacity for triaging, test results, case management and contact tracing by an additional 100 nurses, so that service could be provided 7 days a week, without delay.

Plans for gradual re-opening of the economy

COVID-19
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Tags: 
PhysicalDistancing
COVID&Society

RNAO wants to stress the critical importance of engaging those plans in a responsible and cautious way. If we move to open the economy too fast we risk a second surge that would overwhelm the health care system. In such a case, not only we would lose many lives that can be saved, but also the economy would get a double hit by having to go back to a full lockdown.

A home based model to confront COVID-19 – the case of the Balearic Islands

COVID-19
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Tags: 
Homecare
International
A crucial question we face as we start thinking beyond the pandemic is what systemic factors have contributed to worsening its impacts, and which ones have mitigated them. I have expressed earlier RNAO’s concerns that an excessive hospital orientation within the health system in Ontario, and the neglect of community-based approaches, is most likely a factor that has aggravated the impacts in our province. Today I am profiling the way that the Balearic Islands, a province of Spain, has tackled COVID-19 with an innovative primary care and home-based approach.

April 15, 2020 RNAO COVID-19 update

COVID-19
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Tags: 
RNAOCOVIDUpdates
Today I am profiling one of the “forgotten,” but crucially important, health sectors: homecare. With hospitals geared to the pandemic, “decanting” less acute patients to their homes, and less able to attend to non-COVID conditions, homecare plays a central role in keeping persons in their homes and attending to their needs.

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