Toronto to host mass vaccination clinic for children at Scotiabank Arena as number of COVID-19 outbreaks in schools continues to rise – CP24 Toronto's Breaking News
Toronto will host a mass vaccination clinic for school-aged children at Scotiabank Arena next month as it seeks to use the home of the Maple Leafs for a different type of shot than the ones that usually come off the stick of Auston Matthews.
The city has announced that it will make 2,000 appointments available for children aged five to 11 during a one-day clinic at the downtown arena scheduled for Dec. 12.
The clinic will run from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and will also include giveaways and music and entertainment throughout the day.
The announcement of the large-scale clinic comes on the heels of the vaccination of the younger age cohort getting underway last week following Health Canada’s approval of Pfizer’s pediatric vaccine the week prior.
Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore says that more than 68,000 children aged five to 11 have already received their first dose, accounting for about 6.4 per cent of those who are newly eligible to get vaccinated.
“It is a brilliant initiation for this strategy and I hope that volume of individuals continues so they (school-aged children) are best protected going into the holidays when we can anticipate seeing more cases,” he said during a briefing on Monday.
Highest number of school outbreaks since April
The effort to vaccinate younger children has taken on a renewed importance as an increasing number of COVID-19 outbreaks are declared at public schools.
There are now 189 outbreaks at Ontario schools, including 174 at elementary schools where most students remain unvaccinated.
It is the highest number of simultaneous outbreaks in schools since the peak of the third wave in April.
Back then the number of schools with outbreaks reached a high of 210 before officials ordered that all schools switch to remote-learning only following the delayed spring break.
Schools then remained closed until September, marking the second straight year in which in-person learning was heavily disrupted.
This year public health officials have insisted that they will prioritize keeping schools open, with plans to use raid antigen tests to ensure students returning to classes following the winter break have not contracted COVID-19.
There are, however, some worrisome trends beginning to present themselves in the data.
According to the latest figures provided by the Ministry of Education on Monday, there are now 1,591 active cases associated with Ontario’s public schools after another 131 new cases were reported over a 24-hour period ending last Friday afternoon.
Over the last week the number of active cases associated with the public school system has risen 25.7 per cent, outpacing the growth in Ontario’s active caseload during the same time period (21.7 per cent)
There are also currently 16 schools that are closed due to COVID-19 outbreaks or for operational reasons related to the pandemic.
That is nearly double the number of closures (nine) that were in effect at this time last week.
A count by CP24 has also determined that at least 155 individual classrooms in Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area school boards have been switched to remote learning following positive cases.
That is up 30 per cent from this time last week but is likely an underrepresentation of the true extent of the problem as some boards don’t publicly report the data.
TORONTO – Restaurant Brands International Inc. reported net income of US$357 million for its third quarter, down from US$364 million in the same quarter last year.
The company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, says its profit amounted to 79 cents US per diluted share for the quarter ended Sept. 30 compared with 79 cents US per diluted share a year earlier.
Revenue for the parent company of Tim Hortons, Burger King, Popeyes and Firehouse Subs, totalled US$2.29 billion, up from US$1.84 billion in the same quarter last year.
Consolidated comparable sales were up 0.3 per cent.
On an adjusted basis, Restaurant Brands says it earned 93 cents US per diluted share in its latest quarter, up from an adjusted profit of 90 cents US per diluted share a year earlier.
The average analyst estimate had been for a profit of 95 cents US per share, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2024.
ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Fortis Inc. reported a third-quarter profit of $420 million, up from $394 million in the same quarter last year.
The electric and gas utility says the profit amounted to 85 cents per share for the quarter ended Sept. 30, up from 81 cents per share a year earlier.
Fortis says the increase was driven by rate base growth across its utilities, and strong earnings in Arizona largely reflecting new customer rates at Tucson Electric Power.
Revenue in the quarter totalled $2.77 billion, up from $2.72 billion in the same quarter last year.
On an adjusted basis, Fortis says it earned 85 cents per share in its latest quarter, up from an adjusted profit of 84 cents per share in the third quarter of 2023.
The average analyst estimate had been for a profit of 82 cents per share, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2024.
TORONTO – Thomson Reuters reported its third-quarter profit fell compared with a year ago as its revenue rose eight per cent.
The company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, says it earned US$301 million or 67 cents US per diluted share for the quarter ended Sept. 30. The result compared with a profit of US$367 million or 80 cents US per diluted share in the same quarter a year earlier.
Revenue for the quarter totalled US$1.72 billion, up from US$1.59 billion a year earlier.
In its outlook, Thomson Reuters says it now expects organic revenue growth of 7.0 per cent for its full year, up from earlier expectations for growth of 6.5 per cent.
On an adjusted basis, Thomson Reuters says it earned 80 cents US per share in its latest quarter, down from an adjusted profit of 82 cents US per share in the same quarter last year.
The average analyst estimate had been for a profit of 76 cents US per share, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2024.
