Today’s
coronavirus news: All Ontario front-line workers eligible for vaccines;
B.C. proposes paid sick leave legislation; Organizers of Alberta
anti-lockdown rodeo charged
The latest coronavirus news from Canada and around the world Tuesday. This file will be updated throughout the day. Web links to longer stories if available.
8:20 p.m.: The Ontario government has not ruled out reopening schools for in-person classes in June in areas with low COVID rates, but remains concerned about any potential risk involved in doing so, sources say.
With less than two months left in the school year, a growing number of the country’s top pediatric experts say the province should allow students back into class where it’s safe to do so, given the devastating impact the pandemic and resulting social isolation has had on their mental health and well-being.
Sources told the Star that’s not out of the question — but it will be up to the chief medical officer of health, Dr. David Williams, to make the call.
On Monday, Williams said he too wants to see schools reopen first and would like to do so “as soon as we can,” although the province is now preparing to extend it stay-at-home order until June 2.
Read the full story here from Kristin Rushowy and Robert Benzie.
8 p.m.: Building on legislation introduced by Ontario’s Progressive Conservative government last month, B.C.’s NDP government Tuesday introduced paid sick day legislation for the first time.
It came with a Canadian pandemic first: The promise of a permanent program that outlasts the COVID-19 crisis, as workers across the country have demanded since the pandemic began.
Like the Ontario program, B.C. will offer workers three paid sick days during the pandemic. But it’s the post-pandemic promises workers’ advocates and businesses are watching most closely — as the NDP government promises a permanent paid sick leave program after the pandemic with details still entirely up in the air.
It could be a model for provinces extending a hard-won lesson of the pandemic that workers need support to stay home into the aftertime. In Canada, only Quebec and P.E.I. have permanent paid sick leave programs, both of which predate COVID-19.
Read the full story here from Alex McKeen.
7:50 p.m.: When news of the vaccine pop-up for Indigenous teens reached her ears over the weekend, Suzanne Stewart marched right over to her 13-year-old daughter to give her the good news.
“Yay,” Raven Stewart said. “Now I get to hang out with my friends again.”
Her sentiment was echoed by a throng of peers and their parents, who waited their turn earlier this week at what was likely the first kid-friendly vaccination clinic in the province. With less than a couple of days’ notice, organizers said, they vaccinated about 156 people, including preteens.
Anishnawbe’s mobile clinic has been a COVID-fighting fixture around downtown Toronto since June, testing 13,000 people for the virus and, since January, sticking more than 5,000 adult arms with the vaccine. The centre has also created materials and information specifically for the Indigenous community. That’s part of why Anishnawbe staff have felt it was important to vaccinate kids and the entire family unit as soon as possible.
And so, just hours after Health Canada approved the Pfizer vaccine for kids as young as 12, Anishnawbe organizers were hard at work arranging this clinic for kids.
Read the full story here from Michele Henry.
7:10 p.m.: British Columbia is reporting 515 new COVID-19 cases, continuing a downward trend at the same time that vaccinations are on the rise.
Health officials say in a news release that 6,020 people have active infections, 426 of whom are hospitalized, including 141 in intensive care.
Two more people have died, bringing the death toll to 1,624.
More than 2.2 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered, 110,516 of which were second doses.
6:50 p.m.: This week, I told U.S. Rep. Brian Higgins that when it comes to the state of discussions about reopening the Canada-U. S. border, officials at the negotiating table are being very quiet, writes Edward Keenan.
“I think you’re being generous. I don’t think there is a table. I don’t think anybody’s at it. Therein lies the problem.”
So yeah, if you were thinking about a vacation in the U.S. this summer — or of having relatives who live down south come visit you — maybe come up with a Plan B.
The border has been closed to most travellers since March of 2020. Since then, there have been almost monthly stories full of expert speculation about how and when a phased-in reopening plan might come. All along, these have been accompanied by no official word other than a monthly announcement that the current restrictions have been extended another month. Expect another extension announcement next week. And then probably another one a month after that.
Read the full story here from Ed Keenan
5:40 (Updated): Ontario is pausing first doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine immediately in an “abundance of caution” after a recent increase in rare blood clots, says chief medical officer Dr. David Williams.
The move follows eight cases of vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT) as of Saturday among more than 650,000 doses administered since the province began using the AstraZeneca vaccine in early March.
Health officials said they will review data to determine further use of the vaccine and noted information from the United Kingdom — where AstraZeneca has been used on millions of people — shows a “much-reduced” risk of clots in people getting second doses.
There will likely be the option that people who got first doses of AstraZeneca could receive second doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, Williams said.
Read the full story here from Rob Ferguson.
5:40 p.m.: Alberta is reporting 1,449 new cases of COVID-19 and three more deaths linked to the virus.
There are currently 24,998 active infections in the province.
There are 705 people in hospital due to COVID-19, with 163 in intensive care.
5:30 p.m.: As of this week, the rest of Ontario’s front-line workers — those who can’t work from home — are eligible to get vaccinated, the last step of Phase 2 before vaccines are open to everyone.
The list includes retail workers in groceries, pharmacies, restaurants, ServiceOntario, the LCBO and more; construction, transportation, distribution, warehousing and manufacturing workers; social services workers; courts and justice system workers; electricity, communications, waste management and wastewater workers; financial services workers; vets and veterinary employees; and workers in oil, gas, petroleum, uranium, mining and natural gas and propane.
