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[ad_1] The problem is that 85 of the 194 countries surveyed by the WHO technical advisory group that came up with the new estimates don’t have good enough death registries for this to be a viable approach. Forty-one of those countries are in sub-Saharan Africa.For these countries, a team led by Jonathan Wakefield, a statistician at the University of Washington in Seattle, used the data from countries with complete death registries to build another statistical model able to predict total COVID deaths in any month from other measures, including temperature, the percentage of COVID tests returning positive, a rating of the stringency of social distancing and other measures to limit infection, and rates of diabetes and cardiovascular disease — conditions that put people at high risk of dying from COVID.The Indian health ministry objected strongly to this model in its response to the New York Times article. But the WHO team didn’t actually use it to estimate Indian COVID deaths. India falls into an intermediate group of countries that have reasonably good data on total deaths in some regions but not in others. So Wakefield’s team used data from 17 Indian states with adequate death registries, applied the standard excess deaths approach used for countries with complete death registries, and then extrapolated from these states to the entire country.“We only base the predictions of how many people died in India in those two years on Indian data,” Wakefield told BuzzFeed News.Importantly, the WHO’s estimates for Indian COVID deaths also align well with other studies, including one published in the journal Science in January by a team led by Prabhat Jha, director of the Centre for Global Health Research at the University of Toronto in Canada. Jha’s team estimated COVID deaths from Indian government data and from a national survey of 137,000 people, conducted by a polling company that asked people whether a family member had died from COVID. “India has pretty high cellphone coverage, and they did random digit dialing,” Jha told BuzzFeed News.Jha’s team estimated that more than 3.2 million people in India had died from COVID by July 2021, the majority of them during the devastating surge in COVID caused by the Delta coronavirus variant between April and June 2021. That came after the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi had relaxed COVID controls following an earlier, less severe wave. “The Indian government declared victory and said, ‘Oh India's beat this virus,’ and complacency set in,” Jha said.This explains the political sensitivity in India about accepting the results from studies that indicate a much higher death toll than the official count. Responding to a question from leaders of the opposition Congress party about Jha’s study in February, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare described it as “speculative” and claimed it “lacks any peer reviewed scientific data” — even though it was published in one of the world’s leading peer-reviewed scientific journals.“It’s politics,” Jha said of the Indian government’s rejection of his study.According to the WHO, Egypt has proportionately the largest undercount of pandemic deaths, with excess mortality running at 11.6 times the toll attributed to COVID. India, with 9.9 times more excess deaths than its official COVID death count, is in second place. Russia, meanwhile, has reported 3.5 times fewer deaths from COVID than indicated by its excess mortality.Ariel Karlinsky of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, another member of the WHO technical advisory group, hopes the agency’s “stamp of approval” for excess mortality calculations will encourage nations to come up with more realistic numbers. “Putin doesn’t know who I am, but they do know who the WHO is,” he told BuzzFeed News.But rather than moving to correct their COVID death numbers, some governments are apparently now withholding the all-cause mortality data used to calculate excess deaths. Belarus, which seems to
be undercounting its COVID deaths by a factor of about 12, has stopped reporting its all-cause mortality data to the UN, Karlinsky said. “The sections on mortality just disappeared.”Right now, the main concern is China, which is experiencing a significant wave of the Omicron coronavirus variant but is reporting suspiciously few deaths. If the wave now hitting Shanghai and other cities matches the pattern seen in Hong Kong since February, Jha fears that a million Chinese people may die.Some countries have responded to excess mortality studies with greater accountability and transparency. After earlier excess deaths analyses suggested that Peru was underreporting its COVID deaths by a factor of 2.7, the South American nation went through its medical and death records in detail and revised its death toll in May 2021 to a figure closely matching the excess deaths analysis. It is now reporting the highest official per-capita death rate from COVID of any nation. “Peru did what I would have liked every country to do,” Karlinsky said.The WHO’s new estimates of total excess pandemic deaths will include people who died from other causes because health systems were overwhelmed, as well as people killed by the coronavirus.Karlinsky, who is an economist, said he started analyzing excess deaths because he wondered whether “the cure was worse than the disease” — in particular, he feared that lockdowns could cause more deaths than the coronavirus, in part through increases in suicides. But the data told a very different story.In countries like New Zealand that had strict lockdowns but low levels of COVID, there is no excess deaths signal. There is also no evidence of a global epidemic of suicide during the pandemic — in the US, suicides actually decreased. Only in a few countries like Nicaragua, where people seem to have avoided going to the hospital because they were worried about getting infected, are there signs that deaths from other causes such as heart disease have increased, according to Karlinsky.“Excess mortality is about equal to COVID mortality,” he added. [ad_2] Source link
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उमा-प्रभात का 'दर्द-ए-ट्वीट': दोनों के स्टैंड से उठ रहे कई सवाल, निशाने पर कौन और क्यों?
