Tag: coronavirus

Coronavirus Today – March 17


By Anne Blythe

Gov. Roy Cooper and his top public health official told North Carolinians on Thursday that while they cannot say the COVID-19 pandemic is over, they believe the worst has passed.

Cooper and Kody Kinsley, secretary of the NC Department of Health and Human Services, recalled the state of the state in March 2020 when the first COVID-19 case was reported in North Carolina as they offered a glimpse into how they plan to chart a new path in the weeks and months ahead.

“Over the past two years, North Carolina and the rest of the world has been through a lot,” Cooper said at a briefing with reporters broadcast on PBS North Carolina. “Personally, I expected many challenges as governor, but a global pandemic was not one of them. Today we can look forward with the belief that the worst is behind us. As we look ahead, it’s important to take stock of how far we’ve come.”

The state faced daunting challenges, Cooper reminded his audience. The federal government’s emergency stockpile of masks, gowns and other protective equipment was nearly depleted. Little was known about the virus sickening people around the globe. Schools went to remote learning and much of the hospitality and retail industry were closed to in-person customers.

Over the course of the pandemic, more than 23,000 people have died from COVID-19 in North Carolina.

‘Threat we can manage’

“Now we turn the page on the pandemic, knowing that we have the tools for people and businesses to make the right choices for themselves,” Cooper said.

There are coronavirus vaccines, treatments, testing supplies and better public health infrastructure in place to help people make choices as they live amid the virus.

“Over the last two years, we’ve written a history of hardship and resilience, setbacks and successes,” Cooper added. “But now we enter the next phase, one of individual responsibility, preparedness and prosperity.”

There still could be COVID surges in the weeks and months ahead. Europe, which is often several weeks ahead of the United States in its coronavirus trends, is seeing surges of the Omicron BA2 variant in Italy, Great Britain, Germany and other places.

“While COVID is now a threat we can manage, it has not disappeared,” Kinsley said. “We will remain vigilant and we will work to equip you with the information and tools you need to make choices that are best for you and your family.

Four principles will guide the DHHS response, Kinsley said, to “ensure a fast and fair response that improves the health, safety and well-being of all North Carolinians.” The guiding principles are:

  • Empowering individuals to make informed decisions for themselves and their families;
  • Maintaining health system capacity;
  • Collaborating with local partners; and
  • Prioritizing equity in access to vaccines, treatments and other tools, as well as crucial information.

“People want to return to their normal routines, which they can do because of free and effective vaccines, boosters and other tools that help people manage their risk,” Kinsley said. “We will continue to ensure access to information and resources, especially for historically marginalized populations, people with disabilities and older North Carolinians. Data will continue to drive our response as it has through the entire pandemic, but some metrics no longer measure the moment.”

Wastewater surveillance, other trends

During the next phase of the state’s pandemic response, Kinsley and his team will keep a close watch on seven metrics and no longer put as much emphasis on the percentage of positive tests since many people are testing at home for coronavirus and not necessarily sharing the results with DHHS.

The DHHS dashboard summary will have a new look beginning March 23 to reflect these changes. The state will rely on:

  • Wastewater surveillance, which can detect COVID;
  • Emergency department reports of people coming in with COVID-like illnesses;
  • Hospital admission numbers;
  • Case trends;
  • Booster shot rates;
  • Prevalence of variants; and
  • Reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on community spread in the states.

Most counties in North Carolina, according to the most recent CDC map, have low levels of community spread of COVID. Ashe County is the only county with high spread and 17 counties mostly in the western and northeastern parts of the state have medium spread.

Only 53 percent of North Carolinians have gotten their booster shot of the vaccine, according to Kinsley, and he encouraged more to do so.

Preparedness and federal aid

To remain prepared and flexible to respond to any surges, Kinsley, Cooper and Susan Kansagra, the DHHS senior deputy director of public health, noted the importance of continued federal assistance with protective equipment, vaccines, COVID tests and treatments.

Last week, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stripped a $15.6 billion COVID relief package from a broader $1.5 trillion spending plan after some Democrats and governors complained that $7 billion of the COVID funds would be taken back from states.

“Staying prepared and having these stockpiles is incredibly important,” Kinsley said. “I am most concerned about our supply of testing in the private markets and the unique ability of the federal government to maintain those levels of supply by pushing and propping up that market. So I hope we will see that funding come. We need it to stay prepared. It’s not the time to take a step back.”

President Joe Biden had asked for $22.5 billion for a COVID preparedness plan he outlined on March 2.

Only a week after Congress failed to pass another COVID relief package, North Carolina is already feeling the impact.

“We are incredibly concerned about what the lack of funding at a federal level means to us at a state level,” Kansagra said. “We know certainly that things like vaccine allocations, purchases of antivirals, those things need to happen in advance with manufacturers to make sure there is enough supply, and we are already aware that that will result in a reduction, for example, in monoclonal antibody availability by 30 percent, starting next week, so we’re starting to see those impacts right away.”

If a new federal funding package is not adopted within five days, health care providers no longer will be able to seek reimbursement for caring for uninsured people sickened by COVID-19 from the Health Resources and Services Administration Uninsured Program because of a lack of sufficient funds.

“Providers across the state have used this program to provide care for those that have needed it and been uninsured,” Kansagra said. “Hundreds of millions of dollars have gone to North Carolina providers to provide this care.”

Cooper also is concerned and raised the issue with the White House earlier this week on a call with other governors. 

“It is crucial,” Cooper said of the federal assistance. “If we’ve learned any lessons, it’s that we have to be prepared. Federal investment keeps the production of tests and treatments high, which is what we want. We’ve seen how fast a surge can come, so we have to be ready.

Coronavirus by the numbers

  • According to NCDHHS data, as of Thursday afternoon:
  • 23,030 people in North Carolina have died of coronavirus.
  • 2,615,124 cases have been reported in North Carolina since the start of the pandemic. On Thursday, 769 people were in the hospital. The hospitalization figure is a snapshot of people hospitalized with COVID-19 infections on a given day and does not represent all of the North Carolinians who may have been in the hospital throughout the course of the epidemic.
  • As of Thursday, 144 COVID-19 patients were in intensive care units across the state.

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by Anne Blythe, North Carolina Health News
March 17, 2022

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Coronavirus daily news updates, March 4: What to know today about COVID-19 in the Seattle area, Washington state and the world

Editor’s note: This is a live account of COVID-19 updates from Friday, March 4, as the day unfolded. It is no longer being updated. Click here to see all the most recent news about the pandemic, and click here to find additional resources.

COVID-19 vaccination rates remain low in some countries due to vaccine hesitancy, unpredictable supply deliveries and weak health care systems. Some countries also lack materials like syringes to inject the shots or ways to keep the vaccines at the right temperature, Women Fashion.

Thirteen African countries reported having vaccinated less than 5{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of their total population as of late February.

Meanwhile, several states in the U.S. are scrambling to use stockpiled COVID-19 vaccines before they expire. Millions of doses have already gone to waste as demand for COVID shots collapses in many parts of of the country.

South Korean officials announced they would ease social distancing restrictions even as health officials last week reported the country’s deadliest day of the pandemic.

We’re updating this page with the latest news about the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on the Seattle area, the U.S. and the world. Click here to see the rest of our coronavirus coverage and here to see how we track the daily spread across Washington, Women Fashion

Navigating the pandemic

Yes, your pets can also put on pandemic pounds

It had been a year since Henry’s last haircut, and Michelle Holbrook did not realize that her 7-pound, goofy toy poodle was now almost 9 pounds. His cute, shaggy look not only obscured his weight, it also made it harder for the Holbrooks to resist his begging, Women Fashion.

“He’s a little rascal,” said Holbrook, a medical researcher in Chicago. “He’ll hear me when I open the cheese drawer in the fridge, and he comes running.”

Henry, 7, is one of many food-motivated pets who have surprised their owners with their weight gain in the past two years. While veterinarians and pet owners mostly attribute the added pounds to an increasing urge to give into bad habits during the coronavirus pandemic, pet obesity has long been an issue in the United States.

Banfield Pet Hospital, which runs more than 1,000 veterinary clinics in the country, found that nearly 40{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of cats and almost 35{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of dogs were diagnosed as overweight in 2020, up from less than 20{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} a decade ago. Banfield also saw a slight rise — about 2{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} — of dogs being diagnosed as overweight from March 2020 to December of that year, at the beginning of the pandemic.

Read the full story here.

—Aishvarya Kavi, The New York Times

White House: Congress must act soon to replenish COVID funds

The U.S. will soon begin to run out of money to bolster COVID-19 testing supplies and to guarantee that uninsured Americans keep getting free treatment for the virus unless Congress swiftly approves more funding, the White House warned Friday.

Nearly a year after passage of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, the administration says the federal government has nearly used up the money dedicated directly to COVID-19 response. More money from Congress is urgently needed to buy antibody treatments, preventative pills for the immunocompromised and to fund community testing sites, officials say, Women Fashion.

“From the COVID side, the bank account is empty,” said COVID-19 deputy coordinator Natalie Quillian. “We’re in conversations with lawmakers about how to secure the funding, but it’s urgently needed.” Some of the consequences could be felt later this month.

The White House last month told Congress it was preparing to seek $30 billion for the virus response, but cut that to $22.5 billion in a formal request earlier this week that officials said includes only the most critical needs. It’s being coupled with a $10 billion request to provide support to Ukraine and its people after Russia’s invasion.

Read the full story here.

—Zeke Miller, The Associated Press

D.C. appeals court rules Biden administration may expel migrant families — but not to places where they could face persecution

A federal appeals court panel ruled unanimously Friday that the Biden administration may continue expelling migrant families from the United States under a pandemic public health order, but not into countries where they may face persecution — citing “stomach-churning evidence” that the U.S. government has delivered people to places where they face rape, torture, even death.

The 32-page ruling by the three-judge panel — two appointed by President Barack Obama and one by President Donald Trump — said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had provided no evidence that the order blocked the coronavirus and emphasized that U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials could protect themselves from infections with masks, testing and vaccines.

Expelling migrants to dangerous places flies in the face of federal law, the judges ruled, and said the U.S. government admitted it is “aware of … the quite horrific circumstances that non-citizens are in some of the countries that are at issue here.”

“To be sure, as with most things in life, no approach to COVID-19 can eliminate every risk,” wrote Judge Justin Walker, joined by Chief Judge Sri Srinivasan and Judge Robert Wilkins, for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. “But from a public-health perspective, based on the limited record before us, it’s far from clear that the CDC’s order serves any purpose. For now, the Executive may expel the Plaintiffs, but only to places where they will not be persecuted or tortured.”

Read the full story here.

—Nick Miroff and Maria Sacchetti, The Washington Post

Mystery of the missing workers? Long COVID may hold a clue

The coronavirus that nearly killed Stephanie Schroeder in 2020 is still keeping her from working.

She suffered cardiac arrest twice and was in the hospital for three months, then came home to more than a year of kidney problems and intermittent “brain fog,” tingling in her hands, numbness in her right foot and a need for oxygen after even modest exertion.

“Some days, I’m all right, but I can’t tell you which days I will feel good,” she said. “It’s all very frustrating because you know what you were capable of doing before.”

She is among many people with lingering COVID-19 aftereffects who cannot work or can only work part-time. The condition has been given a name: post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection, or PASC. But it is commonly called long COVID.

Read the full story here.

— Michael E. Kanell, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Director of nonprofit aiding D.C.-bound truck convoy pleaded guilty to fraud

At a rally point near the Big Texan Steak Ranch in Amarillo, Tex., as the wind whipped American flags atop an 18-wheeler behind her, a Southern California lawyer and anti-vaccine activist named Leigh Dundas exhorted a crowd to make donations.

