SEATTLE – Washington Gov. Jay Inslee is loosening school reopening guidelines amid a resurging coronavirus pandemic and pleading with reluctant teachers to return to the classroom, particularly those tasked with educating the youngest and neediest students.Inslee, a Democrat, on Wednesday unveiled the state’s latest reopening standards, which urge schools to begin phasing in in-person learning no matter what the community COVID-19 infection rates are, and to resist reverting back to remote learning should transmissions further increase.That’s a stark departure for the Democratic administration, which has until now taken a more cautious approach.The ultimate decision on how and when to reopen schools is up to individual districts. Washington state saw the nation’s first confirmed virus case in late January.The governor on April 6 issued an emergency order to keep schools across the state closed through the end of the school year, and in the fall, pushed most schools to remain online-only.___THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:A health worker in Alaska suffered a severe allergic reaction after receiving the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. Doctors already knew to be on the lookout after Britain reported two similar cases last week of the vaccine made by Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech.U.S. health officials have given the OK to another rapid coronavirus test that people can use at home with results in 20 minutes. Abbott Laboratories says the FDA authorized home use of the $25 test sold through an app. It plans to ship 30 million tests in the U.S. over the first three months of 2021.— Tyson fires 7 at Iowa pork plant after COVID betting inquiry— First coronavirus vaccinations underway at U.S. nursing homes, where the virus has killed upwards of 110,000 people.___Follow AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak___HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea has added more than 1,000 infections to its coronavirus caseload for the second straight day amid growing fears that the virus is spreading out of control in the greater capital area.The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency on Thursday said the COVID-19 death toll was now at 634 after 22 patients died in the past 24 hours, the deadliest day since the emergence of the pandemic. Among 12,209 active patients, 242 are in serious or critical condition.Nearly 800 of the 1,014 new cases were reported from the densely populated Seoul metropolitan area, where health officials have raised alarm about a looming shortage in hospital capacities.Thursday was the 40th consecutive day of triple digit daily jumps, which brought the national caseload to 46,453. The country reported 1,078 new cases on Wednesday, its largest daily increase.The viral resurgence came after months of pandemic fatigue, complacency and government efforts to breathe life into a sluggish economy.Officials are now mulling whether to raise social distancing restriction to maximum levels, which could possibly include bans on gatherings of more than 10 people, shutting tens of thousands of businesses deemed non-essential and requiring companies to have more employees work from home.___INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – As Indiana’s front-line health care workers begin receiving the state’s first shots of Pfizer’s vaccine against the coronavirus, uncertainties remain about future numbers of incoming doses and who should be inoculated next.Indiana’s chief medical officer, Dr. Lindsay Weaver, said Wednesday that five Indiana hospitals have received doses. Weaver says that so far 46,000 of the state’s more than 400,000 eligible health care workers have registered for an appointment to get their first shot.Weaver says state health officials are considering individuals’ risks of spreading the virus and how bad their symptoms could be as they decide the next distribution lineup.___OLYMPIA, Washington — Coronavirus infections remain rampant, but health officials in Washington state said Wednesday they’re seeing some encouraging signs in recent data, just as front-line workers begin receiving vaccinations.Health Department Secretary Dr. John Wiesman and Dr. Kathy Lofy, the state health officer, said new cases and hospitalizations appear to be flattening a bit. However, they warned people to remain vigilant and to remain home for the holidays, because another surge on top of current case levels could swamp hospital capacity.The state has not seen a jump in cases related to Thanksgiving gatherings. Lofy noted that hospital bed occupancy has even started falling in southwest Washington, but case numbers in the central part of the state have been more troubling.Overall, just under 13% of the state’s acute-care beds are occupied by COVID patients; officials would prefer to see that number below 10%.___O’FALLON, Mo. — Missouri Gov. Mike Parson on Wednesday lauded the rollout of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine, but it appears the second-week supply will be thousands of doses smaller than anticipated.Missouri received about 51,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine this week, and vaccinations of frontline health care workers began Monday. The state initially said it would get another 63,675 doses of the Pfizer vaccine next week, as well as 105,300 doses of the Moderna vaccine if that version receives federal clearance.State health director Dr. Randall Williams said it now appears that Missouri’s next batch of the Pfizer vaccine will be 25% to 30% less than anticipated. He said the variance was “not unanticipated” given the vast rollout nationwide, but he’s still trying to determine from federal officials what changed.Meanwhile, Parson, in response to a question at a news conference, seemed to indicate he wasn’t sure if he would get vaccinated, but his spokeswoman later clarified that he planned to do so.Parson and his wife are among the 353,038 Missourians who have contracted the virus. Both were diagnosed in September, and neither required hospitalization.