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Today’s coronavirus news: Ontario’s daily case count continues to climb with 636 new infections and two more deaths; Canada-U.S. land border set to open Monday – Toronto Star

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The latest coronavirus news from Canada and around the world Sunday. This file will be updated throughout the day. Web links to longer stories if available.

1:45 p.m.: New Brunswick is reporting 53 new cases of COVID-19 ahead of Monday’s opening of the Canada-U.S. land border.

Officials say travellers entering the province from Maine and other U.S. states will be held to new federal requirements, which include full vaccination against the disease and a negative PCR test result.

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Travellers will also need to register their trips with New Brunswick online.

Officials also announced 56 COVID-19 recoveries, bringing the province’s confirmed case count to 473.

Vaccination rates in the province now sit at 85.9 per cent for eligible residents who are fully vaccinated and 92.9 per cent for those who have received at least one dose.

Fifteen patients are in hospital due to the disease, with nine of those in intensive care.

11:45 a.m.: Quebec is reporting 545 new cases of COVID-19 today and three deaths attributed to the virus.

Health officials say COVID-19-related hospitalizations dropped by two from yesterday’s numbers to 227, while the number of people in intensive care declined by one to 50.

The seven-day average for new cases stands at 558.

Of the latest reported infections, 333 were among people who were either unvaccinated or who had only received a first dose within the past two weeks.

Quebec says another 6,285 vaccine doses have been administered, most of which were given in the past 24 hours.

The province’s public health institute says about 91 per cent of Quebecers aged 12 and older have received at least one dose, while 87 per cent are considered fully vaccinated with two shots.

11:40 a.m. (updated): Ontario is reporting 636 COVID-19 cases, according to its latest report released Sunday morning, the highest daily increase in a month.

This is about 50 per cent more than last Sunday, and the most since Oct. 9 when the province announced 654 cases.

Two more deaths were also reported.

The Star’s Lloyd Quansah has more details.

10:25 a.m.: The number of new daily COVID-19 infections in Ontario continues to creep up.

There are 636 new cases and two more deaths, the province reported Sunday, with 388 cases for people who weren’t fully vaccinated or have an unknown vaccination status; and 248 in fully vaccinated individuals.

Health Minister Christine Elliott also noted that 88.4 per cent of Ontarians, 12 years old and older, have one dose and 84.9 per cent have two doses. She said 93 people are hospitalized with COVID-19, and 126 people are in ICU. Not all hospitals report on weekends.

Just last Sunday there were 443 new COVID cases.

8:55 a.m. With the approval of the COVID-19 vaccine for younger children, many elementary schools around the U.S. are preparing to offer the shots, which educators see as key to keeping students learning in person and making the classroom experience closer to what it once was.

Some district leaders say offering vaccine clinics on campus, with the involvement of trusted school staff, is key to improving access and helping overcome hesitancy — particularly in communities with low overall vaccination rates.

Still, many school systems are choosing not to offer elementary schools as hosts for vaccination sites after some middle and high schools that offered shots received pushback.

More than 250 families signed up for vaccinations that began Thursday at elementary schools in Duluth, Minnesota, which organized clinics immediately after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gave the final signoff to Pfizer’s kid-size COVID-19 shot for children ages 5 to 11. Superintendent John Magas called the vaccines a “game changer.”

Read more from The Associated Press.

8 a.m. The southbound lanes on the road to North America’s post-pandemic recovery will finally reopen Monday as the United States ends nearly 20 months of controversial COVID-19 exile and allows fully vaccinated travellers to cross the Canada-U.S. land border.

As of midnight, non-essential traffic will resume moving in both directions for the first time since March 2020, when both countries imposed sweeping but selective restrictions in hopes of slowing the spread of the virus — the first widespread border closure since the 9/11 terrorist attacks 20 years ago.

After nearly two years, however, the excitement isn’t exactly palpable.

“We’re on the other side of this, hopefully, but if the border were to ever close again, they really need to realize that families are essential,” said Kim Patchett, who lives with her husband Barry in Saugeen Shores, Ont., west of Owen Sound on the shores of Lake Huron.

Read more from The Canadian Press.

7:45 a.m. Ann Harkness is champing at the bit to start her annual migration.

For 13 years, the retired teacher and her husband, Steve, taunted the winter freeze by packing the car up each fall and driving south to Winter Haven, Fla., from Kingston, Ont., to while away the cold Canadian months until the spring thaw tempted them home again.

Last year, the COVID-19 pandemic put an end to that routine. For the first time in more than a decade, the Harknesses stayed home for the winter.

But this year, with winter fast approaching and the U.S. border finally opening to non-essential travellers Monday, Harkness and an estimated one million snowbirds like her are hearing the call of the mild again.

