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Code Blue: A deep-dive into Canada’s health system crisis This week, Global News launched a new series looking at why emergency rooms across the country are closing and turning patients away and why some Canadians have died waiting for urgent care in recent weeks. The series will look at the many complex factors that have contributed to what doctors, nurses and other front-line workers call a crisis in staffing shortages, which is affecting hospitals and health services in every province and territory in the country. The first story of the series looks at how hospitals in smaller centres like Prince Edward Island and Perth, Ont., are experiencing the same critical shortages in health workers and seeing local emergency room closures, and how the problem goes well beyond smaller, rural hospitals. Big, urban hospitals are also experiencing significant pressures, thanks to their own staffing shortages. And those pressures have been exacerbated by an increased number of patients that are now forced to be re-routed to the larger hospitals due to local ERs closing in their communities. Read the first installment of our series here, for details of how hospitals big and small are struggling amid a nation-wide staffing crisis. Find out more about our series, Code Blue: Resuscitating Canada’s ERs on our website. 
COVID testing at Canadian airports sending healthy travellers into quarantine Random testing at Canada's border can't distinguish between people who previously had COVID-19 and those currently infected by it and is forcing some uninfected travellers to quarantine, according to information obtained by Global News. Why? The tests being used — PCR or molecular tests — are too sensitive to tell the difference between active infections and previous infections. But the federal government insists on using these tests because it says they're the "gold standard" for detecting the virus, even if they may be catching people who fully recovered from it. The government paused mandatory random testing of fully-vaccinated travellers at airports in mid-June – a time when airports were experiencing a host of bottlenecks, leading to widespread flight cancellations and delays. But in the interest of continuing to track new variants, it restarted the program a month later, with tests either self-administered at home or completed at locations outside airports. To avoid potential problems, including forcing people with previous infections to needlessly isolate, anyone who provides a positive PCR test result taken up to 180 days before entering Canada is exempted from the random testing program. But access to PCR testing has been limited in many places over the past year, meaning it's unlikely travellers with previous infections will be able to provide the proof they need in order to get an exemption. For more details, read Brian Hill’s story here. 
Q: If I've already received three doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, why do I need a fourth? Will we keep having to get boosters every few months? If you are a high-risk individual – that is, someone who is over 60, immunocompromised, pregnant or have or serious medical conditions – a fourth dose offers an advantage against severe disease and death as compared to three doses, says Dr. Zain Chagla, infectious diseases physician and associate professor at McMaster University in Hamilton. But, he says, for all others, this benefit is could be relatively small and the protection against getting infected lasts only six-to-eight weeks. “So, if you're high-risk please go for your next dose,” Dr. Chagla said. “If you are lower-risk, then you're incredibly well protected from your three doses, and have time to wait.” He adds that if you've had a COVID-19 infection on top of three doses, you have extra protection. It’s “like having four doses,” he said. As for whether we will continue having to receive boosters of this vaccine, the science that has emerged to date shows the immunity individuals gain from either contracting the virus or getting vaccinated wanes over time, says Maria Van Kerkhove, an infectious disease epidemiologist with the World Health Organization. That means boosters continue to be necessary, she said. “We will need booster doses going forward because the virus will continue to circulate and we have what is known as waning immunity. And so people will need to be boosted in terms of building up their immune profile to prevent against severe disease,” Van Kerkhove said during a WHO question and answer event on Friday. While the vaccine doesn’t always prevent transmission, it has proven to be effective at reducing severe illness and hospitalization, she said. | 
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