The arrival of a COVID-19 vaccine in Canada was the first truly good news since the pandemic began nearly a year ago. But it was also a false dawn.
And that small glimmer of hope may have obscured the daunting challenge and the profound personal suffering that still stand between us and a new day.
So while the new year started with several days of fussing over how fast vaccine doses are being distributed, the announcement of new epidemiological modelling and new restrictions on businesses and individuals in Ontario yesterday should remind us that this pandemic is not yet under control and will not pass easily.
The recent back-and-forth between federal and provincial governments over vaccination began when the prime minister made his first public appearance of 2021 last week. At that point, the primary concern was the seemingly sluggish pace at which provinces were injecting the vaccine doses that the federal government had distributed; in Ontario, most vaccinations had paused for three days around Christmas. Trudeau said he was among those who were “frustrated to see vaccines in freezers and not in people’s arms.”
WATCH: Ontario Premier Doug Ford delivers grim pandemic update
Ontario Premier Doug Ford has declared an immediate state of emergency and will impose a stay-at-home order as of Thursday at 12:01 a.m., in an effort to curb surging COVID-19 cases, which threaten to overwhelm the province’s health system. 1:12
After picking up their pace, several premiers now insist that the problem might soon become one of supply. “We’re all hopeful the federal government will get us more vaccines,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford said last week. “Without them, hospitals will have to start cancelling appointments and all the progress we’ve made getting our daily vaccine numbers up will be lost.”
Over the weekend, Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc said it was a “bit simplistic” for provinces to claim that they were in danger of “running out” of vaccine doses. But at a news conference in Edmonton on Monday, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said his government was exploring the possibility of purchasing its own vaccine supply from manufacturers that currently don’t have a deal with the federal government.
“I want to be clear, this is not a blame game,” Kenney said — before suggesting that blame might ultimately be directed at the federal government. “But we’re just saying that Alberta’s health system has stepped up in a big way here and we need more doses, bottom line, it’s very simple.”
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney and other premiers have traded blows with the federal government over the pace of the vaccine rollout. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)
If there is a faster way for Canada to acquire 37 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, no one has explained it yet. And no one should have been under the illusion that vaccinating the entire population would happen quickly. But there is undoubtedly pressure on the Trudeau government to at least show that it is holding its own in the global vaccination race.
But seeing the end of the story is not an excuse to skip reading the pages remaining.
It’s not all about vaccines
“It’s incredibly important to vaccinate people at high-risk and health care workers very quickly, and from there everyone else,” Dr. Irfan Dhalla, vice president of Unity Health Toronto, said in an email on Tuesday morning.
“But we also need to do all of the other things we have been talking about since the beginning of the pandemic – testing, contact tracing, case management, monitoring self-isolation and quarantine, supporting people to stay home, communicating effectively in multiple languages and across multiple platforms, restricting travel, etc. If we focus exclusively on vaccination over the next few weeks, there’s no doubt that thousands of Canadians will die unnecessarily.”
Shortly thereafter, Premier Ford announced a new round of restrictions meant to protect a health system that he said is “on the brink of collapse.” The rate of infection in Canada’s largest province is already far above what it saw last spring. The curve has yet to bend and the question looming over the Ford government is whether it should have moved faster and further to restrict activity.
“Our province is in crisis,” Ford said yesterday afternoon.
According to new projections, Ontario’s daily case count could reach 10,000 by mid-February if the current spread continues. A new and more contagious variant of COVID-19 is now spreading. And while so much attention was being paid to the arrival of vaccines, another 198 residents of long-term care and two staff members have died already this year in Ontario — months after Ford’s government vowed to build an “iron ring” around such facilities.
Other provinces might take comfort in the fact that their second waves have been less dire, but surely no government can assume that the weeks and months ahead won’t be difficult.
Last spring — when there was no vaccine in sight and the only concern was stopping the spread of COVID-19 — that issue might have been front and centre. Nearly a year later, political leaders are contending with much more public fatigue and impatience. And since the existence of a vaccine might help steel the public’s resolve to hunker down and accept new restrictions, political leaders might hold it out as a symbol of hope.
But the end of the story is not the story. The ultimate goal here isn’t just to ensure that every Canadian gets the vaccine. It’s also to ensure that as many Canadians as possible are still alive to get the shot.
PARIS (AP) — French judicial authorities are investigating the disappearance of two Paralympic athletes from Congo who recently competed in the Paris Games, the prosecutor’s office in the Paris suburb of Bobigny confirmed on Thursday.
Prosecutors opened the investigation on Sept. 7, after members of the athletes’ delegation warned authorities of their disappearance two days before.
Le Parisien newspaper reported that shot putter Mireille Nganga and Emmanuel Grace Mouambako, a visually impaired sprinter who was accompanied by a guide, went missing on Sept. 5, along with a third person.
The athletes’ suitcases were also gone but their passports remained with the Congolese delegation, according to an official with knowledge of the investigation, who asked to remain anonymous as they were not allowed to speak publicly about the case.
The Paralympic Committee of the Democratic Republic of Congo did not respond to requests for information from The Associated Press.
Nganga — who recorded no mark in the seated javelin and shot put competitions — and Mouambako were Congo’s flag bearers at the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games, organizers 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.’”