“We’re very excited to be able to go this year. Absolutely,” she said. “Everybody’s fully vaccinated, we’re ready to go. As soon as that border opens up.”

Read the full story from the Star’s Steve McKinley.

7:25 a.m. President Joe Biden is pushing forward with a massive plan to require millions of private sector employees to get vaccinated by early next year. But first, he has to make sure workers in his own federal government get the shot.

About 4 million federal workers are to be vaccinated by Nov. 22 under the president’s executive order. Some employees, like those at the White House, are nearly all vaccinated. But the rates are lower at other federal agencies, particularly those related to law enforcement and intelligence, according to the agencies and union leaders. And some resistant workers are digging in, filing lawsuits and protesting what they say is unfair overreach by the White House.

The upcoming deadline is the first test of Biden’s push to compel people to get vaccinated. Beyond the federal worker rule, another mandate will take effect in January aimed at around 84 million private sector workers, according to guidelines put out this past week.

If the mandates are a success, they could make the most serious dent in new coronavirus cases since the vaccine first became available, especially with the news this past week that children ages 5-11 can get the shot making an additional 64 million people eligible. But with two weeks remaining until the federal worker deadline, some leaders of unions representing the employees say that convincing the unvaccinated to change their mind is increasingly challenging.

Read more from The Associated Press.

7 a.m. As COVID-19 ravaged Hungary in April, Budapest resident Akos Sipos received his second vaccine dose, believing he was doing the right thing for his own health and to help end the pandemic.

But Sipos, 46, soon discovered that the vaccine he received, Russia’s Sputnik V, disqualified him from traveling to a number of other countries where it hadn’t been approved. The nations include the United States, which is pushing forward with a new air travel policy that will make Sipos and many like him ineligible to enter.

“I thought it’s better to get Sputnik today than a Western vaccine at some uncertain future time,” Sipos, who works as a search engine optimization specialist, said of his initial decision to receive the jab. “But I couldn’t have known at that time that I wouldn’t be able to travel with Sputnik.”

Starting Monday, the United States plans to reopen to foreign travelers who are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. But there’s a catch: non-immigrant adults need to have received vaccines authorized by the Food and Drug Administration or which received an emergency use listing from the World Health Organization.

That leaves many hopeful travelers across the globe who have taken full courses of vaccines widely used in other parts of the world — Sputnik V and the China-produced CanSino jab, in particular — scrambling to get reinoculated with shots approved by U.S. authorities.

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New technology to advance women’s cancer care at Southlake

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NEWS RELEASE
SOUTHLAKE REGIONAL HEALTH CENTRE
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This Cancer Awareness Month, Southlake is adding advanced technologies to detect and treat breast cancer and other women’s cancers thanks to generous community donor support, most recently through the HERE is Where Cancer Meets its Match campaign. New cancer care technology, including new mammography machines, the MyoSure System and the MOLLI 2® System will make a measurable impact in diagnosing and treating women’s cancers in the communities Southlake serves.

Southlake is installing three new mammography machines to expand its breast cancer screening program to 1,500 more women each year. Two of these machines have new biopsy capabilities that will reduce the number of cancelled exams due to equipment failure, ensuring timely care for women. Women ages 40 to 49 years old will be able to self-refer for publicly funded mammograms through the Ontario Breast Screening Program starting this fall.

“Early detection is critical when treating breast cancer and other women’s cancers,” said Lorrie Reynolds, Director, Regional Cancer Program at Southlake. “We treat more than 1,700 breast cancer patients at Southlake every year. By adding advanced technology, like the new mammography machines, we’re ensuring women have the best experience at Southlake.”

Southlake is also introducing the MyoSure System, an innovative technology that can help detect female reproductive cancers. Damaged tissue in a woman’s uterus such as fibroids and polyps can now be removed in a precise, minimally invasive procedure that leaves the rest of the uterus intact. This will improve the overall patient experience by supporting faster recovery, reducing the risk of infection and giving more women the option to have children. An estimated 200 women per year will benefit from the MyoSure System.

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The new mammography machines and the MyoSure System build on Southlake’s recent investment in the MOLLI 2® System, a made-in-Canada wire-free breast localization technology.  This technology is considerably less invasive and more accurate when compared to wire-guided localization, resulting in a better patient experience and improved cosmetic outcomes.  More than 200 women each year will benefit from this innovative medical device as they are treated for breast cancer at Southlake.

“As a clinician caring for women with cancer in our community, I’m incredibly proud of the work Southlake is doing to advance women’s health and improve patient experiences,” said Sara Temple, MD, Surgical Oncologist and Chief of Surgery at Southlake. “Women who visit Southlake can be confident that they are receiving leading edge care, close to home when they need it most.”

