Health IQ: Wildfires and ERs, COVID-19 boosters and summer travel

How wildfires could add more pressure on ERs

Officials warned this week that the health impacts of the wildfires burning across the country could add pressure to Canada’s strained emergency rooms.

Speaking during a Monday press conference, Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos acknowledged the country’s emergency departments are “already quite burdened” as wildfires continue to burn and produce harmful smoke.

He noted we still haven’t yet seen the peak of the wildfire season in Canada, which is generally reached in July and the beginning of August. That means more smoke (and the health-related issues that come with it) could be on the way.

“We have seen from past experience that there will be an impact … in emergency departments,” Dr. Howard Njoo, Canada’s deputy chief public health officer, said during Monday’s press conference. “But I think the average individual can certainly take steps to prepare and hopefully maybe avoid having to see a doctor or go to an emergency department.”

For example, he said if you are prone to asthma, it’s a good idea to have a supply of inhalers in case the wildfire smoke gets particularly bad.

“Of course, any impacts such as asthma going up will have some impact on emergency rooms and the health-care system,” Canada’s chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam added.

With summer officially kicking off in Canada, travel, weddings, barbecues and other social events are on the table.

But should a COVID-19 booster be part of your summer holiday plans?

Experts who spoke to Global News say it’s a good time to get one if you haven’t already.

After more than three years of COVID-19, new cases have decreased or plateaued in Canada – and so has the vaccine uptake.

And as the summer holiday period gets underway, it’s a “really good time” for Canadians to update their vaccine protection, especially if they’re travelling, when exposure to other people is highest, said Dr. Allison McGeer, an infectious disease physician at Sinai Health System in Toronto.

“If you’re planning to spend the summer travelling and you don’t want to spend three days with feeling miserable in some hospital somewhere, that’s a good reason to get your COVID booster.”

Read more about the latest booster guidance here.

A global study published in the Lancet this week predicts that the number of people living with diabetes worldwide will more than double from 529 million in 2021 to more than 1.3 billion in 2050 if no action is taken.

The majority of the cases are Type 2 diabetes, the form of the disease that is linked to obesity and largely preventable, the researchers said.

Some countries and regions are particularly badly hit. For example, prevalence rates are expected to reach 16.8 per cent in North Africa and the Middle East and 11.3 per cent in Latin America and the Caribbean by 2050, compared with an estimated 9.8 per cent globally. Currently, the prevalence is 6.1 per cent.

But every country will be impacted, researchers said.

“The rapid rate at which diabetes is growing is not only alarming but also challenging for every health system in the world,” said Liane Ong, lead author of the paper, pointing out that the condition is linked to a number of other heart conditions such as heart disease and stroke.

More than three million Canadians, or 8.9 per cent of the population, have diagnosed diabetes and, after adjusting for the aging population over time, the prevalence has been increasing at an average rate of 3.3 per cent per year, according to Health Canada.