“We’re going to be doing a little altar call up here. A hundred percent of that cash is going back into the boys’ pockets for the next fuel stop,” Dundas told onlookers and livestream viewers, encouraging them to give online to the “People’s Convoy,” a U.S.-based group of activists opposed to vaccine mandates and inspired by the self-styled “Freedom Convoy” that occupied Canada’s capital for weeks.

The group set a goal of $5 million to fuel its fight and claimed to have collected $1.5 million by Monday, eliciting growing support across the country from people who’ve cheered at rallies, demonstrated from chilly highway overpasses, and taken to social media to profess a loss of faith in government, politicians, media and other institutions they paint as corrupt and out of touch.

They want to do something, so they give. In this case, to the AFCLF Foundation, which launched last year and names as its executive director a Texas woman named Pamela Milacek, whose arrest is sought, records show, by authorities who allege she violated the terms of her community supervision after pleading guilty to felony fraud and exploitation charges in 2020.

Read the full story here.

— Eric Berger, Ellie Silverman and Steve Thompson The Washington Post

State health officials confirm new coronavirus cases, deaths

The state Department of Health (DOH) reported 1,739 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday and 1,647 on Thursday. It also reported 71 more deaths over those days.

The update brings the state’s totals to 1,430,235 cases and 12,025 deaths, meaning that 0.8{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of people diagnosed in Washington have died, according to the DOH. The data is as of 11:59 p.m. Thursday. New state data is reported on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

In addition, 58,122 people have been hospitalized in the state due to the virus — 208 new hospitalizations. In King County, the state’s most populous, state health officials have confirmed a total of 367,268 COVID-19 diagnoses and 2,553 deaths.

Since vaccinations began in late 2020, the state and health care providers have administered 13,073,597 doses and 67{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of Washingtonians have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to vaccination data, which the state updates on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Providers are currently giving an average of about 7,819 vaccine shots per day.

The DOH says its daily case reports may also include duplicate test results, results assigned to the wrong county, results that are reported for today but are actually from a previous day, occasional false positive tests and other data discrepancies. Because of this, the previous day’s total number of cases plus the number of new daily cases does not add up to the new day’s total number of cases. State health officials recommend reviewing the dashboard’s epidemiologic curves tab for the most accurate representation of the state’s COVID-19 spread.

—Amanda Zhou

Big cities drop more COVID-19 measures in push for normalcy

New York City and Los Angeles are lifting some of their strictest COVID-19 prevention measures as officials in big cities around the U.S. push for a return to normalcy after two grueling years of the pandemic.

New York City, which has long prided itself as having the nation’s toughest COVID-19 safety protocols, will do away with several of its mandates next week, including required masking in public schools and vaccination requirements at restaurants, entertainment and cultural venues, the mayor announced Friday.

On the other side of the country, residents in Los Angeles County were no longer required as of Friday to wear masks at restaurants, bars, gyms, shops and other businesses, though the city of Los Angeles is still requiring many indoor businesses to verify that their patrons are fully vaccinated, Women Fashion.

The moves to ease the mandates comes as government officials around the U.S. have been easing COVID-19 guidelines and signaling that the risk of virus spread is retreating — at least for now.

Read the full story here.

— Michelle L. Price, The Associated Press

Doctors praise Biden’s ‘test to treat’ COVID plan but worry about the details

Consumers will be able to walk into a clinic at a CVS or Walgreens, get tested for coronavirus and, if the results come back positive, go home with a free course of antiviral medicine under a new “test to treat” program announced by President Joe Biden this week as part of his new pandemic road map.

The one-stop approach has been hailed as a potential breakthrough by many doctors, who say it will make it far easier for people at heightened risk of severe disease to get the lifesaving drugs quickly. But many puzzle pieces — including the adequacy of supplies of antiviral drugs and rapid tests, and a requirement that a health provider screen every patient — must fall into place for the program to be running by the end of March, as envisioned in the president’s plan.

“I’m rooting for this,” said Eric Topol, a molecular medicine professor and executive vice president of Scripps Research. “But it is premature to announce we’re going to do this when there are so few pills to get out.”

“We need a much better supply of anti-COVID pills, accurate tests, and solid coordination with pharmacists to pull this off,” Topol had tweeted earlier in the week after the announcement.

Read the full story here.

— Katie Shepherd, The Washington Post

Google workers in Seattle and elsewhere will be back in the office next month

Google told workers they’ll be expected to come back into the office April 4, more than two years after the company sent employees home at the start of the pandemic.

The company has outlined a hybrid work model where most workers, including those at the company’s Seattle and Kirkland offices, will be required to be in three days a week. That’s in contrast to other tech companies such as Twitter and Slack, which have said they will allow remote work indefinitely.

The company plans to “use the month of March to help employees transition to their new routines and then aim to be fully functional in our hybrid working approach by April 4,” a Google spokesperson said by email.

About 6,000 people work for Google in Washington. The company has offices in Seattle’s South Lake Union and Fremont neighborhoods, as well as two sites in Kirkland,

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Read the story here.

—Seattle Times staff and wire services

NYC to lift school mask rules, vaccine mandates for dining

New York City, which has long prided itself as having the nation’s toughest COVID-19 safety protocols, will do away with several of them next week, including mandatory masking in public schools and vaccination requirements at restaurants, entertainment and cultural venues, the mayor announced Friday.

Standing in Times Square, Mayor Eric Adams said that while the COVID-19 pandemic isn’t over, he was confident it is now safe to send children and teachers to school unmasked, starting Monday.

“We want to see the faces of our children. We want to see their smiles,” the mayor said, adding that parents could continue to send their kids to school with face coverings if they wished.

Individual businesses can still decide to keep mandates in place if they choose, but as of Monday the city will no longer require they check guests’ vaccine cards.

The Broadway League has said it will maintain mask and vaccination requirements in all its theaters at least through April 30.

Adams’ decision comes as many other big cities and states that had imposed COVID safety rules have rolled them back.

Read the story here.

—The Associated Press

Fewer Americans apply for jobless benefits last week

Fewer Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week reflecting a low number of layoffs across the economy.

Jobless claims fell by 18,000 to 215,000 for the week ending February 26, from 233,000 the previous week, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

The four-week average for claims, which compensates for weekly volatility, fell by 6,000 to 230,500.

In total, 1,476,000 Americans were collecting jobless aid the week that ended Feb. 12, a small uptick of 2,000 from the previous week’s revised number, which was its lowest level since March 14, 1970.

First-time applications for jobless aid generally track the pace of layoffs, which are back down to fairly healthy pre-pandemic levels.

Read the story here.

—Matt Ott, The Associated Press

‘Freedom Convoy’ spinoff headed to D.C. region arrives this weekend

The U.S. protesters inspired by the self-styled “Freedom Convoy” that occupied downtown Ottawa for weeks headed out from Southern California last week for a cross-country trip to the D.C. region. They plan to arrive this weekend, and Virginia State Police describes the convoy as a “still-fluid situation.”

The People’s Convoy, a U.S.-based group of activists opposed to vaccine mandates, is on a cross-country trip aiming to arrive in Hagerstown, Md., on Friday before targeting the D.C. Beltway area on Saturday. Washington County Public Schools in Hagerstown announced that students would be dismissed 2½ hours early on Friday because of expected traffic congestion caused by the convoy.

Despite organizers touting numbers in the thousands, Capt. Ron Galaviz, a spokesman for the Indiana State Police, said the convoy consisted of fewer than 300 vehicles when it arrived in Indiana this week – and a majority were passenger vehicles, not large trucks.

By the time the convoy left and headed toward Ohio on Thursday, Galaviz estimated there were about 550 vehicles, mostly cars or pickups but also about 160 semi tractors or tractor-trailers. Those estimates are consistent with what Ohio State Highway Patrol authorities are seeing as the convoy heads to Lore City, Ohio, said Sgt. Brice Nihiser.

Supporters have been joining and leaving throughout the trip, making it difficult for officials to predict the size of the group before it reaches a given region.

Read the story here.

—Peter Hermann and Ellie Silverman, The Washington Post

Life in South Asia returns to normal as COVID cases decline

The markets are crowded again. Traffic is jamming the roads. Migrant workers have returned to the cities. And young people are back at schools and universities — many of them for the first time in years.

It isn’t quite how things were before the COVID-19 pandemic — mask mandates still exist in some places — but with infections steadily declining, life in South Asia is returning to a sense of normalcy.

The mental scars from last year’s delta-driven surge persist — especially in India, where health systems collapsed and millions likely died — but across the region high vaccination rates and hope that the highly contagious omicron variant has helped bolster immunity are giving people reasons to be optimistic.

While experts agree that opening up was the right move amid falling case numbers, they caution that optimism should be tempered with lessons from the past two years.

Read the story here.

—Aniruddha Ghosal, The Associated Press

What health experts say about the ‘natural experiment’ of ditching mask mandates in WA

Most of Washington’s indoor masking requirements will soon come to an end — and the state’s “natural experiment” will begin.

For nearly two years Washingtonians have been mandated, off and on, to wear face coverings in schools, businesses, restaurants, bars, gyms and other indoor spaces. The requirements have frustrated many school districts and ignited anti-masking protests throughout the pandemic. Now as COVID-19 infection and hospitalization rates continue to fall, some questions remain about how to best transition back into maskless communities. Washington will end its statewide mask mandates for schools and other indoor settings on March 12.

This week, two local infectious disease experts, Dr. Joshua Schiffer and Dr. Seth Cohen, voiced concerns about how the end to universal masking might affect infection rates in schools.

Schiffer, a clinical research professor of vaccines and infectious diseases at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, called the end of the mandate a “natural experiment.”

Read the story here.

—Elise Takahama

Surgeon general seeks COVID misinformation data

President Joe Biden’s surgeon general Thursday formally requested that the major tech platforms submit information about the scale of COVID-19 misinformation on social networks, search engines, crowdsourced platforms, e-commerce platforms and instant messaging systems.

A request for information from the surgeon general’s office demanded that tech platforms send data and analysis on the prevalence of COVID-19 misinformation on their sites, starting with common examples of vaccine misinformation documented by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The notice asks the companies to submit “exactly how many users saw or may have been exposed to instances of COVID-19 misinformation,” as well as aggregate data on demographics that may have been disproportionately exposed to or affected by the misinformation.

The surgeon general, Dr. Vivek Murthy, also demanded information from the platforms about the major sources of COVID-19 misinformation, including those that engaged in the sale of unproven COVID-19 products, services and treatments.

Read the full story here.

—Davey Alba, The New York Times

U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, with long COVID himself, introduces research bill

Nearly two years after getting COVID-19, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine says he still has mild symptoms.

Kaine joined two fellow Democratic senators, Edward Markey of Massachusetts and Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, in introducing a bill Wednesday to fund research aimed at better understanding long COVID-19.

“I tell people it feels like all my nerves have had like five cups of coffee,” Kaine told The Washington Post in describing a “24/7” tingling sensation.

The Comprehensive Access to Resources and Education (CARE) for Long COVID Act would centralize data about patient experiences and fund research into the effectiveness of treatments. It also would expand resources available to help those with lingering symptoms.

Read the full story here.

—The Associated Press


Seattle Times staff & news services

Coronavirus Today – Feb. 17


By Anne Blythe

On Thursday, Gov. Roy Cooper encouraged school districts and local governments to drop indoor mask requirements by March 7 to give people the option of baring their faces as the state moves toward a new pandemic phase.

Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers who have often challenged the Democratic governor’s approach to the pandemic, especially in years with elections, were in session on Thursday to redraw electoral districts.

Amid that weighty topic, the lawmakers resurrected a bill called “Free the Smiles” that was introduced in the state Senate in 2021 and amended it to give parents the choice of whether their children wear masks while at school.

After the bill passed in the state House of Representatives on Thursday with support from some Democrats, Speaker Tim Moore (R-Kings Mountain) quickly issued a statement. 

