上海龙凤419,上海419论坛,夜上海论坛 – Powered By WeiFeng TV

Month: August 2021

qzyczew

Today’s coronavirus news: Deputy PM Chrystia Freeland takes COVID-19 test after app alert; Ontario reports 1,015 cases, 9 deaths; 11 cases at Scarborough school

Aug 10, 2021 , , , , by shlf

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

9:19 p.m.: Ontario Premier Doug Ford is leaving the door open for bodychecking to remain in the Ontario Hockey League for the upcoming season.

Ford tweeted Saturday night that he is working on a return to play plan with the OHL that would involve physical contact. He acknowledged that the plan would need to be approved by health experts.

This comes one day after Ontario’s minister of sport, Lisa MacLeod, said bodychecking would not be allowed during the COVID-19 pandemic in a speech delivered to the Empire Club of Canada.

The minister says the decision to ban bodychecking came after outbreaks in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, which led to games being postponed and rescheduled.

The QMJHL is the lone league of the three major junior leagues in action, though eight of the 18 teams aren’t allowed on the ice currently. The OHL plans to start its shortened season Feb. 4.

9:00 p.m.: Manitoba said it had 349 new positive tests to report on Saturday. While the new case count was down from the record-smashing 480 on Friday, it’s still much higher than the province’s previous new-case record of 193 set Thursday.

Starting Monday, bars and restaurants in Winnipeg can open only for pickup or takeout while facilities such as movie theatres, museums and libraries must close.

The measures, along with others, will last two weeks and will be reassessed at that time.

5:12 p.m.: Stanford University researchers say U.S. President Donald Trump’s months of campaign rallies resulted in thousands of COVID-19 cases.

Trump’s rallies likely led to thousands of coronavirus cases and hundreds of deaths, according to a Stanford report released on Friday. The study estimated that 18 Trump campaign rallies this summer were linked to more than 30,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 700 deaths.

“The communities in which Trump rallies took place paid a high price in terms of disease and death.”,” the researchers wrote.

The study analyzed COVID-19 cases in counties where rallies were held from June 20 to Sept. 22. The researchers relied on information from the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

4:08 p.m.: Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, announced she took a COVID-19 test on Saturday after a notification from the national tracking app.

Her stated: “Today, I had a COVID-19 test after I received a notification from the COVID Alert app. I am isolating at home while I wait for the results of the test. My thanks to our excellent health care professionals.”

3:48 p.m.: England will once again go into lockdown on Thursday, after COVID cases surpassed one million since the start of the pandemic.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the measures late Saturday. Bars and restaurants will close other than takeout for four weeks. (Schools and universities will be open and Premier League soccer will continue.)

“We have to change with the changing pattern of the virus. And, alas, what we’re seeing now is a pretty consistent surge.”

The move follows a series of incremental and regional measures, but the virus has not slowed down. The BBC reports that the last seven days have seen an average of 23,000 daily cases and 237 daily deaths.

2:17 p.m.: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to announce a second national lockdown for England, the BBC reports.

Non-essential shops and hospitality will have to close for four weeks, sources told the BBC, but schools and universities would remain open.

1:50 p.m.: A letter sent by the Ontario Restaurant Hotel and Motel and Association to Premier Doug Ford is calling for clear and transparent data before any further dining restrictions are put in due to the pandemic.

, signed by 37 food service leaders and released publicly, also calls for consultation with the industry, based on that data, and notes major job losses that have occurred and are expected.

Ford and Toronto Mayor John Tory said this week they would like to see the modified Stage 2 restrictions on bars and restaurants lifted at the end of their 28-day-periods, though many epidemiologists say more caution is needed.

1:18 p.m.: Public health officials in Nova Scotia say they’ve identified five new cases of COVID-19 in the province on Friday.

They say four of the cases are related to travel outside the Atlantic bubble, while the fifth is connected to a previous case.

Chief medical officer Dr. Robert Strang says the uptick in cases shows the increasing risk of travelling outside the bubble as other provinces in Canada deal with a second wave of the disease. The province now has a total of 11 active cases.

12:10 p.m.: Quebec is reporting 1,064 new cases of COVID-19 today and 15 additional deaths linked to the virus.

Provincial public health authorities say 503 people are currently in hospital due to the novel coronavirus, a decline of 12 from the day before.

Of those, 82 are in intensive care, an increase of one from the day before.

Public health said six of the additional deaths took place within the past 24-hours, with the rest taking place at an earlier date.

