- ‘A period of great uncertainty’: WHO acknowledges political pressures, but hints data doesn’t yet warrant opening widely.
- Final warning for Ottawa protesters?
- Traffic starts to flow near Manitoba-North Dakota border as RCMP escorts remaining protesters from scene.
- Explore: Public Safety Minister Bill Blair and Justice Minister David Lametti spoke to CBC Radio separately about why they think the Emergencies Act is needed to deal with COVID protests…. Latest inflation report shows Canada’s highest rate since the 1990s…. American politicians may see bridge blockades as reason to produce more in the U.S., but decision is more complicated for companies.
‘We may overshoot the runway’: WHO urges countries not to get complacent due to case trends
British Columbia this week said that effective Thursday, most COVID-19 restrictions in effect will cease but that indoor masking and the provincial vaccine card system are to remain in place.
Current provincial health guidelines that call for masks, the B.C. vaccine card and rules around long-term care visitors will be reviewed over the next two months, Provincial Health Officer Bonnie Henry said on Tuesday.
With respect to the vaccine card, it could be said that B.C. is bucking the trend of the largest Canadian provinces. Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec have all announced intentions in recent days to cease using their vaccine passport systems that were utilized to protect business consumers and workers, with some officials arguing they were no longer practical given Omicron’s vaccine evasiveness.
Alberta and Saskatchewan have scrapped province-initiated mask mandates, while Manitoba plans to do so next month. Ontario and Quebec officials have been more circumspect with respect to their masking plans.
In the U.S., meanwhile, retail sales figures and corporate plans are seeing much of the country start to more closely resemble its pre-pandemic state. Disney World will soon allow the fully vaccinated to attend without masking up indoors, while Walmart and Amazon — the country’s two largest private employers — will no longer require fully vaccinated workers to don masks in stores or warehouses unless required under local or state laws. Tech companies like Microsoft and Facebook that had allowed employees to work fully remote, meanwhile, are now setting mandatory dates to return to the office after a series of fits and starts.
Federal health authorities in the U.S. denied that political considerations play in any part in their deliberations on pandemic advice for the American public in response to a reporter question on Wednesday, but Centers for Disease Control director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said, “we want to give people a break from things like mask-wearing” when hospitalization metrics further improve.
These kind of developments in Canada and the U.S., and other Western countries, are of concern to top World Health Organization officials, who pointed out Wednesday that the UN agency still requires masking at its own Geneva headquarters.
“We may overshoot the runway,” WHO emergencies chief Mike Ryan said Wednesday in terms of the current responses in some countries.
In a question-and-answer session, Ryan emphasized that it is a “period of great uncertainty” right now with COVID-19.
Ryan and WHO technical lead Maria Van Kerkhove pointed to the latest WHO report, which tallied more than 74,000 virus-related deaths globally last week, as seen in the graphic further down this newsletter. COVID-19 deaths rose from the previous week in five of the six demarcated WHO regions, with Southeast Asia the exception.
Meanwhile, cases have fallen in all regions since last week. Ryan said this could mean that deaths are once again in the pandemic a lagging indicator but, he said, “the other explanation is that testing rates have fallen off dramatically.”
He cautioned against overinterpreting the downward case trend as Omicron’s transmissibility has hampered case surveillance efforts. That has happened in Canada, and it’s unclear to what extent that is affecting data from Johns Hopkins and Our World in Health that currently sees Canada currently suffering a higher case-fatality rate than other G7 countries.
Given the more limited surveillance, Van Kerkhove was blunt in terms of another recent trend seen in developed countries.
“Dropping isolation requirements [for the infected] right now is really dangerous,” she said.
Ryan acknowledged that there is great political pressure to give weary citizens a break as the pandemic enters its third year but said if Omicron or another variant leads to a future surge in cases, it will much tougher to reintroduce even nuanced mitigation measures.
From CBC News
Teenagers share their experiences with isolation, cancelled activities and online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic and how it affected their mental health. 5:01
‘You must leave the area now,’ police in Ottawa warn remaining protesters
Ottawa police on Wednesday began distributing written notices to protesters who remain nearly three weeks after the beginning of large-scale demonstrations, telling them to leave the downtown area immediately.