The World Health Organization anticipates a 77 per cent increase in cancer diagnoses by 2050.  Southlake serves some of the fastest growing communities in Canada and anticipates that the number of patients requiring cancer care will grow. By investing in new technology, Southlake is ensuring that women in the communities it serves have access to leading edge cancer care. All of these investments were funded with support from community donors who generously gave to Southlake to support investments into women’s health at the hospital.

“The generosity of our donor community and the impact they have made for women receiving cancer diagnosis and treatment at Southlake is something we can all take great pride in,” said Jennifer Ritter, President and CEO of Southlake Foundation. “From our Women’s Health Initiative donors supporting new mammography machines, to the Ladies in Philanthropy for Southlake funding the MOLLI 2 System, to our long-standing partners The Edge Benefits and Pheasant Run Golf Club enabling the introduction of MyoSure System through their joint annual charity golf tournament, we are incredibly lucky to share a vision of access to exceptional care for everyone who depends on Southlake when they need us most. Thank you, to every donor who contributed to these important upgrades to care for women.”

Southlake Foundation’s HERE is Where Cancer Meets its Match campaign supports the Stronach Regional Cancer Centre at Southlake. For more information or to make a donation, visit: southlake.ca/HERE.

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Pasteurized milk includes remnants of H5N1 bird flu, U.S. officials say

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says that samples of pasteurized milk have tested positive for remnants of the bird flu virus that has infected dairy cows.

The agency stressed that the material is inactivated and that the findings “do not represent actual virus that may be a risk to consumers.” Officials added that they’re continuing to study the issue.

“To date, we have seen nothing that would change our assessment that the commercial milk supply is safe,” the FDA said in a statement on Tuesday.

The announcement comes nearly a month after an avian influenza virus that has sickened millions of wild and commercial birds in recent years was detected in dairy cows in at least eight states. The Agriculture Department (USDA) says 33 herds have been affected to date.

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FDA officials didn’t indicate how many samples they tested or where they were obtained. The agency has been evaluating milk during processing and from grocery stores, officials said. Results of additional tests are expected in “the next few days to weeks.”

WATCH | Bird flu spread in U.S. cows:

 

Bird flu is spreading in cows. Are humans at risk? | About That

15 days ago

Duration 8:54

For the first time ever, avian influenza, or H5N1 bird flu, was detected in roughly a dozen dairy cow herds across the U.S. About That producer Lauren Bird explores why scientists and public health officials are concerned about the cross-species transmission and whether humans are now at higher risk.

The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) lab test the FDA used would have detected viral genetic material even after live virus was killed by pasteurization, or heat treatment, said Lee-Ann Jaykus, an emeritus food microbiologist and virologist at North Carolina State University

“There is no evidence to date that this is infectious virus, and the FDA is following up on that,” Jaykus said.

Officials with the FDA and the USDA had previously said milk from affected cattle did not enter the commercial supply. Milk from sick animals is supposed to be diverted and destroyed. Federal regulations require milk that enters interstate commerce to be pasteurized.

Tests for viable virus underway, agency says

Because the detection of the bird flu virus known as Type A H5N1 in dairy cattle is new and the situation is evolving, no studies on the effects of pasteurization on the virus have been completed, FDA officials said. But past research shows that pasteurization is “very likely” to inactivate heat-sensitive viruses like H5N1, the agency added.

The agency said it has been evaluating milk from affected animals, in the processing system and on the shelves. It said it is completing a large, representative national sample to understand the extent of the findings.

The FDA said it is further assessing any positive findings through egg inoculation tests, which it described as a gold standard for determining viable virus.

Matt Herrick, a spokesperson for the International Dairy Foods Association, said that time and temperature regulations for pasteurization ensure that the commercial U.S. milk supply is safe. Remnants of the virus “have zero impact on human health,” he wrote in an email.

Scientists confirmed the H5N1 virus in dairy cows in March after weeks of reports that cows in Texas were suffering from a mysterious malady. The cows were lethargic and saw a dramatic reduction in milk production. Although the H5N1 virus is lethal to commercial poultry, most infected cattle seem to recover within two weeks, experts said.

To date, two people in the U.S. have been infected with bird flu. A Texas dairy worker who was in close contact with an infected cow recently developed a mild eye infection and has recovered. In 2022, a prison inmate in a work program caught it while killing infected birds at a Colorado poultry farm. His only symptom was fatigue, and he recovered.


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Remnants of bird flu virus found in pasteurized milk, FDA says – Hamilton Spectator

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday that samples of pasteurized milk had tested positive for remnants of the bird flu virus that has infected dairy cows.

The agency stressed that the material is inactivated and that the findings “do not represent actual virus that may be a risk to consumers.” Officials added that they’re continuing to study the issue.

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