Health
Californians with high-risk health conditions can soon get vaccinated. What proof will be needed? – San Francisco Chronicle
Adults under 65 with disabilities and underlying health conditions will soon be eligible to get coronavirus vaccinations, but disability rights advocates worry that efforts to require people to prove their eligibility could prevent or discourage some from being injected with the potentially life-saving vaccine.
Beginning March 15, two groups of younger, high-risk Californians — people with disabilities and people with severe underlying conditions — will be able to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, state health officials announced Friday.
But they haven’t yet said how high-risk Californians will be asked to prove they qualify, or how authorities plan to prevent people who don’t meet those qualifications from making appointments or otherwise cutting in line. California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly said the state will spend the next month determining what type of verification would be required.
For a senior to prove he or she qualifies for vaccination because of age, a driver’s license or other ID will do. For a person with a disability or an ailment to prove he or she qualifies for vaccination, medical authorities say, no universal document is available.
Some disability rights advocates downplay the likelihood of fraud but say that making the process of proving disabilities or underlying health conditions could be too onerous and end up either preventing or discouraging some people from getting shots.
“As a person with a disability, I want to make sure we don’t have to have proof of our disability that requires people to jump through too many hoops,” said Christina Mills, executive director of the California Foundation for Independent Living Centers and a member of a committee advising the state on its vaccination rollout.
The underlying conditions that will result in vaccine eligibility in March include cancer, chronic kidney disease at stage four or above, chronic pulmonary disease, Down syndrome, a weakened immune system from a solid organ transplant, sickle cell disease, pregnancy, heart conditions, severe obesity — defined as a body mass index at or over 40 — and Type 2 diabetes. The state did not specify which disabilities would qualify people to be included in this next group.
Andy Imparato, executive director of Disability Rights California, also an advisory committee member, said many people with severe disabilities are enrolled in programs or centers, or receive in-home care, and can be easily verified. But people with some disabilities and qualifying underlying conditions cannot easily prove their eligibility.
A woman in early pregnancy, for example, might have nothing more than the results of a home pregnancy test to prove her right to a shot under the expanded eligibility rules.
Requiring eligible people to visit or call their physicians to get some sort of verification could be difficult because many medical providers are already overburdened, he said. Mills said disability rights advocates fought off proposals that would have required those seeking vaccinations to provide three pieces of proof of disability or underlying conditions.
“My hope is that concerns about fraud do not create barriers to people getting the vaccine,” Imparato said.
Imparato and Mills both said they don’t anticipate a lot of people feigning disabilities to get vaccines, but acknowledge that it’s a concern of state officials.
Bending the rules is not unknown in connection with health-related exemptions. Law enforcement officials have long complained of abuses in the use of blue disabled parking permits by non-disabled persons, and airlines have been concerned about the proliferation of emotional support companions — to the point that some are taking action to ban them on flights.
San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Steve Rubenstein contributed to this report.
Michael Cabanatuan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mcabanatuan@sfchroicle.com
The latest news on COVID-19 developments in Canada (all times Eastern):
5:55 p.m.
Alberta has recorded 301 new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, along with three additional deaths.
According to the province’s website, 29 of its new cases come from the virus variatn first identified in the United Kingdom.
The province has 4,584 active COVID-19 cases and 250 patients currently hospitalized with the virus.
Alberta is reporting a test positivity rate of four per cent.
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4:20 p.m.
Prince Edward Island is entering a 72-hour lockdown starting at midnight as the province struggles to contain an outbreak of COVID-19.
The short-term public health order was announced this afternoon as officials reported five new infections of the disease, for a total of 17 cases in the past five days.
The new infections include two males, both in their 20s, and three females, two in their 20s and one in her 50s.
Health officials have identified two clusters of COVID-19 in the cities of Summerside and Charlottetown, and say it’s possible the island has community spread of the virus as many infections cannot be linked to travel.
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3 p.m.
Saskatchewan is reporting 141 new COVID-19 cases today, but no new deaths linked to the virus.
The province says its seven-day average of new cases is 146, which it says works out to 11.9 new cases per 100,000 people.
There were 1,662 COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the province on Saturday, raising the total number to 78,226 delivered so far.
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2:05 p.m.
Manitoba is reporting two new deaths in people with COVID-19.
One was in his 80s, the other was in her 90s, and both were from the Winnipeg health region.
