covid daily update: can cannabis help?
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cannabis has medicinal qualities, like its use as an anti-inflammatory. getty
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do regular cannabis users have less severe covid cases?
a small-scale study published in the journal of cannabis research found that people who regularly used cannabis had better outcomes during hospitalization for covid than people who don’t use the drug.
the cannabis users in the study had shorter hospital stays, less need for ventilators, and were admitted to the icu at lower rates, forbes reported. the results could be due to the medicinal properties of cannabis, especially its use as an anti-inflammatory.
“the link between cannabis usage and better covid outcomes is sensible,” the study’s authors say.
but the study was very small — it used data from 1,831 covid patients, and only 69 of those people (four per cent) regularly used cannabis. much larger studies would be needed to prove a definitive link, the authors say.
calgary study want to help kids get over needle fear
it was an immense relief to many parents when canada approved a covid vaccine for children under 12. but what about the kids who are scared of needles?
a new study at the university of calgary is looking to help. recruiters are seeking families of children between the ages of four and 11 who haven’t yet had their covid shot. they’re hoping to develop strategies that will make immunization easier for kids, their parents and their doctors.
“we want our kids to be vaccinated, and there’s a lot of excitement right now among many that health canada has approved covid-19 vaccines for kids under five,” said dr. melanie noel, a member of the alberta children’s hospital research institute and the hotchkiss brain institute, told the calgary herald.
“what we know is that these vaccine injections can be stressful, they can be painful, they can be scary for some families. what we’re really excited about is that as a team of researchers, we know the simple but powerful things we can do to make these vaccine injections less painful, less scary, and actually empowering for kids and families.”
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staffing shortages a massive problem for hospitals
as covid cases continue to rise, hospitals are getting more and more short-staffed, with hundreds of medical professionals leaving their difficult, chaotic and high-stress jobs. nurses, particularly, are leaving in droves. in ontario, nursing unions say the province could address the problem by repealing bill 124, legislation that caps their wages.
every wave of the pandemic has brought new challenges to the health-care system, dr. chris simpson, a cardiologist in kingston, ont., told cbc news. now, the biggest problem is that hospitals simply don’t have the staff they need.
“early in the pandemic … there was this need for all these icu beds and that was the focus,” simpson told the broadcaster. “and then a wave came along where, you know, icu wasn’t so much the problem, but the medical wards were really filling up with covid patients. and now in wave seven, we’re seeing not so much that the demand for services is up, but the health-care workforce is depleted.”
maija kappler is a reporter and editor at healthing. you can reach her at mkappler@postmedia.com
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