उमा-प्रभात का ‘दर्द-ए-ट्वीट’: दोनों के स्टैंड से उठ रहे कई सवाल, निशाने पर कौन और क्यों?
वैभव मिश्रा/नई दिल्ली: मध्य प्रदेश में कभी बीजेपी की अगुआ रहीं उमा भारती और पूर्व राज्यसभा सांसद प्रभात झा इन दिनों हाशिये पर चल रहे हैं. पूर्व मुख्यमंत्री उमा भारती को न तो केंद्र में तवज्जों मिल रही है और न ही शिवराज सरकार उन्हें ज्यादा तरजीह दे रही है. यही हाल बीजेपी के सीनियर लीडर प्रभात झा के हैं, जिन्हें टीम नड्डा और वीडी शर्मा की मंडली में कोई जिम्मेदारी नहीं मिली है. बीजेपी की नेशनल और…
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अचानक दिल्ली से भोपाल आये ज्योतिरादित्य सिंधिया कांग्रेस पार्टी के दिग्गज नेता एवं गुना से सांसद ज्योतिरादित्य सिंधिया अचानक कल भोपाल आ पहुंचे । गौरतलब है कि ज्योतिरादित्य सिंधिया भोपाल पहुचते ही एक्शन मूड में आ वाये ओर उन्होंने दिग्गविजय सिंह एवं मुख्यमंत्री कमलनाथ के साथ बैठक कर चर्चा की इस चर्चा में हॉर्स ट्रैनिंग आदि पर मुख्य रूप से चर्चा हुई । और इसके बाद ज्योतिरादित्य सिंधिया , कमलनाथ ओर दिग्गविजय सिंह ने एक होटल में पार्टी के 113 विधायकों, सपा के 1 ओर बसपा के 2 ओर अन्य 4 विधायकों से यानी कुल 120 विधायकों से डिनर पर चर्चा की ओर पार्टी की समस्त रण नीतियों पर चर्चा की। इस बैठक में विधानसभा अध्यक्ष के चिनाव को लेकर भी चर्चा हुई साथ ही यह निर्णय भी लिया गया कि यदि भाजपा विधानसभा अध्यक्ष चुनाव में अपना प्रत्याशी घोषित करती है तब कांग्रेस भी अपना प्रत्याशी विधानसभा उपाध्यक्ष हेतु घोषित करेगी। वही पार्टी में सभी को एकजुट होने का मंत्र तीनो ही नेताओ ने दिया जिसमें ज्योतिरादित्य सिंधिया, कमलनाथ, दिग्गविजय सिंह सम्मिलित थे।
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Kamal Nath is a Chinese agent: BJP leader Jha
Amid the ongoing war of words between the Congress and his party, BJP national vice-president Prabhat Jha on Friday dubbed former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath a “Chinese agent”.
He told the media here that there was a reason why the Congress and its leadership were talking in the “language of China”. “It is because of Kamal Nath, who during his stint as the Minister for commerce and industry in the UPA government had acted at the behest of China,” he added.
“During the UPA rule, there were many agreements between the Indian National Congress and the Communist Party of India. Despite the availability of certain items in India, at least 250 such items were imported from China. There was lesser import duty on such items. From the money thus earned, the Congress and the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation were given money, which is a crime. Only one person was responsible for all this – the then Commerce Minister. All this is on record,” Jha reasoned.
The BJP leader asked Kamal Nath to answer whether he was an Indian citizen or an agent of China.
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Absolutely heartbreaking.
Laali was alone at home when she realised her legs were drenched in blood. The bleeding did not stop for eight hours. As she fell unconscious, the 25-year-old thought she would die alongside the foetus she was losing.
She had been three months pregnant when she was taken for prenatal sex determination. “When I learned it was a girl, I started feeling as though I was suffocating,” she says.