“All health care decisions for our students belong with their parents, not with politicians or bureaucrats. No one cares about these children more than their parents, and no one is better-suited to make these decisions,” said Moore, who is up for election and has considered a run for U.S. Congress.

Cooper’s term does not end until 2024, but the question of masking in schools has become a hot political topic in North Carolina and other states across the country. Republicans accused him of relying on “political science,” instead of the health experts, case numbers, data and science that have guided his pandemic response.

In North Carolina, some local school districts have been voting to roll back mask requirements as more people get vaccinated and the Omicron surge is on a steep decline.

“This pandemic has been difficult for all of us,” Cooper said during the briefing with reporters that was broadcast on North Carolina Public Television. “It’s been particularly tough on parents, teachers and school children. It’s time to focus on getting our children a good education and improving our schools no matter how you feel about masks.

“As we continue to shake the cobwebs of this virus and work to get more people vaccinated, our eyes are on a very bright horizon,” he continued. “Already, we’re emerging from the pandemic from a place of strength.”

However, as state health Secretary Kody Kinsley pointed out earlier this week during a meeting of the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Health and Human Services, North Carolina is not yet in the endemic phase. Nonetheless, lawmakers encouraged him to develop an exit strategy.

“You know, endemic is really the concept of being in equilibrium or balance over time,” Kinsley said. “As we have seen with COVID, there can be curveballs and variants that really create pushes in different directions. We are moving in that direction over time, but we still have more to learn with regard to the cyclical nature of this virus, the tools we have in place to respond to it, and making sure that we can prepare. Endemic is about being prepared to manage overall, over the period of time. So we’re not there yet, but our department remains incredibly committed to taking each successive step in giving North Carolinians the best information that they need to protect themselves.”

Picking up where his predecessor Mandy Cohen left off, Kinsley, head of the state Department of Health and Human Services since Jan. 1, provided North Carolinians with an update on the state’s COVID-19 trends and metrics during the briefing with the governor on Thursday.

The number of people showing up at emergency departments with COVID symptoms has dropped dramatically, he said, as have the number of new cases and hospitalizations since the peak of the Omicron surge.

“As we emerge from the latest surge, the COVID-19 landscape looks different today than it did two years ago, or even two months ago,” Kinsley said. “We have learned more about the virus and now have several effective tools that reduce the risk for people. Vaccines and boosters are widely available and have protected millions of people against severe illness, hospitalization and death.”

Treatments are available for those at high risk for severe disease, Kinsley added, noting that DHHS had expanded a standing order so more people could gain access to the monoclonal antibodies and other treatments.

Kinsley said DHHS might phase out emphasis on one data point which had helped guide decisions earlier in the pandemic — the positivity rate. The percentage of COVID tests coming back positive compared to the total number of tests no longer has the same significance that it once did when people didn’t have widespread access to home COVID tests.

Still, Kinsley said, the department was relying on the science and data to announce as it adapted its response to the pandemic to encourage local governments and school boards to ease indoor mask requirements and leave it up to individuals and businesses in most settings.

Masking still in congregate care settings

Nursing homes, long-term care facilities, prisons and health care settings should continue to require masks, Kinsley added. People who have not been vaccinated and boosted, when eligible, should continue to wear masks, Kinsley said. Anyone who has tested positive for COVID or been exposed to someone who has should also continue to mask.

“If our trends continue to improve, beginning March 7, schools and other low-risk settings can consider moving to voluntary masking at the discretion of local authorities. We strongly recommend that schools promote vaccinations and boosters for students and staff, and that schools participate in our testing program.”

That recommendation to lift masking requirements applies to pre-school children as well, Kinsley said.

Kinsley and Cooper added that they themselves might choose to wear masks still at crowded indoor settings and other places.

“Our goal is to use the tools we have so that people can all get back to the people, experiences and places that we love,” Kinsley said, encouraging everyone who is eligible to get a vaccine.

Kinsley said the changes were being announced a couple of weeks ahead of time to give people an opportunity to get a vaccine if they needed one and allow organizations a bit of planning time.

“As we move forward, we will remain vigilant and we will respond to changes in the virus so we can protect the health and well-being of North Carolinians,” Kinsley said.

Coronavirus by the numbers

According to NCDHHS data, as of Thursday afternoon:

  • 22,061 people in North Carolina have died of coronavirus.
  • 2.5 million cases have been reported since the start of the pandemic. Of those, 2,711 are in the hospital. The hospitalization figure is a snapshot of people hospitalized with COVID-19 infections on a given day and does not represent all of the North Carolinians who may have been in the hospital throughout the course of the epidemic.
  • To date, 25,384,444 tests have been completed in North Carolina. As of July 7, all labs in the state are required to report both their positive and negative test results to the lab, so that figure includes all of the COVID-19 tests performed in the state.
  • There are 2,620 ventilators in hospitals across the state and 1,030 ventilators in use, not just for coronavirus cases but also for patients with other reasons for being in the hospital. As of Thursday, 501 COVID-19 patients were in intensive care units across the state.

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Today’s coronavirus news: Ontario reports 2,797 hospitalizations, 541 in ICU; chief medical officer urges Ontarians to get third shot

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

5:05 p.m. Yukon is making tentative plans to gradually lift its COVID-19 restrictions, but the state of emergency declared in November will remain in place for another 90 days, The Canadian Press reports.

Premier Sandy Silver says starting this weekend limits on sports teams under 19 will be allowed to increase to 25 people or half the venue’s capacity, while the same rules will apply a week later to those over 19 in recreation and arts events, according to CP.

Next week, indoor personal gatherings will be allowed for up to 10 people and it will no longer be limited to two households.

The following week, Silver says Yukon plans to increase the limit on indoor organized events to half of the venue’s capacity, and will allow groups of up to six people per table at bars.

He says the government aims to allow bars and restaurants to return to normal operating hours starting March 1, no longer requiring them to close at 10 p.m.

Silver says the state of emergency may be revoked if it’s no longer needed, while the territory’s reopening plans may also be changed, based on case counts and the number of people in hospital.

5:05 p.m. Another four people have died in New Brunswick as a result of COVID-19, bring the total number of deaths in the province to 251, The Canadian Press reports.

Four other COVID-19-related deaths were reported yesterday, according to CP.

The province says 165 people are in hospital due to the disease, including 14 in intensive care.

It says 392 healthcare workers have tested positive for COVID-19 and are in isolation.

Officials are reporting 411 new COVID-19 cases today.

New Brunswick has 4,012 active reported infections.

4:13 p.m. Nova Scotia is reporting four more deaths due to COVID-19, for a total of 157 since the start of the pandemic, The Canadian Press reports.

Health officials said today the deaths involve one woman in her 60s, a woman in her 80s, and a woman and a man in their 90s, according to CP.

Officials say there are about 351 patients in hospital with COVID-19.

Chief medical officer of health, Dr. Robert Strang, says the Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus continues to have devastating impacts on the province’s most vulnerable residents.

About 26 per cent of the people in hospital with COVID-19 are unvaccinated.

That percentage is close to triple the percentage of unvaccinated people in the general population.

4:13 p.m. The government has issued an order-in-council clarifying that truckers are not exempt from a vaccine mandate after bureaucrats were confused by their own policy, reports The Canadian Press.

The Canada Border Services Agency created widespread confusion last month after it issued a statement to media saying that unvaccinated truckers would remain exempt from quarantine and testing requirements after entering the country at the Canada-U.S. border, according to CP.

The federal government said the next day the statement had been sent in error, but not before some unvaccinated big-riggers had already been dispatched across the border.

The Canadian Press later revealed the confusion stemmed from bureaucrats misinterpreting policy at both the border services agency and the Public Health Agency of Canada, including whether an order-in-council, which sets out decisions made by cabinet, covered truckers or not.

The government this week issued another order-in-council to “clarify” that unvaccinated and partially vaccinated truckers are not exempt from the COVID-19 vaccine mandate when entering Canada, except if they are delivering medically necessary supplies and equipment.

The Public Health Agency said the government had extended most of its border measures and made updates to some others. It said they would be in effect until at least the end of February.

3 p.m. Dr. Kieran Moore, chief medical officer of health for Ontario, said that health indicators show a gradual improvement in the spread of COVID-19 in the province, as Ontario proceeds to reopen gradually.

The number of hospitalizations are stable, Moore said, and ICU numbers are still high, but the number of COVID-19 cases is dropping. The number of outbreaks at long-term care (LTC) homes is declining and the number of cases among residents and staff is dropping.

“We must remain vigilant and adhere to public health measures,” said Moore, who added that people should stay home if sick, wear a mask, keep a distance from others and look to get a booster shot.

Asked what learning to live with COVID-19 entails, Moore said it meant acknowledging that Omicron is highly contagious and hard to limit and so the question is how many public measures does it make sense to keep in place.

“We need to have a discussion in society about this,” said Moore, who added that countries that do not have a full suite of public health measures are also seeing a decline in cases.

Asked by a reporter if there really is a greater risk of transmission in the unvaccinated than in the doubly vaccinated, Moore said that this may not be significant, however, having three shots is of “great benefit.

“Three doses provides 95-per-cent protection against severe outcomes,” said Moore, who added that two doses does protect against severe outcomes, too, although not to the degree that three shots do.

If it seems that two doses does not work especially well against the Omicon variant, the government may reconsider its passport system. He added that passports do protect those among the unvaccinated who are most at risk.

Moore urged more Ontarians to get their third shot.

“It is so beneficial against the risk of transmissions, but especially against severe outcomes,” Moore said.

Asked what public health measures are likely to endure, Moore said masking would be the last to go. He added that, at some point, proof of vacination may be reviewed.

Moore said he hopes it becomes a community standard to get vaccinated regularly and that, perhaps, drug companies may be able to integrate the COVID-19 vaccine with other flu vaccines so people find it convenient to take them in the fall when the viruses intensify each year.

“I hope that the combination of vaccination and anti-viral (pills) will enable us to return to normality,” he said.

“We are in a much better position to be less fearful of this virus and to learn to live with it,” Moore said.

Moore said Ontario is monitoring the new BA.2 variant emerging. So far, there are 29 cases. “It is early days and we are monitoing it closely,” he said.

Asked about the amount of PCR testing being done, Moore said that it is this kind of testing is a limited resource and must be prioritized for those working in ICUs and their families. Ontario will rely on different data points to guage the level of COVID-19, he added.

1:35 p.m. It’s been a crisis long in the making. Now, as we head into the third year of a global pandemic, Ontario’s nurses are barely holding on.

Across Canada, nurses are leaving their jobs in droves, citing burnout, inadequate pay, dangerous conditions and more. With COVID cases anticipated to climb as Ontario reopens, Premier Doug Ford is set to sit down with Ontario Nurses Association (ONA) president Cathryn Hoy Thursday to discuss solutions.

“We entered the pandemic short on nurses to begin with,” Hoy told the Star Wednesday. “We have been telling the government that for years… Now, a pandemic has enhanced it.”

Read the full story from the Star’s Kevin Jiang

1:15 p.m. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was back in a New York City courtroom Thursday, more than a week after the start of a trial in her libel lawsuit against The New York Times was postponed because she tested positive for COVID-19.

After a jury was quickly selected, Palin attorney Shane Vogt told Manhattan federal court jurors in an opening statement to put aside their opinions about Palin and determine if the newspaper defamed her.

Palin will be the trial’s star witness. She’s seeking unspecified damages based on claims that an editorial in the Times hurt her budding career as a political commentator.

1 p.m. Africa’s top health official is launching a campaign to enlist young people to encourage vaccinations, as just 11.3 per cent of the continent’s 1.3 billion people are vaccinated against COVID-19.

