Business travel isn’t expected to return to pre-pandemic levels any time soon.
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The U.S. on Monday finally reached President Joe Biden’s goal of getting at least one COVID-19 shot in the arms of 70 per cent of American adults — a month late and amid a surge in cases due to the delta variant.
Biden had set a goal of reaching the 70 per cent threshold by the July 4th national holiday. But that target was set well before the highly contagious delta variant led to a resurgence in cases and undermined assumptions used in arriving at that figure.
There was was no celebration or new target set on Monday at the White House, which is struggling to overcome public resistance to its mass vaccination efforts.
The 70 per cent target marked the low end of initial government estimates for the level of vaccination needed to achieve herd immunity in the U.S. The figure has been rendered insufficient by the delta variant, however.
Folks, we’ve officially reached our goal of 70% of adults receiving at least one dose of the vaccine. It’s incredible progress, but we still have further to go. If you haven’t already, get vaccinated. Let’s defeat this virus once and for all.
The United States has still not hit the administration’s other goal of fully vaccinating 165 million American adults by July 4. It is about 8.5 million short of that figure.
New cases per day in the U.S. have increased sixfold over the past month to an average of nearly 80,000, a level not seen since mid-February. Deaths per day have climbed over the past two weeks from an average of 259 to 360. Those are still well below the level of 3,400 deaths and a quarter-million cases per day seen during the worst of the outbreak, in January.
Some places around the country are seeing newly confirmed infections and hospital caseloads reach their highest levels since the pandemic began a year and a half ago. Nearly all deaths and serious illnesses are now among unvaccinated people.
Florida is now leading the nation in per-capita hospitalizations for COVID-19. The state had 10,389 COVID-19 hospitalizations on Monday, according to the hospital association.
That’s almost 200 more than Sunday, when the state broke the previous record of 10,170 hospitalizations set on July 23, 2020 — more than half a year before vaccinations were widely available.
A person is tested for COVID-19 in Palmetto, Fla., on Monday. (Octavio Jones/Reuters)
The surge has led states and cities across the U.S. to beat a retreat on easing restrictions, just weeks after signs the country would return to more normal summer.
Louisiana ordered nearly everyone, vaccinated or not, to wear masks again in all indoor public settings, including schools and colleges. Other cities and states have moved to reinstate precautions to counter a crisis blamed on the fast-spreading variant and stubborn resistance to getting the vaccine.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said New York City airport and transit workers will have to get vaccinated or face weekly testing. He stopped short of mandating either masks or inoculations for the general public, saying he lacks legal authority to do so.
A masked worker is seen on a subway train in New York City on Monday. (Andrew Kelly/Reuters)
Health officials in San Francisco and six other Bay Area counties announced Monday they are reinstating a requirement that everyone — vaccinated or not — wear masks in public indoor spaces.
Denver’s mayor said the city will require police officers, firefighters and certain other municipal employees to get vaccinated, along with workers at schools, nursing homes, hospitals and jails.
Minnesota’s public colleges and universities will require masks while indoors on campus, regardless of vaccination status. And New Jersey said workers at state-run nursing homes, psychiatric hospitals and other such institutions must get the shot or face regular testing.
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What’s happening in Canada
A sign directs people to a COVID-19 vaccination site in Montreal on Monday. (Jean-Claude Taliana/Radio-Canada)
Popular Sask. events going ahead after COVID-19 restrictions lifted.
Alberta removing public health restrictions ‘a bad mistake’ right now, experts say.
Return of full bar seating in Yukon restaurants draws mixed reviews.
What’s happening around the world
As of Monday, more than 198.4 million cases of COVID-19 had been reported worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University. More than 4.2 million deaths had been reported.
In Asia, hundreds of Pakistani businessmen, mostly shop owners, rallied in the southern port city of Karachi against a lockdown imposed to curb a surge in COVID-19 cases.
In the Americas, Venezuela will receive 6.2 million doses of vaccines through the COVAX initiative “in the coming days,” President Nicolas Maduro has said.
In Europe, 150,000 doses of a planned 500,000-dose supply of Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccines have arrived in Moldova — a donation from the U.S. to help the former Soviet republic inoculate its small nation.
In Africa, resident doctors in Nigerian public hospitals began an indefinite strike over grievances they said included failing to pay COVID-19 allowances to some doctors and staffing shortages in hospitals, according to the doctors’ union.
MONTREAL – Quebec’s ombudsperson is warning that public services are becoming “dehumanized” in the province amid a rise in demand for them.
Marc-André Dowd released his annual report today, which highlights several examples of people receiving inadequate care across the health network in the 12 months leading to March 31.
One dying man who lived alone was denied help cleaning his cat’s litter box by his local health clinic, a service Dowd says should have been given for “humanitarian reasons.”
Dowd also describes staff at a long-term care home feeding residents “mechanically” and talking among each other — despite health ministry guidelines directing staff to maintain eye contact with residents.
The ombudsperson says his office received a record number of problems to investigate across the province’s public services — 24,867 compared with 22,053 last year.
He says his office investigated 13,358 cases between April 2023 and March of this year.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
OTTAWA – French President Emmanuel Macron will visit Canada next week after a planned trip in July was cancelled amid political turmoil in France.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced in a statement today that Macron will be in Canada Wednesday and Thursday after the leaders attend the United Nations General Assembly in New York City.
Trudeau will welcome Macron in Ottawa on Wednesday, where they are expected to discuss collaboration on geopolitical issues including their ongoing support for Ukraine.
They are also expected to discuss ways to strengthen the response to emerging threats, such as disinformation.
In Montreal, Trudeau intends to show off the city’s artificial intelligence sector, while both countries reaffirm their commitment to work with counterparts on responsible use of AI.
The leaders will also discuss promoting the French language ahead of the Francophonie summit being held in France next month.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
Health Canada has authorized Novavax’s updated COVID-19 vaccine that protects against currently circulating variants of the virus.
The protein-based vaccine, called Nuvaxovid, has been reformulated to target the JN.1 subvariant of Omicron.
It will replace the previous version of the vaccine, which targeted the XBB.1.5 subvariant of Omicron.
Health Canada recently asked provinces and territories to get rid of their older COVID-19 vaccines to ensure the most current vaccine will be used during this fall’s respiratory virus season.
Earlier this week, Health Canada approved Moderna’s updated mRNA COVID vaccine.
It is still reviewing Pfizer’s updated mRNA vaccine, with a decision expected soon.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version erroneously described the Novavax vaccine as an mRNA shot.
