Business
Morrison concerned about community transmission of COVID-19 in Eastern Kings – CBC.ca
P.E.I. Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Heather Morrison says she is concerned about a growing number of COVID-19 cases in the eastern Kings region of P.E.I. and the fact that some cannot be linked to travel.
This region includes Mount Stewart, Morell, St. Peters and the Souris areas.
To determine the extent of transmission, Morrison said public health will open a pop-up testing clinic at the Souris Hospital Wednesday from 12 to 3 p.m. and Thursday from 10 to 3 p.m.
Morrison is recommending testing for all children five to 11 and anyone involved in organized sports regardless of symptoms, as well as anyone in eastern Kings with symptoms. Anyone who has been tested in the last 48 hours will not need to be retested, she said.
“There appears to be community transmission in that region of the province,” she said.
There is also one new public exposure, at the Eastern Kings Sportsplex last Saturday Dec. 4, from 8:45 to 10:15 a.m.
Morrison also announced five new cases. One of the cases is in their 50s, one is in their 20s, and three cases are under the age of 12. Three are close contacts of previously-announced cases and two are under investigation.
There are currently 23 active cases of COVID-19 in P.E.I. and there have been 397 cases since the pandemic began.
As of Saturday, Dec. 4, 94.8 per cent of Islanders 12 and up have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine and 91.4 per cent are fully vaccinated with at least two doses, she said.
“The vaccine rollout for children aged five to 11 is going well with 15.4 per cent of children in this age group receiving their first dose.”
Temporary health measures
New temporary health measures were announced last week in response the omicron variant, and Morrison announced a tightening of those rules.
Until early January those arriving from outside the country must be tested on arrival and on day four after arrival — people who are not tested on their fourth day will now face enforcement measures, she said. International travellers must also receive three negative COVID tests prior to entering a long-term care facility.
Children under 12 cannot travel interprovincially for sports tournaments, arts or culture events and P.E.I. cannot host these tournaments for kids in that age group.
“These measures are temporary, providing additional layers of protection to further safeguard the health and safety of Islanders. Especially prior to the Christmas and holiday season.”
Since mid-November, Morrison said there have been 69 reported cases of COVID-19 on the Island. That accounts for 17 per cent of the Island’s total case count.
“We have been struggling to get the COVID-19 situation here on P.E.I. under control,” she said. “This is not the situation we want to be in as we enter the holiday season. COVID-19 is circulating in the province, this virus continues to spread and move when people move.”
As a result, Morrison is advising against holiday levees, and is urging caution for anyone holding gatherings.
Cases have been mounting
The last several days have seen daily announcements of new cases of COVID-19 on P.E.I., with three new cases on Monday, including one involving a student at Eastern Kings Early Learning Academy in Souris.
Sunday the CPHO reported two new cases linked to École La-Belle-Cloche in Rollo Bay, which closed the school for the week. On Tuesday, Morrison said there were now six cases related to the outbreak. A testing clinic has been set up at the school, and work is underway to resume classes online on Wednesday.
Morrison announced five new cases Saturday, one of whom is a student at École La-Belle-Cloche.
P.E.I. has 23 active COVID-19 cases and has seen a total of 397 confirmed cases. There have been two hospitalizations and no deaths.
The latest action on prevention was announced by Morrison Friday: the province will soon make COVID-19 booster shots available for Islanders 18 and over.
Children across P.E.I. between the ages of five and 11 are now in the process of being vaccinated.
Reminder about symptoms
The symptoms of COVID-19 can include:
- Fever.
- Cough or worsening of a previous cough.
- Possible loss of taste and/or smell.
- Sore throat.
- New or worsening fatigue.
- Headache.
- Shortness of breath.
- Runny nose.
Tesla has promised to start selling cheaper models next year, days after a Reuters report revealed that the company had shelved its plans for an all-new Tesla that would cost only $25,000.
The news that Tesla was scrapping the Model 2 came amid a drop in sales and profits, and a decision to slash a tenth of the company’s global workforce. Reuters also noted increased competition from Chinese EV makers.
Tesla’s deliveries slumped in the first quarter for the first annual drop since the start of the pandemic in 2020, missing analyst forecasts by a mile in a sign that even price cuts haven’t been able to stave off an increasingly heated competition on the EV market.
Profits dropped by 50%, disappointing investors and leading to a slump in the company’s share prices, which made any good news urgently needed. Tesla delivered: it said it would bring forward the date for the release of new, lower-cost models. These would be produced on its existing platform and rolled out in the second half of 2025, per the BBC.
Reuters cited the company as warning that this change of plans could “result in achieving less cost reduction than previously expected,” however. This suggests the price tag of the new models is unlikely to be as small as the $25,000 promised for the Model 2.