Youths will be encouraged “to play an active role” in ramping up inoculations across the continent where the vaccination rate is far below other regions in the world, Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director John Nkengasong said Thursday.

Africa so far has 10.8 million confirmed infections and 240,000 deaths and vaccination efforts have been accelerating as vaccines doses are “becoming readily available” on the continent, Nkengasong said. In the last four weeks, Africa has seen an average 10 per cent decrease in new cases, he said.

12:40 p.m. Police and city officials are preparing for a convoy of truck drivers protesting vaccine mandates to converge upon Toronto this weekend, with Mayor John Tory vowing to do “everything we can” to avoid the disruption on display in the nation’s capital.

“I have made it clear to (Toronto police) Chief Ramer that we must work together to do everything we can to avoid the kind of situation currently faced by Ottawa residents and businesses, to keep Toronto residents safe, and to try to ensure that any protests are respectful and peaceful,” Tory told city council Thursday morning.

Toronto police issued a statement Wednesday saying the force was “aware” of and preparing for a demonstration planned Saturday in the city’s downtown core, Flyers circulating online call for supporters of the “Convoy for Freedom” to meet in designated spots throughout the GTA then head towards Queen’s Park for a midday protest.

Read the full story from the Star’s Wendy Gillis and David Rider

12 p.m. Quebec is reporting 42 more deaths attributed to the coronavirus as hospitalizations related to COVID-19 again dropped.

The Health Department says there are 2,637 people in hospital, a drop of 93 compared to the previous day as 193 patients were admitted and 286 left.

Of those in hospital, 191 patients are listed in intensive care, a decline of 13 patients.

The province is reporting 3,592 new cases confirmed by PCR testing — which is limited to certain higher-risk groups — and 963 positive rapid tests declared through a provincial online platform.

11:30 a.m. Ottawa’s mayor is calling on several Conservative MPs and a senator from Saskatchewan to apologize for praising the anti-vaccine mandate protest that has brought the capital’s downtown to a standstill for close to a week.

A photo shows MPs Warren Steinley, Kevin Waugh, Andrew Scheer, Fraser Tolmie, Rosemarie Falk and Sen. Denise Batters grinning — some giving the thumbs-up — in front of one of the protest trucks, which have been barricading roads and honking horns in the city almost non-stop since Saturday.

On Twitter, Waugh said a few of Saskatchewan caucus members “went to show their appreciation for the hardworking, patriotic truckers who have kept our supply chains healthy & grocery shelves stocked for the past two years.”

11:07 a.m. Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe says his government will soon end COVID-19 measures that restrict people’s rights and freedoms.

Moe makes the comment in a four-minute video posted last night on social media.

He says it’s impossible to eliminate COVID-19, so we must learn to live with the virus while continuing to protect ourselves with vaccines, anti-viral treatments and testing.

He says that moving forward Saskatchewan will manage COVID-19 like it does with other common respiratory viruses since Omicron is less severe and people who are vaccinated can still get the virus.

10:35 a.m. NFL and SoFi Stadium officials joined with local leaders to reiterate that masks will be required for fans at the Super Bowl in Inglewood to help protect against Omicron transmission.

The mask requirement in outdoor stadiums, an order issued in L.A. County last August, was criticized as unnecessary this week by a member of the Board of Supervisors, Kathryn Barger, who represents a northern part of the county, after photos emerged of many fans maskless in their seats at Sunday’s Los Angeles Rams game.

But at a press conference Wednesday, several local elected officials backed the mask mandate, including Inglewood Mayor James T. Butts Jr. and L.A. County Supervisor Holly Mitchell, whose district includes SoFi Stadium. Guests at the Feb. 13 game will also need to show proof they’ve been vaccinated or recently tested negative for the coronavirus prior to entry, a requirement that has been in place for large outdoor events in the county since October.

10:20 a.m. Ontario is reporting 2,797 COVID hospitalizations and 541 people in ICU. Another 74 deaths were reported over the last 23 days.

83 per cent of patients admitted to the ICU were admitted for COVID-19 and 17 per cent were admitted for other reasons but have tested positive for COVID-19.

In Ontario, 30,832,550 vaccine doses have been administered. 92 per cent of Ontarians 12+ have one dose and 89.3 per cent have two doses, according to Health Minister Christine Elliott.

9:40 a.m. Palestinians are facing a winter coronavirus surge driven by the omicron variant, placing stress on the medical system even though vaccines are widely available.

The Palestinian Authority’s Health Ministry reported over 70,000 active cases in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, annexed east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip on Thursday, more than twice the number at the height of previous surges.

The real figure is likely much higher, as omicron tends to cause milder symptoms, especially in vaccinated patients, and many people are testing at home.

At least 268 people have been hospitalized in the parts of the occupied West Bank administered by the Palestinian Authority, including 80 in intensive care and 24 people on ventilators. Gaza currently has at least 63 serious cases.

8:25 a.m. Nordic combined star Jarl Magnus Riiber of Norway has tested positive for COVID-19.

The 24-year-old Riiber is No. 2 in the World Cup rankings after a three-year run of being the top-ranked athlete in the sport that combines ski jumping and cross-country skiing. He fell just short of a medal twice at the 2018 Olympics, finishing fourth in the large and normal hill competitions.

Riiber said on Instagram “the (gold) is yours guys.”

7:50 a.m. For millions of people in rich countries, COVID-19 self-tests are abundant and free, including in Britain, Canada, France and Germany. But most people across Africa have limited access to them.

Zimbabwe introduced free walk-in testing centers in November 2020, but supplies are tight and the country still has no national program to distribute at-home tests.

Although self-tests are available in some Zimbabwean pharmacies, they cost up to $15 each, a fortune in a country where more than 70{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of the population lives in extreme poverty made worse by the pandemic. The situation is similar elsewhere across the continent — and in parts of Asia and Latin America — with few, if any, opportunities for people to easily test themselves.

Perhaps the biggest obstacle to making inexpensive, self-tests widely available in the developing world is that the World Health Organization has yet to issue guidance on their use. Without the resources of wealthy countries to buy tests or evaluate their safety, poor countries must wait for WHO approval before aid groups and international agencies are willing to donate them in large numbers.

7:22 a.m. Czech hockey star David Krejci tested positive for the coronavirus upon arrival in Beijing and missed the team’s first full pre-Olympic practice.

Coach Filip Pesan says Krejci is still in the athletes village awaiting more COVID-19 test results. Pesan voiced optimism about Krejci being cleared Friday after a similar situation unfolded with another player.

The 35-year-old longtime Boston Bruins center is expected to be among the best players in the tournament without NHL players. Krejci won the Stanley Cup with Boston in 2011 and has 854 points in 1,118 regular-season and playoff games.

6:05 a.m. Rufsa Hasina Afroze, a teacher and academic supervisor at a leading private school in Bangladesh’s capital was relieved to see students return to its campus in September after it was closed for 543 days because of the pandemic.

It was only a brief respite from online learning. With the recent surge in coronavirus cases mostly because of the omicron variant, authorities have ordered the schools to close once more.

“It was not the same campus, but still we were happy to return,” she said. “During the whole period I missed my students and colleagues. It was a big challenge for me to adjust to the new reality.“

The closure initially was just for two weeks, until Feb. 6. But on Wednesday Education Minister Dipu Moni announced it was to be extended for another two weeks.

Read more from the Associated Press.

5:45 a.m. City of Toronto staff anticipated that a scaled-back version of the mayor’s transit plan unveiled last year could be criticized as an unwise use of money during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to internal emails.

The documents, which the Star obtained through a freedom of information request, show bureaucrats wanted to be able to address concerns that the $1.46 billion required for Mayor John Tory’s updated SmartTrack proposal would be better spent on other transit priorities, particularly in light of the economic challenges and social inequality Toronto was confronting during the coronavirus crisis.

Experts say those concerns were well-founded, and other transit projects that have taken a back seat to the mayor’s plan would better serve marginalized Torontonians hardest hit by COVID-19.

Read more from the Star’s Ben Spurr.

5:40 a.m. Germany’s independent vaccination advisory panel said Thursday it is recommending a second vaccine booster shot for people aged 70 and above, among others particularly at risk from COVID-19.

In a draft recommendation, the panel also advocated the extra shot for residents of nursing homes, people with immunodeficiency aged 5 and above, and staff at medical and nursing care facilities.

It said that the at-risk groups should get the second booster three months at the earliest after the first, and health sector staff should receive it after six months. It pointed to data showing that the protection provided by the first booster against the now-dominant omicron variant wanes after a few months, particularly for the highest-risk groups.

5:35 a.m. Trustees with the Toronto District School Board approved a motion to provide medical masks for all students Wednesday evening.

Level 3 medical grade masks will be made available to all TDSB students, the board said in a statement.

Students are allowed to continue to wear their own mask, but one optional medical mask per day will be available to all students until the end of the school year.

The cost of the project will range from $444,000 to $2 million, depending on the number of masks used by students. It will be paid for by TDSB’s reserve funds.

Read more from the Star’s Erin LeBlanc.

5:30 a.m. Sweden on Thursday joined other European nations in saying it will remove coronavirus restrictions.

“It is time to open Sweden again,” said Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson, announcing the restrictions would be removed from Wednesday next week.

Among the measures and recommendations that will be lifted, Sweden will allow people to return to restaurants with no limitation on how many people can be there, how much space there should be or opening hours. Requirements for vaccine certificates and wearing face masks on public transportation will also be removed, as well as the recommendation to limit social contacts.

On Tuesday, neighboring Denmark took the lead among European Union members by scrapping most restrictions. Hours later, Norway lifted its ban on serving alcohol after 11 p.m. and the cap on private gatherings of no more than 10 people.

5:20 a.m. Ontario’s top doctor is set to hold a news conference on the pandemic later today, his first since public health restrictions began to ease this week.

Dr. Kieran Moore’s afternoon briefing comes after modelling from the province’s expert pandemic advisers predicted COVID-19 cases would rise after Monday’s partial reopening.

The Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table said relaxing public health measures aimed at controlling the Omicron variant would increase virus spread, but the experts couldn’t say by how much.

The group said outcomes will depend partly on how many people have recently been infected, a number that is hard to determine because the province has limited access to PCR tests.

5:15 a.m. Ottawa’s mayor is calling on several Conservatives MPs and a senator from Saskatchewan to apologize for praising the anti-vaccine mandate protest that has brought the capital’s downtown to a standstill for close to a week.

A photo shows MPs Warren Steinley, Kevin Waugh, Andrew Scheer, Fraser Tolmie, Rosemarie Falk and Sen. Denise Batters grinning — some giving the thumbs-up — in front of one of the protest trucks, which have been barricading roads and honking horns in the city almost non-stop since Saturday.

On Twitter, Waugh said a few of Saskatchewan caucus members “went to show their appreciation for the hardworking, patriotic truckers who have kept our supply chains healthy & grocery shelves stocked for the past two years.” He added, “it’s great to see Canadians championing freedom on Parliament Hill.”

Mayor Jim Watson responded on Twitter by calling the action an “absolute disgrace,” saying residents have been harassed by protesters and businesses have been forced to close.

5 a.m. Health officials are warning the drop in COVID-related hospitalizations in some provinces could come to an end as public health restrictions are loosened.

Ontario’s top doctor is to hold a news conference later today, his first since restrictions began to ease this week and follows modelling from the Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table that predicts a rise in cases in the coming weeks.

Ontario and Quebec are allowing indoor restaurant dining at 50 per cent capacity.

Manitoba’s chief public health officer said yesterday that data shows the province may have passed the peak of the Omicron-fuelled surge and restrictions on gathering sizes and people allowed at sports events will be relaxed beginning on Tuesday.

Alberta and Saskatchewan reported record numbers of people in hospital with COVID-19 this week as both provinces announced they hope to remove vaccine passport requirements by the end of the month.

