Tag: coronavirus

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Coronavirus Today – November 10


By Anne Blythe

Mandy Cohen, secretary of the state Department of Health and Human Services, has talked about her daughters many times as she helped steer the state through the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now the state gets to see them in a public service announcement about the kid-sized Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine that has just become available for children ages 5 to 11.

Cohen, the proud mother of a 7- and 9-year-old, took her children on Saturday to get a first dose of the two-dose Pfizer vaccine approved last week for emergency use by the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Like most kids, my daughters don’t like shots,” Cohen told reporters at a briefing on Wednesday. “But we talked as a family about the reasons it was important to protect them from COVID just like we protect them from flu and other childhood illnesses like chicken pox.”

Then she showed a video that she said she hopes will help persuade other parents of the safety and efficacy of the vaccine. In clinical trials, according to data reviewed by Cohen, the CDC and FDA, the kid-sized dose of the Pfizer vaccine, a third of the amount in the vaccines given to anyone 12 and older, is 90 percent effective at preventing COVID infection in the younger children.

“We love our kids so much and we want to make good decisions for them and their health, and I was really happy that we have a safe and effective COVID vaccine,” Cohen says in a video showing her hugging her daughters. “And I was really proud of them today that they got their vaccine. It was a huge sigh of relief for mom. So I hope everyone goes out and gets their COVID vaccine for their kids as soon as possible.”

Cohen posted photos of her daughters to her Twitter account on Saturday. There is one of her older daughter getting her vaccine. Another one shows the two girls together after getting their shots. The 9-year-old gave a thumbs-up while revealing the colorful Band-Aid covering the spot on her left arm where she got the shot. The younger girl is smiling with her hands raised in the air.

They might have been celebrating, too, because chocolate milk was coming to them after their shots, their mother said.

Cohen’s girls are among the more than 24,000 children in North Carolina who have received their first dose of the newly available vaccine. Though children can experience side effects such as a sore arm, fever, headaches or feeling tired for a few days, Cohen said her daughters experienced no side effects.

“We have plenty of vaccine supply across the state. Kids can get vaccinated at any location that has a smaller dose of the Pfizer vaccine available,” Cohen said. “This includes their pediatrician or doctor’s office or hospital. Unlike other vaccines, younger children can also get vaccinated at local pharmacies and grocery stores, making it even easier for parents to find a convenient location for them.”

Additionally, DHHS has worked with community partners to set up nine family COVID-19 vaccination centers in historically underserved communities that will be open for the next six weeks. The centers will be open on weekends and during the evening so parents don’t have to take their children out of school or miss work to get a vaccine.

The centers also will have vaccines available for people older than 12, as well as boosters. Spanish interpreters will be there, too.

Cohen and Charlene Wong, a Duke pediatrician and the DHHS assistant secretary for children and families, know that many parents might have questions about the vaccine and tried to provide answers to many at the briefing with reporters. They also encouraged parents to talk with their pediatricians and other trusted health care providers about any concerns they have.

Here are some of the questions and answers:

Q: Two physicians asserted in a recent Wall Street Journal opinion piece that a low number of children in this country have been hospitalized or died from COVID infections. But the piece also cited data that have not been peer reviewed and have been contested.

So, what’s the urgency to get the younger children vaccinated?

A: To date, North Carolina has seen more than 1,300 hospitalizations and 11 deaths in children under the age of 17, out of 244,902 cases, according to data on the DHHS COVID-19 dashboard. Cohen and Wong made the point that although the risks of hospitalization and death from COVID are rare in children in that age group, the virus can make them very sick.

Some children infected with COVID have come down with the multi-system inflammatory syndrome, or Mis-C, a rare condition in which their organs can become inflamed and in some cases can be deadly.

Children also can experience long-COVID symptoms such as fatigue, headaches, insomnia, trouble concentrating, muscle and joint pain, as well as a lingering cough, months after infection, according to the CDC. 

“We are seeing that children can have longer-term side effects, fatigue, headache, muscle aches, lethargy, again, different kinds of tiredness. So we are seeing that in children and adults,” Cohen said. “And so I think what we want to do is say we have a tool here that is safe and effective at preventing your child from getting COVID in the first place. Let’s use that safe and effective tool to make sure they don’t get COVID.”

Q: How prevalent is long-COVID in children?

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Today’s coronavirus news: Health Canada authorizes the use of the Pfizer vaccine as a booster shot; Ontario reporting 441 new COVID-19 cases

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

4:10 p.m.: Ontario will “stay the course” with its less restrictive COVID-19 measures despite a 41 per cent increase in infections over the last 10 days, and leave local health units to deal with flare-ups for now, says Health Minister Christine Elliott.

“We know that the numbers have gone up somewhat. We anticipated that would happen,” Elliott told reporters Tuesday as the seven-day average of new cases rose for the tenth day in a row and the province reported 441 more people testing positive for the virus.

“So what we’re seeing right now are largely regional outbreaks which we’re going to be dealing with regionally.”

Read the full story here: Ontario will ‘stay the course’ with current COVID-19 restrictions despite surge in new cases, Christine Elliott says

3:45 p.m.: Health officials in Nova Scotia are reporting one new COVID-19-related death as an outbreak of the disease in a long-term care home continues to grow in another part of the province.

The Health Department says a man in his 80s in the province’s eastern zone has died and 56 new cases of the disease have been identified since Monday.

Officials have also noted community spread of the disease in the northern and western regions of the province, largely related to transmission of the virus during a multi-day faith gathering.

The gathering has been directly connected to the ongoing outbreak at East Cumberland Lodge, a long-term care home in Pugwash, as well as transmission at other faith services and in workplaces.

Thirteen more residents at the home and a second staff member have tested positive for the disease, bringing the total case count at the residence to 19.

The province now has 281 active cases of COVID-19, with 10 people in hospital and two in ICU.

3:30 p.m.: Quebec is expanding eligibility for COVID-19 vaccine booster doses to the general population aged 70 and older, Health Minister Christian Dubé said Tuesday.

Third doses of mRNA vaccines will also be available by the end of the month to residents who received two doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, Dubé added. Those residents will need to wait six months from their second doses for a third shot.

“I want to reassure the population, it’s not because we are worried about AstraZeneca, it’s because we want to make sure there’s an extra protection — especially after six months,” Dubé told reporters.

The government made the decision following recommendations by Quebec’s immunization committee. Despite Health Canada announcing on Tuesday it authorized boosters for all adults, Quebec said it would stick to its plan. Public health director Dr. Horacio Arruda told reporters the government preferred to follow the recommendations of its vaccine committee.

“Even if there is a recommendation from Canada, we refer almost all the time to our own committee because they are aware of our own epidemiology,” Arruda said.

Starting Nov. 16, people aged 80 and older will be able to book an appointment for a third dose, followed by people 75 and up two days later and then residents 70 and older on Nov. 23. Residents of any age who received the AstraZeneca vaccine can start booking third doses on Nov. 25. All groups must wait six months since their second doses to book a third shot.

In late September, the province announced it would offer people in long-term care homes and seniors residences booster shots to prevent outbreaks among vulnerable residents. Since August, Quebec has offered a third dose of COVID-19 vaccine to people who are severely immunocompromised.

For the general population, protection from two doses after six months remains high — especially against severe infection and death, according to Dr. André Veillette, an immunologist at the Montreal Clinical Research Institute. Veillette, however, said protection will inevitably start to decline.

“Some people will say it’s not a problem, because of what we call memory cells,” Veillette said in an interview on Monday. “That’s when your antibodies are low, then the memory cells are activated if you get infected, and then a week later, they will make a lot of antibodies.”

The problem, he said, is that for some people — and maybe eventually for everybody — a week of infection is too long to wait for the antibodies to kick in.

Veillette said the government’s immediate priority should be identifying high-risk groups and giving them third doses. He also said he believes boosters will eventually be available for all Quebecers, even for young people.

“We have billions of doses in Ottawa waiting on shelves, and tens of millions more have been bought for next year by the government,” Veillette said. “The vaccines are available.”

Arruda, however, said there is no need yet to offer a third dose to people under 70 years old.

“For the others that are healthy, and under 70, there are no recommendations for a third dose,” Arruda said. “Two doses are still a good thing.”

Meanwhile, Quebec reported 545 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday and six more deaths attributed to the novel coronavirus. Health officials said COVID-19-related hospitalizations dropped by six, to 219, and there were 45 people in intensive care, a drop of three.

The Health Department said 9,406 vaccine doses were administered in the previous 24 hours. Quebec’s public health institute said about 90.8 per cent of residents aged 12 and older have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine and 88.2 per cent are considered adequately vaccinated.

Quebec has 5,219 active reported cases of COVID-19.

2 p.m. Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers remains upset with the public’s reception to his admission that he is not vaccinated against COVID-19, according to People.

Rodgers tested positive for COVID-19 last week before missing Green Bay’s loss to the Chiefs on Sunday. Rodgers previously indicated he was vaccinated in an August press conference, telling the media when asked about his status, “I’m immunized.”

Green Bay’s signal-caller made an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show on Friday to address the apparent obfuscation, a segment that featured misinformation on both COVID-19 and vaccines. Rodgers now feels as though he’s “being crucified” for his remarks, per People.

1:34 p.m. Canadians are scrambling to get mortgage pre-approvals and rate holds as economists predict the pandemic-long stretch of low interest rates will soon end.

Estée Zacks says she recently noticed a surge in requests for rate holds, which freeze mortgage rates for up to 130 days.

The owner of Strategic Mortgage Solutions Inc. says her clients see the holds as a way to get a leg up on hot markets like Toronto that are favouring sellers.

CIBC Capital Markets analyst Benjamin Tal says even a one per cent increase in mortgage rates from current levels will cost an average new buyer $230 or 12 per cent more in additional monthly interest payments.

BMO Capital Markets senior economist Robert Kavcic says five-year fixed mortgage rates are already creeping higher, but people with pre-approvals in hand probably have another month or two to buy a home.

1:20 p.m. Quebec needs to quickly provide a coherent plan on how it intends to offer third doses of COVID-19 vaccine to the general population, Dr. André Veillette, an immunologist at the Montreal Clinical Research Institute, said Monday.

The province announced in late September it would offer people in long-term care homes and seniors residences booster shots to prevent outbreaks among vulnerable residents. Since August, Quebec has offered a third dose of COVID-19 vaccine to people who are severely immunocompromised.

While boosters for the general population weren’t part of the National Advisory Committee on Immunization’s recommendations at the end of October, provinces such as Ontario and British Columbia have already announced plans to expand eligibility for third shots.

1 p.m. Ontario plans to spend $12.4 million on more mental health and addictions supports for front-line health-care workers.

The province says $5.9 million will go to services offered through hospitals such as self-referral and intake services, online discussion groups and confidential clinician support.

There is also $1.9 million allocated for psychologist services specializing in trauma, anxiety and other conditions and $4.6 million for workplace mental health training.

12:45 p.m. Ontario’s health minister says the government isn’t changing course on its reopening plan despite a recent rise in COVID-19 infections.

Health Minister Christine Elliott says a bump in cases was anticipated during the colder weather as people move indoors, and that was factored into the province’s plans.

Experts told The Canadian Press this week that cold weather and the lifting of provincial crowd restrictions on some venues like stadiums and restaurants might be behind the growth in cases.

Tuesday saw 441 new cases reported in the province and seven-day average of 492 daily infections, up from 371 a week ago.

