Canada’s chief public health officer is warning COVID-19 “severity trends” are still rising despite signs the recent wave of transmissions driven by the highly transmissible Omicron variant has peaked.
“Although daily reported cases remain at record high levels and continue to underestimate the true number of infections, there are some hopeful signs of continued decline in disease transmission, nationally,” Dr. Theresa Tam tweeted on Saturday.
Tam said Friday new infections have dropped significantly over the past week, pointing to test positivity rates and wastewater surveillance trends as signs Canada is now through the worst of the Omicron wave.
However, Tam said Saturday that “severity trends” such as hospitalizations, ICU admissions and deaths are trending in the wrong direction.
3/3 However, with severity trends still rising (avg. daily: 10,766 people with <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/COVID19?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#COVID19</a> in hospital, incl. 1,216 in ICU, and 164 deaths), getting up-to-date with <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/COVID19Vaccines?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#COVID19Vaccines</a>/<a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/BoosterDose?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#BoosterDose</a> & <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/VaccinesPlus?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#VaccinesPlus</a> is needed for best protection. More➡️ <a href=”https://t.co/OrxXfZi24l”>https://t.co/OrxXfZi24l</a>
Tam on Saturday again encouraged Canadians to get their vaccination shots and booster if they haven’t already.
Her plea comes a day after the National Advisory Committee on Immunization said in updated guidance that adolescents 12 to 17 years old who are especially vulnerable to COVID-19 should get booster shots.
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 | Epidemiologist pushes back against endemic talk:
Epidemiologist pushes back against talk of COVID-19 becoming endemic
10 hours ago
Duration 1:47
Dr. Christopher Labos, an epidemiologist and cardiologist in Montreal, says it’s too early to think COVID-19 will become a more stable and predictable endemic disease, because the world could see new variants. 1:47
In British Columbia, an updated provincial health order now requires children age 12 to only have one dose of a vaccine to enter an event or setting where proof of vaccination is required.
In the Prairies, the premier of Saskatchewan is vowing to end the province’s proof of vaccine policy in the “not-too-distant future,” current public health orders in Manitoba were extended for at least another week and wastewater tests in Alberta suggests cases are declining in Calgary and Edmonton.
In Canada’s two largest provinces, Ontario said there were 3,439 hospitalizations on Saturday, along with 56 new deaths, while the same figures in Quebec were 2,975 and 66.
A person is seen inside a COVID-19 vaccination site in Montreal on Saturday. (Jean-Claude Taliana/Radio-Canada)
In the Atlantic, COVID-19 hospitalizations and active case counts in Newfoundland and Labrador have both dipped since Friday; Nova Scotia is reporting 87 people in designated COVID-19 units; Prince Edward Island confirmed the province’s 10th coronavirus death since the start of the pandemic; and schools in New Brunswick are set to reopen on Monday.
In the North, some schools in the Northwest Territories will be allowed to return to in-person classes on Monday. Meanwhile, documents obtained by CBC News showed a third of rapid tests shipped to Yukon were distributed to mines, sparking criticism.
What’s happening around the world
As of Saturday, more than 370.8 million cases of COVID-19 had been reported worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University’s case-tracking tool. The reported global death toll stood at more than 5.65 million.
In the Americas, Omicron is driving the daily U.S. death toll higher than during last fall’s delta wave, with deaths likely to keep rising for days or even weeks.
PHOTOS | Omicron now driving more COVID-19 deaths in U.S. than Delta:
In Europe, Russia confirmed 113,122 new daily infections, setting a record high for a ninth consecutive day.
In Asia-Pacific, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who recently postponed her wedding after announcing new COVID-19 restrictions, said late Saturday she is self-isolating after coming into close contact with a person infected with the coronavirus.
In Africa, Nigeria’s vaccine rollout has slowly gained pace as public confidence increases and the government has assured citizens they will not receive expired doses.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