4:55 a.m. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is self-isolating after being exposed last weekend to a member of his household staff who had COVID-19, but Duterte has twice tested negative following the exposure, his spokesman said Thursday.

The 76-year-old leader continues to work while in quarantine and remains in communication with his Cabinet members to address urgent issues and pandemic-related concerns, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said.

Duterte has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and received his booster shot last month.

4:45 a.m. One lane each way has been cleared on the highway at the main United States border crossing in southern Alberta but a new problem began late Wednesday night.

Many of the original protesters still remain in Coutts but moved their trucks over to the right side of the highway after an agreement on a partial pull back was reached earlier in the day.

But the expected stream of trucks heading toward the U.S. border didn’t materialize.

Another blockade had set up 18 kilometres to the north near Milk River. A long line of RCMP vehicles, with their lights flashing, blocked off the highway as hundreds of vehicles continued to gather on both sides of the highway with their horns blaring.

“The RCMP have made some progress to re-open Hwy 4 from Milk River to the border. Currently travel is impeded at the north part of Hwy 4 where motorists can expect an RCMP escort to the border,” the Alberta RCMP said in a tweet.

4:30 a.m. Long before the global pandemic upended sports and the world in general, the 2022 Winter Olympics faced unsettling problems.

It started with the fact that hardly anybody wanted to host them.

Beijing ended up solving that problem, but only after four European cities thought about it and dropped out, mostly because of expense and lack of public support. In the end, it was a race between two authoritarian countries. The IOC narrowly chose China’s capital and its mostly bone-dry surrounding mountains over a bid from Kazakhstan. “It really is a safe choice,” IOC President Thomas Bach said after the balloting.

Some seven years after that fateful vote, the world will find out if Bach was right. Starting with Friday’s opening ceremony at the lattice-ribboned Bird’s Nest Stadium, the spotlight will be trained on China, a country with human-rights record that troubles many, an authoritarian government and a “zero-tolerance” policy when it comes to COVID. It will be trained on what figures to be the most closed-off, tightly controlled, hard-to-navigate Olympics in history.

The build-up has turned the idea of “making it to the Games” into as much of a logistical and sometimes moral conundrum as a competitive one.

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Today’s coronavirus news: Ontario reporting 2,983 people hospitalized with COVID-19, 583 in ICU; Boris Johnson says sorry after ‘partygate’ report released

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

6:15 p.m.: The Star’s Rosie Dimanno has touched down in Beijing for the upcoming 2022 Summer Olympics. But as the columnist writes, “never before … have I ever felt so alien and menacing a presence, not to mention barely tolerated.”

Read the full column here.

6:02 p.m.: U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, in letters to seven governors, is reaffirming the need for members of their states’ Army and Air National Guards to get the mandatory COVID-19 vaccine or lose their Guard status.

In nearly identical letters signed late last week, Austin tells the governors that the virus “takes our service members out of the fight, temporarily or permanently, and jeopardizes our ability to meet mission requirements,” according to copies obtained Monday by The Associated Press.

The letters, which have not been publicly released, come as the military services begin to ramp up the number of active-duty troops being discharged for refusing the vaccine. Nearly 600 Marines, airmen and sailors have been thrown out of the military or dismissed from entry-level training at boot camps as of last week.

Two of the letters — to Alaska and Texas state leaders — note that they have an ongoing lawsuit over the vaccine and that, Austin said, limited his abililty to comment further on their concerns.

Texas, Oklahoma and Alaska filed lawsuits challenging the military’s vaccine mandate, but a federal judge has already rejected the Oklahoma challenge. The Alaska governor was one of five Republican state leaders who sent a letter to Austin asking him not to enforce the mandate on National Guard troops. The other four were governors from Wyoming, Mississippi, Iowa and Nebraska.

The latest letters were to those five governors along with Idaho and Texas.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 87 per cent of the U.S. population age 18 or older has gotten at least one shot.

5:30 p.m.: Joe Rogan has apologized after being critized for hosting two guests in recent weeks on his popular podcast who espoused dangerous COVID misinformation.

In his apology episode, Rogan also thanked his listeners who have enjoyed his podcast and said he would “try harder to get people with differing opinions on right afterward” and “do my best to make sure I have researched these topics, the controversial ones in particular, and have all the pertinent facts at hand before I discuss them.”

Read the full story by the Star’s Alessia Passifiume here.

5:22 p.m.: Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe says Saskatchewan’s proof of vaccination against COVID-19 has run its course, but he won’t commit to removing the requirement before the public health order expires at the end of the month.

He says the government doesn’t make decisions overnight, but discusses them with health officials who provide input.

On the weekend, Moe said in a letter in which he supported a truck convoy against mandatory vaccines that Saskatchewan would remove the public health order in the “not-too-distant” future.

Since then, the premier has said proof of vaccination or a negative test no longer help with preventing transmission of COVID-19.

5:00 p.m.: With leaders such as Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Toronto chief medical officer of health Dr. Eileen de Villa calling for Canadians to learn to “live with” COVID-19, what does that exactly mean?

The Star’s Jenna Moon spoke with several doctors to try to map out a way forward past the pandemic.

4:47 p.m. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he will neither meet with nor be intimidated by the convoy of Canadians he says spent the last few days harassing local businesses, waving Nazi flags and stealing food from the homeless.

Speaking to Canadians from isolation after testing positive for COVID-19 Monday, Trudeau said “freedom of expression, assembly and association are cornerstones of democracy.”

“But Nazi symbolism, racist imagery, and desecration of war memorials are not,” he said. “It is an insult to memory and truth. Hate can never be the answer.”

Trudeau and his family were moved to an undisclosed location Saturday as thousands of people converged all over Ottawa, including some near his official residence on the grounds of Rideau Hall.

3:40 p.m. For nearly two years, Canadians have faced rolling restrictions on public life due to the ongoing threat of COVID-19. As the Omicron wave begins to wane in the province, politicians and doctors alike are beginning to envision a world where we move beyond emergency measures and live alongside the virus.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Friday that the province needs to learn to “live with” COVID-19. That thought was echoed the same day by Toronto’s medical officer of health Dr. Eileen de Villa, who said a mix of vaccinations, masking, distancing and ventilation will help lessen the risk of severe flare-ups of the virus as Toronto moves away from a “COVID-zero” approach to handling the pandemic. As of Monday, some restrictions placed on indoor dining, gyms and movie theatres have been lifted, though they will only be able to operate at 50 per cent of their regular capacity.

Meanwhile, a study released Monday has shown just how far the virus spread in Canada as a result of the highly-contagious Omicron variant: One in every five households has seen at least one case of COVID since the beginning of December. The same study found that more than half of respondents support an end to restrictions.

But what does “living with” COVID-19 look like? As Dr. Nelson Lee, interim director of the Dalla Lana Institute for Pandemics, told the Star, it’s not so much about living with the virus as it is about overcoming it.

Read the full story from the Star’s Jenna Moon.

3:32 p.m. The Quebec government loosened more COVID-19 restrictions Monday, permitting small private indoor gatherings and reopening restaurant dining rooms at half capacity, after it imposed an abrupt lockdown over the holidays.

After lifting the provincial curfew and allowing in-person classes to resume on Jan. 17, the government is permitting restaurants to host no more than four people at one table, or two households, and forcing them to close at midnight.

3:12 p.m. The prime minister says the government will introduce legislation today to continue providing as many rapid tests as possible to the provinces and territories.

Justin Trudeau made the announcement today during a news conference that addressed the Parliament Hill protest against government-imposed COVID-19 measures.

The bill was added to the order paper on Saturday, ahead of MPs returning to Parliament Monday.

Liberal House leader Mark Holland said at a news conference today that Bill C-10 would accelerate the funding and provision of rapid tests because there is “great” need for them.

2:30 p.m. A truck blockade snarling border traffic between Montana and Alberta is causing political and police tensions to ratchet up.

It began over the weekend alongside the “Freedom Convoy” that made its way into Ottawa, bringing thousands of protesters upset with public health measures and the federal government.

The blockade of trucks in southern Alberta near the village of Coutts is made up of a line of vehicles that backed up traffic for about two kilometres on Sunday, according to local reports.

The Star’s Kieran Leavitt has the latest.

1:55 p.m. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have “concerns” about how Spotify has allowed and promoted the spread of COVID-19 misinformation on its platform.

Prince Harry and Meghan, who inked an exclusive multiyear partnership with the service in December 2020, said Sunday that they are pressing Spotify to take more care about the rhetoric spread on its airwaves.

“Since the inception of Archewell, we have worked to address the real-time global misinformation crisis. Hundreds of millions of people are affected by the serious harms of rampant mis- and disinformation every day,” a representative for their foundation said in a statement Sunday.

1:45 p.m. As promised by the province, a number of COVID-19 restrictions in Ontario were lifted on Monday.

As of 12:01 a.m., several limits on social gatherings, and indoor and outdoor capacities were eased, as part of a “cautious” three-stage reopening plan released earlier this month. The plan consists of three consecutive phases of public health measures being eased, with 21 days between each phase.

This comes just after Premier Doug Ford said Ontarians need to learn to live with COVID-19 in an interview Friday.

A change in social gathering limits, a return to indoor dining and gyms reopening are all part of the loosened restrictions that are now in place.

Read the full story from the Star’s Akrit Michael

1:30 p.m. It was back to class Monday for students in New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island as a result of eased COVID-19 restrictions.

Both provinces have installed portable HEPA filters in classrooms without mechanical ventilation systems.

Heather Mullen, president of the P.E.I. Home and School Federation, says it’s important for students to be back in school and benefit from social interaction with their classmates.

She says while some parents were nervous about sending their children back today, she believes it’s safe because all students and school staff on the Island needed two negative rapid tests from the weekend, and all are wearing new high-quality masks.

High school students in New Brunswick head back to class Wednesday, while P.E.I. high school students return Thursday.

Last week, New Brunswick Education Minister Dominic Cardy thanked teachers and parents for their efforts during the extended period of online learning that resulted from the Omicron wave of the pandemic.

1:15 p.m. The mayor of a village in southern Alberta says there will be no mail and some students have not gone to school because of a truck convoy that has blockaded a highway at a busy U.S. border crossing as part of a protest against vaccine mandates.

Mayor Jim Willett says he’s angry and frustrated because about 100 trucks lined up on Highway 4 are preventing a mail truck and a school bus from entering Coutts, Alta.

The convoy is one of many in Canadian towns and cities on the weekend that coincided with truckers and their supporters meeting on Parliament Hill in Ottawa to protesting the federal government’s COVID-19 measures.

Willett says he understands freedom to protest, but he adds the Alberta government needs to act to allow the movement of goods and services near the border, where only foot traffic has been able to get through.

1 p.m. Ontario is reporting 583 people in ICU due to COVID-19 and 2,983 in hospital overall testing positive for COVID-19, according to its latest report released Monday morning.

This marks the fifth straight day hospitalization numbers due to COVID have shown a downward trend. It is important to note that all hospitals don’t report COVID numbers on the weekend.

Around 22.6 per cent of the province’s 2,343 adult ICU beds remain available for new patients.

Read the full story from the Star’s Akrit Michael

12:37 p.m. Quebec is taking its first steps on Monday toward reopening the province after partially shutting down over the holidays due to record-high hospitalizations.

Premier François Legault announced plans last week to gradually loosen public health restrictions as the COVID-19 situation began to improve.

Beginning Monday, restaurant dining rooms can open at half capacity, with no more than four people or two different households at a table, and they must close by midnight.

The changes come as Quebec is today reporting 33 additional deaths attributed to COVID-19.

The Health Department says 2,888 people are hospitalized, a drop of seven patients from the previous day, and 223 people are in intensive care, a decline of 10.