11:35 a.m. (updated) Health Canada has approved a booster of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine for people over the age of 18.

The booster is designed to help people with their first two COVID-19 vaccine doses maintain their protection against the virus over time.

The booster is identical to the regular Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, and is to be administered at least six months after the first two vaccine doses.

Different provinces have employed different rollout strategies for booster doses, and mRNA vaccines like Pfizer-BioNTech have already been used to offer longer-lasting protection to high-risk people in several parts of the country.

The National Advisory Committee on Immunization says there is no evidence of waning protection against over time against severe COVID-19 in the general vaccinated population.

11:22 a.m. Conservative MP Marilyn Gladu is apologizing for sharing misinformation about the severity of COVID-19 and the safety and efficacy of vaccines.

In a statement Tuesday, Gladu called her remarks “inappropriate.”

“Upon reflection, I recognize how dangerous it is to share misinformation about the severity of COVID-19 and the safety and efficacy of vaccines,” she said.

“I retract these comments in full.”

Read the full story from the Star’s Stephanie Levitz

11 a.m. India’s coronavirus crisis, which was killing thousands of people a day just seven months ago, has eased after the nation’s leaders revamped their policies and dramatically ramped up their vaccination drive.

Now, as India celebrates the delivery of its 1 billionth dose, a feat that until recently seemed improbable, public health experts are sounding a new warning: The turnaround is losing steam.

Vaccinations are slowing down. As the temperature dips amid India’s most important festival season, people are crowding markets and hosting unmasked friends and family indoors. And the government is telling vaccination campaign volunteers like Namanjaya Khobragade that they are no longer needed.

“Now is not the time to let our guard down,” said Khobragade, a coordinator for a health nonprofit in the eastern state of Jharkhand. “Many people have taken just the first vaccine. We cannot leave them like this. We need to increase the intensity.”

10:15 a.m. (updated) Ontario is reporting another 441 COVID-19 cases and three more deaths, according to its latest report released Tuesday morning.

Ontario has administered 13,049 vaccine doses since its last daily update, with 22,637,009 vaccines given in total as of 8 p.m. the previous night.

According to the Star’s vaccine tracker, 11,539,002 people in Ontario have received at least one shot. That works out to approximately 88.5 per cent of the eligible population 12 years and older, and the equivalent of 77.6 per cent of the total population, including those not yet eligible for the vaccine.

Read the full story from the Star’s Urbi Khan

10 a.m. A giant gap exists in Waterloo Region’s defences against COVID-19. About 126,000 residents are not yet vaccinated, giving the virus plenty of opportunity to spread through the community.

“This is equivalent to an entire mid-sized city such as Cambridge or Waterloo not being immunized,” medical officer of health Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang told regional council at Tuesday’s meeting.

Almost 44,000 people over 12 are not immunized. Almost 82,000 children under 12 are not yet eligible to get the vaccine.

9:45 a.m. The vast majority of staff members at Waterloo Region’s and Guelph-Wellington’s long-term- care homes are vaccinated, with the average staff vaccination rate in the neighbouring public health units sitting at 89.8 per cent, according to Ministry of Ontario data, last updated on Oct. 1.

The Ontario Ministry of Long-Term Care updates data on a monthly basis, typically in the middle of the month.

But with the provincial government issuing a vaccine mandate that takes place Nov. 15 and third-dose booster shots now available for all long-term care workers, almost all long-term care homes in the region will need to work on getting their staff 100 per cent vaccinated.

9:30 a.m. The health board governing Quebec’s Nunavik region says the COVID-19 situation in the northern territory is worse than it’s ever been.

Health officials reported 30 new cases Monday across the region, which is home to 14 Inuit communities.

The territory has 259 active reported cases.

Quebec’s public health institute says Nunavik is the most affected part of the province, with about 1,450 active COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people.

9:13 a.m. Book sales have thrived during the pandemic after initial concerns that it might hurt the publishing business. Come the holidays, some new nonfiction might hit your gifting sweet spots.

9 a.m. Hospitals in the southern Dutch province of Limburg warned the government Tuesday that they can no longer cope with new COVID-19 patients amid soaring rates of coronavirus infections.

Five hospitals in the province that borders both Belgium and Germany raised the alarm in a statement that said: “We are heading straight for a healthcare blockage and the entire system is grinding to a standstill.”

They added that, “we are convinced that other parts of the Netherlands will soon follow.”

Amid an autumn surge across much of Europe, the seven-day rolling average of daily new cases in the Netherlands has almost doubled over the past two weeks from 30.88 to 61.12 new cases per 100,000 people despite more than 80 per cent of the adult population being fully vaccinated.

8:45 a.m. The morgue in Romania’s main hospital has no space for the dead any more. In a stark illustration of the human cost of the coronavirus surge sweeping the nation, bodies of COVID-19 victims, wrapped in black plastic bags, line a hallway of the hospital in the capital, Bucharest.

Hundreds of people have been dying each day for the past two months in Romania which has been among the hardest-hit in the current virus onslaught raging through Central and Eastern European nations, where far fewer people have been vaccinated than in Western Europe.

A country of 19 million people, Romania currently has among the highest death rates in Europe. Last month the World Health Organization sent a team to help with the nation’s pandemic response.

8:30 a.m. A player on Germany’s national soccer team has tested positive for the coronavirus and four more are in quarantine as a precaution ahead of World Cup qualifying games against Liechtenstein and Armenia.

The German soccer federation said Tuesday that the unnamed player was fully vaccinated and does not have any symptoms. The other four tested negative for the virus but have been instructed by the local health authority in Wolfsburg to isolate because of their proximity to the infected player.

Germany has already qualified for next year’s World Cup ahead of its final qualifiers. The team hosts Liechtenstein in Wolfsburg on Thursday and then plays Armenia in Yerevan on Sunday.

8 a.m. Peel Public Health has confirmed seven schools in the region have active COVID-19 outbreaks. From Sept. 1 to Nov. 2, there have been a total of 31 outbreaks at schools in Peel region.

An outbreak is declared if the facility has two or more COVID-19 cases with an epidemiological link, which means at least one of the patients could have acquired the infection in the school.

7:46 a.m. Peel’s health agency is advising residents who attended a recent wedding event in Mississauga to get tested for COVID-19.

In a media release, Peel Public Health said those who attended an Oct. 29 wedding event at the Apollo Convention Centre in Mississauga were exposed to COVID-19 and should “seek immediate testing” whether they’ve been vaccinated or not.

Those who attended the event and are not fully vaccinated should isolate while waiting for test results, the release said

7:21 a.m. Wage growth, higher costs, supply chain issues, inflation — all of these issues are driving expectations of lower corporate earnings at the end of 2021 for everyone. Dennis Mitchell, CEO and chief investment officer at Starlight Capital, isn’t surprised by that. Nor does he believe the COVID-19 pandemic fundamentally changed major trends in business like the rise of e-commerce or the oversupply of physical retail space.

Shying away from shiny investments in favour of long-term stakes in great businesses, regardless of where they happen to be, is part of Starlight Capital’s strategy. In an interview with the Star, Mitchell unpacks his firm’s philosophy on great businesses, creating a diverse team, and where he sees the office real estate market going.

6:32 a.m.: Nobody wants to say here we go again, but here we are. Ontario has lived a relatively charmed pandemic life since the summer, and it appears to be over. The province’s seven-day case average has risen approximately 30 per cent in a week; vaccination efforts are stalling as we go. One rule of the virus is that unchecked, it will spread exponentially. We’re back there.

“Do you remember where we were immediately before Thanksgiving? That’s the behaviour and the extent of restrictions that is compatible with control of the pandemic,” says Dr. Peter Juni, the scientific director of Ontario’s independent volunteer science table. “So think how it was before Thanksgiving, and think about how much you were inside with other people. You shouldn’t do it more than you did then.”

If it sounds like going backwards, it is, in the province where the premier keeps saying he never wants to go back. A return to pre-Thanksgiving restrictions would mean a return of capacity limits in restaurants, bars, gyms, theatres and at sporting events, for a start. A return to pre-Thanksgiving social patterns should be achievable, if we just keep a bigger picture in mind. This can be done.

Read the full column from the Star’s Bruce Arthur.

6:20 a.m.: The pandemic’s effects on mortality have been uneven. Life expectancy dipped in most places last year, shaving 28.1 million years off the cumulative longevity in 31 countries. But residents of a handful of places that successfully kept COVID-19 at bay — including New Zealand and Taiwan — actually lived longer.

Life expectancy is an indication of how long on average people will live once their age is taken into account, provided that there aren’t any big shifts in the number of people dying in each age bracket over time. Another measure — excess years of life lost — quantifies the impact when those changes do occur, and gives greater weight to deaths that occur at younger ages.

A study of 37 countries and territories in the journal BMJ found the pandemic was a killing field in most places. More than 28 million years of life were lost in 2020 across 31 of them, with Russia, Bulgaria, Lithuania, the U.S., and Poland recording the heaviest toll, the study led by Nazrul Islam, a physician-epidemiologist and medical statistician at the University of Oxford, found.

Years of life lost in 2020 were higher than expected everywhere except Taiwan, New Zealand, Norway, Iceland, Denmark, and South Korea.

The number of years of life lost due to Covid-19 was more than five times greater than those lost from influenza in 2015, during the worst seasonal flu epidemic since the turn of the century.

6:20 a.m.: People who are fully vaccinated are 16 times less likely to end up in intensive care wards or to die from COVID-19, an Australian study found, adding to a growing body of evidence that may bolster the case for countries to treat the disease as endemic.

6:20 a.m.: The three parties in talks to form the next German government agreed on a package of measures to tackle the latest surge in cases, seeking to avoid sweeping restrictions like school closures and curfews.

6:20 a.m.: Hong Kong needs at least six months before reopening to the world, a government adviser said. The territory must finish negotiating open borders with the mainland and boost the vaccination rate, with Hong Kong and China the only places still pursuing a “Covid Zero” strategy.

6:17 a.m.: Denmark wants to again consider COVID-19 as “a socially critical disease,” paving the way for the reintroduction of a digital pass months after the label was removed and restrictions were phased out.

The move, which still needs approval in parliament, will also allow Denmark to reintroduce other restrictions if deemed necessary. A majority seems to be backing the suggestion of the minority Social Democratic government.

The pass was introduced on July 1 but removed on Sept. 10, when Denmark declared that the outbreak no longer was to be considered “a socially critical disease,” citing the high rate of vaccination.

However, Denmark has like many other countries seen an uptick in cases, with health authorities saying the number of infections and hospitalizations has risen faster than expected.

On Monday, Health Minister Magnus Heunicke said the COVID pass must apply to nightclubs, cafes, party buses and indoor restaurants but also outdoor events where the number of people exceeds 2,000.

The Danish pass app shows a QR code with a green banner if the holder is fully vaccinated or received a first dose at least two weeks ago, has recently recovered from COVID-19 or has had a negative test in the past 72 hours. A paper version is also available.

The call to reintroduce the pass was immediately welcomed by the industry.

6:15 a.m.: Residents of a New York border town say they’re eager to welcome Canadians now that the United States has eased land border restrictions, but they worry that costly COVID-19 testing rules will keep many travellers away.

On Monday, Christmas music floated down the halls of the Champlain Centre mall in Plattsburgh, N.Y., about an hour south of Montreal, where some retailers dreamt of the return of tourist dollars — perhaps in time for the holidays.