In other words, any worker unable to work from home during the stay-at-home order who hasn’t already been eligible for the vaccine can now get it.
According to the province’s COVID-19 web page outlining the vaccination phases, these workers can get vaccinated at mass vaccination clinics, mobile clinics, hospital clinics and primary care settings. The web page says this group is eligible as of the week of May 10, and a Monday press release announced the expansion would begin at 8 a.m. Tuesday.
Read the full story here from Rosa Saba
5:20 p.m.: The organizers of an unauthorized rodeo that drew hundreds of unmasked spectators to a converted pasture north of Calgary have been charged under Alberta’s public health act and are set to appear in court next week.
A spokesperson for the RCMP confirmed to the Star that Ty and Gail Northcott have been charged with breaking public health regulations under Section 73(1) of the act, and have a court date in Red Deer on Monday.
The charges come after Premier Jason Kenney expressed disgust at illegal gatherings being held as the province battles some of the highest COVID-19 rates on the continent, and the RCMP were subsequently granted new abilities to enforce public health rules.
The prairie province is battling some of the highest COVID-19 case rates in either Canada or the U.S., a spike that Kenney has attributed, in part, to a “compliance problem” when it comes to public health rules.
Rallies and protests against lockdowns, masks and other COVID-19 regulations have been occurring regularly.
Read the full story here from Alex Boyd.
4:50 p.m.: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau summed up Tuesday the extent of the federal government’s COVID-19 reopening strategy: get everyone one shot of a vaccine by this summer and a second dose by fall.
“A one-dose summer sets us up for a two-dose fall when we’ll be able to talk about going back to school, back to work, and back to more normality,” he said.
Business groups and opposition politicians have been pressing the Liberal government to devise a national guide on how the economy ought to reopen in line with plans laid out by countries like the United Kingdom.
But Canada’s chief public health officer suggested Tuesday there will be no overarching national guidance because the indicators everyone needs to watch have been clear for months.
So, each region will have to keep a careful eye on infection rates, hospital, testing and tracing capacity to guide their decisions, as well as vaccination rates, said Dr. Theresa Tam.
Read the full story here from Stephanie Levitz
4:20 p.m. (Updated): Ontario's top doctor says the province will stop giving out first doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.
Dr. David Williams says the decision has been made out of an abundance of caution because of increased instances of a rare blood clotting disorder linked to the shot.
The AstraZeneca vaccine has been linked to a new blood clotting syndrome that is extremely rare but can be fatal.
In Canada, at least 12 cases have been confirmed out of more than two million doses given and three women have died.
Ontario says it has 49,280 doses of the shot remaining in the province out of over 707,000 received.
More to come.
4:10 p.m.: Ontario is moving closer to offering Pfizer vaccinations to kids 12-17, but they will have to wait until shots for COVID-19 are offered to older age groups, Solicitor General Sylvia Jones says as questions swirl about second bookings for some adults.
Waterloo Region kick-started the process by opening registration for teens Tuesday with the proviso that “it may take four to six weeks to be contacted for an appointment…when it is their turn.”
Jones said no dates have been set province-wide because the government is checking with local public health units to gauge supply of Pfizer vaccines and upcoming bookings for adults to determine time lines.
She suggested teens won’t be able to make appointments until after the week of May 24, when about 940,000 doses of Pfizer are expected to be shipped to Ontario weekly until the end of June.
Read the full story here from Rob Ferguson.
4 p.m.: Carlo Escario says he’s ready for his removal and return to his native Philippines — he just wants Canada to let him to stay here for 40 more days.
The 36-year-old from Quezon City worked at Toronto General Hospital since 2014 as a hemodialysis assistant. Until two weeks ago, he was working directly with COVID-19 patients in the intensive-care unit.
As a front-line essential health care worker, he received his first dose of the Pfizer vaccine in February, but says the appointment for the second shot isn’t until June 11.
Read the full story here from Nicholas Keung.
3:50 p.m.: Dr. David Williams, Chief Medical Officer of Health, will provide an update on the status of the AstraZeneca vaccine in Ontario at 4 p.m. this afternoon.
Williams will be joined by Dr. Dirk Huyer, Coordinator of the Provincial Outbreak Response, and Dr. Jessica Hopkins, Chief Health Protection and Emergency Preparedness Officer.
More to come.
2:35 p.m.: Nova Scotia's chief medical officer of health urged residents on Tuesday not to leave their communities as the province reported 118 new cases of COVID-19.
With health officials reporting more than 100 new cases a day since May 1, the total number of active cases stood at 1,591 as of Tuesday. There were 64 people in hospital with the disease, including 10 receiving intensive care.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, Nova Scotia has recorded 4,152 cases of COVID-19, which includes 71 deaths and 2,490 resolved cases.
Meanwhile, the province announced Tuesday people aged 40 and older can book appointments for the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines. This group had been able to get the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine since April 30.
2:30 p.m. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is rejecting an accusation from Alberta’s justice minister that the federal government is part of a trio rooting for the province’s health system to collapse due to COVID-19.
