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With news on COVID-19 happening rapidly, we’ve created this page to bring you our latest stories and information on the outbreak in and around Calgary.
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COVID-19 Live Updates: News on coronavirus in Calgary for March 10 – Calgary Herald
Watch this page throughout the day for updates on COVID-19 in Calgary.
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Publishing date:
Mar 10, 2021 • 27 minutes ago • 6 minute read • 
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My COVID Story: How have you been impacted by coronavirus?
Postmedia is looking to speak with people who may have been impacted by COVID-19 here in Alberta. Have you undergone a travel-related quarantine? Have you received your vaccine, and if so did you feel any side effects? Have you changed your life for the better because of the pandemic? Send us an email at reply@calgaryherald.com to tell us your experience, or send us a message via this form.
Read our ongoing coverage of personal stories arising from the pandemic.
Calgary pharmacies offering COVID-19 vaccine
This map shows all 48 Calgary pharmacies that are offering the COVID-19 vaccine. Currently the vaccine is open to all Albertans born in the year 1946 or earlier. Appointments are still necessary and can be booked by contacting the participating pharmacies. Details on booking your vaccine jab at a pharmacy can be found here.
More than 10,000 AstraZeneca vaccine appointments booked
More than 10,000 eligible Albertans booked appointments for the AstraZeneca vaccine Wednesday morning, as the province expanded its COVID-19 vaccine rollout.
Call volumes were high when Health Link’s phone line opened at 8 a.m., Alberta Health Services said on Twitter, while recommending people turn to the online booking tool if the line rings busy or opt to call later in the day. The introduction of a third COVID-19 vaccine has sped up the province’s immunization plan, giving the jab to people now who would have otherwise had to wait until May for Phase 2D of the government’s plan.
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First Nations, Métis and Inuit individuals aged 49 and other Albertans aged 64 with no severe chronic illness are the first people eligible for AstraZeneca vaccine.
In an open letter published online Tuesday evening, AHS said that while capacity has been increased with the booking tool, Albertans can help by considering waiting until later in the day to book appointments.
“While we have increased capacity, if everyone tries to access those services at the same time, the queues will fill up and there will be delays,” AHS said in the open letter. “If people are patient and wait until less peak times, the system will work better and more people will have an improved experience.”
The tool has capacity to book about 100,000 appointments over 24 hours, according to AHS.
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High COVID-19 count prompts citywide COVID-19 vaccinations in Prince Rupert, B.C.
Health officials say an entire northwestern British Columbia city will be vaccinated over the next three weeks as the community continues to face persistent outbreaks of COVID-19.
The first clinics for roughly 12,000 residents of Prince Rupert and nearby Port Edward begin Monday and continue until April 1, said Northern Health in a statement.
Prince Rupert has a high COVID-19 case and positivity rate and has not seen the improvements in recent weeks that are happening elsewhere in the region, said Dr. Jong Kim, Northern Health chief medical health officer.
Braid: Fight with doctors? Never happened, says health minister
Columnist Don Braid writes:
If UCP politicians were asked which fiasco they want every voter to forget, the likely winner would be “the fight with the doctors.”
The great forgetting has already begun.
Health Minister Tyler Shandro claimed Tuesday there was never any conflict between the government and the Alberta Medical Association, which represents physicians.
At a legislature committee meeting he said: “there was no fight with the Alberta Medical Association.”
Politicians will always try to rewrite history, but for heaven’s sake, they can at least wait until the history is actually over.
Closed since December, Calgary libraries reopen today
After being shut down for nearly three months, Calgary Public Library branches have reopened today with reduced hours.
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All 21 locations will require adherence to health measures still in place, including mandatory masks and prohibiting food and drinks. They’ll be operating at 15 per cent capacity and won’t be running any on-site gatherings or programs.
Mark Asberg, Calgary Public Library’s CEO, said he is pleased libraries were bumped up in the provincial government’s relaunch strategy.
“We know that our community is in need of our services and, for many, the library is a critical resource,” Asberg said in a statement.
YMCA Calgary announced last week that all of its facilities would reopen for drop-in fitness and some group classes on March 12. Brookfield Residential YMCA and Shane Homes YMCA opened on March 8.
More COVID-19 restriction violation charges being dismissed, say lawyers
An increasing number of charges alleging COVID-19 restriction violations are being dismissed by Alberta Crown Prosecutors, say lawyers defending against them.
In recent days, at least nine charges alleging mask violations and a ban on gatherings have been dropped by prosecutors, said Jay Cameron, a lawyer with the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedom.
Some of those dismissed charges included fines of $1,200 and involved people attending protests in Calgary and Edmonton and those ticketed for not wearing masks in stores, he said.
It’s clear prosecutors considered the likelihood of a guilty verdict to be low, reflecting the charges’ frivolous and even unconstitutional nature, said Cameron.
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Tuesday
Alberta prepares for AstraZeneca vaccine rollout, reports 255 new cases of COVID-19
Alberta reported another 255 cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday as the province prepares to administer the first doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine starting Wednesday.
Booking appointments for the AstraZeneca vaccine will start on Wednesday at 8 a.m. for Albertans aged 64 and First Nations, Métis and Inuit individuals aged 49, with no severe chronic illness.
The AstraZeneca vaccine is recommended for people aged 18 to 64 who are less at risk of severe outcomes and do not have a specific chronic condition, are not a caregiver of high-risk individuals or do not live or work in congregate settings.
Tuesday
Police investigating after observing more than 100 people at party in southwest Edmonton Saturday night
Edmonton police are investigating after breaking up a party in southwest Edmonton attended by more than 100 people Saturday night.
Officers responded to the Khrome Beauty Lounge, located in a commercial complex called Ellwood Corner, at about 1:30 a.m. Sunday, to a complaint of a large gathering, Edmonton police spokesman Scott Pattison said.
