TORONTO —
Keep your holiday gatherings small is the messaging from Canada’s top doctor, as new federal modelling points to a resurgence in COVID-19 infections in the coming weeks that could be further accelerated should the new Omicron variant take over.
The Delta variant remains the dominant strain in Canada and around the world, said Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam, but the spread of Omicron is increasing globally. In Canada, there are early signs of community spread.
While most of the 87 confirmed Omicron cases in Canada have been traced back to international travel and close contacts, cases with no known links to travel are starting to be reported, Tam noted during a press conference on Friday.
“Keeping private gatherings small is quite important at this point while we learn more,” said Tam.
“Gathering with a smaller number of people in well ventilated places – all of those layers of protection … can still enable us to have a good time while being safer and being precautionary.”
Travelling within Canada would be the “better choice” versus international travel, she added.
The current rise in new cases is primarily driven by Ontario and Quebec, with both provinces experiencing numbers not seen since spring. Should transmission rates increase by 15 per cent, or if Omicron takes hold under current levels of transmission, then Canada could see cases skyrocket to record levels above 10,000 cases before January, modelling charts show.
“We must approach the coming weeks with an abundance of caution and at the same time, we must be prepared to act quickly to control the spread at the first sign of rapidly accelerating cases,” said Deputy Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Howard Njoo.
So far, all documented cases involving Omicron in Canada have been asymptomatic or mild, and there is considerable uncertainty around the variant’s ability to evade immunity and cause severe illness, health officials said, but a rapid increase in cases could still strain the health-care system.
“That model doesn’t model the severity. But even if the proportion of those who get Omicron who gets severely ill is tiny – if you get enough cases, you still have enough severe outcomes to impact your hospitals and your ICUs,” Tam said.
Canada’s Rt, or effective reproduction number, has been back above one for the last five weeks, indicating that the epidemic is in a growth pattern, federal data shows, with the Delta variant accounting for more than 90 per cent of the cases.
OMICRON UNCERTAINTY
Despite the many unknowns around the Omicron variant, including whether it poses a higher or lower risk of severe illness and death, preliminary data indicates that it has the potential to spread faster than the highly transmissible Delta variant.
In South Africa, cases have climbed at a much faster rate with Omicron compared to previous waves.
While vaccines are expected to still provide protection against the new variant, scientists are still investigating the level of effectiveness.
“The Omicron variant of concern is a cruel reminder that a global epidemiological situation can change quickly. We all need to be prepared for that,” said Minister of Health Jean-Yves Duclos in a press conference on Friday.
Source: Public Health Agency of Canada
VACCINE EFFECTIVENESS
With 80 per cent of the eligible population in Canada fully vaccinated, infection rates remain highest among children under the age of 12, a group that only recently became eligible for shots.
The size of outbreaks in schools and childcare settings remain small, however, at fewer than five cases, Tam said. In total, there have been over 380,000 reported cases in children up to 19 years of age, with less than one per cent involving severe illness.
Tam and Njoo continued to encourage vaccinating children aged five and up and providing boosters for those aged 18 and over, emphasizing that vaccines along with protective health measures will help control transmission and would significantly reduce risks of resurgence in 2022.
The risk of being hospitalized remains significantly lower for those who are fully vaccinated individuals, officials reiterated, noting that those who are unvaccinated between the ages of 12 and 59 are 32 times more likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19 than those who are fully vaccinated. For those above 60, they are 16 times more likely to be hospitalized.
Despite the warning about the coming weeks, Tam said that vaccines have provided substantial protection from infection and severe outcomes and dampened the impact of the delta-driven wave this past fall.
“This time last year, we were experiencing double the number of daily cases and more than double the number of people with COVID-19 being treated in hospitals and in intensive care daily. Most importantly, daily reported deaths are 82 per cent lower than this time last year,” Tam said.
MONTREAL – Travel company Transat AT Inc. reported a loss in its latest quarter compared with a profit a year earlier as its revenue edged lower.
The parent company of Air Transat says it lost $39.9 million or $1.03 per diluted share in its quarter ended July 31.
The result compared with a profit of $57.3 million or $1.49 per diluted share a year earlier.
Revenue in what was the company’s third quarter totalled $736.2 million, down from $746.3 million in the same quarter last year.
On an adjusted basis, Transat says it lost $1.10 per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of $1.10 per share a year earlier.