“We cannot wait to have Canadian shoppers come back,” Emily Moosmann, the mall’s marketing director, said in an interview. “We miss hearing French in the hallway; we miss seeing their faces.”

To lure shoppers back, the mall created a web page — headed by a large maple leaf — highlighting new stores that have opened, local COVID-19 test sites and special discounts for Canadian residents.

“About 30 per cent of our traffic is Canadian, so, not seeing them here, we definitely feel the impact,” she said. While there were only a few cars with Quebec licence plates in the parking lot on Monday, Moosmann said retailers were optimistic things would pick up on the weekend.

Read the full story from the Canadian Press.

6:15 a.m.: The Yukon government has declared a state of emergency and announced a series of public health rules aimed at curbing the spread of COVID-19, including a proof-of-vaccination requirement that’s set to take effect this Saturday.

The territory says it is “moving rapidly” to implement a proof-of-vaccination system for a range of settings, including restaurants, ticketed events, fitness facilities and personal services businesses, as well as faith-based and cultural gatherings.

It says the new measures also include mandatory masks in all indoor public settings and outdoor public settings where physical distancing isn’t possible, as well as capacity limits on different types of indoor and outdoor gatherings.

While the rules will be enforced starting Nov. 13, the territory says in a statement that Yukoners are “strongly encouraged” to adopt the measures immediately.

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Today’s coronavirus news: Ontario reports 508 new cases, three more deaths; expands eligibility for booster shots; U.S. COP26 delegate tests positive

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

5:45 p.m.: In a gathering with more than 20,000 people from nearly every country in the world, one of the biggest major international summits since the pandemic began, a COVID-19 outbreak was always going to be a danger. So far, organizers have not revealed the number of positive COVID-19 …

GLASGOW, Scotland — In a gathering with more than 20,000 people from nearly every country in the world, one of the biggest major international summits since the pandemic began, a COVID-19 outbreak was always going to be a danger.

So far, organizers have not revealed the number of positive COVID-19 test results. But on Saturday, the State Department confirmed that a member of the U.S. delegation had tested positive. Earlier, Mayor Eric Garcetti of Los Angeles tested positive days after arriving in Scotland.

The State Department statement Saturday declined to identify the person but said the official had been fully vaccinated and was quarantining. The statement also said John Kerry, the U.S. presidential envoy for climate change who is leading the negotiations at the summit, had received several negative COVID-19 results, including daily lateral flow tests and a PCR test, since the delegate tested positive.

Asked this week about the number of positive tests at the conference, Alok Sharma, the British president of the talks, said the numbers were lower than in the rest of Scotland. “At this point, we’re comfortable where we are,” he said.

5:23 p.m.: Winter is coming, COVID-19 is accelerating at an alarming pace in Colorado and the state’s 43 rural hospitals continue to struggle through debilitating staff shortages.

Employees have left small-town health care facilities complaining of burnout, and now that vaccine mandates are in place, some have quit over being forced to receive the shot.

In one rural hospital, a pharmacist and a business office employee died of COVID-19 within a week of one another, leaving co-workers at Holyoke’s Melissa Memorial Hospital grief stricken and overworked as those positions remain unfilled.

“They died very tragically,” said MMH CEO Cathy Harshbarger. “Both required a lot of support and medical care. We had to ship them out to other hospitals for care. We’re stretched to the max.”

Holyoke, about three hours northeast of Denver, has a population of 2,200 people.

MMH has run a help wanted ad in the Holyoke Enterprise for 10 openings including a dietary cook, a paramedic and an EMT. The hospital has a separate ad for an executive director to lead its hospital foundation.

“More and more my employees are asking, ‘Why am I in health care?’ ” said Harshbarger.

5:20 p.m.: A month ago the coronavirus seemed headed for a long winter’s nap in masked and well-vaccinated California. Gov. Gavin Newsom boasted that the Golden State “continues to lead the nation” as the only state to reach the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s yellow “moderate” tier of community virus transmission.

But COVID-19 cases aren’t falling in California anymore. They have climbed back up to the CDC’s blood-red “high” level of virus transmission as the highly contagious delta variant continues to wreak havoc.

Meanwhile, the virus has gone quiet in Deep South states that abandoned mask orders, opposed vaccine mandates, posted lower vaccination rates and saw larger outbreaks over the summer. California’s case rate is now well above Texas’ and double Florida’s, which along with the rest of the Gulf Coast are down to the CDC’s orange “substantial” transmission level.

“There are early indications that the decline in the delta surge at the national level in the U.S. has ended,” said Ali H. Mokdad, professor of health metrics sciences at the University of Washington, which runs a widely followed model projecting the course of the pandemic. Currently, 19 states have increasing transmission, including several like California “that had previously appeared to have been declining.”

And while much of the Golden State’s current coronavirus woes are driven by virus spread in the less-vaccinated and restricted inland counties, the Bay Area hasn’t been immune. Most Bay Area counties that hoped to reach the yellow moderate level by now remain stubbornly stuck in orange. Marin and Santa Cruz counties, which had reached the yellow level, are back up to orange. San Francisco is the only county in yellow.

4:20 p.m.: A federal appeals panel in Louisiana has temporarily blocked the Biden administration’s new safety regulations directing businesses with more than 100 workers to require their employees to get vaccinations against the coronavirus by early January.

The three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit granted a temporary stay to a group of businesses, religious groups, advocacy organizations and several Republican-led states that had filed a joint petition in court, arguing the administration had overstepped its authority.

Numerous Republican-led states have filed legal challenges against the new rule, among them Texas, Mississippi, South Carolina and Utah.

4:04 p.m.: A Rhode Island man who federal prosecutors said used stolen identities to obtain more than $450,000 in pandemic-related unemployment assistance was arrested in Michigan, authorities said.

Dquintz Alexander, 34, of Cranston, Rhode Island, was indicted and charged in federal court in Boston on five counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft, according to the U.S. attorney for the District of Massachusetts.

As the coronavirus pandemic devastated the economy in March 2020, Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, which among other things created a temporary federal unemployment insurance program called Pandemic Unemployment Assistance. The program granted unemployment insurance benefits to people who lost their jobs or were unable to work because of the coronavirus.

The pandemic unemployment program, which is administered by each state, lowered the barriers to collecting benefits, and the usual security methods intended to prevent fraud were not able to keep up with security breaches. Last year in California, an underground internet bazaar that specialized in selling stolen accounts and data had for-sale ads for filched unemployment insurance claims in the state that had been approved and offered benefits worth $17,550.

2:31 p.m.: New Brunswick is reporting 50 new cases of COVID-19 and 51 recoveries.

The active confirmed case count now sits at 476 across the province.

Health officials say 13 people are currently in hospital, with eight in intensive care.

Twenty-two of the new cases were identified in the Moncton region.

Sixty per cent of the new cases are in people who are unvaccinated against the disease.

Officials also say nearly 86 per cent of eligible New Brunswickers are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, while 92.8 per cent have received their first dose of a vaccine.

1:30 p.m.: Quebec is reporting 688 new cases of COVID-19 today and four deaths attributed to the virus.

Health officials say COVID-19-related hospitalizations dropped by 11 to 229, while the number of people in intensive care declined by six to 51.

The seven-day average for new cases stands at 561.

Of the latest reported infections, 409 were among people who were either unvaccinated or who had only received a first dose within the past two weeks.

Quebec says another 6,869 vaccine doses have been administered, most of which were given in the past 24 hours.

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

12 p.m.: Ukraine’s health ministry on Saturday reported a one-day record of 793 deaths from COVID-19.

Ukraine has been inundated by coronavirus infections in recent weeks, putting the country’s underfunded medical system under severe strain.

The ministry said 25,063 new infections had been tallied over the past day; a record 27,377 were reported on Thursday.

Although four different coronavirus vaccines are available in Ukraine, only 17.9 per cent of the country’s 41 million people have been fully vaccinated, the second-lowest rate in Europe after Armenia.

11:25 a.m.: Nearly two years of being caged in Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic has some snowbirds anxiously waiting in their motorhomes and trailers in southern Alberta.

The Eight Flags Campground in the small windswept town of Milk River, 18 kilometres from the Canada-United States border crossing at Coutts, is full of shiny, large RVs.

It’s in anticipation of land and sea border crossings reopening Monday for fully vaccinated Canadians. Such crossings were closed to non-essential travel at the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020.

10:45 a.m.: An Independent member of Ontario’s legislature has apologized for a post in which he used names and photos of people who had died to suggest without evidence that they had died due to COVID-19 vaccination.

Randy Hillier, who represents Lanark-Frontenac-Kingston, has frequently posted COVID-19 misinformation and conspiracy theories throughout the pandemic.

In one recent social media post, he used an array of photos from news articles about what he believed to be the sudden and unexplained deaths of young people and called on police to investigate links to vaccines.

Family members of some of those people told various media outlets that they were angered by Hillier’s post and denied his allegations, while the legislature unanimously passed a motion last month condemning him.

Hillier shared an apology Friday night saying he has removed that post and offering sincere regrets for further distress his actions caused the grieving families.

Public Health Ontario says all deaths following vaccination that are reported to public health units are thoroughly investigated, and it has so far determined in one case that vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia was a cause of death in someone who received the AstraZeneca vaccine.

There are seven other reports of death after COVID-19 vaccination that meet the provincial surveillance definition. In four, the adverse events were found to have possibly contributed to the death but were not the underlying cause, and in the remaining three the vaccine was not a cause of death.

Public Health Ontario says another 30 deaths following COVID-19 vaccination that have been reported to public health units are “persons under investigation.” They don’t meet the provincial surveillance definition, but investigations are underway.

“Preliminary information suggests that these events occurred in individuals with multiple co-morbidities which may be related to the cause of death,” a recent Public Health Ontario report said. “There has been no association with the vaccine identified at this time.”

Health officials say the approved vaccines are effective and safe.

10:20 a.m. (updated): Ontario is reporting 508 new COVID-19 cases and three additional deaths in the province in its latest daily count.

In Ontario, 203 people are hospitalized with COVID-19 — 151 are not fully vaccinated or have an unknown vaccination status and 52 are fully vaccinated.

The province also says due to data cleanup, three deaths were removed from the overall count.

10 a.m.: Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers will miss Sunday’s game at Kansas City after being placed in the NFL’s COVID-19 protocol. Because he is considered unvaccinated, he must stay isolated for at least 10 days.

Here’s an explanation of the NFL’s protocols and a breakdown of Rodgers’ case.

9:20 a.m.: I live in a world where Mike McCarthy kept his job as my boss for 13 years. I don’t trust authority.

If Aaron Rodgers had just said that, maybe the rest would have been an easier ride. But then again, he may be the greatest quarterback in the biggest pro sports league of a country where at least 775,000 people have died during the pandemic, and Friday he spent 45 minutes pumping out the kind of misinformation that can get people killed. You know what that means? Rodgers could be president, one day.

All grim, tight-faced jokes aside, the Green Bay Packers great has had himself a week. Rodgers contracted COVID, it turned out he wasn’t vaccinated, and Friday he went on former punter and current shouty bro Pat McAfee’s Sirius XM show and delivered almost every anti-vaccine talking point you can imagine.

Read the column from the Star’s Bruce Arthur.