Trudeau says it’s a shame to see that kind of finger pointing when everyone is focused on quickly and safely ending the pandemic.
Alberta has recently seen COVID-19 case counts that are the highest in North America, and Trudeau notes that he reached out to Premier Jason Kenney and big city Alberta mayors last week to offer any further support if called upon.
Last week, Kenney introduced new public health restrictions, warning that the provincial health system was otherwise on course to be overwhelmed in a matter of weeks.
Madu, in a Facebook post last Friday, defended the new rules, adding the federal Liberals along with the provincial Opposition NDP and the media are looking for and want to see the health system collapse.
Madu was not made available for an interview, but his spokesman has said Madu stands by the remark.
1:25 p.m. Europe’s leading human rights body warned Tuesday that threats to democratic rights and personal freedoms have worsened during the pandemic, with some governments using health restrictions as a pretext to advance undemocratic political agendas.
In a 148-page report lamenting a state of “democracy in distress,” the Council of Europe said several countries where safeguards for the judiciary and other institutions were already under threat had been further eroded in 2020.
It highlighted a “clear and worrying degree of democratic backsliding,” said Marija Pejcinovic Buric, the council’s secretary-general. “The danger is that our democratic culture will not fully recover.”
Based in Strasbourg, France, the Council of Europe was created after World War II to protect human and democratic rights and its membership expanded to include Russia and many formerly Communist states. It's not a European Union institution.
Among countries cited for undemocratic practices were Russia, Turkey, Moldova, Hungary, and Azerbaijan. The practices included intimidation and arbitrary detention of government critics, journalists and members of civil society, as well as changes to the judiciary that were seen as threats to its independence.
1:05 p.m. Canada’s Wonderland says it is postponing its opening date because of the pandemic.
The park had a possible opening date of May 14.
The validity of 2020/21 season passes will be extended until Labour Day 2022, a statement on the park’s site read.
12:55 p.m. Federal public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam says that people who got first dose of Astrazeneca should now be able to get a second one.
12:40 p.m. The Manitoba government says it has issued more tickets to people for attending anti-mask rallies and breaking the limit on public gatherings.
The province says 22 tickets have been issued in relation to a rally outside the Law Courts building in Winnipeg last week.
Two tickets were issued related to a rally in Winkler May 1, and eight tickets have been handed out after a rally in Winnipeg the same day.
12:30 p.m. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says almost 50 per cent of eligible adults in Canada have received at least one shot of COVID-19 vaccine.
He says by the summer, Canada will have enough vaccines so that every eligible resident will have gotten their first dose, and by September, it will have enough doses for everyone to be fully vaccinated.
He says we can have a better, "one-dose" summer, as long as restrictions remain in place for case numbers to go down and more than 75 per cent of Canadians get their first dose.
And he says a one-dose summer sets us up for a "two-dose fall," when Canadians will be able to talk about going back to school, back to work, and back to more normality.
12:30 p.m. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says his government is working with the government of Nunavut after a spike in COVID-19 cases in the territory.
Trudeau says as soon as numbers started going up, the federal government moved quickly to keep people safe by sending more PPE and medical equipment.
But he says even more help is needed.
He says new funding will help with everything from food security for communities with active cases, to providing better IT equipment for students who need to do remote learning, to additional health supports to protect people.
12:20 p.m. Doctors in British Columbia are being warned they could face investigation or penalties from their regulatory body if they contradict public health orders or guidance about COVID-19.
The warning is contained in a joint statement from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of B.C. and the First Nations Health Authority.
The statement says the college and authority have become aware that some B.C. physicians oppose vaccines and are spreading "misinformation" about mask wearing, physical distancing and lockdowns.
There's also concern that certain doctors are promoting COVID-19 treatments "not supported by widely accepted scientific evidence."
Dr. Heidi Oetter, registrar and CEO of the college, says the misinformation breaches public trust and is contrary to a doctor's ethical obligations.
She says doctors who veer from accepted COVID-19 health orders and guidelines could face an investigation or regulatory action, if the college considers it warranted.
"Physicians must be guided by the laws that govern them, regulatory practice standards and guidelines, the Code of Ethics and Professionalism, and scientific evidence when giving their opinions about COVID-19," the statement says.
Dr. Nel Wieman, acting deputy chief medical officer of the First Nations Health Authority, says the harm caused by misleading and unsupported information is evident across B.C., particularly in Indigenous communities.
"Indigenous people already face barriers to accessing health care due to systemic racism," Wieman says in the statement.
"Misleading information adds another barrier at a time when the COVID-19 vaccine needs to be delivered to Indigenous people as quickly as possible."
Both Wieman and Oetter are calling on doctors to ensure the safety of patients is not jeopardized by misinformation during the pandemic.
12 p.m. Ontario will check with supply of vaccines before opening Pfizer shots to those 12 and older, says Solicitor General Sylvia Jones.
People 18+ slated to begin booking week of May 24 with younger teens likely next cohort.
11:35 a.m. Quebec is reporting 660 new COVID-19 cases today and nine more deaths attributed to the novel coronavirus, including one in the previous 24 hours.
Health officials say hospitalizations dropped by three, for a total of 540, and 128 people were in intensive care, a rise of five.
The province says it administered 61,051 additional doses on Monday; more than 43 per cent of Quebecers have received at least one dose of the COVID-19.