“You know, I’ve had COVID-19 so I think my personal view would be I would want to make sure a lot of other people got it (the vaccine) before I have it,” Parson said. But as for himself, he added, “We’ll make that decision as we move forward as it comes more available.” It wasn’t clear if he meant he wanted more information about the value of a COVID-19 survivor getting vaccinated.Parson’s spokeswoman, Kelli Jones, later said in an email that Parson “has full intentions of getting the COVID vaccine. Since he has already had COVID, however, he will wait until his age group is eligible to receive the vaccine according to the phases of Missouri’s vaccine plan.” Parson is 65.___NEW ORLEANS — New Orleans bars won’t have to send patrons onto the street because city residents have heeded warnings the city might have to tighten coronavirus pandemic restrictions, city officials said Wednesday.Numbers remain higher than they were six weeks ago and are still higher than officials would like, but don’t “cross the threshold that would close our bars to indoor seating,” said Dr. Jennifer Avegno, head of the city health department.“In no way are we out of the woods at all,” Mayor LaToya Cantrell said during a livestreamed news conference with Avegno. However, she said, the percentage of positive tests — which had hit 5.2% — has fallen back below 5%.Under Gov. John Bel Edwards’ statewide order, bars can have indoor seating only in parishes where the percentage of positive tests is below 5%.Over the past week, Cantrell said, the figure was 4.7%.___RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazil’s number of confirmed COVID-19 cases surged past 7 million on Wednesday, with an all-time high of more than 70,000 cases, according to the health ministry’s daily bulletin.The total remains the world’s third highest, according to a tally kept by Johns Hopkins University.The ministry also reported 936 deaths from the disease. Neither its newly reported deaths nor cases included data from Sao Paulo state, Brazil’s most populous and where the toll has been heaviest. In a text message, the health ministry cited “technical problems,” without elaborating.The number of cases and deaths in Latin America’s largest nation has rebounded since local leaders eased restrictions and pandemic fatigue set in.President Jair Bolsonaro, who has consistently undermined quarantine measures and downplayed the virus’ severity, said at a public event last week that Brazil is at “the tail end of the pandemic.”___ATLANTA — A record number of people were in hospitals Wednesday in Georgia with confirmed COVID-19 infections, another signal that infections are now more widespread than at the previous summer peak, as public health authorities sought to raise the alarm that the coronavirus is spreading unabated across the state.In Atlanta, COVID Survivors for Change set out 1,000 chairs near the state capitol in a cold rain to remember the people who have died in Georgia from the respiratory illness. That number rose Wednesday to 10,228 confirmed and suspected deaths.“I caught COVID-19 back on March,” Marjorie Roberts said at the ceremony. “My first day of symptoms was March 26. Now, nine months later I’m still feeling the remnants. I also lost one of my lifelong friends to COVID-19. I didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye. He died in a hospital all by himself. All alone.”The state Department of Public Health, in a weekly report, warned about the continuing spread of infections. As of Wednesday, confirmed and suspected infections had averaged more than 6,100 over the previous week.“They reflect our highest case numbers ever, and are not decreasing or levelling off day to day,” the department said.—-JUNEAU, Alaska — Health officials in Alaska reported a health care worker had a severe allergic reaction to a COVID-19 vaccine within 10 minutes of receiving a shot.U.S. health authorities warned doctors to be on the lookout for rare allergic reactions when they rolled out the first vaccine, made by Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech. Britain had reported a few similar allergic reactions a week earlier.The Juneau health worker began feeling flushed and short of breath on Tuesday, says Dr. Lindy Jones, the emergency room medical director at Bartlett Regional Hospital. She was treated with epinephrine and other medicines for what officials ultimately determined was anaphylaxis, a severe allergic reaction. She was kept overnight but has recovered.Unlike the British cases, the Alaska woman has no history of allergic reactions.___OKLAHOMA CITY — Planned payments of $400 to some Oklahoma residents who lost wages amid the coronavirus pandemic are being put on hold due to the potential approval of additional federal unemployment payments, Oklahoma Employment Security Commission director Shelley Zumwalt said Wednesday.