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Pandemic models didn’t see COVID-fatigue coming, says one of Canada’s top doctors

Apr 28, 2022 , , , , by shlf

OTTAWA – Mask more. Wash more. Stay home. Keep your distance. Always.

That message hammered into everyone, every day, by every provincial and federal official is a tough sell in the second wave of the .

COVID-fatigue is real.

Now one of Canada’s top public health doctors admits it poses a genuine challenge to officials who are trying to understand how the virus still has the upper hand, and how to engage people to combat it.

Deputy chief public health officer Dr. Howard Njoo mused aloud this week that scientific modellers did not accurately foresee how human behaviour – especially COVID-fatigue — would factor into the rising second wave and be such a tough thing to predict.

Epidemic modelling in the spring predicted a best-case scenario, in which strong infection control measures were in place, would see Canada experience 11,000 deaths over the entire course of the pandemic.

But just nine months after the World Health Organization declared the pandemic, that number has already been overtaken, with one global tracker reporting Canadian COVID-19 deaths at 11,165 as of Wednesday.

Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer, attributed it to the high number of deaths in long-term care homes.

In the spring, Njoo said, modellers focused on technical variables like attack rate and projections, “and so on and so forth.”

But one thing “we didn’t take into account — and it’s something we’re learning about — is the human behavioural aspect and the fact we’re all suffering COVID fatigue.”

Njoo said people “bought into” the need to wear a face mask and physical distancing in the spring, and by now, they know “there’s a higher risk in terms of closed settings of being exposed.”

But the second wave has been tough.

“How do we get people to understand and appreciate that the situation now is just as severe if not worse compared to what we endured in the spring? That to me is a big learning in terms of the social and behavioural aspect of this.”

Raywat Deonandan, an epidemiologist and associate professor at the University of Ottawa, agrees that there were challenges that made it difficult to forecast just how tough this wave would be.

First, he said, “the degree of anti authoritarianism was not expected, and therefore not included in models” as non-compliance.

Second, “the degree of misinformation and disinformation was not expected, and that directs human behaviour.”

Third, the nature of this disease itself was not expected. Now it spreads by explosive super-spreading events, rather than seeping out uniformly like the flu.”

And finally, Deonandan wrote in response to the Star, “the compartmental nature of human interaction is not included in many models, how most of us only interact with a set number of people in our given lives.”

In an interview Wednesday, Njoo said the coronavirus has challenged both public health modelling and messaging in many ways.

First, he said Canada based its pandemic planning on an influenza pandemic and how a respiratory infectious disease typically behaves. But the novel coronavirus had unique characteristics – for example asymptomatic transmission, and airborne transmission by smaller, not just large, droplets – which were not immediately known.

He pushed back at critics who say Canadians were confused because public health authorities kept changing their advice, saying public health messages on masking and physical distancing had to — and did — evolve along with the science.

“But part of my learning was that we never anticipated that, let’s say even with the wearing of masks and so on, we never anticipated we’d all be doing it for so long.”

That’s where fatigue comes in.

And Njoo doesn’t think its depth as a cultural and social factor was foreseeable.

“This is an unprecedented pandemic,” he said. “Even with H1N1, I don’t think we got into the depth or length of having to deal with it for this period of time.”

Secondly, he notes, this is the first pandemic of the social media era. That makes the spread of “misinformation and disinformation” easier, and challenges health professionals to use behavioural science and social marketing techniques to cut through the noise and the fatigue.

That makes this pandemic different than, say, the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918-1919

Liberal MP Kirsty Duncan is an expert in pandemics, the environment and human health, and wrote a book on the Spanish flu. She says it’s hard to compare the two time periods and how pandemic fatigue factors in. In 1918, “the flu came at the end of the (First World War). People had suffered for four years. There was a shortage of medical personnel because doctors and nurses were serving in the war,” she said.

“Things were done differently in different places. Some places had masking, some places closed businesses, other places closed schools. There was no flu vaccine, no antiviral drugs, no antibiotics. Today scientists are working around the clock for preventives.”

Njoo said while we await a vaccine, Canadians need to stick to what works.

He called the #COVIDZero campaign – an idea advocated by some doctors to drive cases down to zero — “a nice, aspirational sort of a goal or objective.”

But he said we need to consider the “practical aspect” or “feasibility” of it, and “balancing all of the sort of unintended consequences of it.”

“I think what needs to happen is maybe a bit of a surgical, targeted approach, maybe a combination of still pushing for people to do the right things in terms of personal behaviour” and, as seen in jurisdictions like Nunavut, short-term lockdowns.

That, and provinces need an aggressive “test-trace-isolate” strategy in place, he said.

Testing “hesitancy” is a hurdle for officials to overcome because people are worried about being stigmatized, facing discrimination or job security challenges. Njoo said some provinces have asked for extra human resources for contact tracing from the federal government but it’s hard to integrate them into local efforts.

At the end of the day, said Njoo, combating COVID-19 relies on individual behaviour.

“It’s not only government or public health authorities alone, leaning on the hammer, that’s going to address this. It’s going to be every single person.”

Tam told reporters Wednesday that another set of federal modelling scenarios will be presented Friday, and she suggested Canadians can still “be successful again if we rapidly get the resurgence under control.”

Tonda MacCharles is an Ottawa-based reporter covering federal politics for the Star. Follow her on Twitter:

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COVID testing to begin in schools in Toronto, Peel, York, Ottawa

Mar 31, 2022 , , , , by shlf

The provincial government will start asymptomatic testing of students and staff in Toronto, Peel, York and Ottawa in a move that could shed some light on the spread of in schools.

But experts and parents say a lot depends on how the program is rolled out in the four Ontario hot spots.

Despite increasing rates of community transmission of the disease, “our remain safe,” Education Minister Stephen Lecce said Thursday.

“The risk within our schools reflects the risk within our communities,” Lecce said at a press conference at St. Marcellinus Secondary School in Mississauga, alongside Premier Doug Ford. “We believe as we see the risk rising in our community, we cannot hope for the best. We’ve got to continuously act.”

The voluntary school testing — among the first such programs in Canada — is meant for students, staff and families over four weeks in areas experiencing the highest number of active cases. But Lecce said if health officials recommend “that it should be expanded or we should augment the list, we will continue to follow that direction and implement it swiftly.”

He added, “We do believe that this program is going to just only further help protect schools” and keep them open.

Transmission of the disease in schools has been a polarizing topic throughout the pandemic, with government and health officials saying schools are safe while some parents, educators and medical experts continue to call for more targeted testing to understand where cases could be missed.

Surveillance testing, in which groups of people without symptoms are tested to get data, has been used in U.S. schools in , and .

Dr. Isaac Bogoch, an infectious diseases specialist at the Toronto General Hospital Research Institute and the University of Toronto, said if the province’s announcement is “truly a surveillance program” then it’s a “great idea to see how much COVID is actually circulating in schools.”

If designed well, such testing could actually “detect infection early to prevent an outbreak,” he said. But “obviously, like anything else, the details are important.”

Rachel Huot, an organizer with the Ontario Parent Action Network, said there’s “no question” such a program will help, but added, “It’s just, how strong will it be?”

It is “late” to be starting this testing now, she said, after the province first announced it in August. “We sort of passed a really critical point in our schools, and it’s really light on the details about what it will look like.”

Testing was already under way Thursday at the first participating school, Thorncliffe Park Public School, in one of the hardest-hit neighbourhoods in Toronto, where about 300 of 750 students were tested.

The board is now looking at other schools to participate.

Three Toronto Catholic schools have been selected, and testing will run until Dec. 18.

Speaking before the announcement, Dr. Janine McCready, an infectious disease specialist at Michael Garron Hospital, said the Thorncliffe program is a way to break down barriers for community members, but also a way to understand “what is happening with school transmission,” since kids often of COVID-19.

“There’s so much talk and I don’t think we have as much evidence as we’d really like,” McCready added.

Toronto’s medical officer of health, Dr. Eileen de Villa, has said the recent resurgence in cases in the city does not appear to be driven primarily by the reopening of schools.

Meanwhile, news of stable education funding grants this year was welcomed by school boards, given that some have had than expected because of the pandemic.

“We were very, very concerned about this and we are really pleased they listened to our concerns and froze funding,” said Cathy Abraham, president of the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association.

Boards would otherwise have lost “a significant amount of money across the province” because students — many of them in junior kindergarten — were expected to attend classes but didn’t, she added.

The Toronto District School Board alone was looking at a $41-million shortfall in its per-student funding.