Quebec has reported a total of 359,456 COVID-19 cases and 11,002 deaths linked to the virus.
11:20 a.m. How, when and where will you get your COVID-19 vaccine?
Those questions are front and centre for Ontario residents as the 34 local public health units have been tasked with devising their own plans to roll out vaccines in their regions.
11:15 a.m. Alberta says it won't give out more first doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine for the time being.
A spokesman for the provincial health department says the decision was made because there aren't any confirmed shipments of AstraZeneca coming, and the province only has 8,400 doses of it left.
As such, they will save what they have for second doses.
"Unlike with AstraZeneca, Alberta is receiving the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines in large and consistent shipments," said Alberta Health assistant communications director Tom McMillan.
"More than 236,000 doses are arriving this week alone."
Alberta appears to be the first province to officially take AstraZeneca out of the offerings for first doses but it likely won't be the last. There are ongoing safety concerns for AstraZeneca but the decision is coming largely due to the practical realities of supply.
More than 18 million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech are expected between now and the end of June, and somewhere between eight and 10 million doses of Moderna. Another 15 million doses of Pifzer and between 26 million and 28 million doses of Moderna will be shipped by the end of September.
11 a.m. Peel Region is giving out shots at an evening event. Staff are putting on a unique 32-hour “marathon” vaccine clinic, working to administer more doses than ever at a single clinic.
“I’m calling on all our residents 18+ to help fill these overnight spots at ‘Doses After Dark’!” said Peel’s medical officer of health, Dr. Lawrence Loh. “Let’s do everything we can, together, to keep the momentum going in Peel and reach our goal of 75 per cent first dose coverage in our community even sooner than previously anticipated.”
The plan is to administer 7,600 doses of COVID-19 vaccines, 5,000 of them over the night.
The event will take place at the International Centre in Mississauga, where the region has invited notable doctors, vaccine administrators and greeters to help out with the event.
10:45 a.m. Nunavut is reporting 14 new cases of COVID-19 Tuesday, all in the capital city of Iqaluit.
There are now 75 active cases in Nunavut, all in the city of about 8,000 people.
Three people have also been hospitalized in Ottawa since the first case was declared in Iqaluit on April 14.
Iqaluit remains under a strict lockdown, with all schools, businesses and workplaces closed and travel restricted.
To date, about 80 per cent of Iqaluit's adults have received at least one dose of the Moderna vaccine and about 50 per cent have received both doses.
10:11 a.m. Quebec Health Minister Christian Dubé is calling on young adults to get vaccinated in an open letter published Tuesday, on the eve of appointments opening to those 25 and older.
Dubé says via his Twitter account that the beginning of the province's so-called "youth week" has been successful, with 50 per cent of those 30 to 34 having secured an appointment since Monday.
In an open letter posted to Facebook, Dube says he knows the past year has been difficult for young adults who have made remarkable sacrifices to protect the most vulnerable and the health-care system.
He says he recognizes that young people's mental health has taken a toll, as they have been relegated to distance learning and those in the hotel, restaurant and culture sectors have lost jobs.
Dubé says the province is nearing the finish line and that young people have a chance to play a crucial role in controlling COVID-19 transmission by getting vaccinated in large numbers.
The provincial government says that by the end of the week, all Quebec adults will be offered the chance to book a vaccine appointment. Premier Francois Legault will join Dubé and Dr. Horacio Arruda, Quebec's director of public health, for a COVID-19 briefing this afternoon.
10:05 a.m. (updated) Ontario is reporting another 2,073 COVID-19 cases and 15 more deaths, according to its latest report released Tuesday morning.
The seven-day average is at 2,914 cases daily, or 140 weekly per 100,000. Ontario’s seven-day average for deaths is at 28.4 daily.
The province says 28,109 tests were completed the previous day, and that there is a 8.5 per cent positivity rate, a low compared to the last five Tuesdays.
There are 1,782 people currently hospitalized with COVID-19 in the province, including 802 patients in intensive care. There are 568 people on ventilators.
Read the full story from the Star’s Cheyenne Bholla
10 a.m. Volunteers at Hindu temples, Muslim groups and Sikh relief organizations across the United States are mobilizing to support India as the world's second most populous country struggles to handle a devastating surge of the coronavirus.
From coast to coast, faith groups tied to the Indian diaspora have collected hundreds of oxygen concentrators and electrical transformers to ship to overwhelmed hospitals, raised millions for everything from food to firewood for funeral pyres and gathered in prayer for spiritual support for the Asian nation.
“This is a human tragedy, said Manzoor Ghori, executive director of the California-based Indian Muslim Relief and Charities, which has donated more than $1 million for purposes including supporting teachers and providing families with thousands of medical kits and more than 300,000 meals.
Ghori said he has had five loved ones, including two nephews, die in India from COVID-19 — “so, it is a personal tragedy” as well.
He's one of many in the U.S. diaspora to have lost relatives to the virus in India, where total confirmed infections and deaths have surpassed 22.6 million and 246,000, respectively, though the true numbers are believed to be much higher.
Kashyap Patel, an Atlanta-based physician, said the pandemic has been “catastrophic” for him, with about a dozen members of his extended family in India contracting the virus, from teenagers to octogenarians, and his 73-year-old uncle dying from it.