8:40 a.m. Unvaccinated people in Austria who also haven’t had COVID-19 will no longer be allowed to enter restaurants, hotels and hair salons or attend public events larger than 25 people under new rules that take effect Monday, the government said.

Austrian Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg outlined the rules Friday night after a meeting with state-level leaders to discuss the country’s response to rapidly rising coronavirus cases.

“It is simply our responsibility to protect the people in our country,” Schallenberg told reporters, noting the case numbers and increasingly full hospital intensive care units.

7:30 a.m.: You can almost forget about the ongoing collective nightmare of the pandemic when you’re sipping a mojito in the pink twilight on the edge of the undulating Atlantic, and a long arc of surf foams over the distant reef, and a soft breeze rustles the palm fronds and laps against your sun-tender skin.

But you can’t.

For despite having to navigate a whole bureaucracy of attestations and electronic paperwork to embark abroad these days, there’s no guarantee the people around you are COVID-free. You hope everyone is vaccinated. But you can’t be sure. And even then, it’s still possible to get infected.

Yet after almost two years living with the coronavirus, we are experiencing a cautious re-emergence. And the door is open to vacation again.

Travel is back, but is pandemic tourism fun? Read the story by the Star’s Alex Ballingall.

7:15 a.m. Russia’s COVID-19 cases hit another one-day record as the country struggles to contain a wave of infections that has persisted for more than a month.

The national coronavirus task force on Saturday reported 41,335 new cases since the previous day, exceeding the previous daily record of 40,993 from Oct. 31. The task force said 1,188 people with COVID-19 died, just seven fewer than the daily death record reported Thursday.

Officials cite Russia’s low vaccination rate as a major factor in the sharp rise in cases that began in mid-September. The task force reported about 57.2 million full-course vaccinations, or less than 40{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of the country’s 146 million people.

7 a.m. Several groups of high-risk Ontarians will be eligible to book COVID-19 booster shots starting this morning at 8 a.m.

An additional 2.75 million people become eligible for boosters today, following the quarter of a million people already eligible who include certain immunocompromised individuals and residents of long-term care and retirement homes.

Starting today, people can book an appointment for a booster dose if they are aged 70 and older, health-care workers or essential caregivers in congregate settings, people who received two doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine or one dose of Janssen, and First Nations, Inuit and Metis adults and their non-Indigenous household members.

They can make appointments that are at least six months after their second dose. Ontario’s chief medical officer of health says evidence suggests that’s when immunity starts to wane.

Dr. Kieran Moore says those groups of people are at an increased risk of waning immunity and greater risk of exposure and serious illness.

Ontario officials say the protection from two doses is still very high for the general population after six months, especially against severe illness and death, so a booster dose would provide additional protection against more mild illness.

The province is planning to eventually offer booster doses to everyone, and is eyeing early 2022 to start the broader rollout.

6:45 a.m.: The United States is steadily chipping away at vaccine hesitancy and driving down COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations to the point that schools, governments and corporations are lifting mask restrictions yet again.

Nearly 200 million Americans are fully vaccinated and the nation’s over-65 population, which bore the brunt of the pandemic when it started nearly two years ago, is enthusiastically embracing vaccines.

Nearly 98{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of the over-65 population has received at least one COVID-19 shot and more than 25{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of them have gotten boosters, just weeks after they were authorized. The improving metrics could get a boost from President Joe Biden’s workplace mandate unveiled Thursday and the launch of COVID-19 shots in elementary-age students.

6:30 a.m. Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers said Friday he sought alternative treatments instead of the NFL-endorsed COVID-19 vaccinations because he is allergic to an ingredient in two of the FDA-approved shots.

Speaking on SiriusXM’s “Pat McAfee Show,” Rodgers said: “I’m not an anti-vax, flat-earther. I have an allergy to an ingredient that’s in the mRNA vaccines. I found a long-term immunization protocol to protect myself and I’m very proud of the research that went into that.”

Rodgers, who turns 38 on Dec. 2, did not say what ingredient he was allergic to, or how he knows he is allergic.

Rodgers, who has been tested daily as part of NFL protocols for the unvaccinated, found out he contracted COVID-19 on Wednesday. The reigning NFL MVP said he didn’t feel well on Thursday but was much better on Friday.

6 a.m. Monday’s reopening of the Canada-U.S. land border is sparking a mixed reaction among Canadian business leaders: They’re excited that people and not just goods will be crossing the border again but are wary of remaining red tape.

The Canadian Chamber of Commerce and the Business Council of Canada say the Canadian requirement for returning travellers to provide a recent, negative molecular test is an unnecessary obstacle to kick-starting business travel and tourism.

They say proof of vaccination is all that should be needed and the test requirement should be scrapped.

They argue that the continued testing requirement is too cumbersome for Canadian business travellers wanting a quick visit to an American destination, and too expensive for families who want a vacation or reunion with loved ones.

“If we believe, as we should, that being fully vaccinated is the best way of minimizing risk, we should be trusting the vaccination systems. We should be monitoring what’s taking place in terms of outbreaks in the two countries,” chamber president Perrin Beatty said in an interview.

5:45 a.m. As Ontario slowly creeps toward the goal of having 90 per cent of the eligible population vaccinated against COVID-19, new data shows vaccine rates are stubbornly lagging in some neighbourhoods and among groups of people across the province.

The latest numbers from non-profit research group ICES, formerly known as the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, out Friday, show there are still stark differences hiding behind the overall vaccination rate.

“There is a huge range, with some areas hovering around 50 per cent of the population fully vaccinated and some areas as high as 90 per cent,” said Dr. Jeff Kwong, lead of the Populations and Public Health Research Program at ICES.

“The risk of outbreaks in these areas with low vaccination coverage is worrisome. It means there is a lot of fuel for a fire to burn.”

Read the full story from the Star’s Megan Ogilvie and May Warren here.

5:30 a.m. Eleven patients died Saturday after a fire broke out in a hospital’s COVID-19 ward in the western Indian state of Maharashtra, police said.

An official told New Delhi Television that around 17 patients were in the ward when the fire broke out. The remaining patients have been moved to a COVID-19 ward in another hospital, district collector Rajendra Bhosle said.

While the fire has since been brought under control, the cause was not immediately clear, he added, saying officials will carry out an investigation.

The former chief minister of the state, Devendra Fadnavis, took to Twitter to express his condolences and called for “strict action” against those responsible.

Such incidents are not uncommon in India. In May, when the country was battling a devastating surge in coronavirus cases, a fire in a COVID-19 ward in western India killed at least 18 patients.

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

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Today’s coronavirus news: Dutch join Belgians in restoring restrictions amid surging cases; Ontario reporting 331 new cases; international flights to return to regional airports

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

4:11 p.m.: Brazil’s seven-day total for deaths from COVID-19 has fallen to its lowest level since the start of the pandemic, according to online research website Our World in Data.

In the seven days through Nov. 1 the nation recorded 2,188 deaths — a level unseen since April 2020 — amid increasingly widespread vaccination.

After a sluggish start, Latin America’s largest nation has now fully vaccinated more than half its population. That share is even higher in some large cities, such as Sao Paulo, where virtually 100 per cent of the adult population has had at least one shot and more than 90 per cent are fully vaccinated.

That has put the nation’s number of virus deaths on a downward trend for four months. The nation’s current daily toll is just one-tenth the gruesome peak witnessed in April 2021; that surge triggered the formation of a Senate committee to investigate the government’s handling of the pandemic.

After six months of hearings, the committee last week recommended President Jair Bolsonaro and dozens of others face criminal charges. Its nearly 1,300-page report drew attention to his government’s delayed response to pharmaceutical companies’ offers to sell millions of vaccines, as well as Bolsonaro’s insistent touting of dubious, unproven treatments such as hydroxychloroquine.

Brazil has recorded about 609,000 deaths, the world’s second-highest total after that of the U.S.

4:05 p.m.: The Saskatchewan government says the province’s fourth wave is waning as COVID-19 cases decline, but health officials say hospitals are still under significant pressure.

Dr. Saqib Shahab, the province’s chief medical health officer, says it will take four to six weeks to see hospitals return to sustainable levels — and that’s only if people remain vigilant by getting vaccinated and reducing their gathering sizes. The province is reporting 107 new cases, down from the peak of 650 cases reported five weeks ago.

According to the province’s website, active cases are down 121 on Tuesday to 1,829,the lowest since late August. Hospitalizations, which have reduced somewhat in recent weeks, are unchanged at 222.

The Saskatchewan Health Authority says it’s too early to tell if the drop in cases numbers is a trend.

Shahab says there are rural areas in the province where 30 to 40 per cent of the population remains unvaccinated, which is enough to drive more substantive waves.

3:30 p.m.: Faced with sharply rising coronavirus cases, the caretaker prime minister of the Netherlands said Tuesday that the Dutch government is reinstituting an order to wear face masks in public places like stores and libraries and mandating an extension for the use of COVID-19 passes.

COVID-19 cases have increased rapidly in the Netherlands for weeks. The country’s public health institute reported Tuesday that confirmed infections rose 39 per cent compared to the week before and hospital admissions were up 31 per cent. The upward trend began soon after the government ended most remaining lockdown restrictions in late September.

“It won’t surprise anybody that we again have a tough message this evening,” Prime Minister Mark Rutte said during a nationally televised press conference. He urged people to socially distance, work from home at least half the time, and to avoid travel to busy places and during the morning and evening rush hours.

As part of the new restrictions, students will have to wear face masks at school when they walk between classes. The new mask rules and requirements for COVID passes to be shown at more public locations, including museums and theme parks, are set to come into force on Saturday.

Earlier Tuesday, the Dutch health council advised the government to begin giving vaccine booster shots to everyone age 60 and older and to nursing home residents. The health council said it was seeing indications that COVID-19 protection was waning among older people.

Just under 80 per cent of adults in the Netherlands are fully vaccinated. A week ago, neighbouring Belgium also ratcheted up its COVID-19 restrictions amid a spike in infections.

3:27 p.m.: New Brunswick is reporting 40 new cases of COVID-19 today and one more death attributed to the novel coronavirus.

Health officials say a person in their 80s in the Campbellton region is the 118th resident to die of the disease since the start of the pandemic. They say more than 85 per cent of people 12 and up are fully vaccinated and 92.7 per cent have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

Chief medical officer Dr. Jennifer Russell said today in a statement that vaccination and so-called circuit-breaker measures are reducing transmission and allowing recoveries to outpace the number of new daily cases. Officials are reporting 75 more recoveries today, adding that New Brunswick has 470 active cases.

New Brunswick’s government says a strike involving public servants is reducing testing capacity and as a result, certain people such as long-term care residents and people who need a test for travel are being prioritized.

2:50 p.m. A Calgary pastor and his brother are appealing sanctions they received for violating Alberta’s COVID-19 rules.

Justice Adam Germain issued the sanctions for civil contempt last month for Pastor Artur Pawlowski and his brother Dawid Pawlowski, which included stiff fines, periods of probation and paying Alberta Health Services costs.

The two men, as part of their probation, were also ordered to include in any public speeches that criticize COVID-19 measures a reference to the fact their views are contradicted by the majority of scientific opinion.

In their appeal, the two argue that the punishments are unreasonable, excessive and violate their Charter rights by forcing them to give opinions which are not their own.

They have already filed appeals of their convictions for civil contempt.