Quebec conducted 28,222 COVID-19 tests on Oct. 29, the most recent date for which data is available.

The provincial health department has now reported 106,016 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Quebec and 6,246 deaths linked to the virus.

11:23 a.m.: A outbreak was declared at a Scarborough elementary school Friday afternoon after nine staff members and two students tested positive for the coronavirus.

According to Toronto Public Health, 58 students have been asked to self-isolate as a precaution. The cases are believed to be linked to a single wing of the building.

Glamorgan Junior Public Schoolremains open, as the remainder of the school does not pose a threat.

10:37 a.m.: Ontario is reporting 1,015 cases of COVID-19 today, and nine deaths.

Health Minister Christine Elliott tweeted that there are 325 new cases in Toronto, 282 in Peel, 94 in Ottawa and 88 in York Region.

The seven-day average is at 914 daily, up from 803 this time last week. Today’s total cases is the second-highest, with 1,042 reported on Oct. 25.

More than 41,900 tests were completed, and 798 more cases are considered resolved.

Ontario recorded nine new deaths, equalling the number from the previous day. The numbers hospitalized were 320 (up six), with 73 in ICU (down two).

The total deaths from the virus in the province stands at 3,136.

10:32 a.m.: Grand Chief Arlen Dumas shook his head in shock when he saw the line indicating new First Nations infections on a chart during the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs most recent COVID-19 meeting.

“Up until today the average was usually slightly below the provincial rates, but today is quite alarming,” Dumas said Friday.

Indigenous leaders and health professionals are warning that the second wave of COVID-19 is building quickly among First Nations on the Prairies. Canada’s chief public health officer, Dr. Theresa Tam, reported Friday that 26 Indigenous communities had reported two or more active COVID-19 cases. Seventeen of those were in Manitoba.

A surge of infections in Saskatchewan and Alberta is also affecting reserves. The most recent numbers from Indigenous Services Canada show 116 on-reserve cases in Saskatchewan and 79 in Alberta.

Health officials say numbers shared by Manitoba’s First Nations COVID-19 pandemic response team indicate the impact is worsening. There are 516 active cases involving Indigenous people — 171 of them who live on reserve. Manitoba’s test positivity among First Nations stands at 11 per cent. It’s 8.6 per cent for the rest of the province.

9:21 a.m.: Wimbledon champion Simona Halep has tested positive for COVID-19 and says she has “mild symptoms.” The 29-year-old Romanian player said on Twitter that she is self-isolating at home and “recovering well from mild symptoms.”

Halep is ranked No. 2 in the world. She won Wimbledon in 2019 and the French Open in 2018. Wimbledon was cancelled this year because of the pandemic.

Halep skipped the U.S. Open due to fears of catching COVID-19. She said in August that she preferred to stay and train in Europe.

7:57 a.m.: Australia has announced it will spend 500 million Australian dollars ($351 million) to secure COVID-19 vaccines for the Pacific and Southeast Asia “as part of a shared recovery for our region from the pandemic.”

The government said it would use a range of advance purchase agreements with manufacturers via the global COVAX Facility plan, which aims to ensure virus vaccines are shared with all nations.

“We are committing an additional AU$500 million over three years towards this effort,” it said. “The funding will further help ensure that the countries of the Pacific and East Timor are able to achieve full immunization coverage, and will make a significant contribution toward meeting the needs of southeast Asia.

“A fast, safe vaccine rollout … will mean we are able to return to more normal travel, tourism and trade with our key partners in the region.”

Meanwhile, officials in Victoria state reported just one new case of COVID-19 on Saturday as Melbourne residents head into a weekend of greater social freedom.

7:50 a.m.: Greece will shut down restaurants, bars, cafes, cinemas and gyms across a large part of the country, including the capital Athens, after a surge in coronavirus cases.

Outlining the measures in a televised address, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said the changes will take effect Tuesday morning and last for the whole of November.

The areas affected are most of northern Greece and the Athens region.

7:02 a.m.: The British government is considering imposing a new national lockdown in England, after its scientific advisers warned that hospitalizations and deaths from the resurgence of the coronavirus could soon surpass the levels seen at the outbreak’s spring peak.

Epidemiologist John Edmunds, a member of the government’s scientific advisory group, said cases were running “significantly above” a reasonable worst-case scenario drawn up by modelers early this month.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has introduced a system of local restrictions for England based on levels of infection. But scientists say it has not been enough.

4:55 a.m.: China has reported six new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in an outbreak in Xinjiang, bringing the total in the far-west region to 51.

