Ontario's top doctor speaks as province sees 170 new COVID-19 cases, most in Windsor-Essex - CBC.ca | Canada News Media
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Ontario's top doctor speaks as province sees 170 new COVID-19 cases, most in Windsor-Essex – CBC.ca

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Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Williams is providing an update on COVID-19 in the province starting at 3 p.m.

CBC News is carrying the news conference live above.


Ontario reported 170 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, with 86 of those concentrated in Windsor Essex — a result of “targeted testing of temporary workers on farms,” the Minister of Health says.

At Thursday’s daily COVID-19 briefing, Premier Doug Ford said a complete team from Public Health Ontario remains in the region for support. He will also be visiting the area next week.

“The farmers are cooperating, the workers are cooperating,” he said.

The remaining cases were found mostly in Toronto and Peel Region, with the public health units reporting 27 and 28, respectively. 

The additional cases mark a 0.3 per cent total increase, and bring the total in Ontario since the outbreak began to 36,348. A full 88 per cent of all confirmed infections of the novel coronavirus in the province are considered resolved.

Thirty of Ontario’s 34 public health units confirmed five or fewer new COVID-19 cases today, and 20 of those 30 had no new cases at all, Health Minister Christine Elliott said in a series of tweets.

The number of patients in Ontario hospitals with confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus remained steady at 123. Relatedly, those being treated in intensive care units and on ventilators both decreased slightly. 

The province reported another three COVID-19-linked deaths, bringing its official death toll to 2,703. But a CBC News count based on data provided directly by public health units puts the real toll at 2,740, with no new deaths confirmed yet today.

Emergency orders extension

Meanwhile, Ontario has extended its emergency orders for the COVID-19 pandemic until July 22.

Premier Doug Ford said the extension of the orders will help protect vulnerable people and support frontline workers as the economy continues to re-open.

Some of the measures will make it easier for public health units to redeploy staff for contact tracing efforts and ease restrictions for staffing at long-term care homes.

The extension comes as the provincial government tabled a motion on Wednesday to extend the province’s state of emergency until July 24.

Mucci Farms posted this image of temporary workers waiting to be voluntarily tested for COVID-19 at one of its locations in Kingsville late last month. (Mucci Farms/Facebook)

The current state of emergency is set to expire July 15.

The provincial government isn’t able to issue new emergency orders once the state of emergency ends, but it can extend existing orders.

Yesterday, Ford’s government introduced a sweeping new piece of legislation it says will help the province’s economy recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, as the province reports an additional 118 cases of the novel coronavirus on Wednesday.

The omnibus bill — dubbed the COVID-19 Recovery Act — proposes to change 20 pieces of current legislation that govern the province’s schools, municipalities, and justice system, some of which opposition critics say have little to do with the pandemic itself.

Municipal Affairs Minister Steve Clark says if passed, the bill would speed up environmental assessments, offer new consumer protections and help address unemployment.

NDP House leader Peggy Sattler said the bill is an abuse of the government’s power under the current state of emergency in the province.

Meanwhile, Liberal House leader John Fraser says some parts of it, such as changes to how justices of the peace are appointed, have nothing to do with pandemic recovery.

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NASA astronauts won’t say which one of them got sick after almost eight months in space

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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Three NASA astronauts whose prolonged space station mission ended with a trip to the hospital last month declined to say Friday which one of them was sick.

Astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt and Jeanette Epps publicly discussed their spaceflight for the first time since returning from the International Space Station on Oct. 25. They spent nearly eight months in orbit, longer than expected because of all the trouble with Boeing’s Starliner crew capsule and rough weather, including Hurricane Milton.

Soon after their SpaceX capsule splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico off the Florida coast, the three were taken to a hospital in nearby Pensacola along with Russian cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin, who launched with them back in March.

One of the Americans ended up spending the night there for an undisclosed “medical issue.” NASA declined to say who was hospitalized or why, citing medical privacy.

When asked at Friday’s news conference which one had been sick, the astronauts refused to comment. Barratt, a doctor who specializes in space medicine, declined to even describe the symptoms that the unidentified astronaut had.

“Spaceflight is still something we don’t fully understand. We’re finding things that we don’t expect sometimes. This was one of those times and we’re still piecing things together on this,” said Barratt, the only member of the crew who had flown in space before.

Epps said everyone is different in how they respond to space — and gravity.

“That’s the part that you can’t predict,” she said, adding, “Every day is better than the day before.”

Dominick said little things like sitting comfortably in a hard chair took several days to get used to once he returned. He said he didn’t use the treadmill at all during his time in space, as part of an experiment to see what equipment might be pared on a long trip to Mars. The first time he walked was when he got out of the capsule.

The two astronauts who served as test pilots for Boeing’s Starliner — Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams — will remain at the space station until February, flying back with SpaceX. Starliner returned empty in September.

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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43 monkeys remain on the run from South Carolina lab. CEO thinks they’re having an adventure

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COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Forty-three monkeys bred for medical research that escaped a compound in South Carolina have been spotted in the woods near the site and workers are using food to try to recapture them, authorities said Friday.

The Rhesus macaques made a break for it Wednesday after an employee at the Alpha Genesis facility in Yemassee didn’t fully lock a door as she fed and checked on them, officials said.

“They are very social monkeys and they travel in groups, so when the first couple go out the door the others tend to just follow right along,” Alpha Genesis CEO Greg Westergaard told CBS News.

Westergaard said his main goal is to have the monkeys returned safely with no other problems. “I think they are having an adventure,” he said.