Artur Pawlowski was fined $23,000 and Dawid Pawlowski $10,000 plus an additional $20,000 in costs to Alberta Health Services for holding church services that flouted rules on masking and physical distancing.

2:05 p.m. An Alberta member of the legislature says she is outraged after COVID-19 protesters came to her house on the weekend and hung up a noose.

Tracy Allard calls the threats and intimidation inexcusable and says her private life and her family are out of bounds to protesters.

Allard made the comments on her Facebook page where she described what happened at her home in Grande Prairie, Alberta on Sunday.

She says it began with a small group of protesters that soon grew to 30, prompting police to be called.

Allard says the protesters left behind a crude wooden gallows, with a noose, and the words “No to masks. End the gov’t. Hang ‘em all.”

Last summer, then-health minister Tyler Shandro and his family were publicly harassed at a Canada Day event by protesters upset by COVID-19 public health restrictions.

2 p.m. Dancing and karaoke will again be allowed in Quebec bars after the province Tuesday announced an end to several health measures introduced to limit the spread of COVID-19.

The requirement for high school students to wear masks in the classroom and a recommendation for employers to favour remote working are among the other restrictions that will be lifted as of Nov. 15.

Health Minister Christian Dubé says a high vaccination rate among Quebecers aged 12 to 17 — 86 per cent are fully vaccinated — means masks won’t be obligatory in class but will still be required in hallways and on school transit.

1:45 p.m. The ghost light that has illuminated the stage of the Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto for the last year and a half will finally be turned off and put away as the theatre reopens, Mirvish Productions announced Tuesday.

Performances of the hit musical “Come From Away” will begin again in December.

The announcement comes after Ontario lifted some pandemic health measures on Oct. 25, allowing for most indoor settings that require proof of vaccination to operate at full capacity.

Performances of the successful musical ran for three years before the shows were abruptly halted in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Read the full story from the Star’s Urbi Khan

1:30 p.m. International air traffic will be returning to more regional airports soon, after flights were restricted for most of the year as part of the government’s efforts to control the COVID-19 pandemic.

At a news conference Tuesday, Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said airports at eight mid-sized cities can reopen their runways to planes from across the border as of Nov. 30.

The airports range from Victoria to St. John’s, N.L. The other six are in Waterloo and Hamilton in Ontario, Abbotsford and Kelowna in British Columbia, as well as Saskatoon and Regina.

“I’m pleased that increased vaccination levels have allowed us to safely reopen these additional Canadian airports to international passenger flights,” Alghabra said on the tarmac at Waterloo International Airport.

“This move will help ensure travellers are able to access more regional airports for their international travels this winter, while continuing to support our government’s measured approach to reopening our borders.”

1 p.m. Nova Scotia is reporting 11 new cases of COVID-19 Tuesday. Officials have identified five cases in the Halifax area, four in the province’s eastern zone and two in the northern zone.

With 16 recoveries, there are a total of 161 active infections in the province. Officials say eight people are currently in hospital in the province with coronavirus. According to provincial data, 83.3 per cent of the province’s population has received at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine, while 78.6 per cent are fully vaccinated.

Since Aug. 1, officials say there have been 1,528 positive COVID-19 cases and seven deaths.

12:45 p.m. Pfizer Inc. (PFE) posted stronger-than-expected third quarter earnings Tuesday, and boosted its full-year profit forecast while lifting its vaccine sales estimate to around $36 billion (U.S.).

Pfizer said adjusted earnings for the three months ending in September were pegged at $1.34 per share, an 86 per cent increase from the same period last year and well ahead of the Street consensus forecast of $1.09. Group revenues, Pfizer said, nearly doubled from last year to $24.1 billion, again topping analysts’ estimates of an $22.71 billion tally. Around $13 billion of the topline came from vaccine sales, Pfizer said.

Looking into the final months of the year Pfizer said its sees adjusted earnings in the region of $4.13 to $4.18 per share, up from its prior forecast of $3.95 to $4.05 per share, on improved revenues of between $81 billion and $82 billion.

12:27 p.m. (updated) Low COVID-19 transmission, high testing capacity and a declining number of new cases in Prince Edward Island are allowing the province to ease restrictions, chief medical officer Dr. Heather Morrison said Tuesday.

Effective immediately, private gatherings are limited to 50 people, up from 20, Morrison told reporters. The government is also dropping restrictions around capacity and distancing for organized events that require proof of vaccination, she added.

“The downward trend of cases in Canada and the Atlantic region is encouraging,” Morrison said. “The easing of some measures is a positive sign that we are able to move in the right direction.

“We are moving toward the light at the end of the tunnel.”

The province’s proof-of-vaccination application for smartphones is expected to launch in the coming days, Morrison said.

Prince Edward Island has four active reported cases of COVID-19 and has reported a total of 319 infections since the onset of the pandemic.

11:50 a.m. Quebec is reporting 490 new cases of COVID-19 Tuesday and six more deaths attributed to the coronavirus.

Health officials say hospitalizations rose by six, to 250, after 22 people entered hospital and 16 were discharged.

The number of people in intensive care rose by four, to 71.

Health workers administered an additional 10,759 doses of COVID-19 vaccines, including 10,063 in the previous 24 hours.

The province’s public health institute says about 90.6 per cent of residents aged 12 and over have received at least one vaccine dose and 87.9 per cent are fully vaccinated.

Quebec has 4,497 active reported cases of COVID-19.

11:15 a.m. Unvaccinated teenagers have been more likely to test positive for the coronavirus than unvaccinated adults in Los Angeles County, officials said.

The trend illustrates how a group less likely to have been vaccinated in the nation’s most populous county is playing an outsize role in continuing transmission of the Delta variant.

“The highest case rates have been among unvaccinated teens, who were eight times more likely than vaccinated teens to test positive for COVID and are important drivers of transmission across our communities,” L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said in a recent briefing.

Previously, health officials had noted that it was younger adults who were most likely to contract the coronavirus.

11 a.m. Pop-up and community clinics are open for walk-ins for both first or second doses, as well as appointments.

In an effort to boost vaccine rates and increase access to vaccines, York Region Public Health is hosting a series of walk-in, pop-up and community vaccination clinics.

Clinics are offering Pfizer for those 12-years (born in 2009) and older and Moderna to those 25-years and older.

10:41 a.m. Bayern Munich coach Julian Nagelsmann will return to the bench against Benfica in the Champions League on Tuesday after missing four games with the coronavirus.

Bayern said Nagelsmann took charge of a training session on Tuesday, nearly two weeks after he had to step aside hours before the team’s last Champions League game. Bayern initially cited a “flu-like infection” and said a day later that Nagelsmann tested positive for the coronavirus.

10:19 a.m. (updated) Ontario is reporting another 331 COVID-19 cases and seven more deaths, according to its latest report released Tuesday morning.

Ontario has administered 13,774 vaccine doses since its last daily update, with 22,535,918 vaccines given in total as of 8 p.m. the previous night.

According to the Star’s vaccine tracker, 11,504,396 people in Ontario have received at least one shot. That works out to approximately 88.3 per cent of the eligible population 12 years and older, and the equivalent of 77.4 per cent of the total population, including those not yet eligible for the vaccine.

Read the full story from the Star’s Urbi Khan

9:35 a.m. A “mystifying” COVID-19 outbreak among fully vaccinated adult rec hockey players in York Region has led to calls for a full investigation.

The virus spread like wildfire among players in adult leagues earlier this month — with 15 confirmed cases and one 75-year-old’s death — and has raised a spiderweb of concerns about indoor sport safety, vaccine verification and dangers that might be lurking in the air, especially in hockey rinks and older facilities.

“It’s certainly eyebrow raising — not at all what one would expect,’ said Colin Furness, an infection control epidemiologist at the University of Toronto. “It’s mystifying and really worth investigating: genotypes, ring testing, vaccination verification, full contact tracing … We want to find the smoking gun.”

Furness said the outbreak is “disquieting” for a number of reasons.

“Is this an early warning for a new variant? That’s unlikely … but you want to know. Is this a change in the epidemiology of COVID? Do we have a big blind spot? What’s going on?”

8:32 a.m. Romania reported a record daily number of 591 COVID-19 deaths Tuesday amid a persistently low vaccination rate and a wave of coronavirus infections that has overwhelmed the country’s ailing health care system.

Only 37 per cent of adults in Romania, a European Union member with around 19 million people, have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 compared to an EU average of 75 per cent. Within the 27-nation EU, only Bulgaria has a smaller share of its population vaccinated.

Romanian authorities said Tuesday that 541 of the 591 people who had died of COVID-19 since the day before were unvaccinated.

The unfolding disaster prompted authorities to impose tighter restrictions starting last week. Vaccination certificates are required for many day-to-day activities, such as going to the gym, the cinema or a shopping mall. For everyone, there is a 10 p.m. curfew.

8:15 a.m. Nearly two dozen Hamilton businesses were charged for alleged COVID-19 violations last week, despite no change in the city’s level of enforcement.

During the city’s COVID-19 update Monday, Emergency Operations Centre director Jason Thorne said bylaw officers have been conducting the “same level” of pandemic-related enforcement over the past few weeks. That includes both reactive and proactive enforcement.

Thorne noted that bylaw has shifted their focus from education to enforcement, as current COVID rules and regulations “have been in place for some time,” and both patrons and businesses “should be well aware of them.”

Twenty-two businesses were charged last week, according to the city’s online enforcement list, which is updated weekly.

7:25 a.m. Air Canada reported a loss of $640 million in its latest quarter as its operating revenue nearly tripled compared with a year ago as the airline ramped up capacity.

The airline says the loss amounted to $1.79 per diluted share for the quarter ended Sept. 30 compared with a loss of $685 million or $2.31 per diluted share a year earlier.

Revenue totalled $2.10 billion, up from $757 million in the same quarter last year.

Air Canada increased its capacity in the quarter as measured by available seat miles by 87 per cent compared with the third quarter of 2020, however it was still down 66 per cent when compared with the third quarter of 2019.

6:40 a.m.: Mayor John Tory tweeted early Tuesday morning that 84 per cent of eligible Torontonians have now received two doses of the vaccine.

“I want to thank everyone who has stepped up to get vaccinated and all involved in the #TeamToronto effort that has administered more than 4.9 million doses of the vaccine so far,” Tory wrote in his tweet.

6:15 a.m.: Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden, said Monday that the state of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States is a “mixed bag” entering the holiday season and that Americans should get their vaccine booster shots as soon as they are eligible.

More than 64 million U.S. adults are not vaccinated, and the Biden administration is preparing for significant resistance from parents as vaccines become available to children ages 5 to 11 this week.

“It’s a mixed bag,” Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told McClatchy in an interview. “I feel good that the cases, the hospitalizations and the deaths are coming down. I’m still concerned that we have 64 million people who are eligible to be vaccinated who have not been vaccinated.

“So it’s a mixed feeling in reaction to where things are,” he added. “It’s good news that we’re continuing to come down. It’s a bit frustrating when we have so many people who are eligible to be vaccinated who are not.”

Those who are vaccinated can plan to celebrate the holidays with a greater sense of normalcy, he said.

6:11 a.m.: According to the Peel board, 519 full-time teachers took a sick leave for three months or longer in the last school year, almost double the number of teachers who were on sick leave before the pandemic. And it’s not just Peel: at York Region District School Board, 711 teachers were on sick leave for three months or longer in the 2020-21 school year — an increase from 372 from 2018-19, before the pandemic.