“If new federal legislation is passed and a new federal unemployment relief package reaches Oklahomans, it will be clear that OESC will return the funds,” said Zumwalt, who announced Dec. 10 that the payments would begin this week.The governor’s office announced Wednesday that the state has received all of its initial allotment of coronavirus vaccine doses.In addition to the more than 33,000 doses to the Oklahoma State Department of Health, more than 6,800 doses were sent to tribal nations by Indian Health Services and the Veterans Administration.The Oklahoma National Guard has begun delivering the first doses of a coronavirus vaccine to health care providers throughout the state.___LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Arkansas has reached another record one-day increase in COVID-19 deaths.The state Health Department on Wednesday said 58 more people died from the illness caused by the virus. The increase brings the state’s total fatalities since the pandemic began to 3,074.The state’s probable and confirmed cases rose by 2,306 to 191,504. Wednesday increase in deaths was the state’s highest since it reported 55 new deaths on Friday. The number of people hospitalized due to COVID-19 rose by nine to 1,079.___LOS ANGELES — California reported a record 53,711 coronavirus cases and 293 deaths on Wednesday.The continuing surge in the pandemic brings California’s death toll to 21,481, according to the state Department of Public Health. The previous daily high for deaths was 225, reported Saturday.The state has 1.6 million confirmed cases of coronavirus. Hospitals are filling up so fast in California that officials are rolling out mobile field facilities. They’re also scrambling to hire more doctors and nurses to prepare for an expected surge in coronavirus patients.___IOWA CITY, Iowa — Tyson Foods says it has fired seven top managers at its largest pork plant after an independent investigation into allegations that they bet on how many workers would test positive for the coronavirus.The company says the investigation led by former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder revealed troubling behaviour that resulted in the firings at the plant in Waterloo, Iowa. An outbreak centred around the plant infected more than 1,000 employees, at least six of whom died.Lawyers for the families of four deceased Waterloo workers allege in lawsuits that plant manager Tom Hart organized a buy-in betting pool for supervisors to wager on how many employees would test positive for the coronavirus. The virus eventually tore through the broader Waterloo community.Tyson Foods President and CEO Dean Banks says the “behaviour exhibited by these individuals does not represent the Tyson core values, which is why we took immediate and appropriate action.” Banks travelled to the Waterloo plant on Wednesday to discuss the actions with employees.___BERLIN — Berlin’s health office says Germany’s 16 states will begin vaccinations on Dec. 27, with the first shots going to nursing homes. That comes as Germany hit a record level of deaths from the coronavirus and enters a harder lockdown, closing shops and schools.Germany on Wednesday recorded 179 virus-related infections per 100,000 residents over the last seven days, a new high.It also passed its previous daily total, with the 16 states reporting 952 deaths from the virus, the agency says. The previous daily record was 598 on Friday, although included two days of figures from the hard-hit eastern state of Saxony.While daily cases peaked in March at about 6,000, they are now more than four times that level, with 27,728 cases reported Wednesday by the Robert Koch Institute.___PORTLAND, Ore. — The first coronavirus vaccines in Oregon were given to nurses, respiratory therapists, housekeeping staff and other health care workers on Wednesday.Legacy Health and Oregon Health & Science University in Portland and Saint Alphonsus Hospital in Ontario, on the Oregon-Idaho border, vaccinated their first five staff members in the event broadcast live via Zoom, followed by the other hospitals. The first shipments of vaccine arrived Monday.State officials have said they will receive 35,100 initial doses of the Pfizer vaccine. Another vaccine made by Moderna is expected to receive federal approval soon and Oregon officials estimate there will be enough of the two vaccines to initially immunize about 100,000 people in the state. Oregon has reported 1,214 deaths and 96,092 confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic.___CHICAGO — Roughly 30% of eligible Chicago Public Schools students plan to return to in-person classes when the nation’s third-largest school district begins reopening next month.Chicago Public Schools announced last month that the district would resume in-person learning in phases in the New Year because remote learning wasn’t serving many students in the largely Black and Latino district. The district has required remote learning since March.The Chicago Sun-Times reports district leaders says about 75,000 of eligible students from pre-kindergarten through 8th grade and in special education will return in January and February. A date for high school students hasn’t been set.The Associated Press
OTTAWA – Canada’s unemployment rate held steady at 6.5 per cent last month as hiring remained weak across the economy.
Statistics Canada’s labour force survey on Friday said employment rose by a modest 15,000 jobs in October.
Business, building and support services saw the largest gain in employment.
Meanwhile, finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing experienced the largest decline.
Many economists see weakness in the job market continuing in the short term, before the Bank of Canada’s interest rate cuts spark a rebound in economic growth next year.
