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June 26, 2025

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26 juin 2025



 




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Upcoming events


CANADA DAY AT THE LEGION – Canadian Legion Branch 632 on Taylor Creek Road will be hosting a fun-filled day of family-friendly activities with music and food starting at 11 am. FREE FOR EVERYONE

CANADA DAY ON PETRIE ISLAND featuring a Kids Zone, adult beverage tent, live music, food, main stage entertainment, a giant birthday cake at 1 pm. and a spectacular fireworks display at 10 pm. For more information visit canadadayorleans.ca.

ORLEANS FARMERS MARKET every Thursday from 11 am to 4 pm in the parking lot at the Ray Friel Recreation Centre on Tenth Line Road. Shop the freshest seasonal produce, meat and dairy, baked goods, prepared foods, crafts and more while getting to know the folks who grew and made it.

DJ NIGHT at the Orléans Brewing Co., 4380 Innes Rd. (near the McDonalds) from 7-10 p.m. to 6 p.m. Join us and our roster of DJs every Thursday, and jumpstart your weekend fun, a day ahead!

CUMBERLAND FARMERS MARKET from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the R.J. Kennedy Arena in Cumberland Village with 85 local farmers and vendors ready to showcase their freshest produce, handmade goods, and unique finds! FREE ADMISSION

STRAY DOG BREWING COMPANY presents Crroked Creek live and in concert in their taproom. From Montreal, Crooked Creek effortlessly blends bluegrass and country music genres. Tickets $15 available at straydogbrewing.ca. The Stray Dog Brewing Company is located at 501 Lacolle Way in the Taylor Creek Business Park.

 

 

 


Blood testing, not mass COVID-19 testing will help lead us back to normalcy

By Fred Sherwin
Mar. 23, 2020

Mass COVID-19 testing is a waste of time and resources. I know this goes against everything we’ve been hearing on CNN and the CBC News, but hear me out. The statement, as provocative as it is, is based on a conversation I recently had with a friend of mine who is a member of Canada’s scientific research community.

Although my friend is not personally involved in the COVID-19 research, she is in regular contact with those who are and she has been asked to provide input into some of their work.

The reason why mass testing is a waste of time and resources, besides the fact that we just don’t have enough tests, is that the test will either tell you that you are positive or it will tell you you’re negative. If the test indicates you are positive then you are very likely already exhibiting symptoms. If you are among the low risk group, being under 60 with no underlying health conditions, then you will be told to stay home and ride out the virus, which you should have been doing already before you wasted a test on yourself.

If the test comes out negative, meaning you don’t have the virus at the time you're tested, it doesn’t mean that you are immune from contracting the virus the next day or the next week.

The limited number of tests we have should only be used on front line health care workers and those within the high risk groups as soon as they start exhibiting symptoms and before the symptoms develop into viral pneumonia.

Many of us will eventually contract the COVID-19 virus before a vaccine is available in a year or so. We will become ill, suffer through the symptoms and get better. Along the way we will develop our own immunity. Having immunity will be like a super power. You will no longer have to fear spreading the virus to others. How liberating would that be?

It’s also an undeniable fact that the more people who become immune the safer the rest of the population will be. The key is in trying to find out who has immunity especially among individuals who were asymptomatic and are no longer contagious. It is also highly useful to know whether or not you just had the COVID-19 virus or just the flu. The symptoms for both are almost identical, but if you just had the flu you can still contract the COVID-19 virus. If you had the virus you are now immune.

There is a team of researchers in Canada who are working on a blood test that will identify individuals who already had the virus and are therefore immune from again or spreading it to others. The blood test will be much easier to administer and way cheaper than the nasal swab test being used to identify the COVID-19 virus in individual carriers.

The test originated in China in January by a virologist named Florian Krammer from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. It identifies a spike in certain proteins in the blood that are an identifier for COVID-19.

The purpose of Krammer’s research was, and still is, to develop a convalescent serum that could be used in the treatment of the virus. But there is a major side benefit.

The survivors of a disease keep antibodies for that particular viral pathogen in their blood which makes them immune from future infections. How long they are immune varies from virus to virus. But the blood test can be used to identify those who had the COVID-19 virus and are now immune, meaning they can no longer spread the virus to others. This will become immensely important to know once they start lifting the current restrictions.

Kramer’s lab published the methods for the blood test on March 18. Within three days, 50 labs around the world including here in Canada had requested the fragment of viral RNA he used to make the spike protein and samples of the spike protein itself, which he sent to them. Researchers are hopeful to have the method refined enough to start testing blood in mid-April.

(This story was made possible thanks to the generous support of our local business partners.)

 

 
 
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