At the Toronto District School Board, 808 elementary school teachers took a sick leave for three months or longer in the last school year — up from 388 in 2019-2020. GTA schools spent the majority of the second half of last school year learning online due to province-wide lockdowns amid rising COVID-19 cases. A similar increase in sick leaves, however, was not observed among secondary teachers at the TDSB.

It’s difficult to ascertain how many of those teachers went on sick leave for mental-health-related reasons, boards and teachers unions said, because the paperwork for long-term disability leave does not clearly distinguish between mental and physical ailments. But teachers continue to be absent at higher rates than before, both at the elementary and secondary level, and many of them due to stress.

Read the full story from the Star’s Nadine Yousif here.

6:10 a.m.: Hawaii remains among the most restrictive states for COVID-19 mandates, despite having one of the highest vaccination rates in the country.

Various state and county rules have changed often, leaving some businesses, travellers and residents confused and frustrated.

Hawaii Gov. David Ige said earlier this year that all restrictions would end once 70{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of the population was fully vaccinated. But a surge of delta variant cases filled hospitals and extended rules to guard against COVID-19.

Now, case counts have dropped and about 83{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of eligible Hawaii residents are fully vaccinated. But many rules remain in place.

6:10 a.m.: Unvaccinated teenagers have been more likely to test positive for the coronavirus than unvaccinated adults in Los Angeles County, officials said.

The trend illustrates how a group less likely to have been vaccinated in the nation’s most populous county is playing an outsize role in continuing transmission of the highly contagious delta variant.

“The highest case rates have been among unvaccinated teens, who were eight times more likely than vaccinated teens to test positive for COVID and are important drivers of transmission across our communities,” L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said in a recent briefing.

Previously, health officials had noted that it was younger adults who were most likely to contract the coronavirus.

Not coincidentally, it’s young L.A. County residents who are least likely to be vaccinated. While 80{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of L.A. County residents eligible for vaccination have received at least one shot, only 70{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of 12- to 15-year-olds have done so, as have 76{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of those age 16 to 17. By comparison, 98{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of residents age 65 to 79 have received at least one shot.

6:07 a.m.: Elections Canada was curious to know how many Canadians believed in conspiracy theories in the lead up to the recent federal vote.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had two years left in his minority mandate in August when he plunged the country into an election while a fourth wave of COVID-19 raged.

Protesters opposed to public health measures like masking and mandatory vaccinations staged demonstrations, some of them following Trudeau as he crisscrossed the country, hurling obscenities at him and, at one point, even gravel.

Months before triggering the vote, the federal agency in charge of running elections commissioned its first stand-alone survey into the level of trust Canadians had in the electoral process. That included finding out how many held a “conspiracy mindset.”

“Questions about conspiracies allow for a better understanding of what can trigger distrust toward electoral administration,” Elections Canada spokeswoman Natasha Gauthier said in a statement, adding the “COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant social and economic changes, including in the realm of election administration.”

“Looking at mistrust in general also helps us better understand what sorts of information and communication approaches can be effective in instilling trust in elections.”

Conducted by the firm Leger over 10 days in April, the poll surveyed 2,500 Canadians online and through computer assisted interviewing technology.

It found a majority of respondents trusted Elections Canada and believed the voting system was “safe and reliable.”

When it came to conspiracy beliefs, the study, recently posted to a government website, reported 17 per cent believed the government was trying to cover up the link between vaccines and autism, and 30 per cent thought new drugs or technologies were being tested on people without their knowledge.

The research also found 40 per cent of respondents subscribed to thinking that certain big events have been the product of a “small group who secretly manipulate world events.”

6 a.m. Authorities in Beijing halted classes at 18 schools in one district after a teacher was infected with Covid-19, days before a key Communist Party meeting in the city.

6 a.m. Bulgaria reported record daily COVID-19 deaths. Infections in Thailand declined to a four-month low and new cases fell in Australia’s two most-populous states as both nations ease international border restrictions.

6 a.m. Japan plans to let business travellers and students enter the country but isn’t loosening curbs for tourists, Nikkei reported.

6 a.m.: Singapore expects 2,000 coronavirus deaths each year, even after achieving one of the world’s highest vaccination rates.

7:24 p.m. Monday: Close to 300 employees of WestJet, Canada’s second-largest airline, have been suspended for failing to meet the company’s mandatory COVID-19 vaccine policy and may face termination if they do not comply.

The airline said Monday that “less than four per cent” of its 7,300 active employees, representing about 290 people, are being placed on a one-month unpaid leave of absence for not being fully vaccinated. The company warned that those who do not comply with its vaccination mandate “may face termination of employment.”

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Today’s coronavirus news: Mandatory vaccination rule extended to staff and visitors to Senate workplaces; Ontario reporting 422 COVID-19 cases, 3 deaths;

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.

4:35 p.m.: Amazon.com Inc. says its vaccinated workers in the U.S. will no longer have to wear masks beginning on Tuesday, unless required to do so by federal or local rules.

“Vaccines are universally available across the U.S. and vaccination rates continues to rise which enables the ability to return to our previous mask policy,” the company said in a notice to employees on Friday. A spokesperson confirmed the decision.

The online retailer, the second largest U.S. employer after Walmart, in August ordered employees to resume masking up regardless of vaccination status, as the delta variant spread. The company has so far stopped short of mandating vaccinations in its ranks, instead offering cash raffles and other perks for vaccinated employees.

4:29 p.m.: Prince Edward Island is reporting two new cases of COVID-19 Monday. One new case involves a contact of a previously reported infection and the other is related to recent travel outside the province.

Prince Edward Island has four active reported infections. Officials say that as of Oct. 27, about 88 per cent of Islanders were fully vaccinated and 93.4 per cent had received at least one dose.

P.E.I. has reported 319 COVID-19 cases since the onset of the pandemic.

4:19 p.m.: Saskatchewan reported 128 new cases and three deaths on Monday as its active case total fell to 1,950, its lowest since Aug. 27.

The number of hospitalized cases in the province whose hospitals have been severely strained by the fourth wave recently is down four to 222, the lowest since mid-September.

3:50 p.m. New Brunswick is reporting 31 new cases of COVID-19 Monday and 38 more recoveries from the disease.

Health officials say the number of active infections in the province stands at 506.

They say 16 of the new cases reported today involve people who are unvaccinated.

Officials say 24 people are in hospital with the disease, including 16 patients in intensive care.

The government says that beginning this week, people 65 and older and school personnel will be able to book appointments for mRNA COVID-19 booster vaccine doses if six months have passed since their second doses.

People who have received one or two doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine will be able to book appointments for mRNA COVID-19 booster doses if 28 days have passed since their second doses.

3:20 p.m. Anyone wanting access to workplaces in Canada’s Senate will need to be fully immunized against COVID-19.

The Senate’s internal economy committee has announced a mandatory vaccination rule for all Senate staffers, journalists, visitors and anyone else wanting admittance to the parliamentary buildings that house the upper chamber and its offices.

Last week, Senate Speaker George Furey announced that all senators would have to be double vaccinated to participate in person in Senate proceedings.

That followed consultations with the leaders of the various groups in the Senate.

The Independent Senators Group, the Progressive Senate Group and the Canadian Senators Group have said all their members are fully vaccinated.

Conservative Senate leader Don Plett’s office won’t say how many of the 18 Tory senators have received two shots of an approved vaccine.

2:30 p.m. A former Quebec health minister told a coroner’s inquest today that “systemic ageism” and outdated health-care facilities contributed to the tragedy that unfolded in the province’s long-term care homes during the first wave of COVID-19.

Réjean Hébert, who is also a gerontologist, told coroner Géhane Kamel that nearly 10 per cent of the province’s long-term care patients died of COVID-19 in the early months of the pandemic, which is a rate five times higher than that in Canada as a whole.

The former health minister said that even before the pandemic there was a tendency to shift health-care resources toward other priorities, leading to a lack of doctors and nurses to care for vulnerable seniors in care homes.

Hébert also pointed to outdated facilities where patients were subjected to inadequate ventilation and forced to share bedrooms and bathrooms as factors that contributed to Quebec’s high mortality rate.

The coroner’s inquest is examining the deaths of elderly and vulnerable people in residential settings during the COVID-19 pandemic in order to formulate recommendations to avoid future tragedies.

About half the province’s COVID-19 deaths during the first wave occurred in long-term care homes, and some 92 per cent of victims who died between Feb. 25 and July 11 2020 were 70 and older, according to the province’s public health institute.

2:05 p.m. Newfoundland and Labrador is reporting two new cases of COVID-19 since its last update on Friday.

One case involves a resident under the age of 20 in the eastern health region who is a contact of a previously reported infection.

The other new case is related to travel within Canada and involves a man in his 50s.

Officials say there had been 10 new recoveries from the disease as of Saturday, adding that one person is in hospital with COVID-19.

The province has 91 active reported infections.

Officials say data on COVID-19 testing isn’t available due to a suspected cyberattack that has damaged the province’s IT infrastructure.

2 p.m. Nova Scotia is reporting its 101st death related to COVID-19. Health officials said Monday a man in his 70s died from the disease in the eastern region of the province.

Officials are also reporting 59 new cases of COVID-19 and 61 recoveries since their last update on Oct. 29.

Five new cases are in the eastern zone, 44 in the central zone, six in the northern zone and four are located in the western zone.

1:55 p.m. As of Nov. 1, cruise ships are no longer banned in Canadian waters. “Canada is looking forward to welcoming them back into our waters for the 2022 cruise season,” says a tweet from Transport Canada.

1:40 p.m. Anticipating a green light from vaccine advisers, the Biden administration is assembling and shipping millions of COVID-19 shots for children ages 5-11, the White House said Monday. The first could go into kids’ arms by midweek.

“We are not waiting on the operations and logistics,” said coronavirus coordinator Jeff Zients.

By vaccinating children, the U.S. hopes to head off another coronavirus wave during the cold-weather months when people spend more time indoors and respiratory illnesses can spread more easily. Cases have been declining for weeks, but the virus has repeatedly shown its ability to stage a comeback and more easily transmissible mutations are a persistent threat.

1:25 p.m. A transit agency serving the Greater Toronto and Hamilton area says 89 bus trips were cancelled Monday as its COVID-19 vaccine mandate took effect.

Metrolinx says the number represents approximately six per cent of daily bus trips, and some train cancellations are also possible.

Employees at the transit agency had until Nov. 1 to get vaccinated, provide a medical exemption or be placed on leave without pay.

Spokeswoman Anne Marie Aikins says the agency was gathering final numbers Monday but estimated that between two and three per cent of staff were on leave.

1:10 p.m. Ontario’s health minister says she now has enough responses from hospitals and health-care groups across the province to inform her decision on a mandatory vaccine policy at hospitals.

Premier Doug Ford sent a letter last month to hospital CEOs, local medical officers of health and other related organizations asking for input on mandating vaccines for staff at hospitals.

He had asked for responses by Oct. 19, but last week Health Minister Christine Elliott said they were still waiting for responses from some hospitals so the government could make its decision.

She says today that she has now received most of them and is reviewing them in detail, so she can make a decision.

Elliott says one factor to consider is whether a vaccine mandate would lead to staff shortages affecting patient care, such as needing to cancel surgeries.

Several hospitals who have already implemented their own mandates have seen roughly two per cent of staff being placed on unpaid leave or terminated because of the policies.

