Ontario’s cabinet is being urged to declare another state of emergency as it seeks to address surging numbers of COVID-19 cases in the province, sources say.
Health officials have recommended the following restrictions to cabinet, sources told CBC Toronto on Monday:
Gathering limits reduced to as few as five people.
Shorter hours for essential businesses, which would involve earlier closures and later openings.
Limits on construction activity, but those limits would still allow essential construction to continue. Essential construction would be defined as work on health care and critical infrastructure, as well as residential buildings.
A requirement that no employees would be allowed in offices unless they are deemed essential.
Those proposals, which have not yet been decided upon, come as Ontario reported another 3,338 cases of COVID-19 and the province’s death toll topped 5,000 on Monday.
Also on Monday, a government source told CBC News that a curfew will not be among restrictions expected to be announced.
The idea of a curfew, similar to the one recently implemented in Quebec, was floated as a possibility for Ontario as infections continue to surge. Premier Doug Ford said last week that revised COVID-19 forecasts show current measures are not doing enough to slow transmission of the novel coronavirus.
At a news conference Monday afternoon, Dr. Barbara Yaffe, associate chief medical officer of health, said it is “her understanding” that a curfew was not recommended by the province’s health table.
Sources told CBC News the updated modelling, set to be detailed at an 11:30 a.m. briefing tomorrow, projects the province’s intensive care units will be filled beyond capacity by early February. It also forecasts that Ontario is on track to see up to 6,000 new cases per day by the end of this month.
Yaffe said Monday that “urgent action” is necessary in Ontario — something the premier first started talking about late last week.
“Unfortunately, I’m not able to give you any good news today,” Yaffe said.
“The number of people who have lost their lives remains unbearably high.”
Ford has repeatedly said that “nothing is off the table” but has offered no specifics about what new restrictions could be coming. In a brief statement this morning, Ford said his cabinet will meet later today, with an announcement expected after the modelling has been released publicly.
“We do believe, that based on the data that you will see tomorrow … that we are in a serious situation and serious measures need to be [undertaken],” Yaffe said.
Meanwhile, Dr. David Naylor, co-chair of the federal government’s Immunity Task Force, told CBC News Network’s Power & Politics that Ontario’s only choice now is to further batten down the hatches.
“We have to go back to where we were in the spring,” he told host Vassy Kapelos Monday evening. “Whether we can get compliance at that level … is questionable but right now, much as I hate to endorse it because it’s so hard on people and its hard on people differentially, we’re going to have to really try to shut things down to the greatest extent possible in the provinces like Ontario that are hard hit.”
Naylor says the problem was that in the fall Ontario let the case counts get too high, and tracking and tracing failed. The only way to get a grip on the situation now is to keep kids out of school, non-essential businesses closed and contact between people to a minimum.
“I don’t see any way around some really tough measures right now,” he said.
WATCH |Dr. David Naylor, co-chair of the federal government’s Immunity Task Force, speaks to Power & Politics host Vassy Kapelos:
Dr. David Naylor, co-chair of the federal government’s Immunity Task Force on what Ontario needs to do now. 1:20
The newest confirmed cases include 931 in Toronto, 531 in Peel Region, 241 in York Region, 168 in Niagara Region and 165 in Waterloo Region.
Other public health units that saw double- or triple-digit increases were:
Ottawa: 159
Hamilton: 146
Durham Region: 143
Middlesex-London: 141
Windsor-Essex: 118
Lambton: 90
Simcoe-Muskoka: 84
Halton Region: 81
Southwestern: 81
Eastern Ontario: 69
Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph: 56
Huron-Perth: 27
Chatham-Kent: 21
Brant County: 14
Sudbury: 11
(Note: All of the figures used in this story are found on the Ministry of Health’s COVID-19 dashboard or in its Daily Epidemiologic Summary. The number of cases for any region may differ from what is reported by the local public health unit, because local units report figures at different times.)
Combined, the additional cases bring the seven-day average of new daily cases to a record high 3,555.
There are now 30,632 confirmed, actives cases of COVID-19 provincewide.
The number of patients with COVID-19 in hospitals climbed to 1,563, 80 more admissions than yesterday. Of those, 387 are being treated in intensive care and 268 require a ventilator to breathe, a new pandemic high in the province.
Notably, Critical Care Services Ontario, which produces an internal report on ICU admissions and capacity each morning, puts Ontario’s current ICU figure at 409, according to Anthony Dale, president of the Ontario Hospital Association.
Ontario’s network of labs processed 46,403 test samples for the novel coronavirus and reported a test positivity rate of 7.7 per cent. Another 28,774 tests are in the queue to be completed.
The 29 additional deaths in today’s update bring Ontario’s official toll to 5,012. The first COVID-19-linked death was reported on March 19, 2020.
The province says it administered 8,859 more doses of COVID-19 vaccines yesterday. As of 8 p.m. Sunday, a total of 122,105 doses have been given in Ontario.
Meanwhile, elementary and secondary school students across northern Ontario returned to in-class learning this morning.
The northern portion of the province is allowed to return to school buildings as positivity rates for COVID-19 in that region are relatively low.
All students began their winter term with online learning this month and the government announced last week that students in southern Ontario will continue attending classes remotely until at least Jan. 25.
Education Minister Stephen Lecce announced Saturday that the list of essential workers eligible for emergency child care would be expanded.
It now includes RCMP officers, custodial and clerical education workers and postal staff.
