“China eats weird animals disease”

Ontario is reporting 1,258 cases of #COVID19 and over 64,000 tests completed. Locally, there are 362 new cases in Toronto, 274 in Peel and 104 in York Region.

As of 6:00 p.m. yesterday, 643,765 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered.

— Christine Elliott (@celliottability) February 26, 2021

Vaccine passports gain traction, but experts warn of ‘huge moral crisis in equity’

Violet light bathed the club stage as 300 people, masked and socially distanced, erupted in gentle applause. For the first time since the pandemic began, Israeli musician Aviv Geffen stepped to his electric piano and began to play for an audience seated right in front of him.

“A miracle is happening here tonight,” Geffen told the crowd.

Whoop dee doo… Canada approves AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine

Great… Toronto cancels events through Canada Day as de Villa reveals that pandemic is again growing in city

We Are Not Safer At Home

At the start of the pandemic last year, Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti chose “safer at home” as the motto for his lockdown policies. If the past year has shown us anything, it’s how misguided that notion is. Lockdowns have created not just economic devastation for America’s small businesses, restaurants, museums, and zoos. They have also taken a significant toll on the mental and physical health of everyone from small children to the elderly (while doing little to contain the virus itself). To get a sense of this, compare two states that took opposite approaches: New York and Florida.

Ontario is reporting 1,138 cases of #COVID19 and nearly 66,400 tests completed. Locally, there are 339 new cases in Toronto, 204 in Peel and 106 in York Region.

As of 8:00 p.m. yesterday, 621,960 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered.

— Christine Elliott (@celliottability) February 25, 2021

Federal Conservatives call for suspension of mandatory hotel quarantine after media report sexual assaults

Three federal Conservative shadow ministers called Wednesday night for the governing Liberals to suspend mandatory hotel quarantine for arriving international travellers after news media reported an alleged sexual assault at such a hotel.

“We are deeply angered to hear reports of sexual violence are happening during federally mandated quarantines by those supposed to be protecting public health … We call for the Liberals to suspend the hotel quarantine requirement until they have put measures in place to ensure the safety of Canadians,” read part of a statement from Michelle Rempel Garner, Shannon Stubbs and Jag Sahota.

International travelers arriving at Mississauga’s Pearson Airport are bypassing new government hotel quarantine protocols by simply walking out of the airport or by choosing to take a fine.

Peel Police have confirmed they are not detaining or arresting people who leave the arrival area. As well, others who refuse to take the mandatory COVID-19 test or book the quarantine hotel upon arrival, are opting to receive a fine that is cheaper than the quarantine cost and then are released to go home. The fines are usually in the $820 range while staying at an approved quarantine hotel could cost up to $2,000.

h/t Mauser

People in the United Kingdom live under one of the strictest lockdowns in the world, an Oxford observatory has found, but this appears to have had a questionable impact on health outcomes for the country, which has one of the highest known coronavirus fatality rates worldwide.

Ontario is reporting 1,054 cases of #COVID19 and nearly 54,900 tests completed. Locally, there are 363 new cases in Toronto, 186 in Peel and 94 in York Region.

As of 8:00 p.m. yesterday, 602,848 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered.

— Christine Elliott (@celliottability) February 24, 2021

Tale of two vaccine roll-outs: COVID-19 numbers plummet in Toronto’s long-term-care homes, while Ontario’s remain ‘stubbornly high’

After being at the centre of COVID-19 deaths and mass outbreaks, the city’s long-term-care homes have new, hopeful data that could be a sign of encouraging things to come.

This week, Toronto Public Health reported a “substantial decline” in the rate seniors have tested positive in long-term-care homes, from 10.9 per cent in November to just 0.6 per cent as of the week of Feb. 7 — well below the overall city rate of 4.8 per cent.

It was the “first sign” Mayor John Tory said this week that the city’s vaccination efforts were working.

Mom has been in hospital almost 3 months. She’s 96, currently in a rehab where she caught Covid after dodging a bullet during previous outbreaks at two separate hospitals. No one thought vaccinating hospitalized seniors was a good idea?

Mom is in isolation, alone, I have not yet spoken to her since hearing of the Covid diagnosis yesterday.