Six were in serious condition, Xinjiang health authorities said Saturday. Another 161 people have tested positive but show no symptoms.

The outbreak in Shufu county, near the city of Kashgar, appears to be linked to a garment factory that employs 252 people and has been sealed off.

4:01 a.m.: The latest numbers of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Canada as of 4:00 a.m. EDT on Oct. 31, 2020:

There are 231,998 confirmed cases in Canada.

_ Quebec: 104,952 confirmed (including 6,231 deaths, 89,592 resolved)

_ Ontario: 74,715 confirmed (including 3,127 deaths, 63,919 resolved)

_ Alberta: 27,664 confirmed (including 323 deaths, 22,169 resolved)

_ British Columbia: 14,381 confirmed (including 263 deaths, 11,670 resolved)

_ Manitoba: 5,374 confirmed (including 65 deaths, 2,572 resolved)

_ Saskatchewan: 3,066 confirmed (including 25 deaths, 2,299 resolved)

_ Nova Scotia: 1,104 confirmed (including 65 deaths, 1,033 resolved)

_ New Brunswick: 342 confirmed (including 6 deaths, 297 resolved)

_ Newfoundland and Labrador: 291 confirmed (including 4 deaths, 282 resolved)

_ Prince Edward Island: 64 confirmed (including 63 resolved)

_ Yukon: 23 confirmed (including 1 death, 17 resolved)

_ Repatriated Canadians: 13 confirmed (including 13 resolved)

_ Northwest Territories: 9 confirmed (including 8 resolved)

_ Nunavut: No confirmed cases

_ Total: 231,998 (0 presumptive, 231,998 confirmed including 10,110 deaths, 193,934 resolved)

tuciprrryen

‘We’re in a high-risk situation’: As COVID-19 cases reach record levels, Toronto prepares for reopening

Aug 10, 2021 , , , , by shlf

As the number of new cases in Toronto reaches unprecedented levels, the city is preparing to announce its preferred approach to reopening, originally set for Saturday.

, the city’s medical officer of health, said Monday that as the pandemic drags on she fears residents will start to see alarming case counts — 504 new cases reported Monday — as normal, but she urged people to remain vigilant as she and other city officials promised to detail next steps on Tuesday.

De Villa said there had been almost 1,350 cases over the last three days, what she called “the most concerning I’ve seen here in Toronto since the pandemic started.”

“Five hundred confirmed cases in one day is not a number that can be ignored or rationalized. We’re in a high-risk situation. It is not time to panic, but it is time to act.”

But de Villa would not say Monday whether she would recommend indoor dining or gym classes be allowed, or impose further measures on those and other activities as has been done in Peel Region. But she did suggest that relaxing the rules is not in order.

“I believe that if we’d seen these numbers in April, or May or even August we all would have found the case counts extremely worrisome. I don’t think the current case counts point us towards relaxing the roadblocks we’re putting up in front of the virus,” she said at a Monday press briefing. “The extra time we asked for shows that we have not reached that point yet.”

The province earlier announced a colour-coded framework for reopening that saw restrictions lifted in many areas this weekend despite a rise in cases. Toronto was omitted from the new stages after city officials asked for another week to assess the situation locally.

Under the new provincial rules, which are set to come into effect on Saturday, Toronto would fall into the “orange” or “restrict” category, which includes allowing up to 50 people dining indoors and 50 people at gyms.

City officials said Monday they continue to seek further legal and public advice.

“Every option is actively being considered so that we can assure ourselves that we are making the best decision,” de Villa said.

promised “strong, responsible” action based on the best available advice in public health and law, and that conversations with the province remain “constructive.”

As Brampton saw cases continuing to spike, Dr. Lawrence Loh, Peel Region’s medical officer of health, issued new directives on Saturday that impose restrictions on residents and businesses beyond the province’s new framework.

“Concerningly, in the past week area hospitals have begun to reach capacity as a direct consequence of a surge in COVID-19 admissions,” the letter from Loh reads. “This means any further growth of the COVID-19 pandemic in our community will overwhelm our efforts to keep our community safe, ensure access to hospital and health-care services and prevent mortality.”

Despite warnings from the Ontario Hospital Association about health system capacity, Peel joined other areas in reopening this weekend as the only region in the “red” or “control” category under the province’s newly announced “Keeping Ontario Safe and Open” framework.

The red category amounts to a modified stage 2, but one that is different than what is currently in place in Toronto. It allows up to 10 people to dine indoors and 10-person gym classes.