He volunteers for the North America branch of the BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha Hindu organization, which has provided 250 oxygen concentrators and several hundred thousand dollars in COVID-19 relief to help with India's overwhelmed health system.
“It is challenging to find hospital beds," Patel said. "It is challenging to find oxygen, to find contemporary medicine.”
9:40 a.m. Coronavirus cases have surpassed 100 in a Hamilton highrise as public health turns its attention to new outbreaks at two other apartment buildings.
Last week, the city declared an outbreak at 235 Rebecca St., a 17-storey building near Wellington Street North that has now notched 103 cases, including one death.
The Village at 151 Queen St. N. and Wellington Place at 125 Wellington St. N. now have the same status after public health probed “clusters” of cases in the buildings over the weekend.
There have been 18 among seven apartments in the 360-unit Wellington Place, which is just north of Wilson Street, and 29 among 15 apartments in the 250-unit Village near York Boulevard.
At any time, COVID-19 can have a presence in large apartment buildings, Dr. Elizabeth Richardson said during a news conference Monday afternoon.
“It’s when they build up to such a level that we start to be concerned that there’s some other reason for transmission occurring.”
Richardson noted most cases at 151 Queen St. N. arose between April 20 and May 4, while those at 125 Wellington St. N. were between April 17 and May 8.
Public health is offering on-site testing at the three buildings in an effort to help curb the spread of the virus.
Richardson said it’s “vital” for tenants to remain vigilant when it comes to practising public health measures, including physical-distancing and mask-wearing.
But a committee of tenants at Rebecca Towers has taken issue with public health’s observation that “socialization” is to blame for the outbreak, the largest in Hamilton during the pandemic’s third wave.
9:30 a.m. (updated) COVID-19 vaccine registration has opened up widely in Waterloo Region to everyone 12 and older.
This expanded eligibility follows the province’s announcement that there’s a stable and reliable vaccine supply in Ontario.
Health Canada recently approved the Pfizer vaccine for people who are 12 to 15. Those who are 12 to 17 will receive the Pfizer vaccine when it is their turn to get an appointment.
The Moderna vaccine is approved for anyone 18 and older.
COVID-19 vaccination is not recommended for anyone younger than 12 at this time.
Everyone 12 and older can register for the vaccine on the region’s website at www.regionofwaterloo.ca/vaccinePreReg.
9:15 a.m. Eight businesses in Mississauga and Brampton have been ordered to close for up to 10 days after Peel Public Health identified at least five cases of COVID-19 among employees at the workplace within the last two weeks.
On May 8, Quest Steel Inc. (6089 Shawson Dr., Mississauga), B & R Machine Co Ltd. (5599 McAdam Rd., Mississauga), TD Canada Trust (1585 Mississauga Valley Blvd., Mississauga), Axium Packaging (1200 Meyerside Dr., Mississauga) and Pro-Poly Custom Plywood (1195 Clark Blvd., Brampton) were ordered to fully close.
As well, partial closures were issued to Radial Inc. (6100 Freemont Blvd., Mississauga), Hampton Inn & Suites (3279 Carga Dr., Mississauga) and Menasha Packaging (240 Summerlea Rd., Brampton).
A full closure applies "to an entire workplace premise," according to public health. "Partial closures" apply to a work area or mass dismissal of a shift.
Since April 24, 38 businesses have been ordered to fully or partially close. These businesses have been ordered to close under Section 22 of Ontario’s Health Protection and Promotion Act.
On May 7, Ms. Embroidery & Screenprinting (3688 Nashua Dr., Units 11 and 12) was ordered to fully close.
On May 6, full closures were issued to Borges Food Ltd. (1831 Mattawa Ave.) and Media 6 IMG (850 Rangeview Rd.) while a BMO corporate office (2465 Argentia Rd.) was ordered to partially close.
On May 5, Matrix Logistics Services (6941 Kennedy Rd.) in Mississauga and Cargill Beef (235 Nuggett Ct.) in Brampton were ordered to partially close.
On May 4, partial closures were issued to AlphaPoly Packaging (296 Walker Drive) and Canadian Textile Services Fabric Dryers & Finishers (44189 Summerlea Rd.) in Brampton, Stackpole (2400 Royal Windsor Dr.) in Mississauga and A&G The Road Cleaners (47 Simpson Rd.) in Bolton.
9 a.m. An alleged Mississauga cricket game and car meetup last week led to the largest number of COVID-19 rule-related tickets the municipality has issued so far in 2021.
A Mississauga enforcement report covering May 3 to 9 shows 39 tickets issued in the city, nearly four times more than the previous week.
It’s also the largest number of COVID-19 tickets issued in a single week this year, City of Mississauga staff confirmed.
An alleged organized cricket game on Friday, May 7 saw 20 $880 tickets issued, which, according to the report, is the most fines for a single incident last week.
That same day, 12 $880 tickets were issued at an alleged Mississauga car meet, the report showed.
The car meet was in the area of Mavis and Britannia roads, city staff said, near Heartland Town Centre.
Both the car meet and cricket game were deemed alleged violations of Ontario’s gathering rules, which have prohibited most social gatherings beyond members of a single household, both inside and outside, across the province since April.