An abortion pill was forced down her throat, without a doctor’s supervision, and subsequent complications led to hospitalisation. The night she was released, Laali cried herself to sleep – and in the morning returned to her work in the fields.
Laali’s unborn daughter is among India’s estimated 46 million “missing females” over a period of 50 years, ten times the female population of London. A deepening gender bias, breeding rampant sex-selective abortions and female infanticides, means that India accounts for nearly half of global missing female births.
“The traditional pattern of marriage and customs dictate an inferior position to women in Indian societies,” says Prem Chowdhry, a gender activist and retired professor at the University of Delhi. Since girls leave their birth family after marriage, she says, the dowry and cost of raising a girl is considered an unwelcome obligation, and sex-selective abortions are common.
Prenatal sex determination was criminalised in 1994, but it is a widely flouted law. The practice has thrived with medical advancements, spread to more regions, and is still easily accessible in privately run clinics.
Surrounded by vast sugar cane fields, Laali’s village is 40 miles from Delhi. Social health activists who run an unregistered support group for women here estimate that “every third house in the village” has aborted a foetus because of the sex.
“Families want a son at any cost. Any cost!” Laali says. “If I die, my husband will remarry tomorrow morning, hoping the next woman will give birth to a son.”
Laali was 19 when her marriage was arranged with a farmer in 2009. In the next three years, she gave birth to two daughters. During her second pregnancy, she was regularly drugged by traditional and faith healers in order to “make” a boy.
When her baby girl was born, no one from her family came to see them in the hospital. Returning home was worse. “My mother-in-law refused to see my daughter’s face,” Laali said. “She refused to take care of me, saying: ‘you are giving birth to girl after girl. How far can I take care of you?’”
Every night, as she sat down for dinner after a day of labour in the field, someone would toss in a taunt. “When anyone had a son in the village, it was a nightmare for me,” she recalls. “My family abused me in front of my girls.”
The government of India appears unwilling to act. A recent government survey hailed the fact that there are more women than men for the first time. However, activists on the ground and experts are sceptical of the data. “The main objective of the survey was to look into data on reproductive health and family welfare indicators and not on the population sex ratio,” said Sabu George, a researcher and activist based in Delhi. “All state-wise trends show a different picture.”
Dr Prabhat Jha of the University of Toronto, who led India’s Million Death Study, agrees: “The UN Population Division, the most careful demographic work, estimates the number of ‘excess men’ in India is growing.”
India’s own registrar general’s estimate suggests a similar trend.
A 2021 Lancet research paper, co-authored by Jha, claimed that the situation has worsened, with missing female births increasing from 3.5 million in 1987–96 to 5.5 million in 2007–16.
The male child bias has cut through class and geographical divisions. In August, a 40-year-old woman from a wealthy upper-class Mumbai family said she was forced to abort eight times to satisfy the family’s desire for a son. She was given more than 1,500 hormonal and steroid injections before she lodged a police complaint. Last year, in southern India’s Karnataka, a 28-year-old woman died after complications during a third forced abortion.
Endless harassment pushed Laali to seek psychiatric help, and she is currently on medication. Two abortions and a surgery later, doctors have advised her to not get pregnant again. “My womb has weakened and my body cannot bear another child,” she said.
Family interference can cause huge stress for women. Bhavna Joshi, 39, from Chittorgarh in Rajasthan, had eight pregnancies in her 11 years of marriage, and finds her experience so painful to talk about that she only wants to share the basic facts: she was taken to “uncountable” numbers of traditional healers, had three abortions and lost two infants as babies. It didn’t stop until she finally gave birth to a son, now aged five.
After two abortions, Laali wishes for a boy too. “I want this to end. They are drugging me and I cannot eat or drink for days,” she said. “I just want out of it, badly.”
Over the past two decades, trends in sex-selective abortions have shifted. The Lancet research found that as more families in India become nuclear, abortions are more common with the third pregnancy. “Families let nature decide twice, but then – for the third time – they make sure it is a boy,” said Jha. “Violence against women is a cultural thing in India. The problem is going to get much worse before it might get better.”
After having two daughters, 36-year-old Meenakshi was taken by her in-laws for a prenatal sex test when she fell pregnant for the third time. “The area was completely deserted and hidden,” she says, hiding in another home for the interview. “I was scared. It wasn’t a normal clinic.”
