Ontario reported a drop in COVID-19-related hospitalizations on Saturday, but the numbers remained high in the country’s most populous provinces, which have been hit hard by the pandemic’s Omicron-driven fifth wave.
Despite drops of 88 and 56 hospitalizations in Ontario and Quebec, respectively, there were still more than 7,300 virus-related hospitalizations between the two provinces.
There was also an uptick in patients requiring intensive care, with Ontario reporting 600 patients in ICUs while Quebec had 275 patients listed — in both cases a rise of 10 patients compared with the previous day.
During a briefing on Friday, Canada’s chief public health officer, Dr. Theresa Tam, said despite signs of stability in patient numbers in some provinces, the toll on hospitals remains heavy, and many hospitals across Canada are under intense strain.
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More than 10,000 people with COVID-19 were being treated in hospitals across Canada each day in the past week, surpassing peak daily numbers in all previous waves of the pandemic.
Federal health officials said on Friday that daily case counts, positivity rates and wastewater surveillance show early indications that the pandemic’s Omicron-driven wave has peaked nationally, but the volume of cases is resulting in more hospitalizations and deaths.
Among the provinces reporting data on Saturday, Ontario recorded 47 deaths linked to COVID-19, while Quebec added 68 deaths.
Provinces reporting on Saturday encouraged people to get their booster shot. Tam acknowledged on Friday that might eventually mean a discussion with provinces and territories about what being fully vaccinated entails.
Federal officials have changed their own terminology, referring to a third dose as being “up-to-date” on vaccinations. Many provinces require full vaccination to access certain non-essential businesses, travel and other activities.
A health worker hands a COVID-19 rapid test kit to a motorist at a drive-thru pickup site in Surrey, B.C., on Thursday. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press)
Tam noted that globally and across Canada, the numbers of those who’ve received a third dose vary.
For example, in Quebec, which recently opened up third-dose eligibility to all adults, about 39 per cent have received the added dose. The province’s health minister said it intends to expand its vaccine passport to require a third dose once more people have had a chance to get it.
In New Brunswick, about 61 per cent of those aged 50 and older have received a booster dose.
A sign for a COVID-19 vaccination clinic is shown in Moncton on Jan. 14. (Ron Ward/The Canadian Press)
“We know that people who are fully vaccinated and have a booster dose have much better protection against serious illness or hospitalization from COVID-19,” Dr. Jennifer Russell, New Brunswick’s chief medical officer of health, said in a statement on Saturday.
While the more transmissible Omicron variant has made clear the necessity for the booster, Tam said it’s not time to have a discussion about changing the definition.
“But we will be re-examining those kind of policies going forward,” she said.
What’s happening across Canada
With lab-based testing capacity deeply strained and increasingly restricted, experts say true case counts are likely far higher than reported. Hospitalization data at the regional level is also evolving, with several provinces saying they will report figures that separate the number of people in hospital because of COVID-19 from those in hospital for another medical issue who also test positive for COVID-19.
For more information on what is happening in your community — including details on outbreaks, testing capacity and local restrictions — click through to the regional coverage below.
WATCH | B.C. teachers refuse to work citing students not wearing masks:
Teachers at B.C. school refuse to work citing students not wearing masks
21 hours ago
Duration 1:52
Teachers at a B.C. elementary school are refusing to work, citing unsafe conditions brought on in part by students refusing to wear masks in class. 1:52
In British Columbia, due to record-high hospitalizations, COVID-positive patients in hospitals are being placed in the same room with double-vaccinated people who do not have the virus, provincial health officials said.
In the Prairies, a northern First Nation in Manitoba is facing criticism for its lockdown measures after a group of mothers left to buy groceries on Thursday and an attempt was made to prevent them from returning to the community. In Saskatchewan, the chief medical health officer says COVID-19 hospital numbers could go up to as high as 300 to 500 or more in the next few weeks due to the high Omicron infection rate. And in Alberta, a group of Calgary moms is fundraising in an effort to supply 115,000 school staff members in the province with N95 masks.
In Ontario, the head of the province’s COVID-19 science advisory table is calling on the government to change the definition of the term “fully vaccinated” from two doses to three, even though Premier Doug Ford said this week his government wasn’t yet planning to do so.
Dr. Christa Sinclair-Mills of House Calls, a mobile health-care unit for homebound seniors, administers a COVID-19 booster shot to Geraldine Anderson in her Toronto apartment on Friday. (Cole Burston/AFP/Getty Images)
In Quebec, hundreds of restaurant owners are considering reopening in defiance of public health measures.
In the North, Northwest Territories health officials say that its modelling suggests the peak of the Omicron wave “may have already passed mid-January” in the territory, and Yukon has confirmed its 16th virus-related death.
What’s happening around the world
As of Saturday, more than 347.4 million cases of COVID-19 had been reported worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University’s coronavirus tracker. The reported global death toll stood at more than 5.58 million.
In Europe, thousands of people gathered to protest vaccine passports and other requirements imposed by governments in hopes of ending the coronavirus pandemic. Demonstrations took place in Athens, Helsinki, London, Paris and Stockholm.
PHOTOS | COVID-19 vaccine passport protests in Europe draw thousands:
In the Americas, the world-famous Carnival festivities in Rio de Janeiro will be held in late April rather than the final weekend of February, as the number of coronavirus cases in Brazil spikes and the Omicron variant spreads across the country.