It’s the second time in recent weeks that alleged organized sports and car meets have driven COVID-19-related tickets and fines in Mississauga.
8:45 a.m. York Region is seeing a “disturbing” increase in cases of COVID-19 among children younger than 5, the region’s medical officer of health says.
The incidence rate in this youngest age group has been “quite high”, reaching as much as 200 in 100,000 individuals, with a few cases leading to hospitalization, Dr. Karim Kurji said.
There were three “close saves” recently in this age group, “and it is only because of the quality of care that exists in our hospitals that tragedies haven’t happened,” he added.
“It’s only a matter of time before something really bad happens.”
It’s not clear why the number of preschoolers with COVID-19 is increasing.
There have been an increasing number of outbreaks in child care centres, Kurji said.
The region is educating child care providers to improve safety practices, including better screening and not allowing children to attend daycare if their relatives are sick.
At the same time, Kurji said, the region is continuing to encourage child care workers to get vaccinated. Child care staff from licensed child care facilities who live or work in York Region are eligible to book an appointment at york.ca/covid19vaccine.
However, there have only been 17 outbreaks out of more than 300 facilities, and Kurji believes other factors are at play.
Internal investigations show the majority of cases in young children arise as a result of household case contacts.
8:20 a.m. The Tokyo Olympic torch relay is being pulled off the streets in Hiroshima prefecture as COVID-19 cases rise in Japan barely 10 weeks before the opening ceremony.
Hiroshima Governor Hidehiko Yuzaki said that a ceremony next week without the relay is likely to still take place. This is at least the sixth change to the relay — from rerouting to cancellation — in the last several weeks.
Organizers warned before the relay began that changes and delays were expected in the face of the pandemic.
“It is certain there will be no relay on public streets since we are all trying to reduce going out, and how to do the ceremony without the relay on the streets is still being discussed with the organizers,” Yuzaki said Monday.
The relay began on March 25 in northeastern Japan and is to end on July 23 at the opening ceremony of the Olympics. Tokyo and other areas are under a state of emergency until May 31.
Japan has attributed about 11,000 deaths to COVID-19, but new cases of the virus and its variants are now increasing in Tokyo and the second largest metropolitan area of Osaka.
The relay is heavily sponsored by Toyota and Coca-Cola and has proceeded despite some calls a year ago to cancel it to save money. It involves 10,000 runners crisscrossing Japan with organizers trying to keep crowds off the streets and urging them to maintain social distancing.
International Olympic President Thomas Bach was forced this week to call off a trip to Hiroshima to greet the torch, an embarrassing move with the IOC and local organizers saying the Olympics will be “safe and secure” for fans and athletes.
Yuzaki said the cases were rising at such a rapid pace that it could become an emergency situation unless people curbed their activities.
On Monday, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported that Hyogo and Okayama prefectures will also take the torch relay off public streets.
8:10 a.m. Ontario’s government has earmarked less than half the estimated $1.3 billion needed over the next three years to clear the backlog of non-emergency surgeries and diagnostic procedures postponed in the pandemic, an independent watchdog says.
The warning came Monday from the Financial Accountability Office, which calculated wait lists will reach 419,200 surgeries and almost 2.5 million diagnostic tests and procedures by the end of September in the wake of cancellations during the first three waves of COVID-19.
“It will cost the province $1.3 billion to clear the projected surgery and diagnostic procedures backlog,” the office said in a statement. “In the 2021 budget, the province allocated $610 million to address the backlog, which represents a funding shortfall of approximately $700 million.”
Health Minister Christine Elliott pledged surgeries and diagnostics will be performed on “evenings and on weekends,” with the addition of $500 million in funding to catch up as pandemic situation improves and more hospital intensive care beds open up.
Read the full story from the Star’s Rob Ferguson
8:03 a.m. There are 803 patients with COVID-related critical illness now in adult and pediatric ICUs; 36 new admissions as of May 11.
8 a.m. At least five COVID-19 cases have been reported at a quarantine hotel in Mississauga after Peel Public Health issued a partial closure order Saturday. Hampton Inn Suites, located on 3279 Caroga Drive, is one of three quarantine hotels in the city dealing with an outbreak.
Thirteen staff members have tested positive for the virus at Toronto’s Crowne Plaza hotel.
7:50 a.m. Relaxing COVID-19 restrictions too soon would sicken hundreds more Torontonians per day and extend the pandemic, warns the city’s public health chief.
Dr. Eileen de Villa revealed new COVID-19 projections Monday and pleaded with Torontonians, before the Victoria Day weekend, to break a cycle that sees holiday gatherings invariably trigger a spike in potentially deadly new infections.
De Villa made the comments in a morning briefing to the Toronto Public Health board and later at a COVID-19 briefing with Mayor John Tory.
“In general we are seeing some signs of improvement,” she said of the third COVID-19 wave that, fuelled by highly contagious variants, raged to mid-April pandemic highs in both virus spread and new hospitalizations.
Since the Ontario government applied “emergency brake” restrictions April 3, followed days later by a provincial stay-at-home order and then closures of some Toronto workplaces, the city’s main COVID-19 indicators have dropped — easing pressure on hospitals — but remain higher than at the peak of Wave 2.
