Would Charlie Brown's Great Pumpkin be subject to Canada's quarantine rules? Would anyone?

The NPC Healthbiz Weekly has launched. It's your weekly briefing on topics pertinent to healthcare marketers and executives published in cooperation with Peak Pharma Solutions. From Chronicle Companies, organizers of the 14th National Pharmaceutical Congress, which concludes on Wednesday, Nov. 4. More info at pharmacongress.info

⇒ Issue #130 (In numerology, 130 represents creative expression.)
⇒ Confirmed Covid cases in Canada as of 10/30: 231,383*
⇒ Confirmed Covid fatalities in Canada as of 10/30: 10,127*
⇒ Worldwide Covid cases as of 10/30: 45,126,200*
⇒ Worldwide Covid fatalities as of 10/30: 1,182,368*

My fellow Curveflatteners, as we head into a Halloween weekend where trick-or-treating will be hobbled by necessary Covid-19 safety rules, we can take small comfort in knowing everyone is facing the same burdens.

Only: no, we can't. Ongoing inequalities in pandemic impact and flouting of rules by persons of power and influence make it clear that the burdens are not being spread evenly.

The Chief Public Health Officer of Canada's Report on the State of Public Health in Canada 2020, made public last Wednesday (Oct. 28, 2020) spells out that as much as health outcomes were not equitable across Canada before the pandemic, Covid-19 has made them worse.

The report notes Canadians in confined group living conditions, and those in racialized communities that have been marginalized by structural factors, such as racism are at elevated risk of contracting Covid-19.

In stark contrast, while so many people—including the team here at Chronicle—have had to adapt to new ways of doing business in the age of Zoom meetings, some high-flying execs are still jaunting around the world for meetings. 

CBC News reports that a Mr. Nando Cesarone, president of U.S. operations for global shipping giant UPS, was granted a special ministerial exemption from Canada's mandatory 14-day Covid-19 quarantine in order to travel from Atlanta to Toronto to attend three days of meetings.

This was just one of 191 similar exemptions issued by Foreign Affairs Minister François-Philippe Champagne on "business mobility" grounds since the pandemic began. Officially, these exemptions are only given under 'exceptional circumstances', and require applicants to justify why they must travel across the border now, and not wait. But I find myself wondering what business a major shipping company must do in person that they couldn't do through package delivery.

The NPC Podcast is back for another season. The organizers of the National Pharmaceutical Congress are proud to release our new weekly podcast series, hosted by Peter Brenders. Peter's guest this week is Kevin Leshuk. Listen here now, or download the episode and play it at your convenience. The NPC Podcast is presented in cooperation with Impres Pharma

COVID CHRONICLE 10-30-20

• Researchers from the University of Michigan have developed a no-contact method of measuring respiratory rate and heart rate, which they say could aid in early diagnosis of respiratory illnesses, including Covid-19. The system uses infra-red and time-of-flight optical systems—already in use in new models of mobile phones—to measure heart rate and heart rate variability by monitoring blood flow in the face, and to measure respiratory rate by tracking the rise and fall of the chest. 
  
  
• In patients with acute ischemic stroke, evaluating the lung apices using computed tomography angiography could be used as an early, accurate screen for Covid-19, according to a paper published in Stroke (Oct. 29, 2020). 
  
  
• Skin manifestations appear to be on the list of Covid-19 symptoms that can persist well after the infection itself is cleared—'long Covid' as it is sometimes called. Researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital, looking at 1,000 cases of Covid-19 with skin symptoms, found that the median duration of the symptoms was 12 days. However, there was one case of papulosquamous eruptions that lasted 70 days, and there were six cases of Pernio/chilblains that lasted at least 60 days—two cases lasted more than 130 days. 

WHAT CHRONICLE IS WORKING ON TODAY

Layout expert extraordinaire Kylie Rebernik is putting together another issue of The Chronicle of Skin & Allergy. We all contribute to the copy, but she makes it look good. A toast to all your work, Kylie.

TONIGHT I AM LISTENING TO...

Taking a cue from Mitch's CurveFlattener yesterday, I have been tracking down playlists of cartoon theme songs of yesteryear, such as this list of themes from the '50s and '60s.

This list is, unfortunately, missing the objectively best theme of the era:

LATER I AM EATING...

It is a take-away Friday for me again. This week I'm thinking I'll try the sautéed shrimp in tomato sauce with mushrooms and feta from the Greek place up the street. It has been a while since I had shrimp, and the last time I had mushrooms from this place they blew my mind with how good they were.

TIME TO GET SPOOKY, SAFELY

Halloween is this weekend, so do your best to have fun while staying safe, CurveFlatteners. Monday will see a new edition of Skin Spectrum Weekly to subscribers, with the following day being a new NPC Healthbiz Weekly. Wednesday, Nov. 4 will bring you faithful readers a new Curveflattener, courtesy of Kylie Rebernik, as well as the last sessions of the 2020 National Pharmaceutical Congress. There is still time to sign up for that meeting, to hear from the best of Canada's pharmaceutical industry experts.