COVID-19 is a serious disease that can have deadly consequences. The good news is that now the recovery rate is between 97% and 99.75%. As the world approaches its second full year grappling with the ever-mutating virus and the public health response, some serious public policy and political questions require attention…
The Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) has confirmed to True North that unvaccinated illegal border crossings are being allowed at Roxham Road, Quebec.
According to CBSA spokesperson Sandra Boudreau, the Canadian government is accepting asylum and refugee claims “regardless of their vaccination status.”
Ontario reports 959 new COVID-19 cases, 7 more deaths
Ontario reported over 900 new COVID-19 infections and seven more virus-related deaths as the province is set to expand booster shot eligibility for more Ontarians today.
Provincial health officials logged 959 new cases today, up from 780 on Wednesday and from 748 a week ago.
First cases of COVID-19 discovered in Canadian wildlife
OTTAWA — The first cases of COVID-19 in Canadian wildlife have been discovered in three white-tailed deer, a press release from Environment and Climate Change Canada reports.
The National Centre for Foreign Animal Disease confirmed the detections on Nov. 29 but the deer were sampled between Nov. 6 to 8 in the Estrie region of Quebec. The deer showed no evidence of clinical signs of disease and were “all apparently healthy.”
Facebook owner Meta Platforms has removed more than 500 accounts linked to an online disinformation network primarily based in China.
The accounts had promoted the claims of a fake Swiss biologist called “Wilson Edwards”, who alleged the US was meddling in efforts to find the origins of Covid-19.
Edwards’ comments had been widely carried by Chinese state media outlets.
However, the Swiss embassy said that it was unlikely this person existed.
The Ontario government will announce on Thursday that it will lower the age of eligibility for COVID-19 booster shots to people aged 50 and older this year, sources say.
Two sources told CBC Toronto that the expansion of eligibility is expected to begin around mid-December. The news was first reported by the Globe and Mail.
Those presently eligible for a booster in Ontario are people 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 Métis adults and their non-Indigenous household members.
The Omicron variant has fuelled a “worrying” surge in coronavirus cases in South Africa and is rapidly becoming the dominant strain, local health officials have said, as more countries including the US detected their first cases of the new strain.
The United Arab Emirates and South Korea – which is already battling a worsening outbreak and record daily infections – also confirmed cases of the Omicron variant.
Can we nuke China now?
The wind is in from Africa. Last night I couldn’t sleep. Because a new coronavirus has arrived. It has been named Omicron. The arrival of a new mutation of the novel coronavirus should not come as a surprise to anyone who has at least a sixth grade understanding of viruses. The virus is mutating, as viruses have done since the beginning of time.
So what to do? First, expect dire predictions. Airports will be closed to traffic from some parts of the world. There will be calls for schools to close, businesses to shut down, government restrictions of every kind to be imposed. The most frightened among us will get the most attention from our political leaders. The sensible doctors will stay silent, while their more vocal colleagues will predict that the hospital system will collapse, and demand more government restrictions on our freedom. Meanwhile, public health officials will exhort every segment of the population to get vaccinations, “boosters”, and more “boosters”. Not only should children get vaccinations – in spite of the fact that this is scientifically questionable – but babies should be vaccinated. Maybe even in utero. Meanwhile, everyone should mask, double mask, and do this indefinitely.
Ontario reports 780 new COVID-19 cases, 5 more deaths
Ontario reported nearly 800 new COVID-19 cases and five more virus-related deaths on Wednesday as the seven-day rolling average hit a high not seen since early June.
Provincial health officials logged 780 new infections today, up from 687 yesterday and from 591 a week ago.
Omicron keeps world jittery as more information drips out
TOKYO (AP) — The omicron variant kept a jittery world off-kilter Wednesday as Japan further tightened travel restrictions, infections linked to the new version of the coronavirus popped up in more places and new evidence made clear the mutant strain was circulating weeks earlier than thought.
Much is still unknown about the new variant, including how contagious it is and whether it can evade vaccines, and the European Union chief acknowledged that waiting for scientists to tell the world more felt like “an eternity.” Meanwhile, many nations in Europe are still dealing with a surge in infections and hospitalizations from their old foe, the delta variant.
The report, titled “A Struggling System,” was conducted by Deloitte for the Canadian Medical Association (CMA).
It reveals that over 4,000 preventable deaths took place between August and December 2020.
What is the difference between science and religion?
Religion is based on faith. Its precepts are not negotiable or open for debate. They come from God.
Science is the rational exploration of the natural world. It is based on questioning and experimentation. There is no unquestioned, universal truth. Everything is open to debate.
By this measure, Anthony Fauci is no longer even arguably a scientist. He is now the high priest of some kind of new-age religion that insists that lockdowns and mass vaccination are the only possible responses to the COVID pandemic.
Covid has been a revelation and an accelerant
Perhaps it’s my age, or perhaps it’s just blind prejudice, but when I wake to the news that the Austrian government has interned an entire third of its national population as a danger to public health, a chill runs down my spine.
I look at the news photos of armed, masked, black-clad police stopping people in the streets to ask for their digital papers, and I read stories of others arrested for leaving their own house more than the permitted once a day, and I hear Austrian politicians intoning that those who refuse to accede to the injection are to be shunned and scapegoated until they acquiesce.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says there “may be more” Canada needs to do as it reckons with the newly discovered threat of the Omicron variant.
Five cases of the Omicron COVID-19 variant have been confirmed in Canada to date.
“Obviously, we’re watching very, very closely the situation with Omicron. We know that, even though Canada has very strong border measures now — we need vaccinations to come to Canada, we need pre-departure tests, we do testing on arrival,” Trudeau told reporters as he walked into a Tuesday cabinet meeting.
Ontario’s COVID-19 death toll hits 10K with 3 more virus-related deaths confirmed today
Ontario is reporting close to 700 new COVID-19 cases and three more virus-related deaths, pushing the province’s virus-related death toll to 10,000 today.
Provincial health officials logged 687 new infections on Tuesday, down from 788 on Monday but up from 613 one week ago.
Unvaccinated travellers over the age of 12 barred from planes and trains as of today
Unvaccinated travellers over the age of 12 won’t be able to board a plane or train in Canada beginning today, and a negative COVID-19 test will no longer serve as a substitute for most people.
The policy came into effect on Oct. 30, but the federal government allowed a short transition period for unvaccinated travellers who could board as long as they provided a negative molecular COVID-19 test taken within 72 hours before their trip.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (Financial Times) — The chief executive of Moderna has predicted that existing vaccines will be much less effective at tackling omicron than earlier strains of Covid-19 and warned it would take months before pharmaceutical companies can manufacture new variant-specific jabs at scale.
Stephane Bancel said the high number of omicron mutations on the spike protein, which the virus uses to infect human cells, and the rapid spread of the variant in South Africa, suggested the current crop of vaccines may need to be modified next year.
“There is no world, I think, where [the effectiveness] is the same level … we had with delta,” Bancel told the Financial Times in an interview at the company’s headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