Transat chief executive Annick Guérard says demand for leisure travel remains healthy, as evidenced by higher traffic, but consumers are increasingly price conscious given the current economic uncertainty.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
Dollarama Inc.’s food aisles may have expanded far beyond sweet treats or piles of gum by the checkout counter in recent years, but its chief executive maintains his company is “not in the grocery business,” even if it’s keeping an eye on the sector.
“It’s just one small part of our store,” Neil Rossy told analysts on a Wednesday call, where he was questioned about the company’s food merchandise and rivals playing in the same space.
“We will keep an eye on all retailers — like all retailers keep an eye on us — to make sure that we’re competitive and we understand what’s out there.”
Over the last decade and as consumers have more recently sought deals, Dollarama’s food merchandise has expanded to include bread and pantry staples like cereal, rice and pasta sold at prices on par or below supermarkets.
However, the competition in the discount segment of the market Dollarama operates in intensified recently when the country’s biggest grocery chain began piloting a new ultra-discount store.
The No Name stores being tested by Loblaw Cos. Ltd. in Windsor, St. Catharines and Brockville, Ont., are billed as 20 per cent cheaper than discount retail competitors including No Frills. The grocery giant is able to offer such cost savings by relying on a smaller store footprint, fewer chilled products and a hearty range of No Name merchandise.
Though Rossy brushed off notions that his company is a supermarket challenger, grocers aren’t off his radar.
“All retailers in Canada are realistic about the fact that everyone is everyone’s competition on any given item or category,” he said.
Rossy declined to reveal how much of the chain’s sales would overlap with Loblaw or the food category, arguing the vast variety of items Dollarama sells is its strength rather than its grocery products alone.
“What makes Dollarama Dollarama is a very wide assortment of different departments that somewhat represent the old five-and-dime local convenience store,” he said.
The breadth of Dollarama’s offerings helped carry the company to a second-quarter profit of $285.9 million, up from $245.8 million in the same quarter last year as its sales rose 7.4 per cent.
The retailer said Wednesday the profit amounted to $1.02 per diluted share for the 13-week period ended July 28, up from 86 cents per diluted share a year earlier.
The period the quarter covers includes the start of summer, when Rossy said the weather was “terrible.”
“The weather got slightly better towards the end of the summer and our sales certainly increased, but not enough to make up for the season’s horrible start,” he said.
Sales totalled $1.56 billion for the quarter, up from $1.46 billion in the same quarter last year.
Comparable store sales, a key metric for retailers, increased 4.7 per cent, while the average transaction was down2.2 per cent and traffic was up seven per cent, RBC analyst Irene Nattel pointed out.
She told investors in a note that the numbers reflect “solid demand as cautious consumers focus on core consumables and everyday essentials.”
Analysts have attributed such behaviour to interest rates that have been slow to drop and high prices of key consumer goods, which are weighing on household budgets.
To cope, many Canadians have spent more time seeking deals, trading down to more affordable brands and forgoing small luxuries they would treat themselves to in better economic times.
“When people feel squeezed, they tend to shy away from discretionary, focus on the basics,” Rossy said. “When people are feeling good about their wallet, they tend to be more lax about the basics and more willing to spend on discretionary.”
The current economic situation has drawn in not just the average Canadian looking to save a buck or two, but also wealthier consumers.
“When the entire economy is feeling slightly squeezed, we get more consumers who might not have to or want to shop at a Dollarama generally or who enjoy shopping at a Dollarama but have the luxury of not having to worry about the price in some other store that they happen to be standing in that has those goods,” Rossy said.
“Well, when times are tougher, they’ll consider the extra five minutes to go to the store next door.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
TORONTO – The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has ordered TD Bank Group to pay US$28 million for repeatedly sharing inaccurate, negative information about its customers to consumer reporting companies.
The agency says TD has to pay US$7.76 million in total to tens of thousands of victims of its illegal actions, along with a US$20 million civil penalty.
It says TD shared information that contained systemic errors about credit card and bank deposit accounts to consumer reporting companies, which can include credit reports as well as screening reports for tenants and employees and other background checks.
CFPB director Rohit Chopra says in a statement that TD threatened the consumer reports of customers with fraudulent information then “barely lifted a finger to fix it,” and that regulators will need to “focus major attention” on TD Bank to change its course.
TD says in a statement it self-identified these issues and proactively worked to improve its practices, and that it is committed to delivering on its responsibilities to its customers.
The bank also faces scrutiny in the U.S. over its anti-money laundering program where it expects to pay more than US$3 billion in monetary penalties to resolve.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