Loh’s letter said the new provincial framework “may result in a small but material reopening of certain high-risk businesses” which he said needed to be countered with additional measures to prevent risk of spread. That includes, for example, directing all wedding celebrations in businesses be prohibited and specific new measures for group gym classes, though they continue to be discouraged.

He also issued advice to residents — which is not enforceable — to not gather outside their household, asked bars and restaurants to limit seating to those within the same household only and recommended religious groups move services online.

Speaking to reporters Monday, Premier Doug Ford reiterated confidence in the province’s plan, calling it a “very good framework.”

He said his government continues to collaborate with Tory and de Villa.

“We’re going to communicate and make sure that we’re all on the same page at the end of the day,” Ford said. “Dr. de Villa has the authority and the power to change things if she’s not comfortable.”

The city and province have previously disagreed over who has the ultimate authority to impose sweeping measures, which caused a week-long standoff earlier this fall when de Villa urged Ford’s government to return Toronto to stage 2 under the old rules.

Natalia Kusendova, the PC MPP for Mississauga Centre, posted a video to her Twitter account on Sunday singling out Dr. Loh and making it clear the government was not responsible for imposing additional measures on religious services or other activities.

Asked about Loh’s directives on Monday, Ford said he respected Loh’s advice.

“I support what he has done and we’re going to move forward with the guidelines that he’s recommending.”

Jennifer Pagliaro is a Toronto-based reporter covering city hall and municipal politics for the Star. Follow her on Twitter:

lyljhfc dkqf

Bradford gymnastics club offers program for children with special needs

Aug 10, 2021 , , , , by shlf

The team at Genesis Gymnastics is filling a need it saw in Bradford.

A new program at the gymnastics club is specifically designed for children with special needs. 

“There’s not a lot of options out there for parents who have kids with special needs, so we feel we can become a part of their community,” said Donna Katz, owner of Genesis Gymnastics.

Genesis Gymnastics was always a place that special-needs children were able to go, but now there’s a program designed with them in mind.

“We’ve never had a dedicated program where people know there is something out there for them,” Katz said. 

The program is designed for children four to 10 years old, but Katz said they’re willing to accommodate younger and older children as the need arises.

First, it’s determined what the child needs are and how long the class needs to be. There is a group class, but there’s also one-on-one coaching available.

“It would be just them, just their group,” Katz said. “It would be a class at a quieter time where there’s less distractions.”

The classes will vary on what they cover, but physically the children will learn balance, flexibility, coordination and strength, Katz said.

Katz has been in the gymnastics industry for nearly 50 years and will be supporting Shannon Cappello, who has two decades worth of experience working with children with special needs, specializing in Autism Spectrum Disorder.

“We’ve actually been able to create something new that people are very excited about,” Katz said. 

To keep everyone safe during the COVID-19 pandemic, there’s a screening process for everyone who enters the building as well as a temperature check. Everyone is required to sanitize their hands as well. Children who are taking part in the class are required to sanitize their hands at several points during the class. Coaches will be wearing masks, but the children who are exercising are not required to wear one. 

“Knowing that there’s a lack of programs for children with special needs and their siblings, I reached out to (Katz) to shed some light on creating a new opportunity for opening up a program for children with special needs and their siblings,” Cappello said.

Cappello said it’s important for children with special needs to socialize with other people and the classes can provide that opportunity. 

“Incorporating a program that facilitates socialization, facilitates the ability to develop gross motor skills and cognitive motor skills and development through those areas … is so important,” Cappello said. 

Genesis Gymnastics held an open house to garner interest in the program and both Katz and Cappello said they were excited by the response.

“It was actually an amazing success because we received registrations right after the trial run,” Cappello said. “It’s just so rewarding. Parents felt like somebody heard them.”

For more information on the program, call Genesis Gymnastics or email . 

STORY BEHIND THE STORY: Reporter Laura Broadley heard about the program Genesis Gymnastics had created and wanted to find out how it worked.

aaqqt lnwu

‘It’s not an issue limited to Wasaga Beach’: call for tougher car rally measures gets support from other towns

Aug 10, 2021 , , , , by shlf

A host of municipalities have rallied behind Wasaga Beach to ask the province for tougher rules on illegal gatherings of car enthusiasts.

The town was inundated in late September by drivers and their vehicles in a so-called ‘pop-up’ H2Oi car rally, in spite of the urging of OPP and local municipal officials for people to stay home.

The drivers came, regardless, and that resulted in about a dozen charges under the Reopening Ontario Act put in place due to the pandemic.

