Public health officials have identified upwards of 700 cases of contagious COVID-19 variants across Canada, the nation’s top doctor said Saturday, a finding she said lends new urgency to her calls to maintain personal COVID-19 precautions.
Individual actions in conjunction with strong public health measures will be key to halting the spread of the highly infectious virus variants, Dr. Theresa Tam said.
“Strong collective action means each one of us doing our personal best by having the fewest interactions with the fewest people, for the shortest time, at the greatest distance possible, while wearing the best-fitting face-mask,” Tam tweeted Saturday.
Overall daily case counts continued to trend downwards, but Tam said the at least 704 cases of variants of concern could fuel a bigger third wave of the pandemic.
The vast majority of variants detected in Canada thus far are the B.1.1.7 strain that first emerged in the U.K., while there have been 39 cases of the variant first discovered in South Africa, and one of the strain that originated in Brazil.
Tam’s warning came as a suspected case of a coronavirus variant forced Quebec City officials to close an elementary school Saturday.
Regional public health director Dr. Andre Dontigny said the school would remain closed until public health authorities had more information, including confirmation that the case in question is in fact linked to a variant of concern. All staff and students were asked to get tested for COVID-19 over the weekend.
Quebec authorities said there had been 22 confirmed cases of variants of concern provincewide and an additional 286 cases under investigation.
Overall, the province reported 769 new cases of COVID-19 Saturday and 14 more deaths, including four within the past 24 hours. Hospitalizations declined by 23 to 700 and the number of patients in the ICU dropped by seven to 120.
Federal projections released Friday suggest COVID-19 variants could fuel 20,000 new cases per day by mid-March if public health restrictions are relaxed.
Tam noted a steady decline in overall COVID-19 infections, with 32,241 active cases across the country and a seven-day average of 2,905 new cases daily. There was an average of 59 deaths.
“Canadians are urged to remain vigilant and to continue following local public health advice as well as consistently maintaining individual practices that keep us and our families safer,” said Tam, stressing the need to stay home if symptoms emerge and to reduce non-essential activities and outings.
Ontario reported a slight increase in daily case counts Saturday as it prepared to ease restrictions in one of its long-standing hot spots.
The province announced 1,228 new instances of COVID-19, up from 1,150 new infections reported Friday. There were 28 new virus-related deaths reported on Saturday.
Health Minister Christine Elliott said Toronto and Peel Region logged 331 and 228 cases, respectively, while York Region saw132 new cases.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford touted a measured approach on Friday when he announced York Region could lift stay-home restrictions and return to a colour-coded pandemic response framework at the second-most restrictive red level. That change is set to take effect on Monday.
Toronto, Peel and the North Bay-Parry Sound health unit are to remain under a stay-at-home order for at least two more weeks.
Meanwhile, Newfoundland and Labrador reported 38 new confirmed cases and three presumptive cases of COVID-19, all in the eastern health region which includes St. John’s.
New Brunswick reported three new infections in the hard-hit Edmundston region. Nova Scotia, meanwhile, reported four new cases.
In Manitoba, 95 new cases and three deaths were linked to COVID-19. Two deaths were associated with an outbreak at Winnipeg’s Seven Oaks Hospital, and one was connected to a Winnipeg care facility.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 20, 2021.
PARIS (AP) — French judicial authorities are investigating the disappearance of two Paralympic athletes from Congo who recently competed in the Paris Games, the prosecutor’s office in the Paris suburb of Bobigny confirmed on Thursday.
Prosecutors opened the investigation on Sept. 7, after members of the athletes’ delegation warned authorities of their disappearance two days before.
Le Parisien newspaper reported that shot putter Mireille Nganga and Emmanuel Grace Mouambako, a visually impaired sprinter who was accompanied by a guide, went missing on Sept. 5, along with a third person.
The athletes’ suitcases were also gone but their passports remained with the Congolese delegation, according to an official with knowledge of the investigation, who asked to remain anonymous as they were not allowed to speak publicly about the case.
The Paralympic Committee of the Democratic Republic of Congo did not respond to requests for information from The Associated Press.
Nganga — who recorded no mark in the seated javelin and shot put competitions — and Mouambako were Congo’s flag bearers at the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games, organizers said.
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.’”
