The Daily Bulletin is published by Internal and Leadership Communications, part of University Communications
Contact us at bulletin@uwaterloo.ca
Submission guidelines
Q and A with the experts: COVID variants
The University of Waterloo has a number of experts available to speak about issues relating to COVID-19.
Omicron is the latest COVID-19 variant of concern, and it is expected to change the course of the pandemic. But how are variants formed, and what’s the threat level for people who are fully vaccinated? Kelly Grindrod, a pharmacist and professor, and Trevor Charles, a professor in the University of Waterloo’s Department of Biology, provide answers to these questions.
How are COVID variants formed?
Variants are formed through the natural process of evolution. Every time the virus makes a copy of itself, there is a chance mistakes occur. These mistakes result in mutations, which are detected through genetic sequence analysis, and allow the designation of variants that carry shared mutations. While many of those mutations do not change the virus characteristics, some of the mutations can change the virus properties such as transmissibility, disease severity, and immune escape. The resulting variants that carry these mutations are classified as variants of concern.
With these new variants, what does it mean for people already fully vaccinated?
Every time a variant of concern is found, we need to answer three questions:
- Is the variant more transmissible (meaning does it spread more quickly or more easily)?
- Does the variant cause more severe or less severe illness?
- How well do our vaccines protect against the variant?
The Omicron variant of concern appears to be much more contagious than Delta. We will not know with any certainty if it is more or less severe for a few weeks.
The vaccines offer good protection against severe illness, hospitalization, and death from COVID, including the variants of concern such as Delta. The hope is that the vaccines will continue to protect us from severe illness with Omicron.
However, with each variant, the vaccines appear to be getting less effective at protecting against symptomatic illness—which means protecting us from being infected and having mild to moderate symptoms. Many people will need a third dose of the vaccine to protect against Omicron. Similarly, the reinfection rate with Omicron is higher. This means that people who had natural immunity from a previous COVID infection will also benefit from at least two doses of the vaccine to protect against Omicron.
It’s important to note that we are not starting from scratch, even with a variant of concern like Omicron. Each dose of vaccine helped our immune systems recognize the virus—even variants. So being vaccinated will still offer more protection than staying unvaccinated and unprotected.
Will we likely continue to see new variants over a prolonged period?
Looking to the future, all we can know for sure is that more variants will arise since mutations are constantly occurring. It is impossible to predict the outcome, just as no one could have predicted Delta or Omicron variants. Keeping track of the virus through sequencing (both clinical specimens and wastewater) will continue to provide information about the evolution of variants.
Sorting waste just got a bit easier
A message from the Sustainability Office.
If you ever had questions on how to sustainably dispose of items on campus, now there’s an app for that.
Waterloo is pleased to launch its new Shift:Zero waste sorting guide, a digital tool to help the campus community properly sort waste items and identify waste reduction programs at Waterloo. Led by Custodial Services, the project responded to a need from students, staff, and faculty to have better information about how to sort waste.
“Waterloo has been standardizing its core waste streams and receptacles for several years,” says Giovanna Zinken, Associate Director of Environmental Services in Plant Operations. “We provide signage on the bins to help with waste sorting, but there is only so much information you can include before it gets too complicated. The sorting guide is a perfect tool to provide more detail.”
Users of the campus will notice familiar colouring and sorting instructions emerging at waste receptacles across campus – black for garbage, blue for recycling, grey for papers, and green for organics, as well as yellow cardboard bins.
The sorting guide allows users to search whichever items they have on hand and find out which bin to put them in, or to direct them many other campus waste diversion programs for e-waste, writing utensils, batteries, fine paper, furniture, and more.
“As we continue to expand the core stations, each of our sorting actions will drive our waste management success,” says Zinken. “The sorting guide will make it easier for us all to sort waste into the right place, and helps our recycling and organics programs work properly.”
The sorting guide has a web interface, as well as apps for Android and Apple phones. The guide also has an imbedded game that allows users to test waste sorting knowledge, and supports all of the University’s campuses. It also uses the same platform that students and employees may have already become familiar with for local residential waste collection through the Region of Waterloo, to make things even easier.
The sorting guide will be an evolving project. As users search for items, it will enable Custodial Services and the Sustainability Office to better understand what items people find confusing, what new items may be emerging, and where program innovation can occur to reduce waste altogether.
All members of the campus are encouraged to check out the web tool or download the app to help work towards Waterloo’s goal of being a zero-waste campus.
IQC publishes annual Quantum Impact report
The Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC) has launched its 2021 Quantum Impact Report, highlighting IQC's research advancements and impacts on the quantum field.
