Children account for one-quarter of new Covid cases in one First Nations community

The NPC Healthbiz Weekly is here to keep on informing you through 2021. Your weekly briefing on topics pertinent to healthcare marketers and executives is published in cooperation with Peak Pharma Solutions. 

⇒ Issue #197 (In numerology, 197 stands for self-determination and humanitarianism)
⇒ Worldwide Covid cases as of 06/17: 177,138,102*
⇒ Worldwide Covid fatalities as of 06/17: 3,835,167*
⇒ Confirmed Covid cases in Canada as of 06/17: 1,412,737*
⇒ Confirmed Covid fatalities in Canada as of 06/17: 25,992*
⇒ Number of vaccine doses administered to Canadians as of 06/17: 30,701,255*

June 17, 2021—Good day, all you CurveFlatteners. Welcome to the next-to-last Thursday edition of the CurveFlattener. It's assistant editor Kylie Rebernik putting the keyboard through its paces today. 

 

Not only is my trustee sidekick Snowy (above l.) helping me report today's news, but her new fur-sister, the lovely Indy-not-"Mindy" (above r.), is along for the ride. Treats will come later, ladies.

As the curve continues to be flattened, with Covid cases in Ontario hot-spots dropping and the province reporting only 384 cases yesterday (06-16-21), one of Ontario's most vulnerable communities is being hit the hardest, despite the low numbers. 

Of the 384 active Covid-19 cases, 232 in Kashechewan First Nation, an Indigenous community in northern Ontario. According to Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller, one-quarter of all active Covid-19 cases in Ontario are from this isolated community of 2,000 with children (12 and up) making up most of the active Covid-19 cases. 

The reason that children are most affected, according to Miller and Dr. Tom Wong, chief medical officer of public health at Indigenous Services Canada, is due to Canada's current age restrictions for vaccination. A majority of the Covid-19 cases in Kashechewan are in those who are not vaccinated yet. And although this means the vaccine works, it is still devastating to this small community, with the only grocery store being closed due to the outbreak. However, the racial disparities of Covid-19 are nothing new.

According to an article published in The Lancet (Feb. 01, 2021), "In Ontario, migrants represent just over 25% of the population but 43.5% of Covid-19 cases, mostly racialized visible minorities." 

StatsCan reports that "Covid-19 mortality rates were higher in Canadian neighbourhoods with a higher proportion of population groups designated as visible minorities."

Although the racial disparities in healthcare have always been present, Covid-19 has further exposed the gaps in the Canadian healthcare system, highlighting the need for change.

The NPC Podcast is back for another season. The National Pharmaceutical Congress organizers are proud to release our new weekly podcast series, hosted by Peter Brenders. Peter's guest this week is Ronnie Miller, boss of Roche Canada. 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 06/17/2021

• Covid-19 detected in Canada's wastewater: Scientists in Ottawa are monitoring wastewater as detected levels have changed since early June. According to Robert Delatolla, co-lead investigator of Ottawa's Covid-19 wastewater program, "the total concentration of that little genome, that RNA fragment that we tested in the wastewater, is going up. It coincided, unfortunately, with the reopening." Data has suggested that the Covid-19 levels in wastewater have been trending upward following a period of decline before reopening. 

• The delta variant of Covid-19 continues to spread rapidly worldwide. According to an article published by Medical News Today, the delta variant has become the dominant strain in the U.K. and the U.S. Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institue of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, warned "any country that has the delta variant should be concerned that there will be a surge of infections, particularly if that particular county does not have a substantial proportion of their people vaccinated. According to researchers, symptoms from the delta variant are being reported as slightly different compared to other strains, with symptoms mimicking a bad cold, which has led patients to dismiss their symptoms. 
• Cases of Covid-19 are skyrocketing in the Yukon: After having zero cases last week, the number of confirmed cases has risen to 49. According to Dr. Brendan Hanley, the territory's chief medical officer of health, "this is our first widespread outbreak, and it has outstripped anything we have seen before." It is believed that the outbreaks are strongly linked to recent graduation-related events. Public health officials in the Yukon are bracing themselves as they expect numbers to climb in the coming days. 

WHAT CHRONICLE IS WORKING ON TODAY

As loyal CurveFlattener readers, we are offering you the opportunity to sit in on our DTC live webinar taking place tonight (Thursday, June 17) starting at 7:00 p.m. The live program is the culmination of the DTC Chronicle Academy program, designed to help develop the essential skills needed to propel marketing through the pandemic. Faculty includes Professor Dave Kreling, Jeff Wayne, Ernie Chow, Niki Papaioannou, Dorothy Czylyski, Ross Glover, Matthew Page, and Catherine Bate. You can register here. 

TONIGHT WE ARE WATCHING

After tonight's live DTC seminar, I will be decompressing by watching "White Collar" on Disney+. Thank you to Tik Tok for showing me how to turn off the child settings and letting me stream "adult shows," including White Collar and Criminal Minds. 

TOMORROW AND TOMORROW\

The CurveFlattener will return tomorrow. In the meantime, you can read our other newsletters, Skin Spectrum Weekly and NPC Healthbiz Weekly, and you can follow us on Instagram.  Please go ahead and subscribe through the links above. There's no charge.