The U.S. medical establishment on Tuesday urged President Donald Trump to share critical COVID-19 data with president-elect Joe Biden’s team to avoid needless, deadly lags in tackling the pandemic.
The extraordinary rebuke came in an open letter from three leading health-care organizations as state and local governments scrambled to fight the virus in the absence of a co-ordinated national strategy.
“Real-time data and information on the supply of therapeutics, testing supplies, personal protective equipment, ventilators, hospital bed capacity and workforce availability to plan for further deployment of the nation’s assets needs to be shared to save countless lives,” said the letter, signed by heads of the American Medical Association, the American Nurses Association and the American Hospitals Association.
Dr. Vivek Murthy, co-chair of Biden’s COVID-19 task force, said Tuesday he and other medical advisers had been unable to discuss the pandemic with current administration officials, an obstacle that could compromise the U.S. response to the virus.
Workers test residents for COVID-19 at a drive-up test centre at Miller Park on Tuesday in Milwaukee, Wis. The U.S. Midwest is seeing a major uptick in cases, sparking calls for tighter restrictions. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
The soaring rate of new cases this fall has stricken even rural areas that had dodged the worst of the pandemic over the summer. Government officials in at least 17 states representing both ends of the U.S. political divide have issued sweeping new public health mandates this month. These range from stricter limits on social gatherings and non-essential businesses to new requirements for wearing masks in public places.
The United States crossed 11 million total infections on Sunday, just eight days after reaching the 10 million mark. The Midwest remains the hardest-hit U.S. region during the latest wave of infections, reporting almost a half-million cases in the week ending on Monday.
The governors of Ohio and Maryland on Tuesday became the latest to place curfews on bars and restaurants to reduce the virus’s spread this winter, while the prospect of a widely available vaccine is still months away.
“We’re not shutting down, we’re slowing down,” Mike DeWine of Ohio said in unveiling the 10 p.m.-to-5 a.m. curfew in his state. “We have to flatten this curve again and get this under control.”
Meanwhile, U.S.-based Pfizer said Wednesday that its latest COVID-19 vaccine trial results suggested the shots are 95 per cent effective and that the vaccine protects older people most at risk of dying from COVID-19.
Wednesday’s announcement from Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech, just a week after revealing the first promising preliminary results, comes as the team is preparing within days to formally ask U.S. regulators to allow emergency use of the vaccine.
They also have begun “rolling submissions” for the vaccine with regulators in Europe, the U.K. and Canada and will soon add this new data.
What’s happening across Canada
WATCH | Nunavut locking down as COVID-19 case numbers rise:
Nunavut now has 60 confirmed cases of COVID-19, more than double what the territory reported on Monday. The territory, which had no cases until early November, will enter a mandatory two-week period of restrictions to try to limit further spread of the virus. 1:52
Canada’s COVID-19 case count — as of 8 a.m. ET on Wednesday — stood at 306,468, with 51,230 of those considered active cases. A CBC News tally of deaths based on provincial reports, regional health information and CBC’s reporting stood at 11,086.
COVID-19 case numbers in Nunavut have more than doubled after the territory reported 34 more cases on Tuesday, bringing the number of confirmed cases to 60. The territory, which reported its first case of the novel virus just this month, is stepping up public health measures and will close schools and non-essential businesses across the territory for two weeks.
Nunavut Premier Joe Savikataaq told CBC’s Power & Politics on Tuesday evening that “no one has been hospitalized, to the best of my knowledge, so far.”
The Northwest Territories, meanwhile, imposed additional restrictions on travellers entering the territory from neighbouring Nunavut’s Kivalliq region. In Yukon, health officials reported one new COVID-19 case, bringing the number of cases reported in the territory to 25.
Health officials in Saskatchewan are expanding mask requirements to all indoor public places provincewide as it tries to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. The province on Tuesday reported 240 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the number of active cases there to more than 2,000.
The province is also suspending all visits to long-term care homes unless there are compassionate grounds and is limiting private indoor gatherings to no more than five people.
Manitoba‘s chief public health officer is considering more public health restrictions as the province’s health system feels the strain of COVID-19 — including a possible extension of the winter break for schools. The province reported 270 new cases of COVID-19 and seven new deaths on Tuesday.
