Dasantila Golemi-Kotra

Ontario Chief Medical Officer of Health Kieran Moore arrives to speak at a press conference at Queen’s Park on April 11, 2022. Ontario lifted most COVID-19 restrictions in March. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

‘Living with COVID‑19’ must be more than an empty phrase: Individuals need tools to manage BA.2 and future waves

Instead of minimizing current or future waves of COVID-19, we need strategies to deal with new variants efficiently. Only then can we live with the virus in a healthy way.
Young children are rolling up their sleeves to get vaccinated, protecting themselves against COVID-19 and helping to curb the pandemic. (Dasantila Golemi-Kotra)

Children ages 5 to 11 are getting COVID‑19 vaccinations: What this might mean for the holidays and the Omicron variant

The participation of five-to-11-year-old children in vaccination programs will make 90 per cent of the population eligible to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
Colorized scanning electron micrograph of a cell (orange) infected with UK B.1.1.7 variant SARS-CoV-2 virus particles (green), isolated from a patient sample. Image captured at the NIAID Integrated Research Facility (IRF) in Fort Detrick, Maryland. (NIAID)

COVID‑19 variants FAQ: How did the U.K., South Africa and Brazil variants emerge? Are they more contagious? How does a virus mutate? Could there be a super‑variant that evades vaccines?

Variants of the original SARS-CoV-2 are now in wide circulation. That means the third wave of COVID-19 has come with new questions about the variants, their effects and what might come next.
A COVID-19 vaccine is administered at a clinic at Olympic Stadium in Montréal on March 1, 2021, marking the beginning of mass vaccination in the Province of Québec based on age. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson

COVID‑19 vaccine FAQs: Efficacy, immunity to illness vs. infection (yes, they’re different), new variants and the likelihood of eradication

With four COVID-19 vaccines approved for use in Canada, it’s time to answer FAQs about efficacy, immunity, eradication and variants.
Health-care workers wait in line at a COVID-19 vaccine clinic in Toronto on Jan. 7, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

COVID‑19 vaccine rollout: Why a mask and social distancing are still needed, even if you get the shot

Rollout of COVID-19 vaccines has begun. But getting the jab doesn’t mean abandoning masks, distancing and handwashing. Here’s why the current preventive measures must continue post-vaccine.
A student adjusts his protective mask as he walks off the bus at the Bancroft Elementary School as students go back to school in Montréal, on Aug. 31, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson

Kids, masks & back‑to‑school FAQs: Are cloth masks best to protect against COVID‑19? How often should masks be washed?

Back-to-school routines under COVID-19 look a little different than previous years. For one thing, kids need to wear masks. Which means many parents have mask questions.

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