Canada is working to evacuate its citizens from China as the death toll from the novel coronavirus has passed 170 and more countries have reported new infections from the virus.
“We have secured an aircraft to bring those Canadians who wish to leave back to Canada,” Foreign Affairs Minister François-Philippe Champagne told reporters Wednesday. “The next step obviously is to work on the diplomatic front, and the logistics, obviously, with our Chinese counterparts
Champagne said the government is currently working with officials in China to organize the flight, which could take several days as the Wuhan area is now under “lockdown.” Global Affairs has said 196 Canadians have now asked for help to leave China amid the outbreak
But while Europe, Japan and the United States have already evacuated at least some of their citizens living in China, health experts say Canada’s timing is appropriate.
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2:12 Coronavirus outbreak: Champagne says 160 Canadians in China asking for help, plane secured for repatriation
Susy Hota, medical director of infection prevention and control at the University Health Network in Toronto, said it would have been a greater health risk to rush this decision.
“The riskier thing would be to pull the trigger too quickly when we are not ready to receive people,” she said. “It sounds like a simple process but it’s actually quite complicated.”
2:46 Toronto father trying to bring home toddler from Wuhan
Toronto father trying to bring home toddler from Wuhan
Hota said there will have to be a detailed screening process to ensure that people who are symptomatic don’t get on the flight.
“Even having the right type of plane to do this — it’s a long flight, and they would need to be under medical surveillance,” she said.
Colin Furness, an assistant professor at the University of Toronto, said evacuating people is more of a political decision than one based on sound public health policy.
“No government wants to be accused of not doing something to protect its citizens,” he said.
“If I were a Canadian in Wuhan, I would be cautious because, by definition, it’s safer to stay home and practice social isolation than get on a plane.”
Steven Hoffman, a global health professor at York University, said Canada’s decision came shortly after other countries began exploring this option.
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“The mass quarantine in Wuhan is inconceivable in the Canadian context,” he said. “The government being able to alleviate that for the most vulnerable Canadians there is a good decision.”
The United States and Japan flew some of their citizens out of the province at the epicentre of the outbreak on Wednesday as the World Health Organization said there was “deeply concerning” evidence of person-to-person transmission in other countries.
The European Union sent a passenger plane Thursday to pick up hundreds of Europeans who want to leave China.
“It may look like we are late to the game, but that’s on a political rather than a public health basis,” Furness said.
What happens when Canadians arrive home?
1:50 Coronavirus outbreak: How easy is it to catch coronavirus on a plane?
Coronavirus outbreak: How easy is it to catch coronavirus on a plane?
Canadian officials have not clearly outlined how they will manage passengers once they arrive home.
The U.K., which evacuated some of its citizens from the Wuhan area, has told passengers to quarantine themselves for 14 days and watch for signs of illness.
1:20 Coronavirus outbreak: Hajdu says they’re working on protocols for return of Canadians from China
Coronavirus outbreak: Hajdu says they’re working on protocols for return of Canadians from China
Canada’s chief public health officer, Dr. Theresa Tam, said Chinese authorities have a screening process to ensure that no one who may be infected with the virus boards the flight.
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“No cases, and no sick people, will be leaving that city,” Tam told the House of Commons health committee on Wednesday. “The protocols and the processes will be put in place to ensure we don’t impact the Canadian public.”
As the coronavirus has an incubation period of one to 14 days, Tam said there will be measures on the flight and on the ground to potentially isolate individuals.
“Should anything even happen on the flight, there are measures to separate anyone who suddenly develops symptoms,” she said.
However, health experts say once those passengers from China arrive on Canadian soil, they should be put into a temporary quarantine.
“From a strictly public health standpoint, we don’t know how contagious you are before you’re symptomatic,” Furness said. “If we let them self-report, let’s assume they are all honest, but they won’t know if they are contagious.”
Speaking with reporters on Wednesday, federal Health Minister Patty Hajdu did not specify whether Canadians might be quarantined when they arrive home.
“Part of the process now is figuring out exactly what our protocols will be when we return Canadians that wish to come home,” Hajdu said.
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“We’re working very closely with our U.S. counterparts, who obviously have some experience in this and have set up some best practices, and we’ll be following their lead very closely.”
The U.S. Department of Defence evacuated roughly 200 of its citizens from Wuhan to the March Air Reserve Base in southern California on Wednesday, where they are undergoing three days of testing and monitoring, according to officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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.