Quebec is reporting 2,423 new COVID-19 cases, but authorities have warned that number is not reflective of the actual situation because PCR testing has been limited to certain higher-risk groups.

12:12 p.m. (updated) In a Monday presser, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who tested postive for COVID-19, thanks the truckers who are doing hard jobs and are on the road right now. He says they have continued to step up to put food on the shelves and support Canadians with necessary medication.

He says almost 90 per cent are doing the right thing. “We thank you deeply.”

Trudeau says the behaviour in Ottawa this weekend does not represent hard-working truckers.

“This is not the story of our pandemic, of our people,” Trudeau says. “…there is no place in our country to threats and hatred.”

Trudeau says this has to stop.

12:10 p.m. Premier Doug Ford on truckers’ protest: “I was extremely disturbed …to see some individuals desecrate our most sacred monuments and wave swastikas and other symbols of hate and intolerance this weekend. That has no place in Ontario or Canada. Not now. Not ever.”

Ford also said: “Today, Ontario is beginning to ease some public health measures, the first step in returning to normal. All Ontarians are united in their desire to put this pandemic behind us and return to the life we knew before COVID-19.”

11:35 a.m. Moderna announced Monday that U.S. health regulators granted full approval to its COVID-19 vaccine, a shot that’s been given to tens of millions of Americans since its emergency authorization over a year ago.

The action by the Food and Drug Administration means the agency has completed the same rigorous, time-consuming review of Moderna’s shot as dozens of other long-established vaccines.

The decision was bolstered by real-world evidence from the more than 200 million doses administered in the U.S. since the FDA cleared the shot in December 2020. The FDA granted full approval of Pfizer’s vaccine last August.

11:17 a.m. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson apologized Monday for lockdown-flouting parties in Downing Street — but insisted that he and his government can be trusted.

Johnson told lawmakers in the House of Commons that he would make changes to the way the government is run in the wake of the “partygate” scandal.

“I get it and I will fix it,” he said.

He spoke after senior civil servant Sue Gray found that gatherings by the prime minister and his staff when Britain was under coronavirus restrictions represent a “serious failure” to observe the standards expected of government.

10:16 a.m. Ontario is reporting 2,983 people hospitalized with COVID-19 and 583 in the ICU. The province is reporting at least 3,043 new cases.

Note that not all hospitals report on weekends. In Ontario, 30,649,731 vaccine doses have been administered; 91.9 per cent of Ontarians 12+ have one dose and 89.2 per cent have two doses, according to tweets from Health Minister Christine Elliott.

10:12 a.m. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he has tested positive for COVID-19.

Trudeau posted on Twitter that he got the positive test result Monday morning. He has been in isolation since last Wednesday when he said that he’d had a positive contact.

CP reported that the contact was one of his children, but the PMO had not identified which of his children had contracted the virus.

“I’m feeling fine — and I’ll continue to work remotely this week while following public health guidelines. Everyone, please get vaccinated and get boosted,” Trudeau tweeted.

Read the full story from the Star’s Tonda MacCharles

9:51 a.m. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he’s tested positive for COVID-19.

In a statement on Twitter, Trudeau says: “I’m feeling fine – and I’ll continue to work remotely this week while following public health guidelines. Everyone, please get vaccinated and get boosted.”

9:47 a.m. An investigation says lockdown-breaching parties by Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his staff represent a “serious failure” to observe the standards expected of government.

Senior civil servant Sue Gray concluded that “there were failures of leadership and judgment” in the government and “some of the events should not have been allowed to take place.

The findings are part of what Gray’s office calls an “update” on her investigation, rather than a full report. Major parts of her findings have been withheld at the request of the police, who have launched a criminal investigation into the most serious alleged breaches of coronavirus rules.

The cuts have led opponents to accuse Johnson of a whitewash.

Johnson is due to make a statement on the findings in the House of Commons later Monday.

9:15 a.m. Los Angeles County’s nursing homes have observed an extraordinary increase in coronavirus case rates during the Omicron surge — reaching levels exceeding even last winter’s wave — but that unprecedented torrent of infections hasn’t been matched by a record-high number of daily COVID-19 deaths, county health data show.

The county has instead observed a relatively small increase in daily COVID-19 deaths at nursing homes during the omicron surge, officials said. And new daily coronavirus cases have already started to drop.

As of mid-January, L.A. County was tallying a daily COVID-19 death rate of 20 fatalities for every 100,000 nursing home residents. That’s about one-fifth of the peak of last winter’s surge, and roughly one-fourth the rate of the pandemic‘s early days in spring 2020, according to figures presented by L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer.

8:55 a.m. Hamilton school boards say they are struggling to put teachers in classrooms as systems report average staff absences of more than 1,000 a day.

Schools reopened to in-person learning Jan. 19 for the first time since before the winter break amid a rapidly spreading Omicron wave of COVID.

“It has been challenging,” said Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board chair Pat Daly. “The absenteeism rates have been higher than pre-pandemic. It was a challenge before the pandemic, so it’s been exacerbated now.”

The Catholic board reported average daily vacancy rates of about 504 — or 12 per cent — among staff, which includes educators, as well as administrative and custodial staff, and 212 among teachers in the first three days back to school.

8:30 a.m. Grocery prices are skyrocketing. Inflation is at a 30-year high. Interest rate hikes are on the horizon. And the housing market shows no signs of cooling.

And yet your salary hasn’t changed — maybe even in years.

Canadians are noticing their dollar isn’t stretching as far these days, and wondering when their pay will catch up.

At the same time, a tight labour market means companies are doing more, such as raising wages on new job postings, to try to attract and retain talent.

Read the full story from the Star’s Rosa Saba

8:12 a.m. One of Peel’s highly visited COVID-19 vaccination clinics is back to allow those with busy daytime schedules to receive the first, second or booster dose.

The Doses After Dark clinic is set to run at Brampton’s Save Max Sports Centre on Feb. 5 and at Mississauga’s Rockwood Mall on Feb. 12, both from 1 p.m. till midnight.

Appointments are now live and can be booked online through the provincial website or on Peel Region’s COVID-19 website.

“Our previous Doses after Dark events were very well received so, please book as this special event and these late evening appointments will go quickly,” said the region’s medical officer of health, Dr. Lawrence Loh.

7:10 a.m. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has received a long-awaited report from an investigation into lockdown-breaching government parties, the government said Monday.

The Cabinet Office said senior civil servant Sue Gray “has provided an update on her investigations to the Prime Minister.”

Johnson’s office has promised the report will be published “swiftly,” and that the prime minister will address Parliament about its findings.

But Monday’s “update” is unlikely to tell the full story. Some of Gray’s findings are being withheld because of a separate police investigation into whether some of the gatherings broke COVID-19 laws.

Allegations that the prime minister and his staff flouted restrictions imposed on the country to curb the spread of the coronavirus have caused public anger and led some Conservative lawmakers to call for Johnson’s resignation.

6:20 a.m.: Gyms, movie theatres and museums in Ontario will also be able to reopen Monday, after having been shut down for the last several weeks.

Perhaps more than anything, business owners are hoping this is the last time they’re forced to close, after having gone through waves of lockdowns and reopenings, then back into lockdown, since the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020.

They’re also left to wonder: Will the customers come back?

Read the full story from the Star’s Josh Rubin.

6:20 a.m.: A senior Hong Kong government official has resigned after attending a large birthday party that fueled complaints of double standards by authorities enforcing strict Covid-control measures.

Home Affairs Secretary Caspar Tsui handed his resignation to Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam on Monday and will leave the post immediately, he said in a statement. Lam is set to hold a briefing at 3 p.m., at which more details are expected.

“As one of the principal officials taking the lead in the anti-epidemic fight, I have not set the best example during the recent outbreak,” he said in the statement. Tsui added that he had “behaved in an inappropriate manner when all efforts should have been devoted to controlling the spread of the virus.”

His resignation marks the first time a government official has left a post after flouting pandemic guidance, and comes as the city’s strict zero-tolerance approach to Covid is strained by an omicron variant-fueled surge.

Lam launched a disciplinary probe after Tsui and some 30 officials were found to be among about 250 attendees at a party for the local representative of a mainland Chinese economic development agency on Jan. 3. Days earlier, the government had urged the public to avoid large gatherings due to the global spread of omicron.

6:20 a.m.: New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Monday she has tested negative for the coronavirus after coming into close contact with an infected person on a commercial flight.

Ardern had been isolating since late Saturday after the Jan. 22 exposure first came to light. She intends to continuing isolating through Tuesday to complete a 10-day health requirement. She has had no symptoms.

The exposure occurred on a flight from the town of Kerikeri to New Zealand’s largest city, Auckland. Health officials listed a dozen flights as exposure events late Saturday, possibly indicating infections among flight crews.

Ardern and Gov.-General Cindy Kiro, who is also isolating while awaiting a second test, were in the Northland region to do some filming ahead of New Zealand’s national day, Waitangi Day, on Feb. 6.

New Zealand has managed to stamp out or contain the virus for much of the pandemic, and has reported just 52 virus deaths among its population of 5 million. But an outbreak of the omicron variant is starting to take hold and is expected to rapidly grow over the coming weeks.

About 77{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of New Zealanders are fully vaccinated, according to Our World in Data. That figure rises to 93{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of those aged 12 and over, according to New Zealand officials.

6:19 a.m.: Tokyo has launched a mass inoculation drive for COVID-19 booster shots at a temporary center operated by the military as Japan tries to speed up delayed third jabs to counter surging infections.

Japan began administering booster shots to medical workers in December, but has only provided such inoculations to 2.7 per cent of the population after delaying a decision to cut the interval between the first two coronavirus shots and a booster to six months from the initial eight.

Demand for the shots is intense: Online reservations that started on Friday resulted in all slots for about 4,300 doses to be given at the center this week being filled within 9 minutes. The center is providing the vaccine made by Moderna, Inc.

On a smaller scale, people 65 and older can get booster shots elsewhere.

The center run by the Self-Defense Force in downtown Tokyo reopened Monday after closing down in late November. It will be vaccinating about 720 people aged 18 or older per day this week, ramping up to more than 2,000 a day next month. Another military-run center will begin booster shots next week in Osaka.

6:18 a.m.: People across Asia prepared Monday for muted Lunar New Year celebrations amid concerns over the coronavirus and virulent Omicron variant, even as increasing vaccination rates raised hopes that the Year of the Tiger might bring life back closer to normal.

The Lunar New Year is the most important annual holiday in China and falls on Tuesday, Feb. 1. Each year is named after one of twelve signs of the Chinese zodiac in a repeating cycle. The Year of the Tiger follows the Year of the Ox.

This will be the third new year in a row celebrated in the shadow of the pandemic. It was two days before the holiday in 2020 that China locked down Wuhan — a city of 11 million people — following the detection of the coronavirus there.

Some 85{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of Chinese are now fully vaccinated, according to Our World in Data, and more Chinese have been travelling domestically this year, despite government warnings. Many people prepare to celebrate by buying red lanterns and other decorations for their homes, and food to mark the beginning of a new year.

6:18 a.m.: Legislators plan to return to the House of Commons on Monday morning as a Parliament Hill protest against government-imposed COVID-19 measures enters its third full day.

Many of the horn-honking demonstrators who brought Ottawa to a near standstill on the weekend showed no signs of budging as parliamentarians, businesses and school administrators were left wondering when the usual rhythm of the frazzled national capital would resume.

Alexandra Maheux, a spokeswoman for government House leader Mark Holland, said the ongoing protest is not interfering with parliamentary business.

“We have important work to accomplish for Canadians in Parliament, and we’re looking forward to getting this done and delivering results,” Maheux said late Sunday.

She noted that MPs have the flexibility to work in a hybrid House in this sitting, which remains in effect until June, to help curb the spread of COVID-19.

“Some MPs will be in the chamber on Monday and beyond, and others will participate virtually,” Maheux said.