Meenakshi, currently seven months pregnant, wasn’t directly told the result. “My husband and his mother looked happy so I understood it was going to be a boy,” she said. “Otherwise, they would have killed it [before the birth].”
In India’s deeply patriarchal society, women’s full sexual and reproductive rights are still a distant dream. Women like Meenakshi are fighting for acceptability in the family. Meenakshi’s parents raised her to expect freedom after marriage. But everything is worse, she says, sobbing.
For Laali, harassment is part of her daily life. By the time she was 15, her mother had aborted two female foetuses, and her younger sister has aborted at least three.
”You are brought up in an environment where this violence against women is completely acceptable and normalised,” says George. “The question is: how do you resist this on the ground? And that’s frightening.”
Both Laali and Meenakshi were isolated in society, lacking any emotional support. Talking of their experiences, hidden inside their rooms, makes them cry, and their daughters, all in their teens, console them with hugs. Laali and Meenakshi are desparately worried they will not be able to protect their daughters from similar trauma, but for now the girls are mostly oblivious.
Meenakshi’s eldest daughter jumps with joy as she sees a plane passing over their heads. “She wants to be a pilot,” says Meenakshi, wiping her tears. “When I cry, she tells me: ‘Mamma, it’ll get better, and one day we’ll fly together, in a plane that I’ll pilot.’”
In the UK, call the national domestic abuse helpline on 0808 2000 247, or visit Women’s Aid. In the US, the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). Other international helplines may be found via www.befrienders.org
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One Day National Seminar and Heart Awareness Rally on "Role of Balance Life in Cardiac Healthy" under the joint aegis of Venkateswara Group Meerut and WOMEN Multispeciality Hospital Gajraula on "World Heart Day"| Brigadier Dr. S.K. Agarwal, a former renowned doctor of the Indian Army and Dr. B.S. Rao, Senior Cardiologist, Hyderabad were felicitated for their excellent medical services. An awareness rally was held in the institute premises to motivate everyone to keep their hearts healthy| Heart being the best and most important part of the human body, pay special attention to its health - Dr. Sudhir Giri, Chairman, Venkteshwara Group. A balanced and restrained lifestyle can prevent heart attack - Brigadier Dr. S.K. Agarwal, Director Vims and former Senior Doctor Indian Army. Dr. B.S. Rao, noted cardiologist, Hyderabad. The National Seminar on World Heart Day was inaugurated by Dr. Sudhir Giri, Chairman, Venkteshwara Group, Dr. Rajiv Tyagi, Vice Chancellor, Prof. P.K. Dr. Sudhir Giri, Chairman, Venkteshwara Group said that as the most important part of the human body, it is our responsibility to take special care of its health through yoga/exercise, balanced eating, prohibition of smoking, etc. In his address, Keynote Speaker Brigadier Dr. S.K. Agarwal said that poor routine and unbalanced eating, junk food, smoking, stress, diabetes, hypertension, alcoholism, pollution etc. Regular routine and balanced diet can keep the heart healthy for a long time. Speaking on the occasion, Dr. B.S. Rao said that yoga and spirituality play an important role in keeping the heart healthy in modern times. Regular yoga and meditation relieve stress as well as 2 heart vibrations. All the esteemed doctors were then felicitated with shawls and souvenirs. Speaking on the occasion, Vice Chancellor Dr. P.K. Bharti, Registrar Dr. Piyush Pandey, VIMs Advisor Dr. R.N. Singh, Meerut Campus Director Dr. Prabhat Srivastava, Director Admission, Alka Singh, Chief Medical Officer Dr. A.S. Thakur, Senior Neurosurgeon Dr. Praveen Sharma, Dr. B.N. Singh, Dr. B.V.V. Vora, Dr. Umesh Kumar, Dr. Rajesh Singh, Dr. Ana Brown, Dr. Mohit Sharma, Mohit Jha, Anjali Sharma, media in-charge Vishwas Rana, etc. Heartiest thanks to the team media for the excellent news coverage. Dr. Rajiv Pratikulapati, Shri Venkateswara University, Meerut/New Delhi. Gajraula Uttar Pradesh. 🙏
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20 Madhya Pradesh ministers resign as Kamal Nath tries to save govt
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The Congress government in Madhya Pradesh plunged into a crisis on Monday as a sulking Jyotiraditya Scindia, along with 17 MLAs, virtually revolted prompting Chief Minister Kamal Nath to call a late-night cabinet meeting where around 20 ministers resigned reposing faith in his leadership.