Police took 14 cars off the road for a variety of infractions, from street racing to having an unsafe vehicle.

At its Nov. 25 meeting, council received a motion from Halton Hills — in response to a letter to Premier Doug Ford from Wasaga Mayor Nina Bifolchi on Oct. 1 — and supporting letters from South Bruce Peninsula, Northumberland and the Township of Douro-Dummer, asking the Ontario government to develop tougher laws and larger financial penalties for unauthorized car rallies and participants.

“As a fellow tourist community, we understand the extreme upset that was caused in Wasaga Beach,” read the letter from South Bruce Peninsula Mayor Janice Jackson. “As more and more alarming behaviour is displayed, it becomes ever more apparent that training and support resources are required by our police forces.

“More support is required to ensure that these front-line peacekeepers are able to perform their duties without hesitation and with expert skills.”

In her Oct. 1 letter, Bifolchi made a number of recommendations to the premier, including enforcement and increased fines related to the display of licence plates, the use of improper exhaust, and the use of nitrous oxide fuel systems. Suggested penalties included higher fines, vehicle impoundment, and automatic licence suspensions.

She also suggested that municipalities have the authority to close its borders with the assistance of the OPP.

“It’s not an issue limited to Wasaga Beach,” said Wasaga Beach Coun. David Foster during the Nov. 25 meeting. “It’s disheartening to a certain extent that this is going on, not only from public safety, but also in relation to COVID-19.

“For those who say this is just kids having fun, you go, at what cost?” he said.

zwigdjj

Shawn Micallef: Closing Lake Shore to cars on weekends clearly worked. Here’s how to make ActiveTO even better as COVID-19 cases rise

Aug 9, 2021 , , , , by shlf

Over the last four months, kids in Toronto got on bikes and followed their parents around like goslings behind a mother goose each weekend. It’s a sight not as common as it should be in Toronto, where the speed and erratic skills of drivers, along with roads designed for cars first, can make such an outing fraught.

The “ActiveTO” major road closures on Lake Shore Boulevard, Bayview Avenue and River Street changed that. After a bad spring where people in public space were suspect and shamed, when all of High Park was closed because of the spectre of a cherry blossom blowout, the city of Toronto did something great: it gave the people space to spread out so they could walk, run and cycle.

The move acknowledged that this is a city of many apartments with inhabitants who have no or little outdoor space of their own. It was also a strong signal that being outside was good, safe and where we should go to exercise, improve our mental health and even socialize during this long pandemic. I don’t think I’ve seen a city program embraced so quickly and enthusiastically. It’s a major success.

Last week, the city . On days without significant rainfall from June to August, an average of 18,000 cyclists and 4,000 pedestrians were on Lake Shore West. On Lake Shore East, 6,300 cyclists and 5,700 pedestrians were present, while 2,000 cyclists and 300 pedestrians used Bayview.

All this happened and the sky did not fall. The sky being traffic, that is. Parts of major arteries can be shut down an entire weekend and the city can carry on just fine, without major disruptions. That’s a lesson to remember.

On weekends when there was construction on the Gardiner, the Lake Shore closures were skipped. It all worked out.

The street closures were set to come to an end last weekend, something that took me by surprise considering both their success and the dramatic rise in COVID-19 cases of late, largely due to indoor transmission. The need to keep encouraging outdoor activity is still there.

Enlightened heads prevailed and Mayor John Tory announced the closures will be extended into October. As the temperature gets cooler and the annual urge to hibernate rises, it’s an important message to send: we’ve got to do winter differently this year, like it or not.

Another ActiveTO message ,” those routes with the “Share Space” signs and barriers that, in theory, forced drivers to slow down, but their success is harder to gauge.

Roads in North America are generally designed to move cars fast and minimize driver thinking, but the opposite of both is needed in cities. As the well-marked photo radar cameras proved over the summer, speeders in their first month of operation, physical redesign of streets is also needed to slow drivers down to safer speeds. Those barriers did that for some, getting drivers to think and negotiate with oncoming traffic. Eye contact, necessary communication and some coerced courtesy: all things that make drivers better use the skills they should have.

Unfortunately, some drivers decided they would treat the Quiet Streets as if they were on a giant slalom alpine ski course. On streets that didn’t have concrete barriers installed, the orange and black rubber barrels were routinely moved to the side or simply run over. Beginning Thanksgiving, the Quiet Street signs and barricades are scheduled to be removed.