“When our epidemiology team looks at the data, they specifically saw that the emergency brake actually resulted in a 43-per-cent reduction in transmission,” she said, adding the accelerating vaccine rollout is also taming once-raging variants.
Read the full story from the Star’s David Rider
7:45 a.m. Beginning Tuesday at 8 a.m., Group Two of people who cannot work from home including grocery store, restaurant and transportation workers, will be able to book a vaccine appointment at city-run clinics through the provincial system.
7:35 a.m. Doctors and nurses on the front lines of Canada’s health system are sounding the alarm after the Liberal government appears to have put its promise of a national pharmacare program on the back burner.
When the Trudeau government delivered its first federal budget in two years last month, it included more than $100 billion in new spending over the three years.
But while there was one brief mention of pharmacare in the 739-page document, it only re-stated a commitment from the 2019 budget of $500 million for a national program for high-cost drugs for rare diseases.
Dr. Melanie Bechard, a pediatric emergency room physician and chair of Doctors for Medicare, says she was disappointed at the lack of new funding for pharmacare in the budget. She believes it’s an indication the government is not making it a priority.
“I was very disappointed because the government has promised national pharmacare. They’ve conducted a study that really outlined the path to get there,” she said.
Even the Budget 2021 document itself acknowledges that “the case for universal pharmacare is well-established,” Bechard noted.
“The budget acknowledges that it makes sense. It’s good public policy. But unfortunately, we’re just getting words instead of any funding towards it, so that’s completely ineffectual.”
The Liberals campaigned on a promise to “take the critical next steps to implement national universal pharmacare” in their 2019 election platform, and similar commitments have since appeared in throne speeches and mandate letters to the federal health minister.
7:30 a.m. U.S. educators are doing everything they can to track down high school students who stopped showing up to classes and to help them get the credits needed to graduate, amid an anticipated surge in the country’s dropout rate during the coronavirus pandemic.
There isn’t data available yet on how the pandemic has affected the nation’s overall dropout rate — 2019 is the last year for which it is available — and many school officials say it’s too early to know how many students who stopped logging on for distance learning don’t plan to return. But soaring numbers of students who are
“When students drop out, they typically look for an out, an opportunity to leave. And this has provided that, unfortunately,” Sandy Addis, chairman of the National Dropout Prevention Center, said recently, referring to the pandemic. His group believes the dropout rate has spiked this year and will remain high for years.
At one high school in Kansas City, Kansas, staff members have made thousands of calls to the families of at-risk students, said Troy Pitsch, who supervises high school principals in the city.
“If we lose a student, it is going to be after kicking and screaming and fighting tooth and nail for them,” Pitsch said.
Many districts were forgiving last spring when schools shut down abruptly, freezing grades unless students wanted to improve them. That made this year the first for which schools would feel the full effects of the pandemic on student performance and engagement.
7:15 a.m. Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives are setting the table to extend Ontario’s pandemic “stay-at-home” order for another two weeks, until June 2.
“We need to stay the course for right now,” Health Minister Christine Elliott said Monday as the province expanded vaccine availability to some segments of the population, including people over 40 outside of designated hot spots starting later this week.
Ford declared a state of emergency on April 16, which curbed activities like golf, tennis and basketball, in a bid to keep people from going out and spreading COVID-19.
While the current emergency declaration is scheduled to expire May 19 — and the number of daily new COVID-19 cases is declining — hospital intensive care units are still near record occupancy levels with 828 COVID-19 patients, including 547 on ventilators.
Read the full story from the Star’s Robert Benzie and Rob Ferguson
6:42 a.m.: While there are more than 13,000 internationally trained physicians in Ontario, Shafi Bhuiyan, chair of a network that helps foreign-trained doctors find jobs in Canada, says, more than 3,500 are qualified to practise immediately and could help the province battle the pandemic’s third wave.
They have passed their Canadian licensing exams, he says, have recent clinical experience and, like all residency candidates in the country, have earned the right to practise medicine under the supervision of a licensed physician.
Read the full story from the Star’s Michele Henry.
6:42 a.m.: People who live in Toronto and Peel COVID-19 hot spots are on average nearly twice as likely to be racialized and about four times more likely to be employed in manufacturing and utilities compared to those in the regions’ other neighbourhoods, a new analysis shows.
New research from the Gattuso Centre for Social Medicine at University Health Network also highlights how residents of these hot-spot areas are, on average, more than twice as likely to work in trades, transportation and equipment operation and also more likely to meet low-income thresholds.
Read the full story from the Star’s Kenyon Wallace.
6:40 a.m.: Travel represents the smallest proportion of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Ontario, a review of publicly available data by the Star shows.
While Ontario Premier Doug Ford has been campaigning against travel into Canada, recently airing attack ads pointed at the federal government’s handling of the country’s borders, numbers directly linked to travel are low. Meanwhile, critics worry that emphasis on securing the borders could lead to further xenophobic sentiment among Canadians.
Read the full story from the Star’s Jenna Moon here.
6:33 a.m.: The World Health Organization (WHO) has classified the coronavirus mutation that has appeared in India as a “variant of concern,” said WHO’s senior scientist Maria Van Kerkhove on Monday.
The other three mutations designated as ones of concern by WHO are the so-called British, South African and Brazilian variants.