Ford also announced the province will provide an extra $13.6 million in COVID funding to schools in regions where cases are edging up — Durham, Halton, Hamilton and Waterloo.

But NDP education critic Marit Stiles called the province’s testing announcement “a half-measure.”

“Some students in some regions may be able to get tests,” she said, noting the program lasts only four weeks.

“Ford’s still trying to cheap out on testing students, teachers and staff, and that’s not good enough,” she said.

It will be up to boards to determine where and how to conduct the testing, but rapid tests will not be used.

Kristin Rushowy is a Toronto-based reporter covering Ontario politics for the Star. Follow her on Twitter:

May Warren is a Toronto-based breaking news reporter for the Star. Follow her on Twitter:

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Ontario reports 826 COVID-19 cases, the third highest of the pandemic, with nine more deaths

Oct 28, 2021 , , , , by shlf

Residents of Oakville and the rest of Halton Region will learn Monday if they’ll face new COVID-19 restrictions like a ban on indoor dining and shutdowns of gyms and theatres, says Premier Doug Ford.

“It’s concerning right now, we’re seeing the numbers go up again,” Ford said Friday as cases remained stubbornly high in several parts of the province were pushed into the modified Stage 2 measures.

There were 826 new infections across Ontario, but still the third highest since a on the eve of the Thanksgiving weekend.

Deaths have increased significantly from just a month ago, with nine more fatalities reported Friday — the third day in a row at that level. There have been 49 deaths in the last week, up from 34 in the previous seven days.

“We’re going to have to discuss that over the weekend,” Ford said of the situation in Halton, which he first flagged earlier this month.

“We’re going to discuss all the different regions where we see an escalation in cases.”

Hamilton, where there has been a super-spreader outbreak at a spinning studio, and the public health unit serving the Eastern Ontario region have previously been warned they could face restrictions to stop the spread of the virus.

While Halton had 34 new cases Friday, an increase from 29 the previous day, health authorities look at other indicators such as hospital and intensive care unit occupancy levels, and the percentage of people testing positive in making their decisions on new restrictions.

There were 292 new cases in Toronto, 186 in Peel, 87 in Ottawa and 72 in York Region. York was 2 restrictions on Monday. Durham had 38 cases Friday, up from 29 the previous day.

Hospitalizations continued to creep up across the province, rising by six patients to 276 with another four requiring intensive care for a total of 78, the highest since June 21. There were 47 ICU patients on ventilators to breathe.

One month ago there were just 88 patients in hospital for COVID-19, with 24 in ICUs and nine relying on ventilators to breathe for them.

Officials have warned that the ability of hospitals to perform non-emergency surgeries starts being impaired once 150 COVID-19 patients are in ICUs across the province, and becomes extremely difficult at 350.

There were 72 new cases in schools reported Friday, with 514 or just over 10 per cent of schools across the province experiencing cases in students and staff. Four schools were closed because of outbreaks.

is a Toronto-based reporter covering Ontario politics for the Star. Follow him on Twitter:

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Hunker down: Simcoe County in for wet weather, wind and white stuff

Oct 26, 2021 , , , , by shlf

Environment Canada issued a special weather statement for the region this morning (Nov. 15), forecasting wet weather, wind and white stuff.

During the day residents can expect rain and gusting winds that could reach 80 kilometres per hour by tonight, along with showers and snow flurries this evening.

More rain and flurries are expected Monday, followed by possible snow squalls on Tuesday.


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‘It’s an ongoing battle in here’: COVID-19 has halted building-wide spraying for bedbugs in Toronto’s community housing. Tenants feel helpless

Oct 26, 2021 , , , , by shlf

In a seniors housing building in east-end Toronto, 69-year-old Maureen Clohessy has taped over her power outlets, hoping to keep bedbugs out of the bachelor unit she’s called home for three years.

Each day, she watches for the scuttling critters, her eyes scanning from her plugs to her ceiling in an apartment on the seventh floor. The building at 828 Kingston Road is known as Glen Stewart Acres, and it’s one of several senior-specific buildings operated by the Toronto Community Housing Corporation.

Like other community housing buildings in Toronto, Glen Stewart Acres has battled pests from bedbugs to rodents and cockroaches. The housing operator saw a leap of 17.4 per cent in demands for pest treatments across all their buildings last year. Clohessy’s building was supposed to be treated top-to-bottom this spring. But then the pandemic hit — and the process was put indefinitely on hold.

“Currently, I have no nests,” Clohessy said, with some relief. But she described a neighbour down the hall walking around with bedbugs clinging to their clothes. Knowing the pests had reached a level where a full building treatment was warranted, but didn’t happen, has left tenants feeling helpless, she said.

“It’s nerve wracking,” she added. “You’re looking every day. It’s like you’re on a mission.”

Community housing said it has received fewer requests for pest control this year than last, which spokesperson Bruce Malloch said is believed to be connected to tenants fearing potential exposure to COVID-19 — though he also reported an uptick in requests after the province moved into Stage 3.

Some tenants who previously made requests to deal with pests had asked for treatment to be moved to another date for safety reasons, Malloch added.

A report submitted for a July meeting of TCHC’s board showed demand for 2,199 pest treatments in April of this year, at the start of the pandemic, versus the 5,141 requests in April last year.

Clohessy acknowledged that during COVID-19 there were residents who were reluctant to ask for someone to come into their units. But she believes that only allows the bedbug problem to get worse, and that it’s a reason to enforce a whole-building pest treatment.

“That way, everyone gets it done whether you like it or not,” she said.

TCHC said it has still provided treatments upon request for specific units during the pandemic, and that there were 261 work orders for pest management across Glen Stewart Acres’ 147 units from February to mid-October — with those work orders including a range of unit visits from inspections to the actual treatment application sessions.

No tenant who requested pest control for their apartment was refused treatment, Malloch said.

But he pointed to public health concerns, and the risks to seniors especially if they caught COVID-19, as reasons for pausing all full building treatments when the pandemic struck — including the one planned at Kingston Road. Responding to pest issues at the unit level, TCHC believes, avoids having mass movement among staff, pest management vendors and tenants who would need to vacant their units for several hours at a time.

Clohessy rejects the housing provider’s logic. “We all know that safety precautions need to be taken. As seniors, we’re more aware of that than anyone. We’re the ones at the highest risk,” she said.

She questioned why it would be less safe for contractors to treat the entire building than individual units, if those contractors were masked and took proper precautions.

In a one-bedroom unit on the second floor of Glen Stewart Acres, 68-year-old Steven Briggs has taken matters into his own hands, buying a steam machine and scattering a powder he found at Home Depot advertised as a killer for bedbugs and crawling insects. “That’s the stuff that works the best,” he said.

Since he moved into the building roughly eight years ago, he said the bugs have been a nightmare. Sometimes it gets a little better, he noted, but then the scales will tip back the other way. He said he’d grown up in a Regent Park social housing complex, but can’t remember ever seeing bedbugs there.

“Cockroaches once in a while, but we took care of them or they brought guys and they got rid of them.”

He believes treating units one by one is ineffective, and allows the pests to simply move to another unit. “They just might as well burn the money that they’re spending on it,” he said.

June Nagle, a resident in her 80s living on the building’s fourth floor, agreed with Malloch that distancing might be tricky with a full-building treatment, though she suggested that they could make use of a rec room to spread residents out.

But she’s skeptical that even a full-building treatment can rid Glen Stewart Acres of bedbugs entirely. Her unit was sprayed repeatedly last year, she said, and she eventually had to throw out a couch and a carpet that were riddled with them.

About a week ago, she said three bedbugs reappeared in her unit — one in her bed and two in her bathtub. Nagle stresses about potential infestations, checking her bed each night and waking at any tickle in her legs.

“You don’t sleep properly. You don’t sleep at all,” she said.

“It’s an ongoing battle in here.”

Victoria Gibson is a Toronto-based reporter for the Star covering affordable housing. Her reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative. Reach her via email:

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Today’s coronavirus news: Ontario reports new record high of 1,924 COVID-19 cases; Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani tests positive for COVID

Oct 25, 2021 , , , , by shlf

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

9:43 p.m.: South Korea’s health minister said Monday that the Seoul metropolitan area is now a “COVID-19 war zone,” as the country reported another 615 new infections and the virus appeared to be spreading faster.

The country has recorded more than 5,300 new infections in the past 10 days and Monday was the 30th day in a row of triple-digit daily jumps.

Most of the new infections were detected in the Seoul metropolitan area where health workers are struggling to stem transmissions tied to various places, including restaurants, schools, hospitals and long-term care facilities.