Despite ongoing softness in the labour market, however, strong wage growth has raged on in Canada. Average hourly wages in October grew 4.9 per cent from a year ago, reaching $35.76.
Friday’s report also shed some light on the financial health of households.
According to the agency, 28.8 per cent of Canadians aged 15 or older were living in a household that had difficulty meeting financial needs – like food and housing – in the previous four weeks.
That was down from 33.1 per cent in October 2023 and 35.5 per cent in October 2022, but still above the 20.4 per cent figure recorded in October 2020.
People living in a rented home were more likely to report difficulty meeting financial needs, with nearly four in 10 reporting that was the case.
That compares with just under a quarter of those living in an owned home by a household member.
Immigrants were also more likely to report facing financial strain last month, with about four out of 10 immigrants who landed in the last year doing so.
That compares with about three in 10 more established immigrants and one in four of people born in Canada.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
The Canadian Institute for Health Information says health-care spending in Canada is projected to reach a new high in 2024.
The annual report released Thursday says total health spending is expected to hit $372 billion, or $9,054 per Canadian.
CIHI’s national analysis predicts expenditures will rise by 5.7 per cent in 2024, compared to 4.5 per cent in 2023 and 1.7 per cent in 2022.
This year’s health spending is estimated to represent 12.4 per cent of Canada’s gross domestic product. Excluding two years of the pandemic, it would be the highest ratio in the country’s history.
While it’s not unusual for health expenditures to outpace economic growth, the report says this could be the case for the next several years due to Canada’s growing population and its aging demographic.
Canada’s per capita spending on health care in 2022 was among the highest in the world, but still less than countries such as the United States and Sweden.
The report notes that the Canadian dental and pharmacare plans could push health-care spending even further as more people who previously couldn’t afford these services start using them.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
As Canadians wake up to news that Donald Trump will return to the White House, the president-elect’s protectionist stance is casting a spotlight on what effect his second term will have on Canada-U.S. economic ties.
Some Canadian business leaders have expressed worry over Trump’s promise to introduce a universal 10 per cent tariff on all American imports.
A Canadian Chamber of Commerce report released last month suggested those tariffs would shrink the Canadian economy, resulting in around $30 billion per year in economic costs.
More than 77 per cent of Canadian exports go to the U.S.
Canada’s manufacturing sector faces the biggest risk should Trump push forward on imposing broad tariffs, said Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters president and CEO Dennis Darby. He said the sector is the “most trade-exposed” within Canada.
“It’s in the U.S.’s best interest, it’s in our best interest, but most importantly for consumers across North America, that we’re able to trade goods, materials, ingredients, as we have under the trade agreements,” Darby said in an interview.
“It’s a more complex or complicated outcome than it would have been with the Democrats, but we’ve had to deal with this before and we’re going to do our best to deal with it again.”
American economists have also warned Trump’s plan could cause inflation and possibly a recession, which could have ripple effects in Canada.
It’s consumers who will ultimately feel the burden of any inflationary effect caused by broad tariffs, said Darby.
“A tariff tends to raise costs, and it ultimately raises prices, so that’s something that we have to be prepared for,” he said.
“It could tilt production mandates. A tariff makes goods more expensive, but on the same token, it also will make inputs for the U.S. more expensive.”
A report last month by TD economist Marc Ercolao said research shows a full-scale implementation of Trump’s tariff plan could lead to a near-five per cent reduction in Canadian export volumes to the U.S. by early-2027, relative to current baseline forecasts.
Retaliation by Canada would also increase costs for domestic producers, and push import volumes lower in the process.
“Slowing import activity mitigates some of the negative net trade impact on total GDP enough to avoid a technical recession, but still produces a period of extended stagnation through 2025 and 2026,” Ercolao said.
Since the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement came into effect in 2020, trade between Canada and the U.S. has surged by 46 per cent, according to the Toronto Region Board of Trade.
With that deal is up for review in 2026, Canadian Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Candace Laing said the Canadian government “must collaborate effectively with the Trump administration to preserve and strengthen our bilateral economic partnership.”
“With an impressive $3.6 billion in daily trade, Canada and the United States are each other’s closest international partners. The secure and efficient flow of goods and people across our border … remains essential for the economies of both countries,” she said in a statement.
“By resisting tariffs and trade barriers that will only raise prices and hurt consumers in both countries, Canada and the United States can strengthen resilient cross-border supply chains that enhance our shared economic security.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.
