With case numbers shooting up in Ontario, Alberta and B.C., health experts worry that Canada could be going into its worst wave of COVID-19 yet, unless governments act now to stop it.
“We’re in big trouble,” said Dr. Joe Vipond, an emergency physician in Calgary and co-founder of Masks4Canada.
His calculations show that Alberta’s case numbers are doubling roughly every 11 days. So, if that trend continues, he said, Alberta could see 1,200 new cases per day in early September, and 2,400 daily cases by the middle of the month.
1:38 Why climbing COVID-19 cases impact you — whether you’re vaccinated or not
Why climbing COVID-19 cases impact you — whether you’re vaccinated or not
“There’s definitely been a noticeable increase in the number of COVID-19 patients that are coming into hospital over the last two weeks or so,” said Dr. Shazma Mithani, an emergency doctor in Edmonton’s Royal Alexandra Hospital and Stollery Children’s Hospital.
“Opening schools again in September is going to certainly fuel the fire in a significant way. And I’m worried about what that means for our children who cannot be vaccinated right now. And I’m worried about what that means for the hospitals.”
Alberta reported 744 new cases on Aug. 19, according to the government website. The highest number of cases ever reported in a single day was 2,389 on April 30, 2021.
It’s not the only province where cases are expected to increase.
Projections released Aug. 18 by the BC COVID-19 Modelling Group suggest that case numbers there are doubling every nine days, and predicts that without intervention, “cases will soon exceed record levels.”
The province could see 10,000 cases per day, said Dan Coombs, a mathematics professor at the University of British Columbia and member of the modelling group, but he believes that public health authorities would enact measures to curb the spread before things got that bad.
With children not yet able to be vaccinated, the BC Modelling Group expects that many cases would be in young children.
In Ontario, if nothing changes, there could be 7,000 cases per day by mid-October, according to Dr. Allison McGeer, an infectious disease physician in the Sinai Health System in Toronto. This is well above the approximately 4,700 peak in early April.
The combination of the more transmissible Delta variant and looser restrictions means that the virus is experiencing exponential growth, she said.
“So if we don’t do something about it, our upward trajectory will increase in speed and we will inevitably move to a lot more cases and more hospitalizations and more ICU patients,” McGeer said.
4:53 The latest on COVID-19 and a looming fourth wave
The latest on COVID-19 and a looming fourth wave
To stop this, we need to do more than just vaccinate people, Vipond said. “Unfortunately, we were told that the pandemic could end with vaccines. It has not and it will not.”
“We know what we need to do. We need to shut down mass gatherings and we need to close indoor dining for a period of time. These are the things that need to take place,” he said.
“It’s nice that we had a little bit of a break in the summer, that we were able to see people and we were able to do things. But we are going to have to roll that back. Not to nothing, not to lockdown, but back from where we are now,” McGeer said.
This could be continuing to have people work from home when possible, she said, and refocusing again on masking and keeping social distancing.
Having limits on the size of social gatherings would help too, says Mithani, as would vaccine passports. “I do think it’s the people that are making the right decisions, like getting vaccinated, that should enjoy the freedoms of being able to be around other people,” she said.
She also says that provinces need to ensure that everyone has easy access to vaccines.
2:14 Why many Canadians may be going through compassion fatigue
Why many Canadians may be going through compassion fatigue
While McGeer knows that Canadians are frustrated at this point in the pandemic and just want to go back to normal, it unfortunately doesn’t matter, she said.
“It’s a virus and the virus does not care what you and I think. It does not care how tired we are of dealing with this. It does not care about anything except going on its merry way infecting people,” McGeer said.
“So I understand how miserable the choices are, but it doesn’t alter the fact that if we don’t do something about the increasing number of cases, we’re going to push our health care system over the limit again. And many people are going to die.”
MONTREAL – One expert says entry-level pay under the tentative deal between Air Canada and its pilots could be a stumbling block ahead of a union vote on the agreement.
Under their current contract, pilots earn far less in their first four years at the company before enjoying a big wage increase starting in year five.
The Air Line Pilots Association had been pushing to scrap the so-called “fixed rate” provision entirely.
But according to a copy of the contract summary obtained by The Canadian Press, the proposed deal announced Sunday would merely cut the four-year period of lower pay to two years.
John Gradek, who teaches aviation management at McGill University, says as many as 2,000 of Air Canada’s roughly 5,200 active pilots may earn entry-level wages following a recent hiring surge.
After the airline averted a strike this week, Gradek says the failure to ditch the pay grade restrictions could prompt pushback from rank-and-file flight crew and jeopardize the deal, which is up for a vote next month.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2024.
ROME (AP) — Salvatore “Totò” Schillaci, the Italy striker who was top scorer at its home World Cup in 1990, has died. He was 59.
Schillaci had been hospitalized in Palermo following treatment for colon cancer.
The Palermo Civico hospital said in a statement that Schillacci died on Wednesday morning after being admitted 11 days ago.
Schillaci scored six goals for Italy during the 1990 World Cup. He came on as a substitute during Italy’s opener against Austria, scored in a 1-0 victory, and went on to earn the Golden Boot awarded to the tournament’s top scorer. He only scored one other goal for Italy in his career.
Italian soccer federation president Gabriele Gravina announced that a minute of silence would be held in memory of Schillaci before all games in the country for the rest of the week.
“The uncontrollable celebrations, in which his face was the symbol of shared joy, will remain forever part of Italian soccer (history),” Gravina said. “Totò was a great player, a symbol of tenacious desire and redemption. … His soccer was full of passion. And that fearless spirit made everyone appreciate him and will make him immortal.”
Schillaci also won the Golden Ball award at the 1990 World Cup as the tournament’s top player ahead of Lothar Matthaus and Diego Maradona.
Schillaci played for Messina, Juventus, Inter Milan and Japanese team Jubilo Iwata during his club career.
“You made an entire nation dream during the Magical Nights of Italia ’90,” Inter said on its social media channels.
West Germany won the 1990 World Cup, beating Argentina in the final, while Italy beat England for third place with a winning penalty kick from Schillaci.
Roberto Baggio, who scored Italy’s opening goal in the third-place match, wrote on Instagram, “Ciao my dear friend.”
Having been born and raised in Palermo, the Palermo soccer team announced that it would hold a public viewing of Schillaci at its Renzo Barbera stadium ahead of the funeral, the Gazzetta dello Sport reported.
French soccer player Wissam Ben Yedder will stay free ahead of his trial on charges of sexual assault while intoxicated, one of his lawyers told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
Marie Roumiantseva said Ben Yedder will remain under strict judicial supervision after a woman filed a lawsuit for sexual assault earlier this month.
The 34-year-old Ben Yedder, a prolific striker in the French league, was briefly detained then released after the alleged incident in his car on the French Riviera. Ben Yedder had been stopped by police after he first refused to do so. He was then put in a jail cell.
After he was summoned to appear in court on Oct. 15 and placed under judicial supervision, the Nice prosecutor’s office appealed the decision not to remand the player in custody. The investigative chamber of the Court of Appeal of Aix-en-Provence did not grant this request and kept Ben Yedder under judicial supervision.
Ben Yedder attended a hearing Tuesday during which he offered to go to rehab. He has admitted he drove while under the influence of alcohol but has denied any sexual assault.
In a separate legal case last year, Ben Yedder was charged with “rape, attempted rape and sexual assault” over another alleged incident in the south of France.
Ben Yedder has been without a club since his contract with Monaco expired at the end of last season.
