The latest news on COVID-19 developments in Canada (all times Eastern):
9:30 p.m.
The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs says public health officials have found seven probable cases of a contagious variant of COVID-19 in Pauingassi First Nation.
It says the samples have been sent to the National Microbiology Lab in Winnipeg to confirm whether they are the variant that was first discovered in the U.K.
Members of the Armed Forces were deployed to Pauingassi a week ago after cases there spiked.
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6 p.m.
Alberta’s chief medical health officer is reporting 15 new COVID-19 deaths and 305 additional cases.
The deaths that Dr. Deena Hinshaw announced in a series of tweets on Saturday bring the province’s total since the pandemic began to 1,175.
There are 5,271 active cases in Alberta, with 359 people in hospital and 64 of those receiving intensive care.
Hinshaw says Alberta’s test positivity rate is 3.8 per cent.
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3:20 p.m.
Saskatchewan is reporting 244 new cases of COVID-19 today and four additional deaths in people who tested positive for the virus.
All of the new deaths were in people over 70.
Health officials report in Saturday’s pandemic update that 1,950 COVID-19 cases are active in Saskatchewan, with 187 people in hospital and 20 in intensive care.
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3 p.m.
Manitoba public health officials, along with the chief and council of the Cross Lake First Nation, say they’re seeing a trend of “concerning case numbers” in the northern community.
Effective Saturday, a new public health order states that all Cross Lake residents must stay in their homes or in immediately adjacent areas.
Residents are only allowed to leave in order to get essential supplies, access health services or go to work at an essential business.
A statement posted Friday on the community’s website said there were 45 active cases there, including 15 involving children.
The province is reporting one new COVID-19 death — a man in his 80s in the Winnipeg health region — and 99 new cases on Saturday.
This is the first weekend of relaxed public health orders in Manitoba after a number of restrictions that have been in place since November were lifted Friday.
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2:15 p.m.
Officials in Prince Edward Island say a previously reported case of COVID-19 was caused by the variant of the virus first identified in the United Kingdom.
Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Heather Morrison says the case involves a man in his 20s who has a history of international travel.
The case was first identified on Feb. 4 and the individual is in self-isolation.
With P.E.I’s announcement, all 10 provinces in Canada have now identified cases of the U.K.-based variant of the novel coronavirus.
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2:10 p.m.
The Nunavut government is reporting five new cases in the territory’s only active COVID-19 outbreak.
There have been 264 cases of the novel coronavirus in Arviat since the first case there in November, and nine were active on Saturday.
Arviat has been under strict lockdown, and a clinic to administer second doses of COVID-19 vaccines is scheduled to wrap up this weekend.
Rankin Inlet is the next community to receive second doses, which are scheduled to begin Monday.
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2 p.m.
Public health officials in Newfoundland and Labrador are reporting 26 new cases of COVID-19 following a recent surge of infections in the St. John’s region.
The new cases bring the province’s active infection count to 285.
Officials reported yesterday the outbreak has been caused by the variant of COVID-19 first identified in the United Kingdom.
Currently, no one is in hospital due to the disease.
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1 p.m.
Nova Scotia is reporting two new cases of COVID-19 today.
Officials say both the cases are related to travel outside the Atlantic region.
The province now has 10 active cases of the disease.
One person is currently in intensive care due to the novel coronavirus.
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11:45 a.m.
Health officials in New Brunswick are reporting 16 new cases of COVID-19.
Fifteen of the cases have been identified in the Edmundston region, while one case was found in the Moncton area.
Active COVID-19 diagnoses in the province now sit at 160.
There are currently seven people hospitalized because of the virus, three of whom are in intensive care.
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11:35 a.m.
The federal government is diverting some of Nova Scotia’s COVID-19 vaccines to Canada’s North.
Provincial Chief medical officer of health Dr. Robert Strang says Ottawa will be reallocating a portion of the upcoming delivery of Moderna vaccines to the country’s northern territories.
The diversion means Nova Scotia will receive 3,000 of the vaccines instead of the originally planned 5,900.
Nova Scotia is also expecting a reduction in its March shipment of vaccines, though Strang says officials are waiting for confirmation from the federal government.
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11:30 a.m.
Quebec is reporting 1,049 new COVID-19 cases today, while the overall death toll rose by 33.
The province says five of the most recent fatalities came in the past 24 hours, with 21 occurring between Feb. 6 and Feb. 11 and seven taking place before Feb. 6.