12:45 p.m. A judge on Monday suspended a Dec. 31 deadline for Chicago police officers to be vaccinated against COVID-19 but didn’t interfere with a requirement that they be regularly tested.

Disputes over vaccinations should be submitted to an arbitrator as a labor grievance, Cook County Judge Raymond Mitchell said.

“The effect of this order is to send these parties back to the bargaining table and to promote labor peace by allowing them to pursue“ remedies under Illinois law, Mitchell said.

12:26 p.m. Chicago Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane has been removed from the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol.

Assistant coaches Tomas Mitell and Matt Meacham also have left the protocol.

The move means Kane is cleared to play when Chicago tries for its first win of the season Monday night against the Ottawa Senators.

11:55 a.m. Authorities in Russia’s Novgorod region on Monday ordered most residents to stay off work for one more week starting Nov. 8 as coronavirus infections and deaths remained at all-time highs.

The Novgorod region was the first region to extend the nationwide non-working period between Oct. 30-Nov. 7 that was ordered by President Vladimir Putin.

Russia’s state coronavirus task force on Monday reported more than 40,000 new confirmed COVID-19 cases for the third straight day and more than 1,100 deaths for the seventh day in a row – the highest levels in each category since the start of the pandemic.

Putin has said that governments in regions where the situation is the most dire could start the non-working days earlier and extend them if needed.

In Moscow, the non-working period started on Oct. 28, with city authorities shutting down many non-essential businesses. In the Novgorod region roughly 500 kilometers (310 miles) northwest of the Russian capital, non-working days began on Oct. 25.

On Monday, Novgorod’s regional coronavirus task force reported 284 new infections — double the daily tally from a month ago when just over 140 new confirmed cases were reported each day. Governor Andrei Nikitin said there is no reason to expect the situation improving any time soon.

Russia’s daily numbers of coronavirus infections and deaths have been surging for weeks amid low vaccine uptake, lax public attitudes toward taking precautions and the government’s reluctance to toughen restrictions. Less than 35 per cent of Russia’s nearly 146 million people have been fully vaccinated so far, even though Russia was among the first in the world to approve and roll out a coronavirus vaccine.

11:35 a.m. Peel Public Health (PPH) has announced its ambitious fall and winter COVID-19 vaccination plan, with aims to open a combination of large and small vaccine clinics.

As Dec. 1 draws closer, PPH is expected to double its vaccine system as new directives, including third and pediatrics doses, are approved by the province.

Top priorities include the “final push” for 90 per cent vaccine coverage, pediatric first doses for children aged 5-11 upon approval and expanded eligibility for third doses.

To achieve this, large and small clinics will be sprouting up across Peel so residents can choose the settings that best fits their needs.

11:10 a.m. Airlines are adding flights and capacity in the hope that passengers are eager to jump back onto flights after more than 18 long months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We’ve been going through the equivalent of about 11 years of historical growth over the past six months, so the growth has been really tremendous over a very, very short period of time,” says John Weatherill, chief commercial officer at WestJet.

After a near-grounding of flights, the Calgary-based airline expects to be at about 70 per cent its pre-COVID capacity by the end of December, fully restore its domestic business by next summer and see its international capacity fully return by the end of 2022.

10:45 a.m. When, not if, the next pandemic strikes, Canada and the United States need to work more closely together on a mutual, integrated strategy for managing risk at the shared border, rather than trying to shut it down entirely, a new report says.

A task force assembled by the D.C.-based Wilson Center, which included former Quebec premier Jean Charest and former Canadian justice minister Anne McLellan, concluded in its final report that closing the border entirely to non-essential travel likely did as much harm as good.

Next time — and there will be a next time, the panel warns — a plan to mitigate risk rather than trying to reduce it to zero would ultimately be a better solution, its members said Friday.

10:22 a.m. Biotechnology company Novavax Inc. says it has submitted its COVID-19 vaccine for approval in Canada.

The U.S. company says it has now completed the submission of all modules required by Health Canada for the regulatory evaluation of its protein-based COVID-19 vaccine.

The submission includes clinical data from a trial of 30,000 participants in the U.S. and Mexico.

The company says the trial found 100 per cent protection against moderate and severe disease and 90.4 per cent efficacy overall.

Novavax also recently announced regulatory filings for its vaccine in the United Kingdom and Australia and expects to complete additional regulatory filings shortly in several additional markets.

10:09 a.m. (updated) Ontario is reporting another 422 COVID-19 cases and three more deaths, according to its latest report released Monday morning.

Ontario has administered 7,427 vaccine doses since its last daily update, with 22,522,144 vaccines given in total as of 8 p.m. the previous night.

According to the Star’s vaccine tracker, 11,499,285 people in Ontario have received at least one shot. That works out to approximately 88.2 per cent of the eligible population 12 years and older, and the equivalent of 77.4 per cent of the total population, including those not yet eligible for the vaccine.

Read the full story from the Star’s Urbi Khan

10 a.m. Canadian musician Bryan Adams ducked out of a scheduled performance at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on Saturday night after testing positive for COVID-19.

His management team says Adams is fully vaccinated against the virus and is not experiencing any symptoms.

The rocker was to sing “It’s Only Love,” a duet he recorded with Tina Turner, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame at the ceremony.

9:36 a.m. With COVID-19 cases holding steady in Ontario, and the provincial government allowing full capacity for music venues and event spaces as of Nov. 15, concerts and other live events are happening once again, slowly creeping up to pre-pandemic levels.

Venues such as the Scotiabank Arena are mandating all guests 12 years and older to be fully vaccinated before attending events.

Whether you’re looking for a comedy show or a concert, here are several events worth checking out during the month of November.

8:45 a.m. Israel on Monday began welcoming individual tourists for the first time since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.

Authorities hope that opening the country’s gates to solo travelers will breathe new life into the struggling tourism industry. Before the pandemic, the Christmas season saw hundreds of thousands of people visit Bethlehem, believed to be birthplace of Jesus, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Israel had planned to reopen to tourists last spring but delayed the move amid a spike in cases driven by the highly contagious delta variant. Israel has since rolled out a booster campaign in which nearly half the population has received a third vaccine dose, driving cases back down.

Travelers must show proof of vaccination, a booster shot, or recovery from coronavirus within the last six months. Authorities recognize most vaccines, but those vaccinated with Russia’s Sputnik must undergo a serological test upon arrival. Travelers must also present a negative coronavirus test before boarding their flights and take another one upon arrival.

8:25 a.m. At a Georgia state House of Representatives hearing on prison conditions in September, a corrections officer called in to testify, interrupting his shift to tell lawmakers how dire conditions had become.

On a “good day,” he told lawmakers, he had maybe six or seven officers to supervise roughly 1,200 people. He said he had recently been assigned to look after 400 prisoners by himself. There weren’t enough nurses to provide medical care.

“All the officers … absolutely despise working there,” said the officer, who didn’t give his name for fear of retaliation.

Staff shortages have long been a challenge for prison agencies, given the low pay and grueling nature of the work. But the coronavirus pandemic — and its impact on the labor market — has pushed many corrections systems into crisis. Officers are retiring and quitting in droves, while officials struggle to recruit new employees. And some prisons whose prisioner populations dropped during the pandemic have seen their numbers rise again, exacerbating the problem

7:25 a.m. A move by Swiss police in a resort town to shutter a restaurant because its owners flouted a government requirement to check patrons’ COVID-19 passes has again brought to the forefront tensions with some people who view such measures as infringing on civil rights.

Swiss media reported on Monday that police in Zermatt, a resort town at the foot of the famed Matterhorn peak, swept into the 19th century Walliserkanne restaurant a day earlier and sealed it off after its owners had defied a closure order and kept serving.

The three owners who were taken into custody, had reportedly transformed a stack of cinder blocks that police had used to block off the front entrance into a makeshift bar and let patrons to enter from the back.

The showdown points to renewed tensions in Switzerland and beyond over government measures aimed to fight the coronavirus pandemic that some people claim are treading on civil liberties. The reports said dozens of people over the weekend turned out at the restaurant to protest the arrests.

7 a.m.: Researchers at McMaster University and the Offord Centre for Child Studies are tracking the impact of the pandemic on the health and well-being of families. In some key areas parents were worse off this year than last year.

“The overall depressive and anxiety symptoms were higher than our original findings during the first wave,” said lead researcher Andrea Gonzalez, associate professor and Tier II Canada Research Chair in Family Health and Preventative Interventions.

During the first wave they surveyed 7,434 parents and caregivers with children up to age 17. This year, between May 4 and July 3, during the third wave, they garnered input from 10,778 respondents.

Last year, 57 per cent of caregivers reported feeling significant depressive symptoms in the previous week, compared with 69 per cent this year. Also last year, 30 per cent reported moderate to high levels of anxiety, compared with 38 per cent this year.

Almost half of parents surveyed this year said they had sought help from a mental health professional and 40 per cent reported needing help at least once during the pandemic, but not getting it.

Read the full story from the Star’s Isabel Teotonio.

6:47 a.m.: Quebec is lifting capacity restrictions in bars and restaurants starting Monday, more than a year after imposing the limits to curb the spread of COVID-19.

Health Minister Christian Dubé announced last month that bars and restaurants across the province could operate at full capacity and resume normal operating hours starting Nov. 1.

Bars and restaurants gradually reopened in Quebec over the summer after being shuttered to in-person dining, but some restrictions remained.

Establishments that serve alcohol will now be allowed to stay open until 3 a.m. and the distance between tables will drop from two metres to one metre.

But there are still some rules in place — each table is limited to 10 people from no more than three different households.

The ban on dancing and singing remains in effect until further notice, and Quebecers are still required to present their vaccine passport before entering and wear masks when moving around indoors.

6:45 a.m.: South Korea on Monday began to allow larger social gatherings and lifted business-hour restrictions on restaurants in what officials described as the first step toward attempting to restore some pre-pandemic normalcy.

The capital area has been under the country’s strongest social distancing measures short of a lockdown since July. Citing pandemic fatigue and economic concerns, officials had eased the measures in mid-October to allow for gatherings of up to eight people if at least four were fully vaccinated.

Under the changes starting Monday, the limit on private social gatherings in the capital, Seoul, and nearby metropolitan areas was raised to 10 people and 12 in other regions, regardless of whether participants are fully vaccinated or not.

Restaurants and coffee shops are now allowed to open for 24 hours, rather than being forced to close at 10 p.m. in the greater Seoul area and at midnight in the rest of the country. However, high-risk entertainment venues such as nightclubs are required to close at midnight.

To use indoor sports facilities or visit patients at hospitals, people must show smartphone apps or documents issued by public health authorities proving that they are fully vaccinated or were tested negative for the virus within 48 hours.

The gathering limits on political rallies or social events such as exhibitions or weddings were raised to a maximum of 499 people if all the participants are fully vaccinated. Larger crowds will also be allowed at professional sports.

6:45 a.m.: Fireworks boomed as visitors at Shanghai Disneyland waited for COVID-19 test results, surrounded by health care workers dressed from head to toe in white protective suits.

Shanghai Disneyland announced suddenly Sunday evening that it was no longer accepting any new visitors and was cooperating with an epidemiological investigation from another province. They then locked down the park as Shanghai city healthcare workers and police rushed to conduct a mass testing of the visitors already inside.