“The capital area is now a COVID-19 war zone,” Health Minister Park Neung-hoo said in a virus meeting, pleading for citizen vigilance.

He said the country may have to further increase social distancing to prevent the resurgence in the capital area from “exploding into a major outbreak nationwide and collapsing the health-care system.”

While South Korea managed to contain a major outbreak in its southeastern region in spring by channeling nationwide health resources and personnel, it’s less clear where the reinforcements will come if the virus wreaks havoc in the densely-populated capital area, where half of the country’s 51 million people live.

7:34 p.m.: The latest numbers of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Canada as of 7:30 p.m. ET on Sunday Dec. 6, 2020.

There are 415,182 confirmed cases in Canada.

_ Canada: 415,182 confirmed cases (73,379 active, 329,138 resolved, 12,665 deaths).The total case count includes 13 confirmed cases among repatriated travellers.

There were 6,261 new cases Sunday from 71,793 completed tests, for a positivity rate of 8.7 per cent. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of 43,146 new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is 6,164.

There were 76 new reported deaths Sunday. Over the past seven days there have been a total of 601 new reported deaths. The seven-day rolling average of new reported deaths is 86. The seven-day rolling average of the death rate is 0.23 per 100,000 people. The overall death rate is 33.69 per 100,000 people.

There have been 11,977,563 tests completed.

_ Newfoundland and Labrador: 351 confirmed cases (30 active, 317 resolved, four deaths).

There were four new cases Sunday from 234 completed tests, for a positivity rate of 1.7 per cent. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of 14 new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is two.

There have been no deaths reported over the past week. The overall death rate is 0.77 per 100,000 people.

There have been 64,368 tests completed.

_ Prince Edward Island: 80 confirmed cases (11 active, 69 resolved, zero deaths).

There were four new cases Sunday from 546 completed tests, for a positivity rate of 0.73 per cent. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of eight new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is one.

There have been no deaths reported over the past week. The overall death rate is zero per 100,000 people.

There have been 63,112 tests completed.

_ Nova Scotia: 1,368 confirmed cases (88 active, 1,215 resolved, 65 deaths).

There were four new cases Sunday from 849 completed tests, for a positivity rate of 0.47 per cent. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of 78 new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is 11.

There have been no deaths reported over the past week. The overall death rate is 6.69 per 100,000 people.

There have been 153,214 tests completed.

_ New Brunswick: 534 confirmed cases (82 active, 445 resolved, seven deaths).

There were four new cases Sunday from 502 completed tests, for a positivity rate of 0.80 per cent. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of 39 new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is six.

There have been no deaths reported over the past week. The overall death rate is 0.9 per 100,000 people.

There have been 105,468 tests completed.

_ Quebec: 151,599 confirmed cases (14,326 active, 130,018 resolved, 7,255 deaths).

There were 1,691 new cases Sunday from 10,235 completed tests, for a positivity rate of 17 per cent. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of 10,561 new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is 1,509.

There were 24 new reported deaths Sunday. Over the past seven days there have been a total of 222 new reported deaths. The seven-day rolling average of new reported deaths is 32. The seven-day rolling average of the death rate is 0.37 per 100,000 people. The overall death rate is 85.5 per 100,000 people.

There have been 2,248,348 tests completed.

_ Ontario: 127,309 confirmed cases (15,547 active, 107,990 resolved, 3,772 deaths).

There were 1,924 new cases Sunday from 57,313 completed tests, for a positivity rate of 3.4 per cent. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of 12,563 new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is 1,795.

There were 15 new reported deaths Sunday. Over the past seven days there have been a total of 124 new reported deaths. The seven-day rolling average of new reported deaths is 18. The seven-day rolling average of the death rate is 0.12 per 100,000 people. The overall death rate is 25.89 per 100,000 people.

There have been 6,366,097 tests completed.

_ Manitoba: 18,806 confirmed cases (9,216 active, 9,195 resolved, 395 deaths).

There were 383 new cases Sunday. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of 2,323 new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is 332.

There were 14 new reported deaths Sunday. Over the past seven days there have been a total of 94 new reported deaths. The seven-day rolling average of new reported deaths is 13. The seven-day rolling average of the death rate is 0.98 per 100,000 people. The overall death rate is 28.84 per 100,000 people.

There have been 357,524 tests completed.

_ Saskatchewan: 10,139 confirmed cases (4,550 active, 5,530 resolved, 59 deaths).

There were 409 new cases Sunday from 2,114 completed tests, for a positivity rate of 19 per cent. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of 1,900 new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is 271.

There were four new reported deaths Sunday. Over the past seven days there have been a total of 14 new reported deaths. The seven-day rolling average of new reported deaths is two. The seven-day rolling average of the death rate is 0.17 per 100,000 people. The overall death rate is 5.02 per 100,000 people.

There have been 271,424 tests completed.

_ Alberta: 68,566 confirmed cases (19,484 active, 48,467 resolved, 615 deaths).

There were 1,836 new cases Sunday. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of 12,122 new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is 1,732.

There were 19 new reported deaths Sunday. Over the past seven days there have been a total of 82 new reported deaths. The seven-day rolling average of new reported deaths is 12. The seven-day rolling average of the death rate is 0.27 per 100,000 people. The overall death rate is 14.07 per 100,000 people.

There have been 1,502,472 tests completed.

_ British Columbia: 36,132 confirmed cases (9,982 active, 25,658 resolved, 492 deaths).

There were zero new cases Sunday. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of 3,490 new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is 499.

There were zero new reported deaths Sunday. Over the past seven days there have been a total of 65 new reported deaths. The seven-day rolling average of new reported deaths is nine. The seven-day rolling average of the death rate is 0.18 per 100,000 people. The overall death rate is 9.7 per 100,000 people.

There have been 828,968 tests completed.

_ Yukon: 54 confirmed cases (12 active, 41 resolved, one deaths).

There were zero new cases Sunday. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of nine new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is one.

There have been no deaths reported over the past week. The overall death rate is 2.45 per 100,000 people.

There have been 5,522 tests completed.

_ Northwest Territories: 15 confirmed cases (zero active, 15 resolved, zero deaths).

There were zero new cases Sunday. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of zero new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is zero.

There have been no deaths reported over the past week. The overall death rate is zero per 100,000 people.

There have been 6,511 tests completed.

_ Nunavut: 216 confirmed cases (51 active, 165 resolved, zero deaths).

There were two new cases Sunday. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of 39 new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is six.

There have been no deaths reported over the past week. The overall death rate is zero per 100,000 people.

There have been 4,459 tests completed.

6 p.m.: Alberta is reporting 1,836 new COVID-19 cases and 19 additional deaths.

It’s the fourth straight day the province has seen new case numbers above 1,800.

There are 600 people in hospital with COVID-19 in Alberta, 100 of whom are in intensive care.

5:35 p.m.: A Staten Island pub owner slammed his Jeep into a sheriff’s deputy in a desperate effort to evade arrest early Sunday for continuing to serve patrons in defiance of coronavirus restrictions, authorities said.

Daniel Presti, owner of Mac’s Pub, hopped in his turquoise Jeep and hit the gas, sending the deputy flying onto the hood just after midnight when officers tried to arrest him outside his bar, officials said.

The sheriff’s deputy, identified by sources as Sgt. Kenneth Matos, suffered two fractured tibias. He was taken to Staten Island University Hospital.

“He just doesn’t care about people’s lives. That’s what this comes down to,” Bill Neidhardt, a spokesman for Mayor Bill de Blasio, said Sunday.

“He doesn’t care if his pub spreads a deadly virus. He doesn’t care if a uniformed officer is clinging for life on the hood of his car. It’s truly horrible and unacceptable and the people of New York City will reject this disgusting way of thinking.”

The New York City Sheriff’s Office had been conducting surveillance Saturday night on the bar, which has been a rallying point for people angry over COVID restrictions.

5:15 p.m.: Nova Scotia is amending today’s COVID-19 case count to add one more.

Health officials say the latest patient is a student at an elementary school in Dartmouth, N.S.

The affected school will now be closed until Dec. 10.

4:30 p.m.: President Donald Trump

The 76-year-old former New York mayor has travelled extensively to battleground states in recent days and weeks in an effort to help Trump subvert his election loss. On numerous occasions he has met with local officials for hours at a time without wearing a mask.

Trump, who confirmed Giuliani’s positive test in a Sunday afternoon tweet, wished him a speedy recovery.

“Get better soon Rudy, we will carry on!!!” Trump wrote.

Giuliani attended a hearing at the Georgia Capitol on Thursday where he went without a mask for several hours. Several state senators also did not wear masks at the hearing.