The number of virus-related hospitalizations decreased by 37 since the last daily report and currently stands at 812.
The number of patients in intensive care declined by seven to 130.
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11 a.m.
Ontario is reporting a slight increase in daily COVID-19 cases today.
The province logged 1,300 new infections over the past 24 hours, along with 19 new deaths linked to the virus.
Case counts have hovered closer to the 1,000 mark in recent days.
Yesterday the province announced that 27 of its public health units could move back to Ontario’s colour-coded pandemic response plan as of Tuesday, allowing them to ease public health restrictions based on local case numbers.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 13, 2021.
Montreal Alouettes wide receiver Tyson Philpot has announced he will be out for the rest of the CFL season.
The Delta, B.C., native posted the news on his Instagram page Thursday.
“To Be Continued. Shoutout my team, the fans of the CFL and the whole city of Montreal! I can’t wait to be back healthy and write this next chapter in 2025,” the statement read.
Philpot, 24, injured his foot in a 33-23 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Aug. 10 and was placed on the six-game injured list the next week.
The six-foot-one, 195-pound receiver had 58 receptions, 779 yards and five touchdowns in nine games for the league-leading Alouettes in his third season.
Philpot scored the game-winning touchdown in Montreal’s Grey Cup win last season to punctuate a six-reception, 63-yard performance.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa sustained a concussion for the third time in his NFL career, leaving his team’s game Thursday night against Buffalo after running into defensive back Damar Hamlin and hitting the back of his head against the turf.
Tagovailoa remained down for about two minutes before getting to his feet and walking to the sideline after the play in the third quarter. He made his way to the tunnel not long afterward, looking into the stands before smiling and departing toward the locker room.
The Dolphins needed almost no time before announcing it was a concussion. The team said he had two during the 2022 season, and Tagovailoa was diagnosed with another concussion when he was a college player at Alabama.
Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said Tagovailoa would get “proper procedural evaluation” and “appropriate care” on Friday.
“The furthest thing from my mind is, ‘What is the timeline?’ We just need to evaluate and just worry about my teammate, like the rest of the guys are,” McDaniel said. “We’ll get more information tomorrow and take it day by day from here.”
Some players saw Tagovailoa in the locker room after the game and said they were encouraged. Tagovailoa spoke with some players and then went home after the game, McDaniel said.
“I have a lot of love for Tua, built a great relationship with him,” said quarterback Skylar Thompson, who replaced Tagovailoa after the injury. “You care about the person more than the player and everybody in the organization would say the same thing. Just really praying for Tua and hopefully everything will come out all right.”
Tagovailoa signed a four-year, $212 million extension before this season — a deal that makes him one of the highest-paid players in the NFL — and was the NFL’s leading passer in Week 1 this season. Tagovailoa left with the Dolphins trailing 31-10, and that was the final score.
“If you know Tua outside of football, you can’t help but feel for him,” Bills quarterback Josh Allen said on Amazon following the game. “He’s a great football player but he’s an even greater human being. He’s one of the best humans on the planet. I’ve got a lot of love for him and I’m just praying for him and his family, hoping everything’s OK. But it’s tough, man. This game of football that we play, it’s got its highs and it’s got its lows — and this is one of the lows.”
Tagovailoa’s college years and first three NFL seasons were marred by injury, though he positioned himself for a big pay bump with an injury-free and productive 2023 as he led the Dolphins into the playoffs. He threw for 29 touchdowns and a league-best 4,624 yards last year.
When, or if, he can come back this season is anyone’s guess. Tagovailoa said in April 2023 that the concussions he had in the 2022 season left him contemplating his playing future. “I think I considered it for a time,” he said then, when asked if he considered stepping away from the game to protect himself.
McDaniel said it’s not his place to say if Tagovailoa should return to football. “He’ll be evaluated and we’ll have conversations and progress as appropriate,” McDaniel said.
Tagovailoa was hurt Thursday on a fourth-down keeper with about 4:30 left in the third. He went straight ahead into Hamlin and did not slide, leading with his right shoulder instead.
Hamlin was the player who suffered a cardiac arrest after making a tackle during a Monday night game in January 2023 at Cincinnati, causing the NFL to suspend a pivotal game that quickly lost significance in the aftermath of a scary scene that unfolded in front of a national television audience.
Tagovailoa wound up on his back, both his hands in the air and Bills players immediately pointed at him as if to suggest there was an injury. Dolphins center Aaron Brewer quickly did the same, waving to the sideline.