WATCH | Alberta schools feel impact of rising COVID-19 cases:
Alberta schools are feeling the impact of the province’s climbing COVID-19 cases. One Calgary high school has sent all Grade 10 and 11 students home for two weeks, after many were required to self isolate and staffing also became an issue. 1:51
British Columbia reported 11 deaths and 717 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday — the highest single day figures reported by the province to date in the global pandemic.
According to the province, there were 198 people in hospital, with 63 in intensive care.
While most of the cases in the province have been concentrated in the Lower Mainland, Health Minister Adrian Dix and Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said in a statement Tuesday that there’s been an uptick in other regions.
“We have seen an increase in new cases on Vancouver Island, in the Interior and in the North, many of which are connected to travel to and from the Lower Mainland,” the statement said. “That is why it is important that we stay local and travel less right now.”
In Ontario, health officials reported 1,249 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, with 569 of those in Toronto and 256 in Peel Region. Both of those regions, and several others in the Greater Toronto Area, are currently in the province’s “red” zone as it tries to slow transmission of the novel virus.
Hospitalization numbers stood at 529 on Tuesday, with 127 in intensive care.
Quebec reported 982 new cases of COVID-19 and 24 more deaths attributed to the novel coronavirus, five of which occurred in the previous 24 hours.
Health authorities said hospitalizations jumped by 47 compared with the prior day, to 638, and 100 people were in intensive care, a rise of 13.
Premier François Legault said Tuesday that discussions around holiday guidelines are ongoing but he said guidelines on how to handle gatherings could come in the days ahead.
In Atlantic Canada, Nova Scotia‘s top doctor warned of community spread of COVID-19, saying there are seven cases in the province “where we can’t identify a source that is directly related to travel.”
Dr. Robert Strang said health officials “have to conclude this may be from local transmission.”
The province, which reported five new cases on Tuesday, has now seen a total of 1,151 cases of COVID-19.
WATCH | Small businesses left in limbo as COVID-19 cases rise:
As the pandemic worsens and people are being told to stay home, some small business owners say it would be better to be shut down, with government support, than be left hanging in limbo. 1:50
New Brunswick reported four new cases on Tuesday, while Newfoundland and Labrador reported two new cases — including one where the source of transmission was not yet clear.
In Prince Edward Island, which has three active cases, the premier said masks will be mandatory in all public indoor spaces.
“This isn’t about the cases here; this is about the turbulence we are seeing across the country,” Dennis King said.
What’s happening around the world
From The Associated Press and Reuters, last updated at 8:50 a.m. ET
As of early Wednesday morning, more than 55.7 million cases of COVID-19 had been reported worldwide, with more than 35.8 million of those listed as recovered by Johns Hopkins University. The U.S.-based university’s tracking tool put the global death toll at more than 1.3 million.
In Europe, German police fired water cannons Wednesday at demonstrators protesting coronavirus restrictions in Berlin’s government district, after crowds ignored calls to wear masks and keep their distance from one another in line with pandemic regulations.
As the cannons soaked protesters outside the landmark Brandenburg Gate, police in riot gear moved through the crowd carrying away some participants. Some demonstrators threw fireworks and flares in response as police helicopters hovered overhead.
The protests came as German lawmakers opened debate on a bill that will provide the legal underpinning for the government to issue physical distancing rules, require masks in public and close stores and other venues to slow the spread of the virus. While such measures are supported by most people in Germany, a vocal minority has staged regular rallies around the country arguing that the restrictions are unconstitutional.
Police officers walk amid the pink smoke from flares during a protest against the government’s coronavirus restrictions, near the Reichstag, the seat of Germany’s lower house of parliament, in Berlin on Wednesday. (Christian Mang/Reuters)
Sweden registered 96 new deaths among people diagnosed with COVID-19 on Wednesday, the highest for at least three months, Health Agency statistics showed. Sweden has recorded a total of 6,321 deaths, several times higher per capita than that of its Nordic neighbours but lower than some larger European countries such as Spain.
Poland, meanwhile, reported a record 603 new coronavirus-related deaths in the past 24 hours on Wednesday, but a senior official expressed optimism over a fall in new infections since restrictions were tightened.
The health ministry reported 19,883 new cases, a much lower tally than the one-day record of 27,875 registered in the country of 38 million on Nov. 7.
