A study on indoor air quality and housing characteristics in isolated First Nations communities found elevated rates of respiratory infections and wheezing in young children were associated with poor conditions within their homes.
Researchers analyzed factors that could affect respiratory health in four First Nations communities in the Sioux Lookout region of northern Ontario, finding high levels of mould on interior surfaces and high levels of endotoxin, a residue of certain bacteria associated with wheeze.
Indoor air quality, dust mite concentration and contaminants from wood smoke were also analyzed.
The study, which included homes where 98 First Nations children aged three years or younger lived, found that 85 per cent of the houses lacked controlled ventilation, more than half had damaged windows, 44 per cent showed water penetration in exterior walls and six per cent had immediate safety issues.
Pediatric respirologist Dr. Thomas Kovesi, the lead researcher on the project, said housing inadequacies were linked to high rates of respiratory illness in children _ 21 per cent of kids in the study had been admitted to hospital during the first two years of life and one-quarter needed to be medically evacuated because of a respiratory illness.

Health Minister Christine Elliott says the first shipment of an antiviral COVID-19 treatment has arrived in Ontario.
The oral antiviral drug Paxlovid is meant to protect against hospitalization and death.
Elliott previously said Ontario was set to receive 10,000 courses of treatment in January. The province has secured an additional 400 doses for First Nations communities in the north.
The drug is initially being prioritized for adults at highest risk, including immunocompromised patients.

Ontario is reporting 4,114 people in hospital today with COVID-19 and 590 people in intensive care units.
That’s up from 4,061 hospitalizations reported the previous day and a slightly lower number of people in ICU, down from 594.
The province also reports another 62 deaths related to COVID-19.
Ontario is reporting 7,165 new cases of COVID-19, though Public Health Ontario has said the number is likely higher because of a current policy restricting who can access tests.
More than half of the long-term care homes in the province have active COVID-19 outbreaks.

Ontario is set to start sharing data about school absences today, a week after in-person learning resumed without public reporting of classroom COVID-19 exposures.
The province moved its schools to remote learning at the end of the winter break as Omicron cases surged to unprecedented levels and overwhelmed the testing system.
When schools reopened on Jan. 17, the province no longer required them to share information about COVID-19 cases.
Instead parents will be notified when absenteeism among staff and students reaches 30 per cent, regardless of whether those absences are connected to the virus, and as of today, information about absences will be posted online.
The province’s website will share information about how many schools were closed, and will also have a searchable table showing the combined absenteeism rate for staff and students by school.
The website will show data about the previous school day.

A Six Nations woman is facing charges after crashing into a tree on Fifth Line.
Police say 41 year old Myka Burning was suspected of impaired driving on January 14 and refused to provide a breath test to officers.
The truck she was driving collided with a tree, completely destroying the front end of the vehicle, deploying all of the airbags.
She is charged with failing to comply with a demand for breath test.

Six Nations Police charged a male driver after he was spotted going more than twice the posted speed limit through the village of Ohsweken.
The black pickup truck was spotted by officers travelling over 100km an hour through the village and was stopped by police. He is now facing charges of stunt driving and speeding.