4:15 p.m.: Prince Edward Island has announced a two-week circuit breaker in an attempt to gain control of rising COVID-19 cases. Beginning Monday morning and lasting until Dec. 21, indoor dining at restaurants will be prohibited and there will be no organized or recreational team sports. Gyms, libraries, bingo halls and casinos will also be closed, retail stores must limit capacity to 50 per cent, and weddings and funerals will be limited to 10 people excluding officials. Organized gatherings, including faith services, will only be allowed to have 10 people, whether they are indoors or outdoors. Schools will remain open, except for four high schools in the Charlottetown area.

2:52 p.m.: Saskatchewan is reporting 415 new COVID-19 cases and four additional deaths. The province says that two of the people who died were in their 60s and were from Regina and the Far North zones, while the two others were in their 70s and were from the South zone. Their deaths bring the provincial total to 59 since the start of the pandemic. Saskatchewan reports there are 135 people in hospital with COVID-19, with 26 of those receiving intensive care.

2:10 p.m.: Manitoba is reporting 383 new cases of COVID-19 as well as 14 new related deaths today.

Health officials say many of the deaths were linked to outbreaks at care homes and involve patients who ranged in age from their 60s to their 90s.

But the province says one was a man in his 20s who lived in the Winnipeg region. The government says 348 people are in hospital with COVID-19, and 43 of those are receiving intensive care. So far, there have been 395 COVID-19 deaths in Manitoba.

1:54 p.m.: Nova Scotia is reporting four new cases of COVID-19, all of them in the province’s central region.

As of today, the province was dealing with 88 active cases, though no one with the virus has been admitted to hospital.

One of the new cases is related to travel outside Atlantic Canada, and the three others remain under investigation.

1:45 p.m.: Health officials in Newfoundland and Labrador are reporting four new cases of COVID-19, three of them men who recently returned to the province from Alberta.

The fourth case involves a man from the central region who was a close contact of a previous case.

The three travel-related cases include two men in their 40s, one of whom is not from Newfoundland and Labrador, and a third man in his 60s from the central region.

The province now has 30 active cases of COVID-19, though 317 people have recovered from the virus.

12:20 p.m. Quebec is reporting 1,691 new cases of COVID-19 today and 24 additional deaths linked to the virus.

Public health officials say 10 of those deaths took place in the past 24 hours.

The regions with the highest number of new infections are Montreal with 514; Monteregie south of Montreal, with 228; the Quebec City area with 143, and Lanaudiere, north of Montreal, also with 143.

Quebec has now recorded 151,599 total cases and 7,255 deaths since the start of the pandemic.

12:15 p.m. When Jenny Pitt-Clark first started hearing about COVID-19, like many Canadians, she began to stock up. But the expenses kept piling up. Printer ink was costly, and soon she needed more paper and pens. During a particularly challenging week, both of her monitors went kaput.

That’s why she was relieved to hear that next year’s tax filing season will be a little less complicated for Canadians, with the government announcing in its Nov. 30 a new work-from-home personal tax deduction of up to $400 for employees who have incurred “modest expenses” in 2020 due to remote working.

Pitt-Clark is looking into the T2200, a tax form filled out by employers, which would allow her to deduct more than $400 worth of expenses. But if that doesn’t happen, at least she has the new $400 deduction to lean on, she said.

on how the deduction works, who it will benefit, and what else you need to know before next year’s tax season.

11 a.m. Canada is poised to be the next country to deploy mass rapid testing for COVID-19 in a gambit that Harvard epidemiologist Michael Mina says could immediately stem the spread of the virus.

As an epidemiologist and assistant professor at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Mina has been leading research around COVID-19 testing throughout the pandemic.

Rapid at-home testing could be a COVID-19 game changer, he said.

Mina argues that government regulations should be changed to encourage manufacturers to develop the tests and public funding rolled out to assist companies with building them.

Other countries have had success with or are moving to use rapid testing to control the spread of COVID-19. In Canada, some rapid-testing systems, which provide results in minutes, are approved and being widely used. But the tests aren’t approved for household use and top public health officials remain skeptical since, generally speaking, a faster test yields less accurate results. However, when it comes to an effective testing strategy, Mina says accuracy isn’t everything.

10:20 a.m. (updated) Ontario has reached a record high of new COVID-19 infections for the second consecutive day.

The province logged 1,924 new cases in the past 24 hours, pushing above the 1,859 case record hit a day earlier.

The province is also reporting 15 new deaths linked to the virus.

Health Minister Christine Elliott says Toronto had the highest number of new cases at 504, while Peel logged 463 and York Region saw 198.

There are 1,574 more resolved cases, while the number of active cases rose to 15,547.

The number of patients in the province’s hospitals decreased to 701, with 204 in intensive care.

10:17 a.m. Six months ago, Apple and Google introduced a new smartphone tool designed to notify people who might have been exposed to the coronavirus, without disclosing any personal information. But for the most part, Americans haven’t been all that interested.

Fewer than half of U.S. states and territories — 19 in total — have made such technology widely available. And according to a data analysis by The Associated Press, the vast majority of Americans in such locations haven’t activated the tool.

Data from 16 states, Guam and the District of Columbia shows that 8.1 million people had utilized the technology as of late November. That’s about one in 14 of the 110 million residents in those regions.

9:35 a.m. The theft of 200,000 doses (or 75,000, depending on which story you read) of polio vaccine from the Micro-Biology and Hygiene Institute of Montreal more than six decades ago was then worth the princely sum of $50,000.

More concerning, it upended a provincial vaccination effort trying mightily to slow one of Canada’s last polio epidemics; a storm that had already infected more than 500 and left 29 dead in Montreal alone. Police were sent scrambling, desperate to uncover the doses before they expired.

With multiple candidates racing into the final stretch — Britain became the to authorize a vaccine for use this week — COVID-19 vaccines are about to become one of the hottest commodities on the planet. In seeking a distribution company, Canada’s government notes in its tender that doses must be trackable, and “safeguarded at all times as high value assets and high value targets for criminal elements.”

Around the world, everything from dummy shipments to armed escorts and elaborate GPS tracking are being floated as potential security measures.

9:27 a.m. Pope Francis says the Christmas season provides reason for hope amid the difficulties of the coronavirus pandemic.

During his Sunday blessing, Francis noted that the Vatican’s Christmas tree had gone up last week in St. Peter’s Square, and that work is underway to build the life-size Nativity scene next to it.

Pointing to the tree from his studio window over the square, Francis said such symbols of Christmas “are signs of hope, especially in this difficult period.”

9:12 a.m. Each spring, near a south Florida seaside strip known as the Broadwalk, the grateful retailers and restaurateurs of Hollywood Beach gather for a

“Canadafest” has played out for nearly 40 years in the heart of a uniquely Canadian diaspora south of Fort Lauderdale, a way of saying thank you to the roughly 1.2 million people from north of the border who visit the state annually.

COVID-19, of course, had other plans.

It’s just one illustration of the looming “dark winter” the pandemic has wrought in the United States, where the number of single-day deaths and new infections have blown past earlier peaks established in the spring.

And in a part of the country that has come to embrace Canada’s seasonal visitors as family, the health risks and cross-border travel restrictions are sure to amplify the pain.

8:30 a.m. A new study, currently in pre-print and under peer review at a medical journal, shines a light on just how many long-term-care residents suffering from COVID-19 may have been denied the hospital care they desperately needed before death.

The study by researchers at the University of Toronto and Public Health Ontario looks at the number of people with COVID-19 who were hospitalized before death and finds that in March and April, when hundreds of long-term-care homes in the province were experiencing outbreaks, just 15.5 per cent of nursing home residents with the virus were hospitalized before they died.

This reached a high of 41.2 per cent in June and July when the first wave was ending. That compares to 81.4 per cent of people who lived in the community, a percentage that has held steady throughout the pandemic.

Looking at the pandemic as a whole, from March to October, the trend was similar: overall, just 22.4 per cent of nursing home residents with COVID-19 were admitted to hospital before death, compared to 81.4 per cent for community residents.

7:19 a.m. Italy had more than 21,000 daily coronavirus cases and added 662 deaths in the last 24 hours.

The 21,052 new cases raised Italy’s total to nearly 1.6 million. There’s been 59,514 confirmed deaths, the second-highest toll in Europe behind Britain’s toll.

This week, Italy’s Premier Giuseppe Conte signed a decree limiting travel between regions Dec. 21 to Jan. 6, national Epiphany Day holiday. Conte hopes that will prevent holiday vacations that could fuel contagion.