The monkeys on Friday were exploring the outer fence of the Alpha Genesis compound and are cooing at the monkeys inside, police said in a statement.

“The primates are exhibiting calm and playful behavior, which is a positive indication,” the police statement said, adding company workers are closely watching the monkeys while keeping their distance as they work to safely recapture them.

The monkeys are about the size of a cat. They are all females weighing about 7 pounds (3 kilograms).

Alpha Genesis, federal health officials and police all said the monkeys pose no risk to public health. The facility breeds the monkeys to sell to medical and other researchers.

“They are not infected with any disease whatsoever. They are harmless and a little skittish,” Yemassee Police Chief Gregory Alexander said Thursday.

Authorities still recommend that people who live near the compound about 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) from downtown Yemassee shut their windows and doors and call 911 if they see the monkeys. Approaching them could make them more skittish and harder to capture, officials said.

Eve Cooper, a biology professor at the University of Colorado Boulder who has studied rhesus macaques, said the animals have the potential to be dangerous and urged people to keep their distance.

Rhesus macaques monkeys can be aggressive. And some carry the herpes B virus, which can be fatal to humans, Cooper said.

However, Alpha Genesis states on its website that it specializes in pathogen-free primates. Cooper noted that there are pathogen-free populations of rhesus macaques that have been quarantined and tested.

“I would give them a wide berth,” Cooper said. “They’re unpredictable animals. And they can behave quite aggressively when they’re afraid.”

Alpha Genesis provides primates for research worldwide at its compound about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northeast of Savannah, Georgia, according to its website.

Locally, it is known as “the monkey farm.” And there is more amusement than panic around Yemassee and its population of about 1,100 just off Interstate 95 about 2 miles from Auldbrass Plantation, a Frank Lloyd Wright house designed in the 1930s.

There have been escapes before, but the monkeys haven’t caused problems, said William McCoy, who owns Lowcountry Horology, a clock and watch repair shop.

“They normally come home because that’s where the food is,” he said.

McCoy has lived in Yemassee for about two years and while he plans to stay away from the monkeys, he has his own light-hearted plan to get them back.

“I’m stocking up bananas, maybe they’ll show up,” McCoy said.

The Alpha Genesis compound is regularly inspected by federal officials.

In 2018, the U.S. Department of Agriculture fined Alpha Genesis $12,600 in part after officials said 26 primates escaped from the Yemassee facility in 2014 and an additional 19 got out in 2016.

The company’s fine was also issued because of individual monkey escapes as well as the killing of one monkey by others when it was placed in the wrong social group, according to a report from the USDA.

The group Stop Animal Exploitation Now sent a letter Thursday to the USDA asking the agency to immediately send an inspector to the Alpha Genesis facility, conduct a thorough investigation and treat them as a repeated violator. The group was involved in the 2018 fine against the company.

“The clear carelessness which allowed these 40 monkeys to escape endangered not only the safety of the animals, but also put the residents of South Carolina at risk,” wrote Michael Budkie, executive director of the group.

The USDA, which has inspected the compound 10 times since 2020, didn’t immediately respond to the letter.

The facility’s most recent federal inspection in May showed there were about 6,700 primates on site and no issues.

In a 2022 review, federal veterinarians reported two animals died when their fingers were trapped in structures and they were exposed to harsh weather. They also found cages weren’t adequately secure. Inspectors said criminal charges, civil penalties or other sanctions could follow if the problems weren’t fixed.

Since then, Alpha Genesis has undergone six inspections with minor problems reported only once.

In January 2023, the USDA said temperatures were out of the 45 to 85 degree Fahrenheit (7.2 to 29.5 degree Celsius) required range at some of the compound’s monkey cages. The inspection found moldy food in one bin, sharp edges on a gate that could cut an animal and sludge, food waste, used medical supplies, mechanical equipment, and general construction debris on the grounds.

Supporters of medical research involving nonhuman primates said they are critical to lifesaving medical advances like creating vaccines against COVID-19 because of their similarities to people. Keeping a domestic supply of the animals is critical to prevent shortages for U.S. researchers.

Humans have been using the rhesus macaque for scientific research since the late 1800s. Scientists believe that rhesus macaques and humans split from a common ancestor about 25 million years ago and share about 93% of the same DNA.

These monkeys have been launched into space on V2 rockets, used for AIDS research, had their genome mapped and made stars of their own reality television show. They were in such high demand in the early 2000s that a shortage led to scientists paying up to $10,000 per animal.

Outside of rats and mice, rhesus macaques are one of the most studied animals on the planet, said Dario Maestripieri, a behavioral scientist at the University of Chicago who wrote the 2007 book “Macachiavellian Intelligence: How Rhesus Macaques and Humans Have Conquered the World.”

The animals are very family oriented, siding with relatives when fights break out. And they’re adept at building political alliances in the face of threats from other monkeys. But they can be painful to watch. Monkeys with lower status in the hierarchy live in a constant state of fear and intimidation, Maestripieri said.

“In some ways, they kind of represent some of the worst aspects of human nature,” Maestripieri said.

___

Lovan reported from Louisville, Kentucky, and Finley reported from Norfolk, Virginia.



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Freeland says she’s ready to deal with Trump |

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Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland speaks with reporters after chairing a special cabinet committee working on Canada’s plan to deal with the incoming Donald Trump administration. Freeland says she’s stood up for Canadian interests in the past and is ready to go another round. (Nov. 8, 2024)



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