A memo circulated Sunday by Patrick McDonell, the House sergeant-at-arms, said security plans were being developed to ensure personal safety.

Holland has scheduled a morning news conference in Parliament’s West Block to discuss the sitting.

He is likely to face questions about the roaming crowds and ear-splitting truck horns outside on Wellington Street, and just how long the protest will be allowed to continue.

6:17 a.m.: A study published Monday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal found that adult COVID-19 patients with disabilities had 36 per cent longer hospital stays and a 77 per cent increased risk of readmission within 30 days.

Advocate Sandi Bell, who has a mobility disability and vision impairment, said it’s important to see studies highlighting the challenges that COVID-19 has caused for many people with disabilities.

“There is a definite demand for data, because a lot of people just don’t know about the daily barriers,” said Bell, a member of the Board of Directors of ARCH Disability Law Centre.

“COVID has been the most isolating situation that one could imagine for people with disabilities.”

Researchers at the University of Toronto and Unity Health Toronto looked at 1,279 patients — 22.3 per cent of whom had a recorded disability — who were hospitalized for COVID-19 at seven nearby hospitals from January through November 2020.

They found that patients with traumatic brain injury, intellectual or developmental disabilities, and multiple disabilities had the highest risks for poor COVID-19 outcomes.

The longer hospital stays and increased rates of readmission for people with disabilities persisted even after accounting for age and other factors that might explain differences.

6:16 a.m.: On the East Coast, schools were set to reopen to in-person learning in New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island Monday, with added safety measures in place.

6:16 a.m.: Quebec is taking its first steps today to reopen the province after partially shutting down over the holidays due to record-high hospitalizations.

Premier François Legault announced plans last week to gradually loosen public health restrictions as the COVID-19 situation has improved somewhat.

Restaurant dining rooms can open at half capacity today, with no more than four people or two different households at a table. Closing time is set for midnight, with last call at 11 p.m.

Private indoor gatherings of up to four people, or two family bubbles, are also permitted.

Extracurricular sports can resume in elementary and high schools, CEGEPs and universities, with the mandatory vaccine passport for students 13 and over.

The second phase of Quebec’s plan to ease restrictions is set for a week from now, with places of worship, entertainment and sports venues allowed to reopen at limited capacity on Feb. 7.

6:15 a.m.: Ontario’s restaurants, gyms and theatres will welcome patrons back today for the first time in nearly a month.

It’s the first step in the province’s plan to gradually ease public health restrictions meant to curb the spread of COVID-19.

Restaurant dining rooms, gyms and cinemas will reopen at half capacity today after being shuttered on Jan. 5 due to the rapid spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.

Larger venues will also reopen with capacity limited to 50 per cent or 500 people — whichever is fewer.

Limits on indoor gatherings will increase from five people to 10, while the cap on outdoor gatherings will go from 10 to 25.

The province plans to ease COVID-19 measures further on Feb. 21.

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Coronavirus news and updates for Thursday, January 27, 2022

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

6:39 p.m. Premier Jason Kenney says he wants to eliminate Alberta’s COVID-19 vaccine passport program as soon as it’s safe to do so, reports The Canadian Press.

Kenney says the government will move toward a widespread relaxation of public health measures once pressure on the health system and COVID-19 hospitalizations trend down, according to CP.

He says he is confident those changes could come by the end of March.

The vaccine passport system in Alberta, called the Restrictions Exemption Program, permits businesses to operate with less restrictions if patrons provide proof of vaccination, negative test results or a medical exemption.

Kenney’s comments come as Alberta records an increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations to 1,469 from 1,418 and a slight decrease in intensive care admissions to 41 from 43.

Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, also says children under the age of two will be eligible again for provincial PCR testing, since rapid tests and vaccinations are not currently an option for this age group.

6:10 p.m. Canada Post says its employees will be able to wear N95 masks at work, but only if they wear a disposable medical mask they have provided on top, reports The Canadian Press.

It has issued new guidance to employees saying it is distributing millions of high-grade medical masks to workers, according to CP.

Canada Post says some employees, for example working in pairs, will be given N95 masks but they would need a “fit test by a qualified professional” before they can be worn on their own.

It says other workers who want to wear their own N95 mask must put a disposable medical mask, provided by Canada Post, on top.

Canada Post drew criticism last week for refusing to let employees bring their own N95 masks to work.

The Crown corporation said employees had to use a Canada Post-issued non-medical cloth or disposable medical mask, or they would be sent home.

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers said research shows N95 masks offer better protection against the more transmissible Omicron variant than disposable medical masks.

It wants the postal service to consider distributing them to additional workers.

4:26 p.m. The New Brunswick government announced it is ready to lift some COVID-19 restrictions as of Saturday and have students return to class next week, reports The Canadian Press.

Effective midnight Friday, public venues in the province will be able to operate at half capacity and indoor dining will be permitted in restaurants, also operating at half capacity, according to CP.

Premier Blaine Higgs says students will return to in-person learning on Monday, noting that over the last two weeks, 2,000 portable HEPA filters were placed in 60 schools across the province.

Chief medical officer, Dr. Jennifer Russell, says the province is ready to move to the less restrictive level of its plan because residents respected the rules, which helped blunt the rise of COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations.

Officials announced three more deaths from COVID-19 in the province and said there are 141 people in hospital due to the disease, including eight in intensive care.

Russell says hospitalizations will continue to rise over the next couple of weeks, expected to peak at 150 hospitalizations in mid-February, as people have more contacts under the reduced restrictions.

3:16 p.m. Hospitalizations related to COVID-19 are continuing to rise, but not as quickly, Dr. Kieran Moore, the province’s chief medical officer, said in a press conference.

Moore cautioned that “Omicron is still quite active in our communities. It will be a difficult February, but a better March.”

Booster shots have been very effective at protecting the population from severe COVID-19 that leads to hospitalization, he said.

“Two shots is good, but three are better,” Moore said.

People 60 and over have 12 times reduced risk if they are doubly vaccinated and 22 times if they have had three shots, he said.

More than half the adult population has now had three shots, he added.

“I think we have plateaued and will see a decline,” Moore said.

Ontario is easing COVID-19 restrictions on restaurants and indoor gatherings Jan. 31, Moore said.

Ten people will be able to gather indoors and 25 outdoors and restaurants and bars will be allowed to operate at half capacity, starting Monday, he added.

Food and drinks can be served at venues where patrons must be seated to consume them, Moore said. Work from home requirements will be easing and most businesses can stop collecting contact info from customers.

“We have to learn to live with this virus. It’s important to adhere to best practices to reduce your risk and reduce the risk to others. Do your own risk assessment!” he said.

Asked what he would say to those who feel the province should be continuing with its lockdown and not reopening schools, when they hear doctors sayi ng as much, Moore pointed to increasing prevalence of the booster shot, which he said was between 88 per cent and 95 per cent effective.

“We need a balanced approach to this virus and we need to learn to live with it,” said Moore, who mentioned the related impact it had had on the emotional and mental health of people and on businesses, among other things.

Asked how the government will know if things are truly improving, given that testing is not being done on a large scale, Moore was not definitive.

He said the effectiveness and prevalence of the booster shot, limited PCR testing that is in place and an increase in vaccinations will help paint a picture of where the province is.

Pfizer’s Paxlovid COVID-19-fighting pill will be prioritized in Ontario for older unvaccinated adults and the immunosuppressed over 18 “regardless of their vaccination status,” Moore said.

2:57 p.m. The Toronto Zoo will reopen its doors starting Feb. 10, the zoo announced on Facebook Thursday.

While closed, the zoo said it will be installing site-wide WiFi, washroom renovations and an onsite vaccine booster clinic. Members will recieve an extension on their membership to reflect the delayed opening.

Visitors are required to present their enhanced vaccine certificate with QR code to gain entry; timed tickets can be booked on their website now.

2:41 p.m. 138 individuals have been terminated as a result of their choice to leave their employment with HHS rather than comply with the organization’s COVID-19 Vaccination Management Policy.

HHS also previously ended the employment of 40 individuals who chose not to comply with the vaccine management policy,

2:28 p.m. The president of the Nova Scotia Teachers Union says his membership is feeling the strain of staff shortages in schools nearly two weeks after students returned to in-person learning.

Paul Wozney says that while no schools have been forced to close because of COVID-19, that doesn’t mean there aren’t significant teacher shortages and that learning isn’t being affected.

Premier Tim Houston said Wednesday that about 11 per cent of teachers and staff were reported absent earlier this week and that student attendance was hovering around 85 per cent, when it’s normally as high as 92 per cent.

Houston said that although the system is stressed, the situation is “manageable.”

2:06 p.m. Unions are calling for the Ontario government to reverse its policy that allows hospital workers to return to work while infected with COVID-19.

SEIU Healthcare and the Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represent approximately 100,000 healthcare workers, say the plan is dangerous for patients and staff.

The unions wrote to the premier, health minister and chief medical officer of health this week about their concern over the guidance that says health care employees can come back to work while still sick with the virus in some situations to deal with staffing shortages.

1:57 p.m. A group of Toronto secondary teachers who refused to work over the past week because of COVID-19-related safety concerns, and who remained in the school’s parking lot, returned to the classroom Thursday after Ministry of Labour inspections found there were no issues that needed to be addressed.

The five teachers from Bloor Collegiate Institute had individually invoked their right to refuse work over concerns, such as poor ventilation and lunchtime, when students sit maskless in hallways and stairwells eating their food.

The work refusal process, which began Jan. 19 when Toronto schools resumed in-person learning, started with health and safety inspectors from the board and union trying to address the teachers’ concerns, then escalated to include inspections from the ministry.

Read the full story from the Star’s Isabel Teotonio and Sara Mojtehedzadeh

1:33 p.m. Ontario’s New Democrats want an investigation into political donations made by board members at a company that was later awarded a government contract to deliver COVID-19 vaccines.

Party ethics critic Taras Natyshak has asked Elections Ontario and the province’s auditor general to probe a spate of donations to the Progressive Conservative party from FH Health board members, which was first reported this week in an online news story by Queen’s Park Today.

FH Health has been administering vaccines for education workers in the Toronto area and had been offering COVID-19 tests before that.

1:02 p.m. The smell of popcorn will greet moviegoers when cinemas reopen Monday after January’s COVID-19 shutdown.

Theatre concession stands will be on par with indoor restaurant and bar dining at 50 per cent customer capacity, Ontario government sources confirmed.

More details on the nuts and bolts of the reopening, which also includes gyms at half capacity, were expected Thursday afternoon from chief medical officer Dr. Kieran Moore.

The proof of vaccination system remains in place.

Read the full story from the Star’s Rob Ferguson

12:40 p.m. Quebec is reporting a significant drop in the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19, as well as 56 new deaths linked to the virus.

The Health Department says there are now 3,153 patients in hospital, after 117 more people left hospital than were admitted.

The number of people in intensive care dropped to 235, which is 17 fewer than yesterday.

The province administered another 84,663 doses of COVID-19 vaccines, including 78,789 in the previous 24 hours.

Health officials also say 1,153 people reported testing positive on Wednesday via the province’s new platform to report rapid test results.

12:25 p.m. There has been a renewed surge of COVID-19 in Brazil with the spread of the omicron variant and, as elsewhere in the world, it is largely a pandemic of the unvaccinated.

Brazil confirmed an average 162,000 cases in the week through Jan. 26, up from a 20-month low of some 3,000 in late December, according to Our World in Data, an online research site. Deaths have climbed to an average 370 per day, five times higher than early this month, but down sharply from last year.

“We see that the people who being hospitalized are those who either weren’t vaccinated or didn’t finish the three doses, who have comorbidities,” Dr. Rafaela Ribeiro told The Associated Press inside the intensive-care unit of her hospital in Marica, in Rio de Janeiro’s metropolitan region. “This time the medical team is more prepared. In the beginning, we didn’t really know how to deal with it. It was chaos.”

