durhamregion.com This Week | Thursday, March 31, 2022 | 4 Have Your Say! Help Select Playground Equipment for Wallace Park: Wallace Park (located at 61 Wallace Drive) is being re-developed to better serve our growing community! View the proposed conceptual park design and complete a survey on the playground equipment by April 6. connectwhitby.ca/WallacePark Cricket Ground Coming to Whitby: The Town is working to add a temporary cricket ground to Brooklin Memorial Park. It is anticipated to open in summer 2022. Residents can share questions or comments with the Town now through April 18 at connectwhitby.ca/Cricket Help Us Build A Welcoming, Accessible And Inclusive Community: Now through April 25, the Town is running two short surveys to seek community feedback on accessibility. Your feedback will help us better understand what barriers residents may face when accessing both Town programs and infrastructure so we can work to eliminate barriers and make improvements as we build a more welcoming, accessible and inclusive community. connectwhitby.ca/AccessibilitySurvey Visiting a Town Facility? In alignment with both the Province and local public health direction, masks are no longer required in Town facilities. The Town continues to be mask-friendly and supports everyone's personal choice. Let's all be kind, considerate, and respectful of one another. Thank you for making our facilities welcoming and inclusive for all. Calling All Young Artists! Youth ages 12 to 18 can apply to have their work showcased during our annual Art Attack event, held in partnership with Station Gallery. Applications are due by April 15. whitby.ca/YouthEvents April Awareness Days & Observances Whitby is full of diverse communities that make our Town unique. Each month, we observe nationally and internationally recognized days and historical events. To see the awareness days and observances for April 2022, check out whitby.ca/Diversity P: 905.430.4300 E: info@whitby.ca whitby.ca What You Need To Know This Week: In the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of different treatments have been developed and approved. Health Canada has developed a resource of information on all approved treatments in Canada, which outlines what the drugs do, why they are used as COVID-19 treatments, when they should be used, what the ingredients are, warnings, side effects and more. While most of the approved treatments relate to the well known COVID-19 vaccines, five other treatments also made the list. A health-care professional of course, can provide more information. "It is important to note that no treatment is a substitute for vaccination. Together with public health measures, vaccination remains the most important tool in preventing severe illness from COVID-19 infection," said Anna Maddison, senior media relations advisor for Health Canada. Health Canada lists five drug treatments. Here's what the health agency details about each drug: SOTROVIMAB According to Health Canada, Sotrovimab is a medicine being studied to prevent worsening of COVID-19 symptoms that may only be given to patients at high risk of being hospitalized or dying, because of their age or medical conditions. It is not authorized for use in patients in hospital to treat COVID-19, or on oxygen to help them breathe because of COVID-19. Sotrovimab is a monoclonal antibody, a type of protein that attaches to the spike protein of the coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) that causes COVID-19 and prevents it from entering and infecting healthy cells within the body. It may help reduce risk of progressing from mild or moderate COVID-19 to severe infection that requires hospitalization. BAMLANIVIMAB A medicine being studied for the treatment of COVID-19, Health Canada says Bamlanivimab may help limit the amount of the COVID-19-causing virus in the body. It may only given to individuals 12 years and older who are at high risk of having the disease get worse. VEKLURY The active substance in Veklury is Remdesivir. Health Canada describes it as an antiviral medicine for treating COVID-19 in people ages 12 and older who weigh 40 kilograms or more. The drug will only be given to patients who have pneumonia and need extra oxygen to help them breathe. It works to stop the virus from multiplying in cells and this stops the virus multiplying in the body. It has been approved with conditions. This means it has passed Health Canada's review and can be bought and sold in Canada, but the manufacturer has agreed to complete more studies to make sure the drug works the way it should. PAXLOVID Paxlovid is used in adults to treat mild to moderate COVID-19 in patients who have a positive result from a severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) viral test and who have a high risk of getting severe COVID-19, including hospitalization or death. It is not approved for the following: To treat patients who are hospitalized due to severe or critical COVID-19. To prevent COVID-19. To be used for longer than five days in a row. For use in children and adolescents less than 18 years of age. It contains two antiviral medicines co-packaged together, Nirmatrelvir and Ritonavir, and stops the virus from multiplying. This can help the body to overcome the virus infection faster. CASIRIVIMAB AND IMDEVIMAB Medicines being studied together to prevent worsening of COVID-19 symptoms, Casirivimab and Imdevimab may help limit the amount of the COVID-19 causing virus in the body. It should only be given to individuals ages 12 and older who are at high risk of being hospitalized or dying due to COVID-19. Casirivimab and Imdevimab are types of monoclonal antibodies; they attach to the spike protein of the coronavirus, preventing the virus from entering and infecting cells within the body. They are not authorized for use in patients who are hospitalized due to COVID-19, who require oxygen therapy or who are already on oxygen therapy due to other conditions and require a higher rate of oxygen therapy. According to Health Canada, the drugs are not for use in treating patients who are in the hospital due to COVID-19 and these treatments may be associated with worse clinical outcomes when administered to hospitalized patients with COVID-19 requiring high flow oxygen or mechanical ventilation WHAT COVID-19 TREATMENT DRUGS HAVE BEEN APPROVED? MATTHEW STRADER NEWS