TORONTO —
While stressing that the risk of the new coronavirus being spread from one person to another in Canada remains low, federal health officials said Sunday that Canadians should not be surprised to hear of more individual cases within the country.
“It would not be unexpected that there would be more cases imported into Canada in the near-term, given global travel patterns,” Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer, said at a news conference.
Canada’s first “presumptive positive” case of coronavirus was announced Saturday. Officials have said the virus may have been found in a man in his 50s who travelled to Wuhan, the Chinese city at the heart of the outbreak, and ended up in hospital one day after returning to Toronto.
The man is being kept in a negative pressure room at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto pending the results of laboratory tests, which are expected to be completed by Monday. His condition remained stable as of Sunday, hospital officials said.
He had flown to Toronto on China Southern Airlines Flight 311 from Guangzhou, China, after previously flying to Guangzhou from Wuhan. His flight landed at Pearson International Airport at 3:46 p.m.on Jan. 22.
“This patient may have had some mild symptoms [on the plane] – certainly not something that would have been particularly obvious,” Tam said.
Pearson is one of three Canadian airports, along with the Montreal-Trudeau International Airport and Vancouver International Airport, where enhanced public health measures have been implemented as the outbreak has worsened.
Arrival screens at these airports display messages imploring passengers to alert border security officers if they feel flu-like symptoms and have recently travelled to an area affected by an outbreak. An extra health screening question has also been placed on customs kiosks.
In the circumstance of the man at the centre of the presumptive Canadian case, officials said Sunday that his actions – calling 911 once his symptoms worsened and immediately alerting authorities that he had recently been in Wuhan, allowing paramedics to take proper protections –suggested that the messaging at the airports was effective.
“For me, that is a sign that the information at the [airport] did actually percolate through to the patient,” Health Minister Patty Hajdu said Sunday.
Passengers who sat within three rows of the man are being notified about their possible exposure to the virus, as are airline employees who may have been in contact with the man.
OFFICIALS SAY RISK LOW
Tam said that, given the number of cases of the virus around the world involving people who had been to Wuhan, it “was not unexpected” that the coronavirus could eventually make its way to Canada – or that there could be future cases.
She stressed that evidence to date suggests the virus can only be transmitted from person to person through “close contact, and particularly prolonged contact,” making the risk of acquiring it from a stranger small.
“Although we now have a case in Canada, the risk to Canadians remains low,” she said.
The virus is believed to have originated in an animal sold at a market in Wuhan to be consumed as food, and somehow been transmitted to humans from that animal.
Asked about fears of acquiring the virus by attending Lunar New Year events or other public gatherings, Hajdu downplayed the concerns.
“There is no need for Canadians to be alarmed that they will contract the virus in a casual setting,” she said.
“My advice to Canadians is to take normal precautions to protect their health.”
Tam noted that influenza season is underway in Canada, and said there is no need for anyone who has not been to Wuhan to take precautions beyond what they would do to avoid the flu or similar illnesses.
“We absolutely advise people to do the usual things – wash your hands, don’t cough toward someone, cough into a tissue or into your sleeve [and] stay home when you’re sick,” she said.
Many coronaviruses cause flu- or cold-like symptoms and carry minimal risk of death. Scientists have yet to determine the power of the new coronavirus.
THE GLOBAL PICTURE
Globally, the death toll from the coronavirus has reached 56. All the deaths have occurred in China, where Health Minister Ma Xiaowei said Sunday that “it seems like the ability of the virus to spread is getting stronger.”
The U.S. has made plans to airlift American citizens out of Wuhan, one of a number of cities to essentially be cut off from the rest of China by the government. Hajdu said Sunday that Canada does not expect to follow suit, and that anyone concerned about relatives in the outbreak area should contact Global Affairs Canada.
“At this point, it doesn’t appear that we have the need to charter a plane,” she said.
Canada has issued a travel advisory for Hubei, the province that includes Wuhan, warning citizens to avoid non-essential travel to the area. Tam said a full travel ban is unlikely to be enacted unless the World Health Organization first issues similar guidance.
Dr. Tam says evidence shows coronoavirus is spread by droplets & they have a 2 m radius. They will look at the plane seating charts & informe the airline so staff who may have served that zone of passengers will know. If you don’t get a call from PHAC you were not in radius.
Dr. Tam says evidence shows coronoavirus is spread by droplets & they have a 2 m radius. They will look at the plane seating charts & informe the airline so staff who may have served that zone of passengers will know. If you don’t get a call from PHAC you were not in radius.
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.
