Airports worldwide are fast emerging as sentinels to watch for the entry and spread of new and emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants: they are testing wastewater on planes and perhaps soon, swabbing floors and surfaces in airports and planes as well. CoVaRR-Net’s Wastewater Surveillance Research Group (WWSRG) is playing a major role in improving this type of surveillance in Canada and worldwide.

With COVID-19, influenza (the flu) and RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) cases going up during and after the holidays across the country, experts from CoVaRR-Net want to remind you that masking and other preventative health measures have been proven to work.

People often think – or expect – vaccines provide complete protection for everyone after they get their first dose.

Given that PCR testing of individuals for COVID-19 and case reporting have declined in Canada, public health officials have relied increasingly on wastewater sampling and seroprevalence testing as useful surveillance tools for tracking the spread of SARS-CoV-2 and predicting outbreaks in large geographic areas, such as communities.

With kids and teens back in school, students at university, Canadians spending more time indoors in the workplace and at social gatherings, and new variants always lurking, an 8^th wave of COVID-19 is expected this fall. It’s not yet known how fast or how tall this next wave will be or whether it will be driven by a new variant or by waning immunity against the variants already present.

Motivational Interviewing to Increase COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance (MIICOVAC) is a nation-wide service and pilot research project that aims to explore and address questions, anxieties, and concerns about COVID-19 vaccination.

BA.4 and BA.5 transmit faster and can reinfect people with previous Omicron infections more easily.

Many Canadians wonder whether third and fourth doses of vaccine truly make a difference in protecting them against COVID-19 infection and reducing the risk of transmitting the virus to others.

With the more contagious BA.2 fueling a spring wave, getting a vaccine booster protects Canadians against rising health risks

Two years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, provincial and territorial governments in Canada have shifted their pandemic policies by lifting mask mandates, vaccine passport requirements, capacity limits and other public health measures.

As PCR testing resources have been unable to keep up with demand across the country, rapid antigen tests (“rapid tests”) have become an important tool in the pandemic.

Because of limited PCR testing, the data on the spread of SARS-CoV-2 is becoming limited; wastewater surveillance offers an opportunity to provide a reliable snapshot of COVID-19 rates everywhere it’s monitored.

As PCR testing resources have been unable to keep up with demand across the country, rapid antigen tests (“rapid tests”) have become an important tool in the pandemic.

Cases of Omicron rose rapidly over the holidays and, since then, it has become the dominant variant.

Omicron, which has spread widely across the globe and in many regions of Canada, is one of the most transmissible variants to emerge during the pandemic.

* This article was published before Omicron was declared a variant of concern and spread worldwide. It no longer reflects CoVaRR-Net recommendations in regards to boosters in the reality of Omicron.

Declining antibodies do not necessarily mean less protection for healthy individuals, explains CoVaRR-Net's Dr. Mark Brockman.

Researchers at the Coronavirus Variants Rapid Response Network (CoVaRR-Net) share risk-reducing measures for Halloween.