The decision is based on a substantially reduced risk appetite in Tesla’s management, likely affected by the recent financial results and the intensifying competition with Chinese EV makers. Shelving the Model 2 and opting instead for cars to be produced on existing manufacturing lines is the safer move in these “uncertain times”, per the company.
Tesla is also cutting prices, as many other EV makers are doing amid a palpable decline in sales in key markets such as Europe, where the phaseout of subsidies has hit demand for EVs seriously. The cut is of about $2,000 on all models that Tesla currently sells.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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Divisions within the Bank of Canada over the timing of a much-anticipated cut to its key overnight interest rate stem from concerns of some members of the central bank’s governing council that progress on taming inflation could stall in the face of stronger domestic demand — or even pick up again in the event of “new surprises.”
“Some members emphasized that, with the economy performing well, the risk had diminished that restrictive monetary policy would slow the economy more than necessary to return inflation to target,” according to a summary of deliberations for the April 10 rate decision that were published Wednesday. “They felt more reassurance was needed to reduce the risk that the downward progress on core inflation would stall, and to avoid jeopardizing the progress made thus far.”
Article content
Others argued that there were additional risks from keeping monetary policy too tight in light of progress already made to tame inflation, which had come down “significantly” across most goods and services.
Some pointed out that the distribution of inflation rates across components of the consumer price index had approached normal, despite outsized price increases and decreases in certain components.
“Coupled with indicators that the economy was in excess supply and with a base case projection showing the output gap starting to close only next year, they felt there was a risk of keeping monetary policy more restrictive than needed.”
In the end, though, the central bankers agreed to hold the rate at five per cent because inflation remained too high and there were still upside risks to the outlook, albeit “less acute” than in the past couple of years.
Despite the “diversity of views” about when conditions will warrant cutting the interest rate, central bank officials agreed that monetary policy easing would probably be gradual, given risks to the outlook and the slow path for returning inflation to target, according to the summary of deliberations.
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They considered a number of potential risks to the outlook for economic growth and inflation, including housing and immigration, according to summary of deliberations.
The central bankers discussed the risk that housing market activity could accelerate and further boost shelter prices and acknowledged that easing monetary policy could increase the likelihood of this risk materializing. They concluded that their focus on measures such as CPI-trim, which strips out extreme movements in price changes, allowed them to effectively look through mortgage interest costs while capturing other shelter prices such as rent that are more reflective of supply and demand in housing.
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They also agreed to keep a close eye on immigration in the coming quarters due to uncertainty around recent announcements by the federal government.
“The projection incorporated continued strong population growth in the first half of 2024 followed by much softer growth, in line with the federal government’s target for reducing the share of non-permanent residents,” the summary said. “But details of how these plans will be implemented had not been announced. Governing council recognized that there was some uncertainty about future population growth and agreed it would be important to update the population forecast each quarter.”
• Email: bshecter@nationalpost.com
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Shares in US tech giant Meta have sunk in US after-hours trading despite better-than-expected earnings.
The Facebook and Instagram owner said expenses would be higher this year as it spends heavily on artificial intelligence (AI).
Its shares fell more than 15% after it said it expected to spend billions of dollars more than it had previously predicted in 2024.
Meta has been updating its ad-buying products with AI tools to boost earnings growth.
It has also been introducing more AI features on its social media platforms such as chat assistants.
The firm said it now expected to spend between $35bn and $40bn, (£28bn-32bn) in 2024, up from an earlier prediction of $30-$37bn.
Its shares fell despite it beating expectations on its earnings.
First quarter revenue rose 27% to $36.46bn, while analysts had expected earnings of $36.16bn.
Sophie Lund-Yates, lead equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said its spending plans were “aggressive”.
She said Meta’s “substantial investment” in AI has helped it get people to spend time on its platforms, so advertisers are willing to spend more money “in a time when digital advertising uncertainty remains rife”.
More than 50 countries are due to have elections this year, she said, “which hugely increases uncertainty” and can spook advertisers.
She added that Meta’s “fortunes are probably also being bolstered by TikTok’s uncertain future in the US”.
Meta’s rival has said it will fight an “unconstitutional” law that could result in TikTok being sold or banned in the US.
President Biden has signed into law a bill which gives the social media platform’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, nine months to sell off the app or it will be blocked in the US.
Ms Lund-Yates said that “looking further ahead, the biggest risk [for Meta] remains regulatory”.
Last year, Meta was fined €1.2bn (£1bn) by Ireland’s data authorities for mishandling people’s data when transferring it between Europe and the US.
And in February of this year, Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg faced blistering criticism from US lawmakers and was pushed to apologise to families of victims of child sexual exploitation.
Ms Lund-Yates added that the firm has “more than enough resources to throw at legal challenges, but that doesn’t rule out the risks of ups and downs in market sentiment”.
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