Nath alleged that the BJP was adopting immoral ways to “destabilise my government” and vowed…
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#Bhartiya janata party BJP#Digvijay Singh#Imarti Devi#INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS#jyotiraditya scindia#Kamal Nath#labour#Madhya Pradesh Assembly#mp cONGRESS#Prabhat Jha#Sajjan Singh Verma#Shivraj Singh Chouhan#Sonia Gandhi
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Madhya Pradesh Elections 2018 : Interview: Justice and development of our society is our first priority: Prabhat Jha
Madhya Pradesh Elections 2018 : Interview: Justice and development of our society is our first priority: Prabhat Jha
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#Assembly Elections#BJP#Chief Minister#Congress#Madhya Pradesh Assembly Elections 2018#madhya pradesh elections 2018#Prabhat Jha#Shivraj Singh Chouhan#Vidhan sabha#मध्य प्रदेश चुनाव 2018
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बीजेपी उपाध्यक्ष ने राम मंदिर को लेकर दिग्विजय सिंह को दी चुनौती,कहा-
बीजेपी उपाध्यक्ष ने राम मंदिर को लेकर दिग्विजय सिंह को दी चुनौती,कहा-
जैसे-जैसे चुनाव नजदीक आते है वैसे वैसे बीजेपी के नेताओ को राम मंदिर का मुद्दा नज़र आने लग जाता है पहले तो यह मुद्दा सिर्फ उत्तरप्रदेश चुनाव के पहले आग पकड़ता था लेकिन अब तो यह मुद्दा उत्तरप्रदेश से जुड़े हुए प्रदेश मध्यप्रदेश के भी चुनावों में अहम किरदार निभाते हुए नज़र आ रहा है।अभी हाल ही में बीजेपी के राष्ट्रीय उपाध्यक्ष प्रभात झा ने कांग्रेस के वरिष्ठ नेता दिग्विजय सिंह को राम मंदिर को लेकर…
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हबीबगंज और झांसी रेलवे स्टेशन के नाम परिवर्तन की चर्चा तेज, जानिए क्या रखने की उठी है मांग
हबीबगंज और झांसी रेलवे स्टेशन के नाम परिवर्तन की चर्चा तेज, जानिए क्या रखने की उठी है मांग
Habibganj Railway Station पूर्व राज्यसभा सांसद व वरिष्ठ भाजपा नेता प्रभात झा ने इस संबंध में रेल मंत्री पीयूष गोयल को पत्र भी लिखा है. उन्होंने तर्क दिया है कि हबीबगंज और झांसी के नाम का कोई इतिहास नहीं है. इसलिए कोई औचित्य नहीं की इनके नाम पर स्टेशन का नाम रहे. भोपाल का हबीबगंज रेलवे स्टेशन जिसका मार्च 2017 से नवनिर्माण चल रहा है. इसे एयरपोर्ट की तर्ज पर विकसित किया जा रहा है. Source link
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नरेन्द्र सिंह तोमर भोपाल से लड़ेंगे लोकसभा चुनाव
नरेन्द्र सिंह तोमर भोपाल से लड़ेंगे लोकसभा चुनाव
भारतीय जनता पार्टी के दिग्गज नेता एवं वर्तमान में पंचायती राज्य मंत्री नरेंद्र सिंह तोमर वर्तमान में ग्वालियर से लोकसभा सदस्य हैं परंतु वर्तमान में हुए 2018 विधानसभा चुनाव में ग्वालियर चंबल संभाग से कांग्रेस ने काफी सीट जीती । और वही भोपाल में वर्तमान सांसद आलोक संजर है जो अभी इतने क्षेत्र में सक्रिय नहीं है तो भोपाल की लोकसभा सीट में परिवर्तन पहले से ही संभव माना जा रहा है।
भोपाल की लोकसभा सीट…
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How accurate is your rapid test now? Experts weigh in as Omicron fuels 6th wave (cbc.ca)
Medical experts say Canadians should keep a supply of rapid antigen tests handy as we head into a summer with almost no public health restrictions in much of the country. But experts add a negative result doesn't mean someone's in the clear.
Canada is already seeing a sixth wave of COVID-19 in the weeks after mask mandates and other measures lifted across the country.