This is a great shame as this initiative needed time and tweaks to become a success. Time for both drivers and other users to understand and learn how to use this new kind of shared street, something largely alien to North America but common in other regions, and for design tweaks to be made and other elements introduced that would slow drivers down, like speed humps and narrower street widths. The city conducted a survey on Quiet Streets and worthy resident suggestions could also be incorporated.

I know I’m not alone in finding I gravitated to these streets when walking and I often followed one to another when out cycling. In some places there was a logic to how they were laid out and they became welcome corridors in a city that can be hostile to non-automobile forms of transportation. When driving I avoided these streets.

Imagine if these routes were permanent: they would change the way we navigate the city. Imperfect as they are, the sign on each block proclaiming all forms of transportation are welcome and must be respected is a big deal, a philosophical shift.

Over the summer, . Fall and winter are not the time to slow that momentum, but rather find even more ways like these to make the outdoor city welcoming to residents.

Shawn Micallef is a Toronto-based writer and a freelance contributing columnist for the Star. Follow him on Twitter:

ultafcc

COVID-19 outbreak at Oshawa wedding yields eight new cases so far

Aug 9, 2021 , , , , by shlf

The Durham Region Health Department is urging guests and staff to come forward after an COVID-19 outbreak at a wedding at Oshawa’s on Sept. 19.

According to the department, about 50 guests and eight to 10 staff and volunteers were in attendance, resulting in eight positive cases of so far.

“It is very important that individuals who participated in this wedding contact us as soon as possible to allow Health Department staff to provide appropriate followup,” said Dr. Pepi McTavish, Durham region assistant medical officer of health, in a news release.

Two workplaces have also been contacted for further investigation.

Anyone who attended the event is encouraged to call the Health Department at 905-668-4113, ext. 2680.

Ann Marie Elpa is a breaking news reporter, working out of the Star’s radio room in Toronto. Reach her via email:

zwigdjj

Toronto’s Santa Claus parade to be staged in closed parade route, broadcast in a TV special

Aug 9, 2021 , , , , by shlf

Santa Claus has arrived in Toronto by plane, pulled by horses and at least once pulled by reindeer, but in 2020, in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19, he’ll be arriving remotely by television.

In a major departure from a tradition that has entertained families for generations, the parade will not wind through Toronto streets cheered on by thousands of children and their parents struggling to keep warm — a quintessentially Canadian experience that kicks off the holiday season in the city.

Instead the event will be staged in a new, closed parade route and broadcast later in a two-hour national television special, organizers officially announced early Friday morning.

“It’s been a tradition for so long, and making it move away from what many Torontonians and Canadians have come to expect of the parade is difficult,” said Clay Charters, president and CEO of the parade.

“On the other side, it was a decision that was certainly made with the interest of public health in mind.”

Charters would not disclose the new location, but said it will provide a safe environment for everyone working on the parade and will preclude the general public from wandering across it.

The parade has not been cancelled since it launched in Toronto in 1905, Charters said.

It was held in 1918 and 1919, as the world fought a flu pandemic that would claim an estimated 20 million to 50 million lives. COVID-19 has killed more than one million people worldwide since it was first detected at the end of 2019.

Toronto announced on Sept. 23 that it , part of its effort to stem the spread of COVID-19.

Santa Claus parade organizers have been saying since early September , but this this is the first time details of those changes have been shared.

The televised parade will include 20 floats, which viewers will be able to see close-up for the first time. Organizers are promising special musical guests, celebrity appearances, bands playing traditional Christmas songs, and the parade’s iconic celebrity clowns. The show is scheduled to air Saturday, Dec. 5th at 7 p.m. ET on CTV and CTV2.

The parade typically takes place in November.

“Holiday celebrations will look much different this year, but we are committed to delivering a very special edition of the parade to viewers in prime time,” said Mike Cosentino, president, content and programming.

Correction – Oct. 2, 2020: This article was edited from a previous version that mistakenly said the parade would be broadcast live.

is a Toronto-based reporter covering city hall and municipal politics for the Star. Follow her on Twitter:

tuciprrryen

Pre-registration required for Orillia drop-in rec programs

Aug 9, 2021 , , , , by shlf

Orillia’s gradual return to recreational programming is underway as the municipality begins offering drop-in activities.

In response to the pandemic and the need to keep track of visitors, participants are required to pre-register for programs.

“We are excited to provide safe recreational opportunities to the public to help with physical and mental health during these challenging times,” said Megan Visser, recreation program supervisor.