In the Americas, Brazil’s Sao Paulo state is set to begin importing the first of 46 million doses of China’s Sinovac vaccine this week, while the federal government takes a more cautious approach with a vaccine developed by Pfizer.
In Africa, Zimbabwe has closed a school after 100 students tested positive for COVID-19, state media reported, as authorities warned of the risk of a new wave of infections in a country that has so far recorded few cases.
The John Tallach Secondary School in the country’s west has been turned into a quarantine centre, the Herald newspaper quoted Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri, chair of the country’s COVID-19 task force, as saying. She says 73 students are asymptomatic and 27 show mild symptoms. An undisclosed number of teachers also tested positive.
Authorities suspect that a pupil who recently travelled to neighbouring South Africa infected the others, the paper reported. South Africa, with more than 750,000 recorded infections, has the highest confirmed COVID-19 cases in Africa.
In the Asia-Pacific region, South Korea has recorded its largest daily rise in coronavirus infections in about 80 days as officials prepare to tighten physical distancing rules around Seoul. Officials on Wednesday reported 313 new daily virus cases, the first time the daily caseload exceeded 300 since late August.
South Korea is struggling to contain a spike in new cluster infections since it eased stringent physical distancing rules last month.
Under rules taking effect Thursday for two weeks, no more than 100 people can attend rallies, festivals and concerts. People will have to sit at least one seat apart at theatres, concert halls and libraries, while sporting events are limited to 30 per cent capacity.
A worker sprays disinfectant at an apartment in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Sunday. (Lim Huey Teng/Reuters)
Malaysia, meanwhile, said it has signed an agreement with China to co-operate on the development of a safe and effective vaccine.
The Australian state of South Australia will begin a six-day lockdown at midnight Wednesday, with schools, universities, bars and cafes closed.
Only one person from each household will be allowed to leave home each day, and only for specific reasons. The restrictions also require most factories to close, nursing home facilities to go into lockdown, and weddings and funerals to be put on hold. Outdoor exercise is banned, and wearing masks is mandatory.
In the Middle East, Gaza’s Health Ministry has reported 600 new coronavirus cases and four deaths over the last 24 hours, the highest daily increase of both since the pandemic reached the isolated Palestinian territory.
Gaza has been under an Israeli and Egyptian blockade since the Islamic militant group Hamas seized power there in 2007, and its health system has been severely degraded by years of conflict and isolation. Authorities have reported more than 12,000 coronavirus cases and 54 deaths so far.
Hamas has periodically ordered the closure of schools, businesses and mosques to contain the spread. A prolonged lockdown would compound the economic woes of the territory’s two million Palestinian residents.
Braxton Whitehead said Friday he has verbally committed to Arizona State, making him the first member of a Canadian Hockey League team to attempt to play the sport at the Division I U.S. college level since a lawsuit was filed challenging the NCAA’s longstanding ban on players it deems to be professionals.
Whitehead posted on social media he plans to play for the Sun Devils beginning in the 2025-26 season.
An Arizona State spokesperson said the school could not comment on verbal commitments, citing NCAA rules. A message left with the CHL was not immediately returned.
A class-action lawsuit filed Aug. 13 in U.S. District Court in Buffalo, New York, could change the landscape for players from the CHL’s Western Hockey League, Ontario Hockey League and Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League. NCAA bylaws consider them professional leagues and bar players from there from the college ranks.
Online court records show the NCAA has not made any response to the lawsuit since it was filed.
“We’re pleased that Arizona State has made this decision, and we’re hopeful that our case will result in many other Division I programs following suit and the NCAA eliminating its ban on CHL players,” Stephen Lagos, one of the lawyers who launched the lawsuit, told The Associated Press in an email.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Riley Masterson, of Fort Erie, Ontario, who lost his college eligibility two years ago when, at 16, he appeared in two exhibition games for the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires. And it lists 10 Division 1 hockey programs, which were selected to show they follow the NCAA’s bylaws in barring current or former CHL players.
CHL players receive a stipend of no more than $600 per month for living expenses, which is not considered as income for tax purposes. College players receive scholarships and now can earn money through endorsements and other use of their name, image and likeness (NIL).
The implications of the lawsuit could be far-reaching. If successful, the case could increase competition for college-age talent between North America’s two top producers of NHL draft-eligible players.