But while cases are on the rise, public PCR testing availability hasn't ramped back up after it became overwhelmed during the Omicron-driven wave that sent case counts soaring in January and February.
"I think using the rapid test prudently at home is what most Canadians will have to do," said Dr. Prabhat Jha, a global epidemiologist at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto.
Jha recommends people use a rapid antigen test if they show COVID-19 symptoms, or if they had a high-risk exposure to an unvaccinated or symptomatic person with COVID-19.
Even then, he says, not all situations would cause taking a test. Instead, Jha suggests considering: "Was the person who I had contact with vaccinated? Was the person actively symptomatic? Was it an indoor, closed space where I might have gotten a good load of their virus if they were hacking away?"
A positive result can also help an infected person get a better idea of the risk to their family members and others around them, especially as mask mandates lift and other respiratory viruses circulate more, said Dr. Susy Hota, medical director of infection prevention and control at University Health Network in Toronto.
Regardless of a positive or negative result on a COVID test, both doctors say a person who is sick with a respiratory illness should isolate from others until they feel better. That way, they'll prevent passing on colds and flu, too.
Medical experts continue to warn that a negative result on a rapid test doesn't mean you don't have COVID-19. New Swiss research, which is yet to be peer-reviewed, suggests some rapid tests have "significantly lower sensitivity" to Omicron than to the Delta variant.
Similarly, research by Ontario's COVID-19 Science Advisory Table earlier this year found rapid tests are less sensitive for Omicron than Delta variant in nasal samples, especially in the first one-to-two days after infection.
Doctors now recommend isolating immediately after symptoms or exposure, then waiting a day or two before using a rapid test, to get the most accurate result possible from an increasing viral load.
"By that time, the rapid tests are less likely to give you a false negative result," Jha says.
But it can still happen, says Hota, who recommends taking another rapid test 24 hours later, keeping in mind that a second negative test "doesn't rule it out."
However, she adds, a positive result should always be accepted as a "true positive."
As spring and summer social calendars fill, both Jha and Hota said it's important to remember a negative rapid test result is never a guarantee — and that other safety measures, such as keeping events outdoors, are still important.
"A single rapid test just kind of tells you with poor sensitivity what your status is at that point that you take the test," Hota said.
"If you have the virus, in theory, it's possible that you're less infectious to others. It might change again in the two hours that you're at that place … but it's just not something you should hang your hat on."
Jha points to a recent Washington gala, the Gridiron Dinner, as a case in point: over 10 percent of the 630 guests at the mask-less indoor event — including cabinet secretaries, members of Congress and White House advisors — have since tested positive.
However, Jha says, rapid tests can be useful for identifying when you've recovered enough to return to work and resume socializing, "typically five days after you've had the first positive test or the symptoms started."
"If it's turned negative by then, you're pretty much in the clear to meet others."
The technique you use in administering a rapid test to yourself or someone else also matters a great deal. And experts say a quick swish around each nostril is no longer sufficient, despite what the instructions in the box might say.
For a more accurate result, Hota recommends swabbing the bottom inside of both cheeks, then your throat, tonsils or the back of your tongue — "depending on what you can tolerate" — then swabbing both nostrils. The swab should go about 2 centimetres into each nostril, for several circles, she said.
Jha suggests making sure you have at least two tests per household member. "If you're a typical family of four, you should have maybe 10 on hand."
But the ease or difficulty of getting your hands on a free rapid test depends on where in Canada you live, with provinces and territories distributing them through different channels.
In British Columbia, for instance, rapid tests are available free at pharmacies, but those stores say they're having a hard time convincing people to take them.
Raj Rakholiya, manager of Wilson Pharmacy in Port Coquitlam, B.C., says uptake is increasing as cases rise, but it's still below expectations: he's currently sitting on a stockpile of about 550 test kits.
"Most of the people say that they already got their three shots. Now they are going to book for their boosters, so they don't need it. Some people are saying they already got COVID so they're less likely to catch the virus again, so they aren't getting [tests]."
Infectious disease specialists say that's the wrong strategy: thousands of Canadians have caught COVID-19 more than once, and reinfections are becoming more common, as the more transmissible Omicron sub-variant BA.2 spreads in Canada.
"Although the risks are small, you can still get reinfected even if you had COVID before," Jha said.
"I think having rapid tests at home is a sensible strategy which is considered a kind of the new normal."
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