It was estimated there were between 100 and 125 people in attendance at the party, where officers also discovered “large volumes of alcohol” and a DJ on the premises.
Tuesday
255 new cases, six deaths
The latest COVID-19 numbers for Alberta:
- 255 new cases on 5,434 tests; ~4.7% positivity rate
- 263 in hospital; 37 in ICUs
- Six deaths; 1,926 total
- 4,470 active cases; 129,978 recovered
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There was no live update from chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw on Tuesday.
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TOKYO (AP) — Japanese technology group SoftBank swung back to profitability in the July-September quarter, boosted by positive results in its Vision Fund investments.
Tokyo-based SoftBank Group Corp. reported Tuesday a fiscal second quarter profit of nearly 1.18 trillion yen ($7.7 billion), compared with a 931 billion yen loss in the year-earlier period.
Quarterly sales edged up about 6% to nearly 1.77 trillion yen ($11.5 billion).
SoftBank credited income from royalties and licensing related to its holdings in Arm, a computer chip-designing company, whose business spans smartphones, data centers, networking equipment, automotive, consumer electronic devices, and AI applications.
The results were also helped by the absence of losses related to SoftBank’s investment in office-space sharing venture WeWork, which hit the previous fiscal year.
WeWork, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2023, emerged from Chapter 11 in June.
SoftBank has benefitted in recent months from rising share prices in some investment, such as U.S.-based e-commerce company Coupang, Chinese mobility provider DiDi Global and Bytedance, the Chinese developer of TikTok.
SoftBank’s financial results tend to swing wildly, partly because of its sprawling investment portfolio that includes search engine Yahoo, Chinese retailer Alibaba, and artificial intelligence company Nvidia.
SoftBank makes investments in a variety of companies that it groups together in a series of Vision Funds.
The company’s founder, Masayoshi Son, is a pioneer in technology investment in Japan. SoftBank Group does not give earnings forecasts.
___
Yuri Kageyama is on X:
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
Shopify Inc. executives brushed off concerns that incoming U.S. President Donald Trump will be a major detriment to many of the company’s merchants.
“There’s nothing in what we’ve heard from Trump, nor would there have been anything from (Democratic candidate) Kamala (Harris), which we think impacts the overall state of new business formation and entrepreneurship,” Shopify’s chief financial officer Jeff Hoffmeister told analysts on a call Tuesday.
“We still feel really good about all the merchants out there, all the entrepreneurs that want to start new businesses and that’s obviously not going to change with the administration.”
Hoffmeister’s comments come a week after Trump, a Republican businessman, trounced Harris in an election that will soon return him to the Oval Office.
On the campaign trail, he threatened to impose tariffs of 60 per cent on imports from China and roughly 10 per cent to 20 per cent on goods from all other countries.
If the president-elect makes good on the promise, many worry the cost of operating will soar for companies, including customers of Shopify, which sells e-commerce software to small businesses but also brands as big as Kylie Cosmetics and Victoria’s Secret.
These merchants may feel they have no choice but to pass on the increases to customers, perhaps sparking more inflation.
If Trump’s tariffs do come to fruition, Shopify’s president Harley Finkelstein pointed out China is “not a huge area” for Shopify.
However, “we can’t anticipate what every presidential administration is going to do,” he cautioned.
He likened the uncertainty facing the business community to the COVID-19 pandemic where Shopify had to help companies migrate online.
“Our job is no matter what comes the way of our merchants, we provide them with tools and service and support for them to navigate it really well,” he said.
Finkelstein was questioned about the forthcoming U.S. leadership change on a call meant to delve into Shopify’s latest earnings, which sent shares soaring 27 per cent to $158.63 shortly after Tuesday’s market open.
The Ottawa-based company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, reported US$828 million in net income for its third quarter, up from US$718 million in the same quarter last year, as its revenue rose 26 per cent.
Revenue for the period ended Sept. 30 totalled US$2.16 billion, up from US$1.71 billion a year earlier.
Subscription solutions revenue reached US$610 million, up from US$486 million in the same quarter last year.
Merchant solutions revenue amounted to US$1.55 billion, up from US$1.23 billion.
Shopify’s net income excluding the impact of equity investments totalled US$344 million for the quarter, up from US$173 million in the same quarter last year.
Daniel Chan, a TD Cowen analyst, said the results show Shopify has a leadership position in the e-commerce world and “a continued ability to gain market share.”
In its outlook for its fourth quarter of 2024, the company said it expects revenue to grow at a mid-to-high-twenties percentage rate on a year-over-year basis.
“Q4 guidance suggests Shopify will finish the year strong, with better-than-expected revenue growth and operating margin,” Chan pointed out in a note to investors.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
Companies in this story: (TSX:SHOP)
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
TORONTO – RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust says it has cut almost 10 per cent of its staff as it deals with a slowdown in the condo market and overall pushes for greater efficiency.
The company says the cuts, which amount to around 60 employees based on its last annual filing, will mean about $9 million in restructuring charges and should translate to about $8 million in annualized cash savings.
The job cuts come as RioCan and others scale back condo development plans as the market softens, but chief executive Jonathan Gitlin says the reductions were from a companywide efficiency effort.
RioCan says it doesn’t plan to start any new construction of mixed-use properties this year and well into 2025 as it adjusts to the shifting market demand.
The company reported a net income of $96.9 million in the third quarter, up from a loss of $73.5 million last year, as it saw a $159 million boost from a favourable change in the fair value of investment properties.
RioCan reported what it says is a record-breaking 97.8 per cent occupancy rate in the quarter including retail committed occupancy of 98.6 per cent.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
Companies in this story: (TSX:REI.UN)
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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