The health care system is hemorrhaging medical lab workers, in part because of COVID-19 infections and also because of burnout, low wages and better opportunities elsewhere.
With decreasing teacher degree completion rates and low teacher retention, Australia was already facing a growing teacher shortage before the pandemic. But it’s about to get much worse.
Social isolation can be hard for people living in long-term care homes, make sure to schedule window visits while lockdowns are in place.
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As people living in long-term care homes brave another lockdown, communication is key and the presence of family members (virtually or through the window) is needed.
New York City’s vaccine mandates are unaffected by the court ruling.
AP Photo/Mary Altaffer
We’d all like some answers. But uncertainty over how we count COVID cases is complicating the picture. Here’s what to expect in the days and weeks ahead.
A researcher at the Africa Health Research Institute in Durban, South Africa, works on the omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus in December 2021. African countries were penalized by Canada’s travel ban even though they discovered the Omicron variant via complex sequencing work when western nations failed to.
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Ottawa’s travel ban against African countries made clear its underlying policy: What matters is not your test result, but where you’ve been. It’s yet another example of anti-Africa discrimation.
The lack of preparation has been even more stunning than the miscalculation. As prime minister, Scott Morrison has to shoulder prime responsibility.
SaskWell is a texting-based service that connects users with established and evidence-based digital mental health tools, and offers weekly wellness tips and resources.
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Research on how text messaging could provide mental health resources resulted in SaskWell, a texting service for people in Saskatchewan that provides 10 weeks of mental health and wellness prompts.
Children are not the primary drivers of Omicron. And for the majority of children, COVID has been a mild disease. But there are many known harms from school closures.
People can counter the helplessness felt during the pandemic and build power by creating a sense of purpose and community amid the confusion of COVID-19.
The best way to stop new variants from arising is to increase the proportion of vaccinated individuals while maintaining infection prevention measures like wearing masks and social distancing.
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Even with a variant like Omicron that may be more transmissible than earlier variants, vaccines remain the most effective tool for protection against COVID-19 and for ending the pandemic.
Dean Faculty of Health Sciences and Professor of Vaccinology at University of the Witwatersrand; and Director of the SAMRC Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytics Research Unit, University of the Witwatersrand