Police estimated Tuesday there were 360 protest vehicles still in the city, down from about 420 one week before and 400 going into last weekend. Around 150 protesters are staying the night near Wellington Street, the main thoroughfare that runs in front of the Parliament Buildings and the Prime Minister’s Office.
The move comes after a flurry of activity the past few days at both the federal and municipal levels to quell the protests that have seen tractor-trailers and other large vehicles impact Ottawa traffic, noise levels and business activity. The Liberal government has said it plans to invoke the little-used Emergencies Act to allow for more enforcement powers to deal with the several protests that have sprung up across Canada, while Ottawa police Chief Peter Sloly resigned on Tuesday after taking criticism about the force’s preparation and response to the protests, which began in earnest on Jan. 28.
The police will be led on an interim basis by Deputy Chief Steve Bell. Mayor Jim Watson said Tuesday that Sloly’s resignation was the right move for the city.
“We went into the third weekend [of protests] with no notice of improvement in terms of reducing the number of trucks, the illegal behaviour [and] the outrageous parties.”
While many protesters have flocked to Ottawa to voice their opposition to vaccine mandates, others have said their goal is to force the dissolution of the elected federal government or to create a logistical nightmare that forces the federal government to repeal all mandates.
Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said Tuesday he was confident police will soon establish “no-go” zones in the city’s downtown core to control unruly crowds associated with the anti-vaccine mandate convoy protest. He said authorities will move with “great rapidity” to erect more concrete barriers and press private tow truck companies into removing the big rigs that have clogged Ottawa’s streets.
“No one wants to see another weekend like the last three on Wellington Street. I’m assured by my discussions with police that they fully appreciate that. We now depend on them to do the job,” Mendicino said.
People who defy orders to leave, he added, will face fines or jail time, or both.
Speaking to CBC’s Power & Politics, Jessica Davis said aspects of the Emergencies Act that deal with freezing financial assets could be seen as “further evidence of government overreach” to the protesters. But the former CSIS senior strategic analyst said in the short term, more prosaic considerations could soon weigh on the demonstrators, such as keeping up with the personal expenses needed to stay in Ottawa in addition to those they incur regularly in their own hometowns.
Meanwhile, a twice-delayed city council meeting about the protest and occupation of streets near Parliament Hill was scheduled for later Wednesday. Follow all the developments here from CBC News.
Manitoba border blockade ends as RCMP escort protesters away
The COVID-19 protest in southern Manitoba, which involved up to 75 vehicles since Feb. 10, has probably not received as much national media attention as other demonstrations, for understandable reasons.
The protest at the Ontario-Michigan border impacted the biggest trade passage between Canada and the U.S., the demonstration in Ottawa described earlier in this newsletter is symbolically important given it’s taking place at the seat of federal power and the protest near the Alberta-Montana border has resulted in weapons and conspiracy charges for several individuals.
As well, despite the blockade of all lanes heading to U.S. Customs from Emerson, Man., to North Dakota, protesters have allowed some cargo, such as medical supplies and livestock, to pass through during the week.
But the Manitoba protest has been of no small inconvenience. Emerson typically sees about 1,000 trucks cross the border each day, said Dave Carlson, reeve for the municipality of Emerson-Franklin, with Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland recently pegging the blockade as affecting $73 million in daily trade between the U.S. and Canada.
On Wednesday, the last of the protesters was escorted away by RCMP and all lanes were reopened to traffic by early afternoon.
“I’m feeling real relief because it’s been a long week and a lot of our businesses have suffered here,” said Carlson. “[I’m] relieved that they’re going to be back in business and also relieved that this has been done peacefully.”
RCMP spokesperson Sgt. Paul Manaigre defended the pace of the police intervention, which was criticized in some quarters.
“We didn’t want to rush in” and issue tickets or make arrests, Manaigre said Wednesday morning during a news conference.
“Communication resulted in what we have today. To me it was the best course of action.”
Read the full story
Newly reported COVID-19 confirmed cases and deaths, by WHO region, as of Feb. 13.
The per cent change in the number of newly confirmed cases/deaths in the past 7 days, as compared to previous 7-day period.
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