Drop-in programs, including public skating, require pre-registration to ensure contact tracing occurs and facilities remain within occupancy limits set by the provincial government.

“Although it may seem like an extra step in order to attend a drop-in program like public skating or pickleball, these efforts are being put in place to provide a safe environment to participate in recreational activities,” said Marcia Russell, manager of recreation services.

Staff worked alongside the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit to develop these protocols to ensure a safe return to recreation.

Visitors can register up to 24 hours in advance of their program.

“The new process to register for our drop-in programs will allow participants the flexibility to choose which drop-in programs they wish to attend in advance,” Visser added.

Safety measures are in place for all municipal recreation programs, including screening of participants and a requirement to sign a waiver prior to entering any facility.

Masks must be worn in common areas and participants cannot arrive more than 15 minutes prior to the start of a program.

Drop-in registration applies at all municipal recreation facilities – Rotary Place, Brian Orser Arena and the Orillia Recreation Centre on West Street South.

Russell told Simcoe.com staff was gearing up to welcome user groups, program registrants and drop-in participants to the new recreation centre as soon as possible.

“We are just waiting on some final details on the building to be completed before opening to the public,” she added.

Drop-ins will be open for registration one week in advance via the city’s

For more information on safety protocols, instructions for how to sign up for programs and drop-in times, go to

ecvcw hjlapp

Shree Paradkar: Covidiots come in all colours. Using race-based data to demonize South Asians is a cruel twisting of the evidence

Aug 9, 2021 , , , , by shlf

From the barbaric East Asians and their habits to the villainous South Asians and their dangerous socializing habits, the narrative has traced an interesting if richly trajectory in the eight months since it has afflicted us.

Across the U.K., Canada, the U.S. and other nations, the pandemic is unveiling what health experts have always known: structures birthed in bias and driven by principles of profit have gone on to exacerbate the suffering of people living in the margins.

In June, a by Public Health England said Black and Asian people in England are up to 50 per cent more likely to die after being infected with COVID-19.

In the U.S., by the APM research lab shows Black, Indigenous and Latino Americans experience a death rate triple or more that of white Americans from COVID-19, adjusted for age.

And a StatsCan report last month found people in large visible minority neighbourhoods in B.C, Quebec and Ontario had a much higher likelihood of dying than mostly white neighbourhoods.

There is a growing discussion, in particular, on the role of South Asians who account for nearly half the cases of COVID-19 in the GTA’s Peel region, although they populate about a third of it. Of the 1,417 new cases of COVID-19 Ontario reported Wednesday, about a third, or 463, came from Peel.

All this data.

Data is important to pinpoint where weaknesses lie and where solutions are needed. But of what use data if the collection itself is seen as action against those inequities? Of what use data if the analysis is used to blame communities for cultural deficiencies and individuals for systemic failures?

As the Peel example shows, layer that data with anecdotes and personal experiences of irresponsible socializing and snap, a simplistic narrative is born.

In published last week in the Royal Society of Canada, University of Toronto professor Rinaldo Walcott slammed the gap between calls for race-based data collection and claims it leads to better policy making.

“Race-based data can quite frankly slow down reform,” he wrote. “ ‘Doing the research’ when a problem is already identified and its solutions known, means the collection of race-based data does not actually add much to policymaking. In fact, in some cases, it can do more harm than good.”

Toronto Public Health data has consistently shown disproportionate impacts of COVID in the city’s northwest. Sané Dube, a manager of Community and Policy with Social Medicine at the University Health Network, often takes the 29 Dufferin bus that goes through some of the worst-affected areas. “The 29 often looks like there’s no pandemic. The bus is so full. And people who are going to work are on that bus. Same with the 35 on Jane.”

Public health could ask the TTC to provide more buses on those routes, she says, so that people — many of whom are essential workers, “you know, the people we need to work to be able to survive the pandemic” — don’t have to be on crowded buses.

That is one example of evidence-based action.

If Black people have long been treated as having a cultural abnormality with their broken families — think of the single-mom and absent-father tropes — without a thought to why those families have been ripped apart, now it’s the turn of South Asians to be demonized for the opposite, their multi-generation family homes and their socializing habits.

That there is an affordable housing crisis is well-known. Earlier this month Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown Peel was getting an isolation hotel, a place for people with precarious employment or living in crowded housing to isolate safely. This is another example of evidence-based action. But why the delay?

“That Peel is getting this now — we are in Month 8 of the pandemic. Why are we just getting this now?” Dube asks.