After testing everyone, the park will remain shut on Monday and Tuesday as it continues to cooperate with pandemic prevention efforts, Shanghai Disneyland said in a statement Monday.

The park’s sudden lockdown and temporary closure underscored just how serious China is about enforcing its zero-tolerance pandemic prevention strategy.

Globally, many countries have turned to living with the virus, whether out of choice or necessity, although as virus surges come and go, many face overburdened health care systems and additional deaths.

6:45 a.m.: Sydney’s international airport came alive with tears, embraces and laughter on Monday as Australia opened its border for the first time in 20 months, with some arriving travelers removing mandatory masks to see the faces of loved ones they’ve been separated from for so long.

Australia and other countries in the Asia-Pacific have had some of the world’s strictest COVID-19 pandemic lockdown measures and travel restrictions, but with vaccination rates rising and cases falling, many are now starting to cautiously reopen.

Some, like China and Japan, remain essentially sealed off to foreign visitors, but Thailand also started to substantially reopen Monday and many others have already started, or plan to follow suit.

6:45 a.m.: The global death toll from COVID-19 topped 5 million on Monday, less than two years into a crisis that has not only devastated poor countries but also humbled wealthy ones with first-rate health care systems.

Together, the United States, the European Union, Britain and Brazil — all upper-middle- or high-income countries — account for one-eighth of the world’s population but nearly half of all reported deaths. The U.S. alone has recorded over 740,000 lives lost, more than any other nation.

“This is a defining moment in our lifetime,” said Dr. Albert Ko, an infectious disease specialist at the Yale School of Public Health. “What do we have to do to protect ourselves so we don’t get to another 5 million?”

The death toll, as tallied by Johns Hopkins University, is about equal to the populations of Los Angeles and San Francisco combined. It rivals the number of people killed in battles among nations since 1950, according to estimates from the Peace Research Institute Oslo. Globally, COVID-19 is now the third leading cause of death, after heart disease and stroke.

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Coronavirus Today – October 27


By Anne Blythe

Pediatricians, pharmacies and county health departments could be ready by the end of next week to start vaccinating children from 5 to 11 years old if Pfizer’s kid-size dose of COVID vaccine gets the federal nods it needs.

A Federal Drug Administration advisory committee set the stage on Tuesday for the latest plot twist in the story of this long-running coronavirus pandemic.

More of the youngest among us soon could be better protected from severe illness related to COVID-19 if the FDA and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention follow through on the advisory committee’s unanimous recommendation to authorize lower dose Pfizer vaccines for emergency use in some 28 million children across the country.

“The FDA and CDC are still doing their work,” Mandy Cohen, secretary of the state Department of Health and Human Services, told reporters Wednesday during a briefing with the governor. “We think the earliest vaccines will be available will probably be the end of next week.”

In anticipation of that possibility, the state has been planning how to get some 400,000 initial doses distributed to 750 doctor’s offices, health care centers, pharmacies and elsewhere. 

The state also is partnering with 10 community organizations to offer family vaccine events in areas where, historically, there have been health care access disparities.

Results from Pfizer’s trial of some 4,500 children ranging in age from 6 months to 11 years old showed that giving children a third of the COVID vaccine dose that adults get in each of the 2-shot regimens was 90 percent effective.

The CDC is expected to take up the issue on Nov. 2.

“What I can say is there is plenty of supply,” Cohen said. “Let the FDA and CDC do their work to review the evidence.”

For anyone worried about their child mistakenly getting an adult-sized dose when they take them to get vaccinated, the Pfizer packaging of the vaccines for 5- to 11-year-olds is a different color and size.

Once the green light is given, Cohen and Gov. Roy Cooper are encouraging parents to get their children vaccinated as quickly as possible.

“Getting school-aged kids vaccinated will help them to be safe in the classroom, play sports, participate in school theater, attend events, be with friends and support their mental health,” Cohen said. “I’m eager to get my daughters vaccinated once the FDA and CDC review the data and complete the process.”

He led a vaccine trial for children

Emmanuel “Chip” Walter, a pediatrician at Duke who led a trial examining the vaccine’s effectiveness of children, spoke with reporters on Wednesday morning about the findings.

“My advice to parents is this is the best way to protect your child from serious illness and potentially death from COVID, … get them vaccinated,” Walter said. “It’s the best tool we have. By all means I would recommend and suggest they get the vaccine.”

Some have raised concerns about cases of myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle, that, while rare, have been seen after men and women have received an mRNA vaccine from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. Federal health officials have noticed the issue in adolescent males and young men, but have not determined whether there is a direct correlation to the vaccine.

“The risk for developing myocarditis really seems to be greater after the second dose of vaccine; it’s more commonly seen in males, particularly young males within the ages of 16 to 30,” Walter said. “The rate in that particular group is about 40 per million second doses of vaccine received.”

More than 244 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine have been given in the U.S. to date according to the CDC, with 105.6 million who have received two doses.

“I think it’s really important to recognize that not all myocarditis is the same,” Walter said when that question arose on Wednesday. “You can develop myocarditis after developing COVID as a complication and that myocarditis from COVID is usually quite severe and makes people quite ill and causes a prolonged hospitalization.”

Walter added that the myocarditis that health care workers have seen after a vaccine “is generally fairly mild.” Sometimes that might lead to hospitalization, but the condition is easily treated, he added, once it’s recognized.

“So I think you have to weigh that risk of developing COVID – depending on the prevalence of COVID in your community – versus the risk of myocarditis from vaccine, which is exceedingly rare,” Walter said.

Nonetheless, as has happened throughout the pandemic, social media and other platforms rife with misinformation can sow confusion and mistrust that frustrates public health officials trying to get accurate information to households.

A Kaiser Family Foundation poll found that 34 percent of the parents of 5- to 11-year-olds surveyed in September would vaccinate their child right away, even after Pfizer released early reports of the effectiveness of a lower dose in younger children. Twenty-four percent of the parents polled said they definitely would not get their child vaccinated and 32 percent preferred to take a wait-and-see stance.

“We have to be able to afford children the same protection from COVID through vaccination that we afford to adults,” Walter said. “That is the right thing to do.”

Children accounted for nearly 25 percent of the COVID cases caused by the surge in late summer caused by the Delta variant .

“We’ve been kind of lulled by this thought that yes the pandemic is worse … for older adults and adults with comorbidities,” Walter said. “But children aren’t totally spared from COVID.

“When I last looked the other day there had been 750 deaths from COVID in children under age 18, 160 deaths in this age group for which we’re now considering approval or authorization of the vaccine, between the ages of 5 and 11,” Walter added. “And that’s way more deaths than occur due to influenza in a typical year. So if you kind of put it in that perspective in terms of health, we really do need to get children vaccinated.”

Tapering off

Overall, North Carolina is in much better shape in its battle against COVID than a month ago, when Cooper and Cohen gave their last pandemic update to reporters.

The number of people walking into emergency departments with COVID symptoms has dropped dramatically, as have the numbers of new lab-confirmed cases each day and hospitalized patients.

“North Carolina’s fight is not over,” Cooper said. “We’re making great progress, but hospitalizations and deaths are still too high.”

Since March 2020, when North Carolina reported its first lab-confirmed case of COVID-19, there have been more than 1.47 million cases reported. On Tuesday, there were 2,160 new cases reported.

Though there were 1,406 people in the hospital battling illnesses related to COVID-19, that number was down significantly from Sept. 25, when 3,123 people were hospitalized.

North Carolina is approaching a new milestone of 18,000 deaths related to COVID-19. As of Wednesday, the state was fewer than 100 deaths from that grim mark.

“Although every death is painful and now often avoidable, we felt a renewed sense of hope over the last month as North Carolina’s COVID-19 numbers have continued their steady improvement,” Cooper said. “You the people of North Carolina who have gotten vaccinated, followed safety measures, deserve the lion’s share of the credit along with our health care professionals.”

“We are grateful to see this latest surge in COVID-19 taper off,” Cooper added later. “And as we try to drive down our numbers, we know what works. Vaccines. The more people who get their shots, the less COVID we’ll have.”

Are you eligible for a booster?

As many parents contemplate when and where to get their children vaccinated, others across the state who have been vaccinated are weighing whether they’re eligible for boosters that have been recommended by federal and state health officials.

Cohen, who received a Johnson & Johnson vaccine in early March, said she got a Moderna vaccine as a booster last week.

The FDA and CDC issued guidelines on Oct. 21 about who is eligible for a booster shot. The agencies said people could get a different vaccine from the one they initially received after a “mix and match study” showed extra protection from COVID was gained even if a different vaccine was administered.

The CDC recommended a booster shot for the nearly 15 million people who got the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine if at least two months have passed since the initial dose, saying that such a boost could substantially increase protection from COVID. 

Some who received the single dose shot are switching to mRNA vaccines offered by Moderna or Pfizer with a goal of getting even more protection.

Keeping track of all the recommendations can be dizzying.

People who are 65 and older, those between 50 and 64 with certain underlying health conditions, and adults over 18 who live in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities all are at higher risk of getting COVID-19, according to the guidelines. 

Anyone in the groups who got the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines should get a booster shot six months after their initial series.

Cohen recommended that North Carolinians go to a DHHS quiz to find out whether they should get a booster.

As of Wednesday, 67 percent of the adult population in North Carolina was fully vaccinated, a number that is not as high as Cohen or Cooper would like to see.

Cohen said Wednesday that 42 percent of North Carolinians ages 12 to 17 are fully vaccinated and only 46 percent of those who are 18 to 24 are fully vaccinated.

Pediatricians and others who provide health care to school-aged children will be key to boosting trust and an understanding about any recommendations that come from the FDA and CDC in the coming week, Cohen said.

“It’s where our families and our children have gotten vaccinated for many other types of vaccinations that they get in early childhood,” Cohen said. “It’s again going to be a place where I think there will be trusted messengers.”

Coronavirus by the numbers

According to NCDHHS data, as of Tuesday afternoon:

  • 17,935 people total in North Carolina have died of coronavirus.
  • 1,472,655 have been diagnosed with the disease. Of those, 1,404 are in the hospital. On Aug. 1, 1,390 people were hospitalized, before the Delta save. 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.
  • North Carolina started tracking COVID-19 re-infections in the case counts on Oct 4, 2021. All told North Carolina has tracked 10,812 reinfections, 200 of those were in people who were previously vaccinated. Ninety-four people who were reinfected with COVID-19 have died. 
  • 1,422,175 people who had COVID-19 are presumed to have recovered. This weekly estimate does not denote how many of the diagnosed cases in the state are still infectious. Nor does it reflect the number of so-called “long-haul” survivors of COVID who continue to feel the effects of the disease beyond the defined “recovery” period.
  • To date, 19,012,089 tests have been completed in North Carolina. As of July 2020, 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.
  • People ages 25-49 make up the largest group of cases (39 percent). While 13 percent of the positive diagnoses were in people ages 65 and older, seniors make up 75 percent of coronavirus deaths in the state. 
  • 522 outbreaks are ongoing in group facilities across the state, including nursing homes and correctional and residential care facilities, that’s up from 107 outbreaks in early August.
  • As of Wednesday, 415 COVID-19 patients were in intensive care units across the state. On Aug. 1, 372 patients were in ICUs. 
  • As of Aug. 17, 6,177,877 North Carolinians have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine. Eighty-nine percent of people over the age of 65 have been completely vaccinated, while 55 percent of the total population is fully vaccinated.