EDMONTON – RCMP say a second suspect has been arrested in the killing of an Alberta county worker.
Mounties say 28-year-old Elijah Strawberry was taken into custody Friday at a house on O’Chiese First Nation.
Colin Hough, a worker with Rocky View County, was shot and killed while on the job on a rural road east of Calgary on Aug. 6.
Another man who worked for Fortis Alberta was shot and wounded, and RCMP said the suspects fled in a Rocky View County work truck.
Police later arrested Arthur Wayne Penner, 35, and charged him with first-degree murder and attempted murder, and a warrant was issued for Strawberry’s arrest.
RCMP also said there was a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Strawberry, describing him as armed and dangerous.
Chief Supt. Roberta McKale, told a news conference in Edmonton that officers had received tips and information over the last few weeks.
“I don’t know of many members that when were stopped, fuelling up our vehicles, we weren’t keeping an eye out, looking for him,” she said.
But officers had been investigating other cases when they found Strawberry.
“Our investigators were in O’Chiese First Nation at a residence on another matter and the major crimes unit was there working another file and ended up locating him hiding in the residence,” McKale said.
While an investigation is still underway, RCMP say they’re confident both suspects in the case are in police custody.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
CALGARY – Mired in their first four-game losing skid in 20 years, the Calgary Stampeders are going back to Jake Maier at quarterback on Saturday after he was benched for a game.
It won’t be an easy assignment.
Visiting McMahon Stadium are the Eastern Conference-leading Montreal Alouettes (10-2) who own the CFL’s best record. The Stampeders (4-8) have fallen to last in the Western Conference.
“Six games is plenty of time, but also it is just six games,” said Maier. “We’ve got to be able to get on the right track.”
Calgary is in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2004.
“I do still believe in this team,” said Stampeders’ head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson. “I want to see improvement, though. I want to see guys on a weekly basis elevating their game, and we haven’t been doing that.”
Maier is one of the guys under the microscope. Two weeks ago, the second-year starter threw four interceptions in a 35-20 home loss to the Edmonton Elks.
After his replacement, rookie Logan Bonner, threw five picks in last week’s 37-16 loss to the Elks in Edmonton, the football is back in Maier’s hands.
“Any time you fail or something doesn’t go your way in life, does it stink in the moment? Yeah. But then the days go on and you learn things about yourself and you learn how to prepare a little bit better,” said Maier. “It makes you mentally tougher.”
Dickenson wants to see his quarterback making better decisions with the football.
“Things are going to happen, interceptions will happen, but try to take calculated risks, rather than just putting the ball up there and hoping that we catch it,” said Dickenson.
A former quarterback himself, he knows the importance of that vital position.
“You cannot win without good quarterback play,” Dickenson said. “You’ve got to be able to make some plays — off-schedule plays, move-around plays, plays that break down, plays that aren’t designed perfectly, but somehow you found the right guy, and then those big throws where you’re taking that hit.”
But it’s going to take a team effort, and that includes the club’s receiving corp.
“We always have to band together because we need everything to go right for our receivers to get the ball,” said Nik Lewis, the Stampeders’ receivers coach. “The running back has to pick up the blitz, the o-line has to block, the quarterback has to make the right reads, and then give us a catchable ball.”
Lewis brings a unique perspective to this season’s frustrations as he was a 22-year-old rookie in Calgary in 2004 when the Stamps went 4-14 under coach Matt Dunigan. They turned it around the next season and haven’t missed the playoffs since.”
“Thinking back and just looking at it, there’s just got to be an ultimate belief that you can get it done. Look at Montreal, they were 6-7 last year and they’ve gone 18-2 since then,” said Lewis.
Montreal is also looking to rebound from a 37-23 loss to the B.C. Lions last week. But for head coach Jason Maas, he says his team’s mindset doesn’t change, regardless of what happened the previous week.
“Last year when we went through a four-game losing streak, you couldn’t tell if we were on a four-game winning streak or a four-game losing streak by the way the guys were in the building, the way we prepared, the type of work ethic we have,” said Maas. “All our standards are set, so that’s all we focus on.”
While they may have already clinched a playoff spot, Alouettes’ quarterback Cody Fajardo says this closing stretch remains critical because they want to finish the season strong, just like last year when they won their final five regular-season games before ultimately winning the Grey Cup.
“It doesn’t matter about what you do at the beginning of the year,” said Fajardo. “All that matters is how you end the year and how well you’re playing going into the playoffs so that’s what these games are about.”
The Alouettes’ are kicking off a three-game road stretch, one Fajardo looks forward to.
“You understand what kind of team you have when you play on the road because it’s us versus the world mentality and you can feel everybody against you,” said Fajardo. “Plus, I always tend to find more joy in silencing thousands of people than bringing thousands of people to their feet.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
RICHMOND, B.C. – The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team says the 26-year-old son of a man found dead on British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast has been charged with his murder.
Police say 58-year-old Henry Doyle was found badly injured on a forest service road in Egmont last September and died of his injuries.
The homicide team took over when the BC Coroners Service said the man’s death was suspicious.
It says in a statement that the BC Prosecution Service has approved one count of first-degree murder against the man’s son, Jackson Doyle.
Police say the accused will remain in custody until at least his next court appearance.
The homicide team says investigators remained committed to solving the case with the help of the community of Egmont, the RCMP on the Sunshine Coast and in Richmond, and the Vancouver Police Department.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
