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The U.S. government’s top infectious diseases expert is cautioning that the country will have to deal with “a whole lot of hurt” in the weeks ahead due to surging coronavirus cases.
Dr. Anthony Fauci’s comments to the Washington Post take issue with President Donald Trump’s frequent assertion that the nation is “rounding the turn” on the virus.
Fauci said the U.S. “could not possibly be positioned more poorly” to stem rising cases as more people gather indoors during the colder fall and winter months. He said the U.S. will need to make an “abrupt change” in public health precautions.
Speaking of the risks, Fauci said he believes Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden “is taking it seriously from a public health perspective,” while Trump is “looking at it from a different perspective.” Fauci, who’s on the White House coronavirus task force, said that perspective is “the economy and reopening the country.”
White House spokesperson Judd Deere said in response that Trump always puts people’s well-being first and Deere charged that Fauci has decided “to play politics” right before Tuesday’s election. Fauci has said in his decades of public service he’s never publicly endorsed any political candidate.
WATCH | Trump supporters chant ‘Fire Fauci’ at Florida rally:
U.S. President Donald Trump’s supporters began chanting ‘Fire Fauci,’ in reference to the country’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, during a rally in Opa-locka, Fla. 0:26
The president touched on Fauci’s service in the early morning hours on Monday as he spoke at a campaign rally in Florida. Trump expressed frustration that the surging cases of the virus that has killed more than 231,000 people in the U.S. this year remains prominent in the news, sparking chants of “Fire Fauci” from his supporters.
“Don’t tell anybody but let me wait until a little bit after the election,” Trump replied to thousands of supporters early Monday, adding he appreciated their “advice.”
What’s happening around the world
The head of the World Health Organization said he has been identified as a contact of a person who tested positive for COVID-19 and will self-quarantine. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on Twitter late Sunday that he is “well and without symptoms” but will self-quarantine in “coming days, in line with WHO protocols, and work from home.”
The WHO director general has been at the forefront of the global response to the coronavirus pandemic, which has infected at least 46.5 million people and led to more than 1.2 million deaths, according to a count of confirmed cases by Johns Hopkins University.
Tables are wrapped in plastic as restaurants and bars go under the COVID-19 lockdown in Frankfurt, Germany on Sunday. (Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters)
In Europe, several countries are tightening restrictions this week, starting with a partial shutdown Monday in Germany, as authorities across the continent scramble to slow a rapid rise in coronavirus infections that threatens to overwhelm their health-care systems.
Britain and Austria will follow suit later in the week, closing restaurants, bars and nonessential shops. Italy, Greece and Kosovo also announced new measures. In some places, the new rules — which vary in strictness — are prompting violent protests by people frustrated at once again having to forgo freedoms.
But in many, experts are saying they should have come weeks ago — a reflection of the increasingly difficult balance many countries are struggling to strike between controlling the virus and boosting already damaged economies.
“We are aware of the frustration, the sense of loss, the tiredness of citizens, also of the anger which is being manifested in these days, by citizens who find themselves living with new limits to their personal freedom,” said Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte, as he defended his government’s decision to order new measures.
In the Americas, coronavirus cases continued their grim climb in the United States on Sunday, with Midwestern states experiencing record hospitalizations.
The Brazilian health minister, who is ill with COVID-19, was to stay in a military hospital overnight on Sunday, after having been discharged from a civilian facility earlier in the day.
In the Asia-Pacific region, India recorded 45,231 new infections, taking total cases there to 8.23 million.
South Korea said it will expand its mandatory mask policy to spas, wedding halls and other places as part of new physical distancing rules.
A health worker performs a swab test on a man at a mobile COVID-19 testing clinic in Kolkata last week. (Dibyangshu Sarkar/AFP/Getty Images)
In the Middle East, Iran’s daily tally of coronavirus deaths hit a record high of 434 on Sunday.
South Africa remains the hardest-hit country in Africa, with more than 726,000 cases reported since the outbreak began and more than 19,400 reported deaths.
What’s happening in Canada
WATCH | Manitoba doctors warn of dire situation in hospitals:
Manitoba doctors have warned the government for a second time about the critical situation inside the province’s hospitals as the COVID-19 epidemic in the province gets further out of control. Renewed restrictions go into effect Monday, but some fear is it’s too little, too late. 2:06
As of early Monday morning, provinces and territories in Canada had reported a cumulative total of 236,841 confirmed or presumptive coronavirus cases. Provinces and territories listed 197,729 as recovered or resolved. A CBC News tally of deaths based on provincial reports, regional health information and CBC’s reporting stood at 10,179.
Manitoba residents are seeing new restrictions as the province tries to slow the spread of COVID-19 after a record number of new cases over the weekend. The Winnipeg area, now under the province’s highest alert level, has several new temporary restrictions around gathering size and business capacity.
The province reported 312 new COVID-19 case on Sunday, bringing the total number of cases reported in the province since the novel coronavirus emerged to 6,034. As of Sunday, there were 120 people with COVID-19 in hospital, including 18 in intensive care. The province’s test positivity rate stood at 8.9 per cent, according to the provincial COVID-19 dashboard.
Saskatchewan reported 74 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, marking five days in a row where the number of new cases has topped 60. The province has reported 25 deaths since the pandemic began.
Health officials in British Columbia and Alberta don’t provide updated figures over the weekend. In Calgary, a hospital is facing COVID-19 outbreaks in three units. In Vancouver, people gathered in the downtown entertainment district on Saturday night to celebrate Halloween, despite warnings from public health officials to avoid large groups.
In Ontario, the city of Brampton’s weekly test positivity rate rose to 9.6 per cent for the week ending Oct. 24, according to a Peel Health Surveillance report published on Oct. 30. This represents a 1.5 per cent increase from the previous week, when Brampton, which is northwest of Toronto, sat at 8.1 per cent positivity. This is well above the five per cent benchmark used by infectious disease experts to signal the virus is under control.
Two Quebec regions — Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean and Chaudière-Appalaches — are moving into Quebec’s highest state of alert for COVID-19, joining Quebec City, Montreal, Laval and several other regions labelled “red zones” by the province.
In Atlantic Canada, Nova Scotia reported two new COVID-19 cases on Sunday. The Central Zone cases were under investigation, health officials said.
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.