The province says there were 50 new COVID-19 cases diagnosed as of 9:30 a.m. this morning.
Most of Manitoba’s new cases are in the Winnipeg and Northern health regions, with each recording 21 new infections.
So far, the province says it has recorded five cases of the virus variant first identified in the United Kingdom.
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1:50 p.m.
Nova Scotia is reporting three new cases of COVID-19 in the province today.
Health officials say the cases are spread out across the province, with the central, eastern and northern regions each recording one new infection.
Officials say one of the cases is a close contact of a previous case, while two are related to travel outside Atlantic Canada.
Nova Scotia has 38 active cases of COVID-19, with two people currently in hospital.
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1 p.m.
Health authorities in Newfoundland and Labrador have diagnosed seven new cases of COVID-19 today, bringing the total number of active infections to 262.
The province says all seven cases are in the Eastern Health region, which includes St. John’s.
Officials say four of the infections were identified in individuals aged 20 to 39, while one patient was under 20 years old, one was aged 40 to 49 and one was aged 50 to 59.
The new cases identified include three females and four males.
Officials say there are currently 10 people in hospital with COVID-19, with six of those patients in intensive care.
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11:30 a.m.
Quebec is reporting 737 new cases of COVID-19 and nine additional deaths due to the virus.
Four of the deaths occurred in the last 24 hours, while the rest took place earlier.
Hospitalizations rose by two to 601. Of those, 117 patients are in intensive care, which is five more than a day earlier.
The province gave 12,469 doses of vaccine on Saturday for a total of more than 432,000 since the pandemic began.
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11 a.m.
Health officials in New Brunswick say a 90-year-old resident of an adult residential facility in Edmundston has died as a result of underlying complications including COVID-19.
The case brings the total number of deaths in the province related to the novel coronavirus disease to 27.
Chief medical officer of health Dr. Jennifer Russell says the loss of another New Brunswicker is a sad moment for the province and is something that never gets easier.
The number of active cases in New Brunswick stands at 38, with one patient currently hospitalized in intensive care.
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10:45 a.m.
Ontario is expanding its list of vaccine recipients to include those experiencing homelessness even as it passes a bleak new milestone in the fight against COVID-19.
The province has officially logged more than 300,000 COVID-19 infections since the start of the pandemic and is just shy of 7,000 total deaths.
Ontario added 1,062 new infections to its count today for a total of 300,816, while 20 new deaths bring the overall toll to 6,980.
Meanwhile Toronto says it willbegin vaccinating residents of its shelter system this week after getting the green light from the province over the weekend.
—
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 28, 2021.
For the first time since the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic gripped Manitoba, the test positivity rate in Winnipeg has dropped below three per cent — a goalpost the province’s top doctor said long ago indicates widespread community transmission.
Public health officials announced two new deaths, 50 additional cases of the virus and 1,866 tests complete as of Sunday morning.
A man in his 80s and a woman in her 90s, both from Winnipeg, are among the now 895 Manitobans who have died from the virus.
The total number of lab-confirmed cases in Manitoba sits at 31,859, of which 1,194 are active.
A total of 192 people are in hospital, while 26 are in the intensive care unit, with 72 and 11 of those cases accounting for active COVID-19 patients, respectively.
No new cases of the B.1.1.7 variant, of which there are five cases to date, were reported over the weekend.
The majority of new cases reported are in Manitoba’s north and capital; in both regions, there were 21 new cases.
Also Sunday, the province reported the current five-day COVID-19 test positivity rate is 3.7 per cent provincially and 2.7 per cent in Winnipeg.
Epidemiologist Cynthia Carr called the latest figures “good news,” especially on the variant front.
“I’m always cautious about reacting to one day of data, particularly over a weekend. I like to look at how many people are tested and what the positivity rate is, but certainly, the trend that we’re seeing is a continued, real reduction that we’re sustaining,” said Carr, founder of Winnipeg-based EPI Research Inc.
Manitoba only began publishing the test positivity rate — the percentage of people who have tested positive for the virus of the total number tested during a five-day period — in Winnipeg in late October, saying it is less reliable than the provincial rate because of the smaller sample size.
At that point, the figure was more than triple the current percentage, at 9.9 per cent.
Winnipeg’s test positivity rate peaked at 14.9 per cent in early December.