“There is some available information to suggest increased transmissibility of B1617,” or the Indian variant, said Van Kerkhove. According to preliminary studies, the immune system may also not be able to react as strongly to this variant, she added.
The WHO classifies COVID-19 variants into two categories: variants under observation and variants of concern. The latter are more contagious, hard to control, or they lead to more severe illness.
But there’s no evidence yet that coronavirus tests, drugs or vaccines are less effective against the Indian variant, said Van Kerkhove.
6:31 a.m.: The president of El Salvador says he will donate coronavirus vaccines to seven towns in Honduras even though his own country’s vaccination effort is still struggling.
El Salvador has administered about 1.25 million shots, not nearly enough for the country’s 6.5 million people.
But President Nayib Bukele was apparently touched by appeals from mayors of seven towns in neighbouring Honduras who asked El Salvador for help, claiming their own government has abandoned them. He said Monday the donations will not affect El Salvador’s vaccination drive.
Bukele has been known for staking out populist positions in the past.
6:31 a.m.: North Korea has told the World Health Organization that it has tested 25,986 people for the coronavirus through April but still has yet to find a single infection.
The WHO said in a weekly monitoring report that North Korea’s testing figures include 751 people who were tested during April 23-29, of which 139 had influenza-like illnesses or severe respiratory infections.
The country no longer discloses how many people are quarantined for showing such symptoms, after tens of thousands were last year.
Experts have expressed skepticism about North Korea’s claim of a perfect record in keeping out COVID-19, given its poor health infrastructure and a porous border it shares with China.
6:30 a.m.: Taiwan reported seven domestic COVID-19 cases with the source of six of the infections still under investigation, its Central Epidemic Command Center said Tuesday.
Five cases were discovered in a gaming cafe in Yilan county on Taiwan’s eastern coast. Another was found in New Taipei City, just outside the capital. None of the cases had any history of international travel. Health authorities are doing contact tracing to determine the source of the infection.
The seventh was a person already in quarantine who had been in contact with a cluster discovered in recent weeks after pilots working for Taiwan’s China Airlines tested positive. Over 30 cases have been discovered so far.
In response, health authorities said they will ban indoor gatherings of more than 100 people and ban outdoor gatherings of more than 500 people.
Taiwan has been a success story throughout the pandemic, keeping deaths and cases to a minimum with strict border controls and a mandatory two-week quarantine for arrivals. It has counted 1,210 cases of COVID-19 to date, with the vast majority imported and some cases of domestic transmission.
6:26 a.m.: A new Leger poll suggests Canadian confidence in COVID-19 vaccines is holding firm despite swirling confusion and concern about the safety of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.
It also suggests Canadians are largely open to the idea of vaccine passports but support them more for travel than for everyday activities like dining out or going to a concert or shopping mall.
Leger surveyed 1,529 Canadians online for the poll between May 7 and May 9. It cannot be assigned a margin of error because internet-based polls are not considered random samples.
More than eight in 10 Canadian respondents said they are either vaccinated already or plan to be when it’s their turn, almost identical to the number who said that in a similar poll taken a month ago.
It’s up from six in 10 people last October, and seven in 10 in January.
“Pretty much every government in the Western Hemisphere would be happy if 82 per cent of adults did get vaccinated,” said Leger executive vice-president Christian Bourque.
Almost 40 per cent of Canadians have now been vaccinated with at least one dose, and government officials have said at least 75 per cent need to be vaccinated to get close to herd immunity against COVID-19.
6:24 a.m.: Doctors and nurses on the front lines of Canada’s health system are sounding the alarm after the Liberal government appears to have put its promise of a national pharmacare program on the back burner.
When the Trudeau government delivered its first federal budget in two years last month, it included more than $100 billion in new spending over the three years.
But while there was one brief mention of pharmacare in the 739-page document, it only re-stated a commitment from the 2019 budget of $500 million for a national program for high-cost drugs for rare diseases.
Read the full story from the Canadian Press here.
4 a.m.: The latest numbers on COVID-19 vaccinations in Canada as of 4 a.m. ET on Tuesday May 11, 2021.
In Canada, the provinces are reporting 340,118 new vaccinations administered for a total of 16,257,673 doses given. Nationwide, 1,267,117 people or 3.3 per cent of the population has been fully vaccinated. The provinces have administered doses at a rate of 42,897.053 per 100,000.
There were 112,500 new vaccines delivered to the provinces and territories for a total of 18,154,594 doses delivered so far. The provinces and territories have used 89.55 per cent of their available vaccine supply.
4 a.m.: The latest numbers of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Canada as of 4 a.m. ET on Tuesday, May 11, 2021.
There are 1,294,186 confirmed cases in Canada (79,826 active, 1,189,678 resolved, 24,682 deaths). The total case count includes 13 confirmed cases among repatriated travellers.
There were 6,325 new cases Monday. The rate of active cases is 210.04 per 100,000 people. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of 50,925 new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is 7,275.
There were 40 new reported deaths Monday. Over the past seven days there have been a total of 342 new reported deaths. The seven-day rolling average of new reported deaths is 49. The seven-day rolling average of the death rate is 0.13 per 100,000 people. The overall death rate is 64.94 per 100,000 people.
There have been 32,746,783 tests completed.
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