7:15 a.m. The Oregon Medical Board has suspended the medical license of a doctor who said at a pro-Trump rally that he doesn’t wear a mask at his Dallas, Oregon, clinic.

KGW-TV reported Friday that Dr. Steven LaTulippe also said at the November rally that he also encourages others not to wear masks.

A state order requires health care workers to wear a mask in health care settings.

The medical board voted this week to suspend LaTulippe’s license immediately due to concerns about patient safety.

LaTulippe did not respond to a request for comment from KGW-TV and has previously declined to comment.

7:07 a.m. South Korea says it’ll further toughen physical distancing rules as recent restrictions has failed to curb a viral resurgence that threatens the country’s health care system.

Health Minister Park Neung-hoo said Sunday recently elevated distancing rules haven’t showed much effect. Park says South Korea could face a shortage of intensive care unit beds if the current level continues for one to two weeks.

Under new restrictions effective Tuesday for three weeks, authorities will shut down karaoke rooms, fitness centres, indoor gyms and most of cram schools in the Seoul metropolitan area. Some high-risk facilities like nightclubs in the Seoul area have already been shut down.

Events must be under 50 people in the Seoul area and sports matches will be held without fans.

7:05 a.m. Eight people in the northern Chinese city of Manzhouli have coronavirus after everyone in the city was tested following the discovery of two locally acquired infections, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Sunday.

Authorities conducted nucleic acid tests on 203,378 people in the city on the border with Mongolia in two rounds starting Nov. 22 and Nov. 27.

The city had 24 locally acquired cases as of Sunday, Xinhua said. It said 1,239 people who had close contact with them were under medical observation.

Sunday 7 a.m. Coronavirus infections in Russia hit a new record on Sunday, as the country’s authorities registered 29,039 new confirmed cases, the highest daily spike in the pandemic.

Russia’s total of over 2.4 million reported infections remains the fourth largest caseload in the world. Russia has also reported 43,141 virus-related deaths.

Russia has been swept by a resurgence of the virus this fall, with daily confirmed infections and deaths significantly exceeding those reported in the spring. Nevertheless, Russian authorities have rejected the idea of another nationwide lockdown or any widespread closures of businesses.

On Wednesday, President Vladimir Putin ordered a “large-scale” vaccination against COVID-19 to begin in Russia with the domestically developed Sputnik V vaccine that is still undergoing advanced studies needed to ensure its safety and effectiveness. Doctors and teachers will be first in line to get inoculated, Putin said.

Saturday 7:30 p.m.: The latest numbers of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Canada as of 7:30 p.m. ET on Saturday Dec. 5, 2020.

There are 408,921 confirmed cases in Canada.

_ Canada: 408,921 confirmed cases (71,450 active, 324,882 resolved, 12,589 deaths).The total case count includes 13 confirmed cases among repatriated travellers.

There were 6,352 new cases Saturday from 79,671 completed tests, for a positivity rate of 8.0 per cent. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of 43,361 new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is 6,194.

There were 93 new reported deaths Saturday. Over the past seven days there have been a total of 598 new reported deaths. The seven-day rolling average of new reported deaths is 85. The seven-day rolling average of the death rate is 0.23 per 100,000 people. The overall death rate is 33.49 per 100,000 people.

There have been 11,905,770 tests completed.

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Keep your pets away from bay if you see this: Simcoe Muskoka health unit

Oct 22, 2021 , , , , by shlf

The regional health unit is urging caution among residents and visitors to a portion of Sparrow Lake following the discovery of a blue-green algae bloom on the west side of Deep Bay.

Many species of blue-green algae can produce toxins that are harmful to the health of humans and animals, the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit said in an Oct. 27 statement.

The health unit is asking residents and visitors to exercise caution where blue-green algae is visible and to take the following precautions:

–    Do not use the lake water for the preparation of infant formula.

–   Do not allow pets or livestock to drink or swim in the water where an algae bloom is visible.

–    Be cautious about eating fish caught in water where blue-green algae blooms occur.

–    Do not use herbicides, copper sulphate or other algaecides that may break open algae cells and release toxins into the water.

–   Avoid swimming and other water sport activities where an algae bloom is visible.

Blooms may make the water appear bluish-green, or resemble green pea soup or turquoise paint.

The Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks will further analyze samples to determine the presence of any toxins, the health unit said.

Symptoms from consuming toxins from a blue-green algae bloom can include headaches, fever, diarrhea, abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting, and can be more serious if water is swallowed in large quantities.

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Small businesses say they’re ‘unfairly targeted’ by lockdown as Ontario reports 1,589 new COVID-19 cases

Oct 7, 2021 , , , , by shlf

Premier Doug Ford says he agrees “it’s not fair” that Walmart, Costco and The Bay on Yonge St. can stay open while small retailers of non-essential goods must keep their doors closed to customers.

But, under pressure to ease lockdown measures in Toronto and Peel as Ontario reported a record 1,589 new COVID-19 cases and another 19 deaths Monday, Ford said doing so risks the virus spreading faster.

“We would be in terrible, terrible shape.”

The comments came as the Canadian Federation of Independent Business pleaded for help with non-essential businesses limited to curbside pickup and deliveries with the busy holiday shopping season on the way.

Only retailers selling essential items such as food, pharmacy and hardware can keep their doors open to customers, although at 50 per cent of customer capacity under the lockdown that began Monday.

“Too many business owners feel they are being unfairly targeted so the government can send a signal to the public that they need to take the pandemic seriously,” CFIB president Dan Kelly said, echoing concerns raised in the first lockdown last spring.

The lobby group called existing government supports a “drop in the bucket” and pushed for reopenings with strict capacity limits on customers, such as no more than three at one time or shopping by appointment to keep main streets alive.

“Many businesses in these regions have already lost three to five months of their year from government shutdowns,” Kelly said, dubbing the advantage granted to bigger retailers “outrageous.”

Asked about levelling the playing field by forcing Walmart and Costco to block off areas of the store not selling essentials, Ford said his discussions with executives convinced him that would be a “logistical nightmare.”

That’s no consolation to small retailers left to pay the price of the pandemic without adequate provincial supports, said Green Leader Mike Schreiner.

“It’s simply unfair that Costco and Walmart can continue selling jewelry, PlayStations and other non-essential goods while mom and pop retailers must shut down entirely.”

Small Business Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria said provincial aid includes a $600 million assistance fund available for applications online, and acknowledged business owners are facing “significant challenges.”

The decisions on which businesses to close were made “with the best advice of public health officials” amid the surge in COVID-19, he added.

“We’ll continue to work with our public health officials to get this right.”

With the CFIB demanding to see data supporting the closure of non-essential business, associate chief medical officer Dr. Barbara Yaffe said specifics are hard to come by because public health units can’t keep up with contact tracing.

But she told reporters there is “widespread community transmission” of COVID-19 and that it can happen in small spaces that are crowded or with poor ventilation.

“Those are the kinds of circumstances that may occur in smaller businesses,” Yaffe said.

The 1,589 new cases reported Monday lift the province’s seven-day rolling average of new infections to 1,429, near its record of 1,443 last week.

Ministry of Health figures showed Peel Region had 535 new cases and Toronto had 336. There were 205 in York Region, which remains in the red or “control” zone of precautions, which is one category short of lockdown.

Ford said tough restrictions were necessary with hospitalizations from COVID-19 climbing rapidly since September and threatening to crowd out non-emergency surgeries once admissions to intensive care units topped 150.

That number rose to 156 in Monday’s reports, the highest since mid-May.

Rob Ferguson is a Toronto-based reporter covering Ontario politics for the Star. Follow him on Twitter:

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Today’s coronavirus news: Ontario reports yet another daily record for COVID-19 cases; Toronto Catholic board cancels classes at two more schools

Oct 4, 2021 , , , , by shlf

This file is no longer being updated. Follow the latest developments .

5:41 p.m. There have been 358,144 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Canada, according to The Canadian Press, including 11,883 deaths, and 285,194 that have been resolved.

This breaks fown as follows (NOTE: The Star does its own count for cases in Ontario; see elsewhere this file.):

  • Quebec: 138,163 confirmed (including 6,984 deaths, 119,727 resolved)
  • Ontario: 111,216 confirmed (including 3,595 deaths, 94,366 resolved)
  • Alberta: 53,105 confirmed (including 519 deaths, 38,369 resolved)
  • British Columbia: 29,973 confirmed (including 384 deaths, 19,998 resolved)
  • Manitoba: 15,632 confirmed (including 280 deaths, 6,487 resolved)
  • Saskatchewan: 7,691 confirmed (including 44 deaths, 4,384 resolved)
  • Nova Scotia: 1,257 confirmed (including 65 deaths, 1,078 resolved)
  • New Brunswick: 477 confirmed (including seven deaths, 356 resolved)
  • Newfoundland and Labrador: 331 confirmed (including four deaths, 296 resolved)
  • Nunavut: 159 confirmed (including eight resolved)
  • Prince Edward Island: 70 confirmed (including 68 resolved)
  • Yukon: 42 confirmed (including one death, 29 resolved)
  • Northwest Territories: 15 confirmed, all of which have been resolved
  • Repatriated Canadians account for 13 confirmed cases, all of which have been resolved.

2:54 p.m.: Saskatchewan is reporting four more people have died from COVID-19 and says there are 329 new infections in the province.

Health officials say those who died were 70 and older.

The Ministry of Health reports the seven-day average of daily cases sits at 268.

There are 111 people in hospital and 16 receiving intensive care.

As of Friday, no team sports are allowed in the province and capacity at public venues like churches, movie theatres and casinos is limited to 30 people.

The measures are part of the latest round of restrictions Premier Scott Moe announced earlier in the week to stem the virus’s spread while avoiding a second shutdown of non-essential businesses.

2:40 p.m.: Premier Doug Ford spent much of Friday’s briefing looking forward to the day when an anti-COVID vaccine might be available. Former chief of national defence staff Gen. Rick Hillier will oversee a distribution task force, Ford said, as he called on the federal government to provide details as soon as possible about the doses the province can expect.

“We need a clear line of sight into the timelines of the shipments,” Ford said.

Several hospitals have now experienced outbreaks, including a major facility in London, Ont. Grand River Hospital in Kitchener, Ont., became the latest hit after three patients and two staff tested positive.

The facility said it had closed its clinical teaching unit to new patient admissions and was pondering whether to close one of its eight operating rooms. It also said it was suspending in-person visits in favour of virtual connections.

2:26 p.m.: Public health officials say the COVID-19 outbreak linked to Nipissing University’s athletic community has grown to 16 cases.

The outbreak was first declared on Tuesday when six people tested positive for COVID-19.

North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit did not say how many were students or staff.

The health unit says the growth in cases is expected as high-risk contacts are tested.

It says close contact tracing has been completed for positive cases.

The health unit had said that the individuals interacted with other people at the university’s gym and at social gatherings in the community.

2 p.m.: New Brunswick is reporting 12 new cases of COVID-19 on the day it formally pulls out of the Atlantic bubble.

Health officials said today the province has 114 active cases of the disease linked to the novel coronavirus.

Seven of the new cases are in the Saint John area, three are in the Moncton region and two are in the Fredericton area.

Officials say the cases in Saint John involve three people in their 20s and four people in their 30s, while the three cases in Moncton involve two people in their 50s and one person in their 60s. Fredericton’s cases involve two people in their 60s.

All three affected health regions are under the heightened “orange’’ pandemic-alert level and Dr. Jennifer Russell, chief medical officer of health, says there shouldn’t be any non-essential travel in and out of these zones.

New Brunswick announced Thursday it would withdraw from the so-called Atlantic bubble, which allowed the region’s residents to cross into the four Atlantic provinces without having to isolate for 14 days.

1:57 p.m.: Nova Scotia is reporting nine new cases of COVID-19, all in the central health zone, which includes Halifax.

The province now has 119 active cases of novel coronavirus.

Health officials say one new case identified today is at Bedford South School, which is a pre-primary to Grade 4 school in the central zone.

Starting today, ongoing voluntary testing is being introduced to monitor, reduce and prevent the spread of COVID-19 in long-term care.

1:10 p.m.: The Manitoba government plans to provide a wage top-up to people who work in group homes, homeless shelters and personal care homes as the spread of COVID-19 continues.

Families Minister Heather Stefanson said the $35-million wage support program is to provide an extra $5 an hour to about 20,000 front-line workers for two months.

“We need them now more than ever,” she said Friday.

Only workers making less than $25 an hour can apply.

There’s been a surge of COVID-19 cases in Manitoba over the last few months and the province has brought in significant restrictions, including mandated masks in indoor public spaces and the closure of restaurants and bars.

Stefanson said widespread community transmission has meant that COVID-19 is now making it’s way into vulnerable populations. There has been an increase of infections in homeless shelters, group homes and other services, she said, and it is putting stress on front-line staff.

“Our homeless shelters are also experiencing staff shortages due to positive cases and we are seeing the virus spread into our child and family services group care homes,” Stefanson said.

She did not provide numbers of infections in these facilities or populations, but said that as of Thursday there were infections among workers and participants in 16 disability service agencies.

Employees who are unable to work due to a COVID-19 infection or are waiting for test results will not receive the money. Stefanson said she does not believe it will incentivize people to work while sick.

Half the cost of the program comes from federal COVID-19 funding.

1:02 p.m.: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pushed back against critics of his government’s COVID-19 vaccination plan with assurances most Canadians .

He also acknowledged the public’s eagerness to know when those efforts might begin, but said what matters most is the “finish line.”

Trudeau said most citizens are expected to be vaccinated by September 2021, and it was important to make sure this was done as safely as possible.

Deputy chief public health officer Dr. Howard Njoo has suggested he hoped to see most Canadians vaccinatedby the end of next year, but this is the most specific the Liberal government has been.

Njoo later said the Prime Minister’s prediction is “in the same ballpark” as previous rollout plans, and said September was a good target to work towards.

12:51 p.m.: Newfoundland and Labrador is reporting four new positive cases of COVID-19, for a total of 31 active cases across the province.

One of the individuals is a man in his 60s in the eastern region of the province whose infection is related to another identified case.

A man and a woman in their 50s in the eastern region and a woman in her 40s in the western region have also tested positive.

The source of those three infections is under investigation.

12:48 p.m.: New Brunswick is reporting 12 new cases of COVID-19, bringing its number of active cases to 114.

Public Health says seven cases are in the Saint John area, three are in the Moncton region and two are in the Fredericton area.

All three health regions are under the province’s heightened “orange’’ pandemic alert level.

Dr. Jennifer Russell, the province’s chief medical officer of health, says there should be no non-essential travel in and out of these zones.

12:45 p.m.: The Calgary Zoo says two giant pandas are on their way home to China today.

The zoo said in May that it would be sending the pair back early because the COVID-19 pandemic was making it difficult to source bamboo.

The plant makes up 99 per cent of the animals’ diet and the zoo has said it was an expensive and all-consuming effort to cobble together supplies from across North America.

The zoo says on Twitter it was a difficult decision to send the pandas home three years earlier than planned.

It says it took months of hard work to secure international permits to get the pandas home.

The zoo posted photos of reams of paperwork needed for the journey, the crates that were to carry the pandas and the Lufthansa Cargo plane that was to take them to China.

The two adults, Er Shun and Da Mao, were on loan from China to Canadian zoos as part of a 10-year deal signed in 2012. They were to stay in Calgary until 2023.

Two cubs, Jia Panpan and Jia Yueyue, were born in Toronto in 2015. They were sent to China as planned in January.

The price tag to have the pandas in Calgary was around $30 million, including $14.4 million for the Panda Passage exhibit itself. Expanded parking lots, washrooms and restaurants were also required to accommodate an expected influx of visitors.

12:40 p.m.: A government-funded health institute says its latest projections indicate dedicated COVID-19 hospital capacity in the Montreal area should not be surpassed in the next four weeks.

But today’s projections, based on data collected between Nov. 16 and Nov. 22, also indicate that in some regions, the situation is more fragile as patients with COVID-19 occupied almost half of the dedicated COVID-19 beds.

The Institut national d’excellence en sante et en services sociaux also says hospitalizations are increasing across the province because infections are on the rise among people aged 70 years old and older.

Quebec is reporting 1,269 new COVID-19 infections and 38 more deaths linked to the novel coronavirus, including nine that occurred in the past 24 hours.

Health officials said today hospitalizations decreased by six, to 669, and 90 people were in intensive care, the same number as the day prior.

The province says 1,236 more people recovered from COVID-19, for a total of 119,727 recoveries.

Quebec has reported 138,163 COVID-19 cases and 6,984 deaths linked to the virus since the beginning of the pandemic.

12:10 p.m.: Nunavut’s chief public health officer says four members of the Canadian Red Cross touched down in Arviat today to assist with a COVID-19 outbreak.

Dr. Michael Patterson says the team will help with isolation and contact tracing in the community of around 2,800 people.

The Government of Nunavut has also announced it will give $1 million to municipalities for community food programs as the territory heads into its second week of a lockdown.

Nunavut is currently under a territory-wide, 14-day lockdown to curb the spread of COVID-19.

12:02 p.m. Two more Catholic schools won’t be holding classes Friday because of cases, for a total of three North York elementary schools who dismissed students and staff this week.

The Toronto Catholic District School Board said classes won’t be held “temporarily” at St. John the Evangelist and St. Robert, based on Toronto Public Health advice.

, as of Friday at 10:30 a.m., there are three active cases among students at St. John the Evangelist, near Lawrence Avenue West and Weston Road. Seven cases are listed as resolved.

At St. Robert, near Bathurst Street and Sheppard Avenue West, three students and one staff member have active cases.

12:01 p.m. Six cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed at the Richmond Hill Costco Wholesale location, York Region Public Health said Thursday.

to the health unit about rumours that have swirled around the community about an outbreak at the wholesale store at 35 John Birchall Rd.

Regional spokesperson Patrick Casey confirmed in an email response that there are six cases at the store — four of the people with confirmed cases are residents of York Region and two are residents of Toronto.

Public health authorities are currently conducting their usual case management, contact tracing and workplace investigation processes, Casey said.

It is unclear when the infections were detected at the moment.

11:40 a.m.: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Major-General Dany has been tapped to lead the Canadian military’s role in coordinating logistics for distributing a COVID-19 vaccine across the country.

Fortin most recently served as the chief of staff for the Canadian Joint Operations Command.

He was also commander of the NATO military training mission in Iraq from November 2018 until last fall.

The announcement follows days of criticism over the Trudeau government’s vaccination strategy and uncertainty about when Canadians might have access to an eventual vaccine.

11:30 a.m. The raging coronavirus pandemic kept crowds thin at malls and stores across the U.S. on Black Friday, but a surge in online shopping offered a small beacon of hope for struggling retailers after months of slumping sales and businesses toppling into bankruptcy.

In normal times, Black Friday is the busiest shopping day of the year in America, drawing millions of shoppers eager to get started on their holiday spending.

But these are not normal times: A spike in coronavirus cases is threatening the economy’s fitful recovery from the sudden plunge in the spring. Crowds at stores were dramatically diminished as shoppers do more of their purchases online.

Many retailers closed their doors on Thanksgiving Day but beefed up their safety protocols to reassure wary customers about coming in on Black Friday. Stores have also moved their doorbuster deals online and ramped up curbside pickup options as a last grasp at sales before the year ends and they head into the dark days of winter with the pandemic still raging.

“Black Friday is still critical,” said Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData Retail. “No retailer wants it to be tarnished. It’s still vital to get their consumers spending and get consumers into the holiday mood.”

11:10 a.m. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro says he won’t take any working COVID-19 vaccine himself and calls the use of masks to limit the spread of the disease “the last taboo to fall.”

Bolsonaro’s comments, broadcast on his social media channels Thursday night, alarmed health experts who said they could undermine efforts to achieve vaccination levels essential to halting the pandemic and might scare off vaccine makers negotiating with local authorities.

Bolsonaro also said, however, that any shot that is certified by Brazil’s health agency will be available for free to the public.

The Brazilian president, who contracted the virus in July, has long resisted the advice of most scientists and health experts to restrict social and economic activity, arguing that damage from a lockdown would be worse than the pandemic.

He also repeatedly promoted an anti-malarial drug as the cure for the disease despite scientific studies finding it ineffective and possibly dangerous, and criticized state governors testing a Chinese shot at home.

“I tell you; I will not take (any vaccine). It is my right and I am sure that Congress will not create difficulties for whoever doesn’t want to take a vaccine,” he said.

“If it is effective, lasting, reliable, whoever doesn’t take it will be doing harm only to himself, and who takes the vaccine will not be infected. There’s nothing to worry about,” Bolsonaro said.

11:04 a.m. The federal Liberals are being warned that they need to provide a detailed plan on navigating the health and economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic in a key spending document next week.

Business and labour groups say the government must outline concrete proposals to manage COVID-19 in the short term, but also outline more long-term steps for recovery.

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland is to table the fall economic statement on Monday, giving a full accounting of pandemic spending so far and possibly laying out new programs and plans.

The update will also provide a view of the depth of this year’s deficit, which in July was forecast at a historic $343.2 billion.

A report this morning from RBC forecasts the update will show a deficit of close to $370 billion, plus economic stimulus plans that take next year’s deficit to at least $90 billion.

Should the Liberals make some aid permanent, the cost to finance it could lead to tax increases that a report from the C.D. Howe Institute today suggests could include a two-point increase in the GST.

10 a.m. (will be updated) Ontario has smashed through previous records on daily cases, reporting 1,855 new infections a day after computer modelling experts warned the province is in a “precarious” state.

The previous highs never topped 1,600 and the latest results came on a new record of more than than 58,000 tests processed in labs.

While there had been signs this week the number of new cases was flattening or had hit a plateau, Dr. Adalsteinn Brown of the Dalla Lana School of Public Health said “it’s difficult to determine right now whether we are seeing a turnaround.”

The GTA remains the hotbed of infections.

9:40 a.m. Air Canada pilots have ratified changes to their contract that the airline says will help it grow its cargo business.

The Montreal-based airline has seen its business plunge this year as travellers stopped flying due to the pandemic, however the airline has been looking to grow in other ways including cargo flights.

Air Canada says it operates up to 100 international, all-cargo flights a week.

It says the contract changes will help it competitively operate dedicated cargo aircraft and that it is working to covert several of its Boeing 767-300ER aircraft recently retired from passenger service to all-frieghter aircraft.

Air Canada also announced the appointment of Jason Berry as vice-president, cargo, effective Jan. 1.

Berry joins Air Canada from Alaska Airlines’ wholly owned subsidiary McGee Air Services, where he was president. He led Alaska Airlines’ cargo business from 2012 until June 2019.

8:41 a.m. Thousands of Iraqis — most of them not wearing protective masks — took to the streets in Baghdad on Friday in a show of support for a radical cleric ahead of elections next year, stirring fears of a spike in coronavirus cases.

Supporters congregated in the capital’s Tahrir Square, once the epicenter of mass anti-government protests, to show their support for Moqtada al-Sadr, who leads a powerful political bloc, ahead of federal elections slated for next June.

Most of al-Sadr’s followers stood unmasked in the square, chanting: “Yes, yes for our leader,” in support of the firebrand cleric as Iraq remains a high-risk country for coronavirus infection. The crowd then stood side-by-side for Friday prayers at noon.

More than 12,000 people have died of the virus in Iraq amid 544,000 confirmed cases, according to Health Ministry figures. Daily infection rates average 2,400 cases per day, but health workers say the number may be higher as many Iraqis with symptoms choose to stay home and avoid hospitals to get tested.

8:17 a.m. It appears the day is coming when Canadians will have access to a COVID-19 vaccine.

But before Canadians are offered that choice, a team of scientists will go through thousands of pages of information on each proposed vaccine, studying how it was made and what happened when it was given to volunteers in trials around the world. Any vaccine that is rolled out must be approved by Health Canada first — work that has already begun.

The pandemic has sparked many questions about how vaccines made and evaluated. We took some of the questions we’ve received from readers, added a few of our own, and put them to one of the top experts at Health Canada.

7 a.m. Hulking gray boxes are rolling off the production line at a factory in the southern town of Tuttlingen, ready to be shipped to the front in the next phase of Germany’s battle against the coronavirus as it became the latest country to hit the milestone of 1 million confirmed cases Friday.

Man-sized freezers such as those manufactured by family-owned firm Binder GmbH could become a key part of the vast immunization program the German government is preparing to roll out when the first vaccines become available next month.

That’s because one of the front-runners in the race for a vaccine is BioNTech, a German company that together with U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has developed a shot it says is up to 96% effective in trials but comes with a small hitch: it needs to be cooled to minus 70 degrees Celsius (minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit) for shipping and storage.

Ensuring such temperatures, colder even than an Antarctic winter, is just one of the many challenges that countries face in trying to get their populations immunized.

The effort has been compared to a military operation. Indeed some countries, including Germany, are relying on military and civilian expertise to ensure the precious doses are safely transported from manufacturing plants to secret storage facilities, before being distributed.

Germany has benefited from the market power that comes with being a member of the European Union. The 27-nation bloc’s executive Commission — led by former German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen — has spearheaded negotiations with vaccine makers, ordering more than a billion doses so far.

6:50 a.m. Thailand on Friday signed a deal to procure 26 million doses of the trial coronavirus vaccine developed by pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca in collaboration with Oxford University. It is expected to be delivered in mid-2021.

The doses would cover 13 million people in a population of about 69 million.

Government spokesperson Anucha Burapachaisri said officials are still considering how to prioritize vaccine recipients. “Those who work closely with COVID-19 patients, for example, doctors and nurses, should be among the first people. But this needs further discussion,” he said.

6:45 a.m. Toronto businesses are confused about what’s considered an “essential” business under the latest lockdown, and frustrated that many big-box stores are remaining open during the most important shopping season of the year.

Ryan Mallough, director of provincial affairs for Ontario for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), said the classification for “essential” businesses under the “grey” lockdown stage isn’t the same as the first lockdown, and this is causing confusion among business owners. For example, he said pet retailers don’t seem to be included this time as essential, but pet groomers are — the opposite of the last lockdown.

Often, small business owners are getting conflicting information from government websites or the business hotline, he added.

6:33 a.m. The investigation into the alleged embezzlement of $11 million of pandemic relief funds is being expanded to include past information technology projects at Queen’s Park, the Star has learned.

A Toronto couple and their two adult sons, who all worked as Ontario government computer specialists, are alleged to have been involved in the theft of millions of dollars in provincial COVID-19 aid.

Documents filed with the Ontario Superior Court say “some or all of” Sanjay Madan, Shalini Madan, their sons Chinmaya Madan and Ujjawal Madan, and their associate Vidhan Singh allegedly perpetrated “a massive fraud” to funnel cash to hundreds of bank accounts.

In a statement of claim, which has not been proven in court, the government alleges “damages for fraud, theft, conversion, and conspiracy in an amount estimated to be at least $11 million.”

5:52 a.m. More Missouri counties in the region around St. Louis are imposing mandates requiring the use of face masks as coronavirus cases and hospitalizations surge.

The move comes amid an unsuccessful campaign by health officials in that area to get Gov. Mike Parson to require masks statewide.

Jefferson County, just south of St. Louis, is the latest to adopt a mask mandate. Neighboring Franklin County passed a mask order last week, and Boone County adopted a similar requirement earlier this week. Also this week, St. Charles County officials ordered an 11 p.m. closing time for bars and restaurants.

On Thursday, state officials reported 4,471 new confirmed cases, bringing the total to 287,263. Since the pandemic started, 3,808 people have died of COVID-19.

5:45 a.m. Germany hit another grim milestone in the coronavirus pandemic on Friday, ticking above 1 million confirmed cases of COVID-19.

The Robert Koch Institute, the country’s disease control centre, said that Germany’s 16 states reported 22,806 cases overnight for a total since the start of the outbreak of 1,006,394.

Despite the high number of infections, Germany has seen fewer deaths than many other European countries, with 15,586 — compared with more than 50,000 in Britain, Italy and France, for example.

A rapid response to the initial outbreak, massive testing and a robust hospital system have been credited with helping keep the fatalities down. A total of 696,100 people have recovered from the virus, according to the Robert Koch Institute’s figures.

The country is almost a month in to a so-called “wave-breaker” shutdown instituted Nov. 2 after an alarming rise in daily figures to new record highs. Friday’s total was slightly less than that reported a week ago and officials say the new measures have succeeded in halting the surge.

But Chancellor Angela Merkel and state governors decided earlier this week to extend the shutdown well into December and add more restrictions to try to now bring the numbers down to below 50 per 100,000 inhabitants each week. It’s only at that level or below that officials say they can effectively trace outbreaks to implement quarantines when necessary.

5:30 a.m. Premier Doug Ford used the same term five times on Tuesday to describe the rapid tests the province is rolling out across Ontario: “game changer.”

The health experts tasked with advising government on their use, however, describe these tests very differently: “inferior,” “anything but game changers,” and — in private discussions, by one of the province’s top testing experts — “sh-y.”

These experts say the rapid tests could be useful in specific circumstances. But so far there is patchy evidence on how best to deploy them, and the tests come with serious potential harms, including high volumes of false results compared to the gold-standard laboratory tests — a particularly risky feature in vulnerable settings like nursing homes.

Friday 4 a.m. Group sports are suspended in Saskatchewan starting Friday and no more than 30 people are allowed to gather inside public venues as the province tries to contain its spread of COVID-19.

The cap applies to bingo halls, worship services, casinos, and receptions for weddings and funerals.

The Saskatchewan Party government announced added health measures on Wednesday after weeks of rising cases that have driven up hospitalizations.

Although formal competition is prohibited, athletes and dancers who are 18 years old and younger can still practise in groups of eight if they stay far enough apart and wear masks — now required in all indoor fitness facilities.

No more than four people can sit together at a bar or restaurant and tables must be three metres apart if they are not separated by a barrier.

Large retail stores have to cut their capacity by half.

The measures are to be in place until Dec. 17.

On Thursday, 299 new cases of COVID-19 were reported. Some 108 people were in hospital including 18 receiving intensive care.

Premier Scott Moe has acknowledged that public health steps taken to date haven’t been enough to slow the COVID-19 virus from moving through communities and into workplaces and schools.

He has said the latest measures will have a considerable impact on people’s lives and no decision has been made on whether to provide financial support to businesses curtailed by the restrictions.

Moe is trying to avoid a second shutdown of non-essential businesses because he fears job losses and the toll on people’s well-being.

The Opposition NDP along with hundreds of doctors and a nurses union have expressed concern that Moe hasn’t moved quickly enough to bring in restrictions to stem the surge of COVID-19.

Wednesday 10 p.m.: A fire broke out early Friday in a privately-run hospital treating coronavirus patients in western India, killing at least five of them and injuring 28 others.

Police officer K.N. Bhukan said fire engines restricted the blaze to one floor of the hospital and extinguished it within 30 minutes.

The cause of the fire is being investigated.

The Press Trust of India news agency said the fire started in the intensive care unit of Uday Shivanand Hospital that was treating 33 coronavirus patients.

Some of the patients with fire burns were evacuated to another hospital in Rajkot, a city in western Gujarat state, nearly 1,100 kilometres ( 685 miles) southwest of New Delhi.

In August, a fire killed eight coronavirus patients in a hospital in Ahmedabad, another key city in Gujarat state.

Poor maintenance and lack of proper firefighting equipment often causes deaths in India.

Wednesday 9:59 p.m.: On Thursday evening the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) identified a positive COVID-19 case in an individual at Ecole St. Mary High School in Prince Albert.

In a news release by the Prince Albert Catholic School Division on Sunday evening the division explained that communication has been shared with the specific classroom/cohorts, as well as the school community.

These cases were acquired outside of the school setting, the division said.

The SHA is proceeding with their assessment of the situation, and all individuals deemed to be close contacts are being notified.

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Cavana Ridge in Severn offers slice of serenity in challenging times

Sep 30, 2021 , , , , by shlf

When began turning customers away due to an overabundance of business, owners Joanne and Lee Johnston knew the time had come to grow to better meet the rising demand.

The local couple have done just that with the recent opening of Cavana Ridge in a repurposed building that boasts double the floor space.

“Because of how we reconfigured the nature of the setup of this business, it has allowed us to triple the business opportunity,” Lee Johnston told Simcoe.com.

Formerly based out of a century home on Mississauga Street West, the local operation has relocated to a rural site on Burnside Line in Severn Township.

An existing building that previously housed a water-testing business underwent extensive renovations and an expansion that saw it transformed into the picture of luxury the couple had envisioned.

Designed by Madison Taylor with a Parisian/Mediterranean flair and old-world influences, the new spa and salon sports contoured windows, archways, gold accents, and high-end finishes of marble and stone.

Bringing this oasis of serenity to fruition was not cheap, or easy – all told, the project rang in at approximately $4 million, including the renovation and property purchase.

“The fact that we did this whole thing during a pandemic was incredibly stressful and nerve wracking,” said Johnston, who praises family and friends for their support. “We are just happy we are now open.”

While the pandemic has presented its share of hurdles – forcing a months-long shutdown at the original Orillia location, even as construction was underway on the new salon and spa – the couple is realizing something of a silver lining in all of this upheaval.

Clients who pre-pandemic might have indulged in a cruise or other vacation getaway are increasingly booking what Johnston refers to as “authentic spa” services.

“Facial treatments, full body massage, body therapies – things to feel relaxed and something that is perceived as a real treat,” he added.

The Johnstons have doubled the business’s staffing levels to meet demand and now employ approximately 34 people.

“I still have the small-business mentality, but certainly the business itself is growing,” Lee said.

Cavana Ridge is located at .

For more information, visit