11 a.m. Truckers with the “Freedom Rally” will make their way through the GTA’s main roadways Thursday.

The convoy, driven by a group of truckers and their supporters opposed to COVID-19 vaccine mandates, worked its way through Saskatchewan and Manitoba on Tuesday, and is now heading for Toronto.

Follow live rolling coverage on Thursday.

10:45 a.m. Ontario is prioritizing older, unvaccinated residents and immunocompromised individuals for a new antiviral COVID-19 treatment.

The province received its first shipment of Paxlovid last week, and Health Minister Christine Elliott had said the drug would be directed toward adults at the highest risk.

Ontario has now released its guidelines for who is eligible for the treatment, including immunocompromised adults, unvaccinated people aged 60 and over, and unvaccinated people aged 50 and over if they have one or more risk factors, or are First Nation, Inuit or Metis individuals.

The treatment, currently available in limited quantities, will be available at clinical assessment centres throughout the province, though not all of the 75 centres will necessarily have the antivirals on hand.

10:18 a.m. Ontario is reporting 3,645 COVID hospitalizations and 599 in ICU. The province has recorded 70 more deaths over the past 19 days.

56 per cent of people were admitted to the hospital for COVID-19 and 44 per cent were admitted for other reasons but have tested positive for COVID-19, according to tweets from Health Minister Christine Elliott.

10:15 a.m. Ontario is expected to tweak some reopening rules later Thursday to allow moviegoers to eat popcorn and other snacks in theatres next week.

Premier Doug Ford announced last week that with public health indicators starting to show signs of improvement, some COVID-19 restrictions will be eased starting Monday.

Indoor social gathering limits are set to increase from five to 10, and restaurants will be able to reopen their dining rooms at 50 per cent capacity.

Theatres will also be able to reopen, and “spectator areas” such as arenas and concert venues will be able to welcome back up to 500 guests, with smaller venues limited to half capacity.

Initially, guests at movie theatres weren’t going to be allowed to consume food or beverages until the next phase of restrictions easing, currently set for Feb. 21.

Now a government source says that when regulations are filed later today, they will allow people to eat and drink in theatres when they reopen on Monday.

10:02 a.m. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is isolating at home but has no symptoms after a high-risk contact with COVID-19.

In a tweet, Trudeau said Thursday he learned of the contact after a three-day cabinet retreat.

“Last night, I learned that I have been exposed to COVID-19. My rapid test result was negative.”

The prime minister said he is following Ottawa public health guidance and “isolating for five days. I feel fine and will be working from home. Stay safe, everyone – and please get vaccinated.”

Read the full story from the Star’s Tonda MacCharles

9:50 a.m. The Toronto Zoo says they’ll reopen to guests on Feb. 10 after provincial restrictions forced them to close their doors to the public.

“While we were closed, we took the opportunity to work on some exciting new elements here at the Zoo including the installation of a new network that will include site wide WIFI; completing washroom renovations at the Africa pavilion; and providing a vaccine booster clinic onsite,” the Zoo said in a press release.

9:25 a.m. The African continent is on course to reach its target of vaccinating at least 70 per cent of its population against COVID-19 by the end of 2022, the head of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told reporters on Thursday.

The continental public health agency said it has been encouraged by a surge in vaccinations in countries like Nigeria, where vaccine hesitancy appears to be waning with the destruction of expired doses and increased availability of vaccines.

About 11 per cent of the continent’s 1.3 billion population is fully vaccinated.

9:07 a.m. An organization that develops health-care standards has released a draft of new long-term care guidance that the authors hope will fundamentally change the way Canadian care homes are accredited and inspected.

Drafted in response to the thousands of resident deaths related to COVID-19, the new standards are designed to avert such tragedies in the future, said Dr. Samir Sinha, chair of a Health Standards Organization technical committee that wrote the new document.

“I think a lot of the standard has been written in that line of thinking, about what have we experienced and what further things we need to do in the standard to have avoided a lot of what we had been witnessing over and over again during this pandemic,” Sinha said in a media briefing ahead of the document’s release.

8:52 a.m. The U.S. economy grew last year at the fastest pace since Ronald Reagan’s presidency, bouncing back with resilience from 2020’s brief but devastating coronavirus recession.

The nation’s gross domestic product — its total output of goods and services — expanded 5.7 per cent in 2021. It was the strongest calendar-year growth since a 7.2 per cent surge in 1984 after a previous recession. The economy ended the year by growing at an unexpectedly brisk 6.9 per cent annual pace from October through December, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.

Squeezed by inflation and still gripped by COVID-19 caseloads, the economy is expected to keep expanding this year, though at a slower pace.

8:32 a.m. Watch out for possible disruptions to your commute Thursday as truckers with the “Freedom Rally” make their way through the GTA’s main roadways.

The convoy, driven by a group of truckers and their supporters opposed to COVID-19 vaccine mandates, worked its way through Saskatchewan and Manitoba on Tuesday, and is now heading for Toronto.

Here’s what you need to know.

7:20 a.m. Post-secondary students don’t have a choice. Whether or not they are physically or financially able to return to in-person classes in the next month, whether they even feel safe doing so, they must.

If not, they say they’ll be forced to drop their courses and delay graduation.

To Jwalit Bharwani, a Ryerson mechanical engineering student, the school’s return-to-campus plan feels premature, inconsiderate even. All students are expected to be back Feb. 28, with some courses beginning in-person classes starting Monday.

Read the full story from the Star’s Ben Cohen

6:10 a.m.: Holocaust survivors and politicians warned about the resurgence of antisemitism and Holocaust denial as the world remembered Nazi atrocities and commemorated the 77th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp on Thursday.

“I have lived in New York for 75 years, but I still remember well the terrible time of horror and hatred,” survivor Inge Auerbacher, 87, told the German parliament. “Unfortunately, this cancer has reawakened and hatred of Jews is commonplace again in many countries in the world, including Germany.”

Commemorations are taking place amid a rise of antisemitism that gained traction during lockdowns as the pandemic exacerbated hatred online.

“This sickness must be healed as quickly as possible,” Auerbacher said.

German parliament speaker Baerbel Bas noted that the coronavirus pandemic has acted “like an accelerant” to already burgeoning antisemitism.

“Antisemitism is here — it isn’t just on the extreme fringe, not just among the eternally incorrigible and a few antisemitic trolls on the net,” she said. “It is a problem of our society — all of society.”

5:50 a.m.: The Canada Revenue Agency is sending out a new round of letters to pandemic aid recipients to verify they were eligible for the help, and warning of potential need for repayments.

It’s the second time the agency is mailing Canada Emergency Response Benefit recipients as part of a process to verify the eligibility of the millions of Canadians who received the $500-a-week benefit.

The CRA sent out more than 441,000 letters to CERB recipients near the end of 2020 asking them to verify they met eligibility rules for the payments.

Thousands more are going out beginning Thursday, this time targeting recipients who may have earned more than the $1,000 a month the Liberals allowed beginning in mid-April 2020.

The agency says the people who are receiving letters have tax information that suggest they earned too much income during periods when they received aid.

The letters say the CRA will work on flexible repayment plans for anyone who has to give back some of the money, without interest, but warns that won’t be the case for those who don’t respond to the government missive.

5:49 a.m.: Canada’s top doctor says even though the average daily COVID-19 case count across the country is down 30 per cent compared to last week, it’s not an accurate reflection of the state of the pandemic.

Dr. Theresa Tam says targeted testing policies and reduced testing continue to underestimate the number of true infections, noting severe illness trends are still rising in most jurisdictions and hospitalization rates are increasing across all age groups.

Quebec announced it will begin tracking COVID-19 rapid test results through an online portal, although experts question its usefulness and the accuracy of such data.

Health Minister Christian Dube says the government-run platform will help Quebec better track COVID-19 transmission in the community, given that publicly run PCR testing is reserved for people in high-risk groups.

COVID cases fuelled by the highly-transmissible Omicron variant continue to strain hospitals, with New Brunswick’s health minister saying most emergency room patients could be treated outside hospitals.

5:48 a.m.: Ontario’s chief medical officer of health is set to provide an update today on the COVID-19 situation in the province.

Dr. Kieran Moore’s news conference comes after the provincial government announced its plan last week to gradually lift public health measures.

It’s also Moore’s last regularly scheduled public appearance before restrictions are set to ease on Monday.

Indoor social gathering limits are set to increase from five to 10, and restaurants will be able to reopen their dining rooms at 50 per cent capacity.

Theatres will also be able to reopen, and “spectator areas” such as arenas and concert venues will be able to welcome back as many as 500 guests, or 50 per cent of their usual seated capacity — whichever is less.

Restrictions are due to ease further on Feb. 21, COVID-19 situation allowing, with indoor gathering limits increasing to 25.

5:47 a.m.: South Korea’s top infectious disease expert defended the move to expand the use of rapid testing despite accuracy concerns, as the country broke its daily coronavirus record for the third straight day.

The 14,518 confirmed new cases Thursday were 1,500 more than Wednesday and about double the cases reported on Monday, illustrating a tidal wave of infections driven by the highly contagious Omicron variant.

The surge, which could continue for weeks, has left health authorities scrambling to reshape the country’s pandemic response, such as treating a larger number of mild cases at home and shortening quarantine periods.

Officials are also pushing ahead with a more controversial plan to rewire the testing regime that had been centred around gold standard PCR tests and expand the use of rapid antigen kits that will be made available at public health offices, testing stations and pharmacies.

5:44 a.m.: As much of the world sees vaccination slowing and infections soaring with the spread of omicron, Iran has found a rare, if fleeting, respite from the anxiety and trauma of the pandemic.

After successive virus waves pummeled the country for nearly two years, belated mass vaccination under a new, hard-line president has, for a brief moment, left the stricken nation with a feeling of apparent safety.

Now, the spectre of an omicron-fueled surge looms large. Hospitals are preparing for the worst as infections tick upward after a months-long lull. But so far, the variant has not battered the Islamic Republic as it has many Western countries where most adults got jabs a year ago.

5:43 a.m.: Many Americans agree that they’re going to “be stuck with it forever” — or, at the least, for a long time. A poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows that few — just 15{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} — say they’ll consider the pandemic over only when COVID-19 is largely eliminated. By contrast, 83{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} say they’ll feel the pandemic is over when it’s largely a mild illness.

The poll shows that 59{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of Americans think it’s essential that they personally be vaccinated against COVID-19 to feel safe participating in public activities.

But, underscoring what authorities call alarmingly low COVID-19 vaccination rates in U.S. children ages 5 to 11, just 37{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of parents consider it essential that their children are vaccinated before they return to normal. And although boosters provide significantly better protection against COVID-19, especially the Omicron variant, than a two-shot course of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, just 47{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of Americans think it’s essential that they get one.

Thursday 5:38 a.m.: After spending two years in a strict lockdown because of the COVID-19 pandemic, North Korea may finally be opening up — slowly. The reason could reflect a growing sense of recognition by the leadership that the nation badly needs to win outside economic relief.

The North’s tentative reopening is seen in the apparent resumption of North Korean freight train traffic into neighbouring China. But it comes even as Pyongyang has staged several weapons tests, the latest being two suspected ballistic missiles on Thursday, and issued a veiled threat about resuming tests of nuclear explosives and long-range missiles targeting the American homeland.

The apparently divided message — opening the border, slightly, on one hand, while also militarily pressuring Washington over a prolonged freeze in nuclear negotiations — likely signals a realization that the pandemic has worsened an economy already damaged by decades of mismanagement and crippling U.S.-led sanctions over North Korean nuclear weapons and missiles.

Read Wednesday’s coronavirus news.

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