In the Asia-Pacific region,the prime minister of Samoa has placed the small island nation into a 48-hour lockdown after 15 passengers on a flight from Australia tested positive for COVID-19.
In Africa, the World Bank has approved a loan of $750 million US to South Africa linked to COVID-19, aiming to help protect the poor and support economic recovery from the pandemic, the National Treasury said.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A linebacker at Division II West Virginia State was fatally shot during what the university said Thursday is being investigated by police as a home invasion.
The body of Jyilek Zyiare Harrington, 21, of Charlotte, North Carolina, was found inside an apartment Wednesday night in Charleston, police Lt. Tony Hazelett said in a statement.
Hazelett said several gunshots were fired during a disturbance in a hallway and inside the apartment. The statement said Harrington had multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said they had no information on a possible suspect.
West Virginia State said counselors were available to students and faculty on campus.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with Jyilek’s family as they mourn the loss of this incredible young man,” West Virginia State President Ericke S. Cage said in a letter to students and faculty.
Harrington, a senior, had eight total tackles, including a sack, in a 27-24 win at Barton College last week.
“Jyilek truly embodied what it means to be a student-athlete and was a leader not only on campus but in the community,” West Virginia State Vice President of Intercollegiate Athletics Nate Burton said. “Jyilek was a young man that, during Christmas, would create a GoFundMe to help less fortunate families.”
Burton said donations to a fund established by the athletic department in Harrington’s memory will be distributed to an organization in Charlotte to continue his charity work.
West Virginia State’s home opener against Carson-Newman, originally scheduled for Thursday night, has been rescheduled to Friday, and a private vigil involving both teams was set for Thursday night. Harrington previously attended Carson-Newman, where he made seven tackles in six games last season. He began his college career at Division II Erskine College.
“Carson-Newman joins West Virginia State in mourning the untimely passing of former student-athlete Jyilek Harrington,” Carson-Newman Vice President of Athletics Matt Pope said in a statement. “The Harrington family and the Yellow Jackets’ campus community is in our prayers. News like this is sad to hear anytime, but today it feels worse with two teams who knew him coming together to play.”
DETROIT (AP) — Joe Schmidt, the Hall of Fame linebacker who helped the Detroit Lions win NFL championships in 1953 and 1957 and later coached the team, has died. He was 92.
The Lions said family informed the team Schmidt died Wednesday. A cause of death was not provided.
One of pro football’s first great middle linebackers, Schmidt played his entire NFL career with the Lions from 1953-65. An eight-time All-Pro, he was enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1973 and the college football version in 2000.
“Joe likes to say that at one point in his career, he was 6-3, but he had tackled so many fullbacks that it drove his neck into his shoulders and now he is 6-foot,” said the late Lions owner William Clay Ford, Schmidt’s presenter at his Hall of Fame induction in 1973. “At any rate, he was listed at 6-feet and as I say was marginal for that position. There are, however, qualities that certainly scouts or anybody who is drafting a ballplayer cannot measure.”
Born in Pittsburgh, Schmidt played college football in his hometown at Pitt, beginning his stint there as a fullback and guard before coach Len Casanova switched him to linebacker.
“Pitt provided me with the opportunity to do what I’ve wanted to do, and further myself through my athletic abilities,” Schmidt said. “Everything I have stemmed from that opportunity.”
Schmidt dealt with injuries throughout his college career and was drafted by the Lions in the seventh round in 1953. As defenses evolved in that era, Schmidt’s speed, savvy and tackling ability made him a valuable part of some of the franchise’s greatest teams.
Schmidt was elected to the Pro Bowl 10 straight years from 1955-64, and after his arrival, the Lions won the last two of their three NFL titles in the 1950s.
In a 1957 playoff game at San Francisco, the Lions trailed 27-7 in the third quarter before rallying to win 31-27. That was the NFL’s largest comeback in postseason history until Buffalo rallied from a 32-point deficit to beat Houston in 1993.
“We just decided to go after them, blitz them almost every down,” Schmidt recalled. “We had nothing to lose. When you’re up against it, you let both barrels fly.”
Schmidt became an assistant coach after wrapping up his career as a player. He was Detroit’s head coach from 1967-72, going 43-35-7.
Schmidt was part of the NFL’s All-Time Team revealed in 2019 to celebrate the league’s centennial season. Of course, he’d gone into the Hall of Fame 46 years earlier.
Not bad for an undersized seventh-round draft pick.
“It was a dream of mine to play football,” Schmidt told the Detroit Free Press in 2017. “I had so many people tell me that I was too small. That I couldn’t play. I had so many negative people say negative things about me … that it makes you feel good inside. I said, ‘OK, I’ll prove it to you.’”
VICTORIA – British Columbia’s Environment Assessment Office has fined Coastal GasLink Pipeline Ltd. $590,000 for “deficiencies” in the construction of its pipeline crossing the province.
The office says in a statement that 10 administrative penalties have been levied against the company for non-compliance with requirements of its environmental assessment certificate.
It says the fines come after problems with erosion and sediment control measures were identified by enforcement officers along the pipeline route across northern B.C. in April and May 2023.
The office says that the latest financial penalties reflect its escalation of enforcement due to repeated non-compliance of its requirements.
Four previous penalties have been issued for failing to control erosion and sediment valued at almost $800,000, while a fifth fine of $6,000 was handed out for providing false or misleading information.
The office says it prioritized its inspections along the 670-kilometre route by air and ground as a result of the continued concerns, leading to 59 warnings and 13 stop-work orders along the pipeline that has now been completed.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