“There is complexity behind this data that goes far deeper than South Asian “culture” or “values,”” Seher Shafiq in First Policy Response, a new project by Ryerson Leadership Lab and other institutions that publishes policy ideas, where she is a managing editor.

“South Asians, like their other racialized peers on the frontlines of this pandemic, are disproportionately employed in precarious jobs in the service industry and gig economy – brewing Tim Hortons coffee, bagging groceries and delivering UberEats orders. This means they are exposed to the virus in their day-to-day lives.”

This “model minority” was by the pandemic recession in October, according to StatsCan.

It’s easier to pathologize communities than implement evidence-based action. Easier to berate people for parties and “multi-day weddings” than to examine if there are adequate testing sites, if they are easily accessible by public transit and if there are adequate supports for those who do test positive.

I have little doubt there are brown covidiots out there, in large homes and small, who think they are impervious to the virus and socialize irresponsibly. I have seen no evidence yet that they are disproportionately more so than any other racial or ethnic group. If there is a blip in numbers after Diwali this past weekend, will it be solidly more than the blip after Thanksgiving? More than after Christmas?

Covidiocy may be unrelated to race but this much is clear: race and culture are very much related to who gets scrutiny and who escapes it.

As East Asians — ironically among the least impacted by the virus — will testify, it doesn’t take long for the blame game to spill over to people and their cultures.

Shree Paradkar is a Toronto-based columnist covering issues around race and gender for the Star. Follow her on Twitter:

ultafcc

Most Ontarians believe the pandemic will last 1 to 2 years and favour continued COVID-19 restrictions, new Star poll says

Aug 9, 2021 , , , , by shlf

Most Ontarians believe the, which struck in March, will last one to two years, a new Star poll suggests.

The Campaign Research survey also found a vast majority of respondents want restrictions to continue until the end of November to curb the spread of coronavirus infections, which have risen to new heights in recent weeks.

This comes as is expected to announce Tuesday a new framework that would allow businesses, such as , to re-open for indoor services.

Overall, 72 per cent of people believe the government has done “a good job” responding to the pandemic with 21 per cent saying it has done “a bad job” and 6 per cent were unsure.

But 69 per cent feel restrictions should remain in place until the end of the month.

That included 54 per cent who felt the government has done “a good job” and 15 per cent who felt the government “has done a bad job because the rules and restrictions were not effective enough and more restrictions and more enforcement must be put into place.”

Campaign Research polled 1,118 people across Ontario last Thursday through Monday using Maru/Blue’s online panel. It is an opt-in poll, but for comparison purposes, a random sample of this size would have a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

The firm found 23 per cent believe the pandemic will last one year, 21 per cent a year and a half, 14 per cent two or more years, and 13 per cent feel it will “never be fully over.”

Only two per cent think it will end within three months, six per cent within six months, and nine per cent within nine months.

“It tells me that people are realistic,” Campaign Research principal Nick Kouvalis said Tuesday.

“A large amount of people are listening to everything … and they understand that this thing is not going away soon,” said Kouvalis, who has worked with Conservative and Liberal candidates across Canada and managed the winning Toronto mayoral campaigns of Rob Ford and John Tory.

Indeed, 52 per cent agree with Premier Doug Ford’s decision last month to enter a modified Stage 2, which limited restaurants and bars to patio and takeout service, while 18 per cent feel the government should have remained in the less restrictive Stage 3.

At the same time, 19 per cent believe the Tories should impose a Stage 1 “stay-at-home” lockdown as was the case last spring.

“There’s definitely a balancing act for the government,” said Kouvalis.

Almost three-quarters — 72 per cent — feel COVID-19 measures should continue to be implemented on a “region-by-region” basis as opposed to 20 per cent that favour province-wide curbs while nine per cent were unsure.

With Finance Minister Rod Phillips unveiling a provincial budget on Thursday, 44 per cent of respondents feel the Tories are “spending the right amount” while 14 per cent believe they are spending “too much” and 18 per cent “too little” and 24 per cent weren’t sure.

The governing Tories received good marks from respondents when asked which party is best at guiding the economic recovery with 41 per cent favouring them compared with 13 per cent for the New Democrats, nine per cent for the Liberals, four per cent for the Greens, one per cent for another party, while 33 per cent were undecided.

In terms of the ballot test, the Conservatives were at 39 per cent, the Liberals at 19 per cent, the New Democrats at 17 per cent, the Greens six per cent with 17 per cent undecided.

is the Star’s Queen’s Park bureau chief and a reporter covering Ontario politics. Follow him on Twitter: