Category: COVID19

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business says the province needs to do more to help small businesses survive the latest stay at home order. It’s calling on the province to allow appointment-based sales and service limited to one customer at a time during the month-long lockdown. Under the new rules, only stores that sell goods such as groceries, cleaning supplies … Read more

Ontario is headed into another stay-at-home order.  This means everyone must stay home except for essential reasons. These include heading into work where there is no option to work remotely, heading into school, going to the grocery store or pharmacy, using health care services (including getting vaccinated), or heading outside to exercise.

Along with the stay-at-home order comes new restrictions … Read more

Ontario Now in a Third State of Emergency:

Ontario has declared its third state of emergency and a new province-wide, stay-at-home order, to combat rising cases of COVID-19. As of midnight, the majority of non-essential retailers will be limited to delivery and curbside pickup for at least four weeks. And for the first time, stores such as Walmart and … Read more

13 Ontario Public Health units have been deemed hot spots by the province which means they can expect to see an influx of COVID-19 vaccines. Durham, Halton, Hamilton, Niagara, Ottawa, Peel, Simcoe-Muskoka, Southwestern, Toronto, Waterloo Region, Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph, Windsor-Essex, and York Region can now move to phase 2 of vaccinating. Many more essential frontline workers are included in phase 2, including … Read more

Schools in Peel Region are closed for in-person learning starting today. Dr. Lawrence Loh, the region’s medical officer of health, has ordered schools in Brampton, Caledon and Mississauga to move classes online. The closure will remain in place until April 18 and Loh says it may be extended if necessary. The top doctor in the Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph public health unit has … Read more

Top doctors in three Ontario virus hot spots want the province to impose tougher restrictions. Chief medical officers of health for Toronto, Peel Region and Ottawa have written to their provincial counterpart recommending a stay-at-home order. They asked Dr. David Williams to move schools online in regions dealing with significant COVID-19 outbreaks. The Ontario Medical Association is also calling for … Read more

It’s a move that has a lot of people here in the Region shaking their heads.  Bingemans has been forced to temporarily close their Dino-Drive-In experience because of the Provincial shutdown. Despite visitors remaining in their own vehicles and having virtually no contact with staff, the drive-thru attraction is apparently not allowed to open. Refunds are available for anyone who … Read more

We all know face masks can be troublesome to wear. They can irritate your skin, hurt your ears and fog up your glasses.  That’s why the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has launched the $500,000 “Mask Innovation Challenge” to find new and effective masks people will find more comfortable to wear.  Contest participants have until April … Read more

Americans not yet eligible to be vaccinated against COVID-19, will be soon.  All 50 states plan to open vaccine eligibility to everyone 16 and older by April 19. Several states have already done that, including Alaska, Mississippi and Georgia. According to President Joe Biden, 90% of all adult Americans will be within 5 miles of a vaccination clinic. The American … Read more

Elliott is due to share the number of new diagnoses and vaccinations this morning. The province also opted not to share statistics on Good Friday, but on Saturday reported there had been more than 3,000 cases of COVID-19 for two days running. Students will also be back in their classrooms tomorrow after the province put an end on Thursday to … Read more

Multiple reports say today Premier Ford will announce a province-wide lockdown, lasting a month. Internal government sources told Global News that all regions of Ontario will move into the Grey Zone starting at 12:01am on Saturday. It will mean that restaurants are shutting down for in-person service and will only be able to offer takeout and delivery. Essential retail stores … Read more

Education Minister Stephen Lecce says spring break in the province’s schools will go ahead as scheduled for the week of April 12th. Lecce says the government continues to follow advice from the province’s top doctor and the break originally set for March will not be postponed again. He adds safety protocols will be stepped up when students and staff return … Read more

Premier Ford says his government is considering additional restrictions to address a surge in new cases of COVID-19. Ford told reporters yesterday that everything is on the table and he won’t hesitate to lock things up if needed to address rising cases fuelled by the spread of more infectious variants. He says he will consult the province’s top doctor before … Read more

Multiple provinces are suspending their use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in younger patients. The National Advisory Committee on Immunizations is recommending against administering the shot in anyone under the age of 55. However, the vaccine regulators are not pulling AstraZeneca’s approval in Canada, although the committee says regulatory changes could still be made. Health Canada is demanding the drugmaker … Read more

Dr. Anthony Fauci has appeared to claim credit for the decision to quickly develop vaccines against COVID-19, in remarks that are sure to anger Donald Trump.  Fauci made the comment in an interview with CNN for a special last night, diving into the details of America’s pandemic response.  “When I saw what happened in New York City, almost over-running … Read more

A hospital group says Ontario’s intensive-care capacity is reaching a critical level. The Ontario Hospital Association says the number of severely ill patients is approaching a previous peak. The record for ICU patients being treated in Ontario hospitals for COVID-19 is 420 people. This comes as provincial health officials say more contagious variants of the virus now make up half … Read more

More Canadians may soon be getting their COVID-19 vaccinations as health officials across the country prepare for the single-largest week of vaccine shipments since the start of the pandemic. Moderna is playing catch-up, sending 600,000 shots this Thursday — part of a shipment of 846,000 that was due last week. The other two approved vaccines, Pfizer/BioNTech and Oxford-AstraZeneca, are expected … Read more

Hair salons and outdoor fitness classes are being allowed to reopen in Ontario regions under lockdown. The province will allow gyms to offer outdoor fitness classes, training and personal training in regions under Grey zone restrictions as of today. Personal care services like hair and nail salons can open with capacity limits starting April 12th. Personal care services and gyms … Read more

Bill Gates said the world won’t return to normal, with no traces of the COVID-19 pandemic, until the end of 2022.   The billionaire philanthropist made the prediction yesterday during an interview with Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza and television broadcaster TVN24.   “This is an incredible tragedy.  We can measure the economic cost but we probably can’t even measure the loss … Read more

The head of Ontario’s scientific advisory task force is calling for tighter COVID-19 restrictions to curb the spread of more contagious variants. Dr. Peter Juni says the provincial government needs to impose measures similar to the shutdown seen when the pandemic hit last year. Juni says even the strictest level of the province’s current pandemic framework isn’t enough to reduce … Read more

The federal New Democrats say they won’t force Canadians to the polls as long as people are getting vaccinated for COVID-19. Leader Jagmeet Singh says that means he won’t cause an election by voting against the minority Liberal government’s budget next month. He says the NDP wants to make the system work. At the same time, Singh says the Trudeau … Read more

Yesterday the province unveiled a $186-billion dollar budget that was loaded with new spending. Some of the highlights include another $6.7 billion for pandemic-related measures. That includes $1 billion to vaccinate everyone and $2.3 billion for testing and contact tracing. There will also be another round of business grants to assist with pandemic expenses and job training. There will be … Read more

Pfizer has launched early-stage human trials of an experimental oral drug that could be prescribed to patients at the first sign of infection with COVID-19.  The drug maker, which developed the first authorized COVID-19 vaccine in the U.S. with Germany’s BioNTech SE, said the antiviral candidate showed potent activity against the virus in lab studies.  Pfizer’s candidate, which is called … Read more

Krispy Kreme is giving free doughnuts to anyone with proof of COVID vaccination, all year long.   Starting yesterday, any customer with a valid COVID-19 vaccination card will receive a free Original Glazed doughnut at participating locations nationwide. The iconic doughnut shop specifies that any guests who have received at least one of the two shots of the Moderna or … Read more

The provincial government says it’s providing more than $1.2-billion dollars in additional funding to support public hospitals during the pandemic. Premier Ford says the funding will help hospitals recover from financial pressures created and worsened by the costs of caring for COVID-19 patients. Nearly $700-million dollars will be allocated to help cover historic working fund deficits for qualifying public hospitals. … Read more

The world is waiting for the coronavirus pandemic to just be over already.   Unfortunately, a new report by researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center says that mass vaccinations alone won’t control or end the pandemic.  Instead, they say protecting against the spread of both symptomatic and asymptomatic COVID-19 infections is the true key to ending the pandemic. Asymptomatic cases in … Read more

More Regions Changing Colour:

A number of regions move to different restriction levels today in Ontario’s colour-coded pandemic response framework. The Brant, Chatham-Kent and Leeds, Grenville and Lanark regions are now in the red zone — the second-most restrictive, while Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph is now in orange. Four others — Timiskaming, Porcupine, North Bay Parry Sound and Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & … Read more

White House press secretary Jen Psaki says the Biden administration is finalizing efforts to send 1.5-million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to Canada. She says the shots will be considered a loan and that details are still being worked out. Washington hasn’t yet approved the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine and has been criticized for stockpiling tens of millions … Read more

Canada’s top public health doctor says a national decline in severe COVID-19 outcomes, such as hospitalizations and deaths, is levelling off. Dr. Theresa Tam says infection rates are highest among those between the ages of 20 and 39, who may then spread it to more vulnerable populations. Meanwhile, the federal government says more than three million, 330,000 doses of COVID-19 … Read more

Ontario’s science advisers say the province is now experiencing a third wave of COVID-19. The Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table says that more transmissible virus variants of concern account for almost half of new cases and are driving growth. The group provides independent advice and analysis to the province. It says almost two thirds of Ontario’s public health units are … Read more

Premier Ford says the head of Ontario’s vaccine task force will be leaving the job when his contract expires on March 31st. Ford says retired general Rick Hillier indicated he would be taking on the role only as a short-term appointment to help set up Ontario’s vaccine distribution network. He says he tried but failed to persuade Hillier to continue … Read more

Premier Ford says the province’s COVID-19 vaccine booking system is ready to launch. It will start taking appointments from residents 80 or older starting today at 8am. Ford says it’s crucial that only eligible residents make use of the system. Retired General Rick Hillier, who heads Ontario’s vaccine distribution task force, says tests of the online vaccine portal have gone … Read more

President Joe Biden has already signed into law a $1.9 trillion-dollar relief package that he says will help the US defeat COVID-19 and nurse the economy back to health. Biden had been set to sign the American Rescue Plan today. But the White House moved the signing up, hours before the president was to deliver his first prime-time address to … Read more

The Ontario Pharmacists Association says some pharmacies are already providing the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to those aged 60 to 65. The association says a pilot project in Toronto, Kingston and Windsor-Essex has had a rolling start’ before launching broadly today. CEO Justin Bates says pharmacies are on track to administer all 165,000 doses of the vaccine that they’ve been sent … Read more

Ontario is expanding the way it delivers COVID-19 vaccinations to include family doctors as well as pharmacists as soon as this weekend. Premier Ford says doctors will get 29,500 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine that Ontario received this week — with pharmacies getting 165,000. Ontarians between the ages of 60 and 64 will be able to get a COVID-19 vaccine … Read more

Scientists have created an algorithm that can accurately diagnose people with Covid-19 just by the sound of their cough.   Their algorithm would underpin an app that could deliver a quicker, cheaper and less invasive way of preliminary testing for the virus, according to the experts.   DeepCough, created by experts from the University of Essex, was built using 8,380 clinically-validated audio … Read more

An Uber driver was coughed on, pepper sprayed and assaulted by passengers who ripped off his mask after he asked them to wear a face covering.   Subhakar Khadka, 32, says he was racially abused by the three women after picking them up in the Bayview area of San Francisco on Sunday.   Footage filmed on Khadka’s car camera shows a woman … Read more

Prime Minister Trudeau says the government doesn’t have a date for when it will start receiving doses of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine. He says in several conversations with the company, Canada has been warned of manufacturing problems. Health Canada approved the drug last week and the government pre-ordered 10-million doses of the single-shot vaccine. Trudeau says almost one-million … Read more

The House of Commons ethics committee has unanimously voted to summon WE Charity co-founders Craig and Marc Kielburger to testify in light of new allegations. The brothers are being summoned to appear by Friday to answer questions about the now-cancelled deal to manage a student services grant. New Democrat MP Charlie Angus has asked the RCMP and the Canada Revenue … Read more