“I think that everyone involved in our coaches association is aware of some of the transformational changes that are occurring in collegiate athletics,” Forrest Karr, executive director of American Hockey Coaches Association and Minnesota-Duluth athletic director said last month. “And we are trying to be proactive and trying to learn what we can about those changes.
Karr was not immediately available for comment on Friday.
Earlier this year, Karr established two committees — one each overseeing men’s and women’s hockey — to respond to various questions on eligibility submitted to the group by the NCAA. The men’s committee was scheduled to go over its responses two weeks ago.
Former Minnesota coach and Central Collegiate Hockey Association commissioner Don Lucia said at the time that the lawsuit provides the opportunity for stakeholders to look at the situation.
“I don’t know if it would be necessarily settled through the courts or changes at the NCAA level, but I think the time is certainly fast approaching where some decisions will be made in the near future of what the eligibility will look like for a player that plays in the CHL and NCAA,” Lucia said.
Whitehead, a 20-year-old forward from Alaska who has developed into a point-a-game player, said he plans to play again this season with the Regina Pats of the Western Hockey League.
“The WHL has given me an incredible opportunity to develop as a player, and I couldn’t be more excited,” Whitehead posted on Instagram.
His addition is the latest boon for Arizona State hockey, a program that has blossomed in the desert far from traditional places like Massachusetts, Minnesota and Michigan since entering Division I in 2015. It has already produced NHL talent, including Seattle goaltender Joey Daccord and Josh Doan, the son of longtime Coyotes captain Shane Doan, who now plays for Utah after that team moved from the Phoenix area to Salt Lake City.
A community legal clinic in Kingston, Ont., is denouncing the mayor’s calls to clear an encampment and close a supervised consumption site in the city following a series of alleged assaults that left two people dead and one seriously injured.
Kingston police said they were called to an encampment near a safe injection site on Thursday morning, where they allege a 47-year-old male suspect wielded an edged or blunt weapon and attacked three people. Police said he was arrested after officers negotiated with him for several hours.
The suspect is now facing two counts of second-degree murder and one count of attempted murder.
In a social media post, Kingston Mayor Bryan Paterson said he was “absolutely horrified” by the situation.
“We need to clear the encampment, close this safe injection site and the (Integrated Care Hub) until we can find a better way to support our most vulnerable residents,” he wrote.
The Kingston Community Legal Clinic called Paterson’s comments “premature and misguided” on Friday, arguing that such moves could lead to a rise in overdoses, fewer shelter beds and more homelessness.
In a phone interview, Paterson said the encampment was built around the Integrated Care Hub and safe injection site about three years ago. He said the encampment has created a “dangerous situation” in the area and has frequently been the site of fires, assaults and other public safety concerns.
“We have to find a way to be able to provide the services that people need, being empathetic and compassionate to those struggling with homelessness and mental health and addictions issues,” said Paterson, noting that the safe injection site and Integrated Care Hub are not operated by the city.
“But we cannot turn a blind eye to the very real public safety issues.”
When asked how encampment residents and people who use the services would be supported if the sites were closed, Paterson said the city would work with community partners to “find the best way forward” and introduce short-term and long-term changes.
Keeping the status quo “would be a terrible failure,” he argued.
John Done, executive director of the Kingston Community Legal Clinic, criticized the mayor’s comments and said many of the people residing in the encampment may be particularly vulnerable to overdoses and death. The safe injection site and Integrated Care Hub saves lives, he said.
Taking away those services, he said, would be “irresponsible.”
Done said the legal clinic represented several residents of the encampment when the City of Kingston made a court application last summer to clear the encampment. The court found such an injunction would be unconstitutional, he said.
Done added there’s “no reason” to attach blame while the investigation into Thursday’s attacks is ongoing. The two people who died have been identified as 38-year-old Taylor Wilkinson and 41-year-old John Hood.
“There isn’t going to be a quick, easy solution for the fact of homelessness, drug addictions in Kingston,” Done said. “So I would ask the mayor to do what he’s trained to do, which is to simply pause until we have more information.”
The concern surrounding the safe injection site in Kingston follows a recent shift in Ontario’s approach to the overdose crisis.
Last month, the province announced that it would close 10 supervised consumption sites because they’re too close to schools and daycares, and prohibit any new ones from opening as it moves to an abstinence-based treatment model.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