Tagovailoa appeared to be making a fist with his right hand as he lay on the ground. It was movement consistent with something that is referred to as the “fencing response,” which can be common after a traumatic brain injury.
Tagovailoa eventually got to his feet. McDaniel grabbed the side of his quarterback’s head and gave him a kiss on the cheek as Tagovailoa departed. Thompson came into the game to take Tagovailoa’s spot.
“I love Tua on and off the football field,” Bills edge Von Miller said. “I’m a huge fan of him. I can empathize and sympathize with him because I’ve been there. I wish him the best.”
Tagovailoa’s history with concussions — and how he has since worked to avoid them — is a huge part of the story of his career, and now comes to the forefront once again.
He had at least two concussions during the 2022 season. He was hurt in a Week 3 game against Buffalo and cleared concussion protocol, though he appeared disoriented on that play but returned to the game.
The NFL later changed its concussion protocol to mandate that if a player shows possible concussion symptoms — including a lack of balance or stability — he must sit out the rest of the game.
Less than a week later, in a Thursday night game at Cincinnati, Tagovailoa was concussed on a scary hit that briefly knocked him unconscious and led to him being taken off the field on a stretcher.
His second known concussion of that season came in a December game against Green Bay, and he didn’t play for the rest of the 2022 season. After that, Tagovailoa began studying ways where he may be able to fall more safely and protect himself against further injury — including studying jiu-jitsu.
“I’m not worried about anything that’s out of my hands,” McDaniel said. “I’m just worried about the human being.”
NEW YORK (AP) — When her husband turns on the television to hear news about the upcoming presidential election, that’s often a signal for Lori Johnson Malveaux to leave the room.
It can get to be too much. Often, she’ll go to a TV in another room to watch a movie on the Hallmark Channel or BET. She craves something comforting and entertaining. And in that, she has company.
While about half of Americans say they are following political news “extremely” or “very” closely, about 6 in 10 say they need to limit how much information they consume about the government and politics to avoid feeling overloaded or fatigued, according to a new survey from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and USAFacts.
Make no mistake: Malveaux plans to vote. She always does. “I just get to the point where I don’t want to hear the rhetoric,” she said.
The 54-year-old Democrat said she’s most bothered when she hears people on the news telling her that something she saw with her own eyes — like the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol — didn’t really happen.
“I feel like I’m being gaslit. That’s the way to put it,” she said.
Sometimes it feels like ‘a bombardment’
Caleb Pack, 23, a Republican from Ardmore, Oklahoma, who works in IT, tries to keep informed through the news feeds on his phone, which is stocked with a variety of sources, including CNN, Fox News, The Wall Street Journal and The Associated Press.
Yet sometimes, Pack says, it seems like a bombardment.
“It’s good to know what’s going on, but both sides are pulling a little bit extreme,” he said. “It just feels like it’s a conversation piece everywhere, and it’s hard to escape it.”
Media fatigue isn’t a new phenomenon. A Pew Research Center survey conducted in late 2019 found roughly two in three Americans felt worn out by the amount of news there is, about the same as in a poll taken in early 2018. During the 2016 presidential campaign, about 6 in 10 people felt overloaded by campaign news.
But it can be particularly acute with news related to politics. The AP-NORC/USAFacts poll found that half of Americans feel a need to limit their consumption of information related to crime or overseas conflicts, while only about 4 in 10 are limiting news about the economy and jobs.
It’s easy to understand, with television outlets like CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC full of political talk and a wide array of political news online, sometimes complicated by disinformation.
“There’s a glut of information,” said Richard Coffin, director of research and advocacy for USAFacts, “and people are having a hard time figuring out what is true or not.”
Women are more likely to feel they need to limit media
In the AP-NORC poll, about 6 in 10 men said they follow news about elections and politics at least “very” closely, compared to about half of women. For all types of news, not just politics, women are more likely than men to report the need to limit their media consumption, the survey found.
White adults are also more likely than Black or Hispanic adults to say they need to limit media consumption on politics, the poll found.
Kaleb Aravzo, 19, a Democrat, gets a baseline of news by listening to National Public Radio in the morning at home in Logan, Utah. Too much politics, particularly when he’s on social media sites like TikTok and Instagram, can trigger anxiety and depression.
“If it pops up on my page when I’m on social media,” he said, “I’ll just scroll past it.”
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Sanders reported from Washington. David Bauder writes about media for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder.
The AP poll of 1,019 adults was conducted July 29-August 8, 2024, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4.0 percentage points.