In the early days of the pandemic, provincial chief medical officer Dr. Brent Roussin warned of the prospect of a three per cent test positivity rate, which he said would signify widespread community transmission and trigger increased restrictions.
Last week, Roussin said the province is considering a further rollback of restrictions when the current public health order expires Friday.
maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca
Twitter: @macintoshmaggie
Maggie Macintosh
Reporter
Maggie Macintosh reports on education for the Winnipeg Free Press. Funding for the Free Press education reporter comes from the Government of Canada through the Local Journalism Initiative.
Health
COVID-19 lockdowns or spring break: provinces split on next steps against pandemic – Global News
Canada’s COVID-19 hotspots showed diverging approaches to handling the crisis on Sunday, as Ontario and Prince Edward Island prepared for new lockdowns while Quebec entered a week of spring break complete with some activities meant to ease the monotony of life during a global pandemic.
Prince Edward Island announced it was entering a 72-hour lockdown starting at midnight as the province struggled to contain an outbreak of COVID-19.
The short-term public health order was announced as officials reported five new infections of the disease in a province that has seen few cases for most of the pandemic. The Island has now recorded 17 new infections over the past five days.
Health officials identified two clusters of COVID-19 in the cities of Summerside and Charlottetown, and said it’s possible the island has community spread of the virus. The province has a total of just 132 cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began.
The three-day lockdown requires residents to stay home as much as possible and will close all kindergarten to Grade 12 schools, with post-secondary education moving online only.
“We would rather go harder and stronger now than wait for an outbreak like we have seen in other provinces that could put us in an extended period of lockdown for weeks or even months,” Premier Dennis King said late Sunday during a briefing with reporters.
Ontario, meanwhile, passed the 300,000 case mark on Sunday as the government prepared to hit a so-called ’emergency brake’ in two northern public health units grappling with surging case numbers.
The Thunder Bay and Simcoe-Muskoka District health units will enter the lockdown phase of the province’s pandemic response plan on Monday in order interrupt transmission of COVID-19 at a time when new variants are gaining steam.
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The province has also pushed back its spring break until April in an effort to limit community spread.
Quebec, in contrast, has allowed movie theatres, pools and arenas to open with restrictions in place to give families something to do as the traditional winter break kicks off, even as most other health rules remain in place.
The province opted to allow students and teachers the traditional March break, even though Premier Francois Legault has said he’s worried about the week off and the threat posed by more contagious virus variants.
Quebec’s health minister said the situation in the province was stable on Sunday, with 737 new cases and nine additional deaths _ even as confirmed cases linked to variants of concern jumped by more than 100 to 137.
Most of the variant cases have been identified as the B.1.1.7 mutation first identified in the United Kingdom, including 84 in Montreal.
Ontario, meanwhile, reported 1,062 new infections linked to the pandemic on Sunday as it became the first province to record more than 300,000 total cases of COVID-19 since the onset of the pandemic.
The country’s chief public health officer urged Canadians on Sunday to continue following public health measures as a way of buying critical time as vaccine programs ramp up.
“Aiming to have the fewest interactions with the fewest number of people, for the shortest time, at the greatest distance possible is a simple rule that we can all apply to help limit the spread of COVID-19,” Dr. Theresa Tam said in a statement.
Canada’s immunization program received a boost last week with the approval of a third COVID-19 vaccine, raising hopes that provinces will be able to inoculate their most vulnerable populations before the more contagious variants can fully take hold.
Toronto announced Sunday that it was expanding the first phase of its COVID-19 vaccination drive to include residents experiencing homelessness, noting that they have a higher risk of serious health impacts due to COVID-19 and are vulnerable to transmission in congregate settings.
Quebec, meanwhile, is set to begin vaccination of the general population on Monday, beginning with seniors 80 and over in the Montreal area, or 85 and over in the rest of the province.
While some regions with extra doses began administering shots late last week, the pace of inoculation will ramp up on Monday when mass vaccination clinics in Montreal throw open their doors.
Case counts were more stable elsewhere in the country.
Manitoba reported just 50 new COVID-19 infections on Sunday and two new virus-related deaths, while Saskatchewan saw its overall tally climb by 181 but did not log any new deaths.
Alberta reported three new virus-related deaths and 301 new infections, including 29 identified as variants of concern.
In Atlantic Canada, Nova Scotia logged three new cases while officials in Newfoundland and Labrador reported seven.
© 2021 The Canadian Press
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