“Research at IQC explores many avenues of quantum information and is fundamentally interdisciplinary, spanning theory, experiment, and applications,” says a note from the institute. “IQC researchers explore how and why things work, and where they can make an impact, including areas such as healthcare and medicine, communications and security, computing, and entrepreneurship.”
“IQC is the most interdisciplinary quantum centre with the scale, expertise and talent required to position Canada as a global quantum leader.”
Alumni Know: Is news entertainment?
A message from the Office of Advancement.
When you scroll through news and social media feeds, you probably see content specifically curated to your interests and biases. Is this really a news feed? Or is it personalized entertainment?
In the latest episode of Alumni Know, we posed these questions and more to Arjun Moorthy (BASc '99). Arjun is the co-founder and CEO of The Factual, an AI-powered news platform that provides readers with credible perspectives on the day's trending stories. Arjun shares how the platform works, the role of sensationalism and his thoughts on paywalls.
Private equity long-term care homes have the highest mortality rate during COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic revealed that for-profit long-term care homes had worse patient outcomes than not-for-profit homes. A new study found that of those for-profit homes, long-term care homes (LTCs) owned by private equity firms and large chains have the highest mortality rates.
The study conducted by researchers at the University of Waterloo traced the growing dominance of financial firms in seniors housing, including LTCs and retirement living.
The study found that nursing homes with the highest profit margins have the lowest quality as financialized ownership and are even more aggressive in seeking to extract value from care homes and the people who live and work in them.
“This study is not focused on the public or non-profit seniors’ facilities across Canada, but rather, the pension funds, private-equity firms, public companies, and other instruments treating long-term care as an asset class,” said Martine August, a professor in Waterloo’s School of Planning and author of the study. “When financial firms own and operate seniors housing, they prioritize profit at the expense of other goals.
“These financial firms derive maximum value in three ways: cost-savings from cutting staff, reducing services, and using government grants to improve facilities thus raising property values for subsequent sale as real estate.”
August said financialization is the process by which real goods and services such as housing and senior assisted living are bundled and traded as investor products like bonds, shares and derivatives, differentiating them from sole proprietors.
August tracked LTC ownership data from 2003 to 2020. In that time, Canada’s top-10 financial firms doubled their holdings of LTCs since 2003. Currently, 33 per cent of seniors’ housing (including 22 per cent of LTCs and 42 per cent of retirement homes) is owned by financial firms. U.S. research offers an important caution, as private-equity ownership of US-based nursing homes was associated with a 10 per cent increase in short-term patient mortality – equivalent to the loss of 21,000 lives.
“Financial firms are in seniors’ housing for what they can take from it, not what they can contribute. This approach – and the prioritization of profits is what guides financial firms,” she said. It’s at odds with the social and moral imperatives that underline the need to provide good homes, high-quality care and dignified environments for our elderly populations and the workers who care for them.”
The study, Securitising Seniors Housing: The Financialisation of Real Estate and Social Reproduction in Retirement and Long-Term Care Homes, was recently published in the journal Antipode.
IST staff say so long and thanks for all the fish before heading to the Maritimes
The IT Professional Development Advisory Group (PDAG) will be hosting Andrea Chappell with Sandra Laughlin for a virtual event on Friday, December 17 entitled "So long and thanks for all the fish..."; An imminent retirement review.
“I travelled from Nova Scotia to Waterloo in the fall of 1984 for a Master of Math," Chappell writes. "My older sister said, ‘you won’t be back.’ I said, ‘of course, I will be!’ I have finally proved myself correct."
Chappell is the Director of Instructional Technologies and Media Services in IST. After four terms completing a MMath at Waterloo, and 33 years working here, she is retiring in her home province of Nova Scotia. She claims to have held 6 (or maybe 8) roles in IST. "She is currently the 8th direct line of Chappell descendants living on the Chappell homestead, the 6th in the farmhouse, in Tidnish Bridge, NS," says her speaker bio.
"As I write this outline early in the week, I can’t commit to specifics (still need to finish slides); but the talk will focus on what I take with me from my time at Waterloo (mostly harmless), and how people make a difference by providing opportunities," Chappell writes. "So, my message may be: to take chances on those opportunities. Or, it could be a restaurant review. We’ll see.”
Moderating the presentation will be Sandra Laughlin, who has been the friendly face of PDAG and ITPD for many years. This is Sandra’s final PDAG as she also is retiring from the University of Waterloo and heading to Prince Edward Island.
The virtual event runs from 9:00 a.m. to 9:45 a.m. on Microsoft Teams.
"An editorial aside from the PDAG Committee – and I think I speak for all of campus: We will miss these two amazing individuals very much.," writes PDAG co-chair Stephen Markan. "IST will not be the same without you."