Coronavirus Update: Taxi demand at U.S. border surges as some Canadians avoid hotel quarantine

Good evening, here are the coronavirus updates you need to know tonight.

Top headlines:

1. U.S. taxis are seeing a boom in business from Canadians looking to avoid the hotel quarantine that’s mandatory for air passengers
2. Canadian tennis star Bianca Andreescu announced on social media she has tested positive for COVID-19, and won’t be playing in the upcoming Madrid Open
3. Inside Canada’s hardest-hit ICUs: Patients are being treated in every available space, hospital staff are bone-weary and burned out, but still more and more people critically ill with COVID-19 keep coming

In the last 7 days, 55,533 cases were reported, down 9 per cent from the previous 7 days. There were 342 deaths announced, up 11 per cent over the same period. At least 4,134 people are being treated in hospitals and 1,068,798 others are considered recovered.

Canada’s inoculation rate is 13th among 84 countries with a population of one million or more people.

Sources: Canada data is compiled from government websites, Johns Hopkins and COVID-19 Canada Open Data Working Group; international data is from Johns Hopkins University.

Coronavirus explainers: Coronavirus in maps and charts • Tracking vaccine doses • Lockdown rules and reopening • Vaccine distribution plan • Four vaccines approved in Canada • Essential resources

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Coronavirus in Canada

• Nova Scotia health authorities are ramping up testing efforts as the province reported a record-breaking 63 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday. And, amid a mandatory, four-week closing of some businesses, business owners in Halifax say they need prompt and varied support from the provincial government to get them through what they hope is the city’s final lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Ontario is reporting 3,947 new COVID-19 cases and 24 more deaths today. And, the province’s Ministry of Long Term Care is making an effort to ease strain on the hospital system stretched to the limit by mounting COVID-19 cases.

People are shopping by any method available, but is it ethical?

The latest retail reports show during some periods of the pandemic, retail spending was higher than prepandemic levels. But as the country clamps back into varying levels of lockdown in the face of a swelling third wave and highly transmissible variants, that spending can be increasingly fraught.

• Our materialistic urges give rise to ethical questions: Do I go to a store and put myself at risk, and expose others to me? Or, stay at home and order online, while other workers and delivery people are out on my behalf? Is it okay to go to the mall, if it’s open? Is it wrong to order from companies that have poor protections for workers? Does it matter if what I’m buying is essential?

$10/day childcare: The federal budget outlined a plan to spend $30-billion over the next five years to introduce a national low-cost childcare plan, with the goal of getting fees down to $10 a day per child by 2026. Experts are calling this a game-changer.

Inside the ICUs: Canada’s third wave is hitting many hospitals hard. Here’s what front-line health care workers have to say.

Targeting hot spots: With vaccine supplies increasing but still inadequate to cover all adults, the idea is to rush outbreak-dousing vaccines to neighbourhoods burning with COVID-19, rather than sprinkling the jabs evenly among places that are on fire and those that aren’t.

Coronavirus around the world

• For the fourth consecutive day, India set a global daily record of new coronavirus infections, spurred by an insidious new variant. The surge has undermined the government’s premature claims of victory over the pandemic.
• Two of Japan’s largest metropolitan areas, Tokyo and Osaka, have been placed under emergency orders, just three months before the Olympics are set to open.

Coronavirus and business

The business of running a dental clinic has changed during the pandemic. For many offices, revenue has returned to near-normal levels. But the increased costs of protective gear and longer working hours are resulting in slimmer profit margins for some.

• A box of disposable masks that cost $6.99 before the pandemic now cost one clinic owner $21.09. Disposable gowns, once $12.29 for a pack of 10, were now $41.09. And a box of 200 gloves that were $17.37 in 2019 were $85.99 in 2021.

Also today: A growing number of Canadian employers are offering paid time off to get the shot.

And: If employees are asking about returning to the office, here’s how to respond.

Globe opinion

• Vincent Lam: On the front line of the vaccination drive, it’s like standing at the finish line of an ultra-endurance race, an extreme event in which the runners have been at it for over a year. You’re vaccinated! And by the way, you have to keep on running! But hopefully with less fear.
• John Doyle: Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s media strategy went awry precisely when he began to ignore medical experts – that’s an example of media-savvy strength vaporizing – and made explicitly political and ideological decisions.
• Alyssa Ages: “With our city in yet another lockdown, I find myself pining for those weird and wonderful interactions with strangers.”

More reporting

• Oscars guide 2021: The full list of nominees, how to stream the top films and what Globe critics thought of them
• Canadian Olympic bobsleigh champion Alex Kopacz is in hospital battling COVID-19
• International Ice Hockey Federation head defends lack of Plan B for cancelled women’s world hockey championship

Information centre

• How well do vaccines work? Here’s what you need to know.
• Rob Carrick’s 10-point checklist of things you should have done by now to protect or improve your money situation. Tips for minimizing damage to your credit score; how to manage retirement anxiety during difficult times; and things to think about if you’re considering home delivery.
• Here are the expectations for self-isolation; tips for managing anxiety and protecting your mental health; and what to do if you think you have the virus. Wash your hands. How to break a bad habit (like touching your face). Is flying safe?
• The best foods to eat to maintain an immune system-friendly diet; and how to keep a healthy diet while working from home; four eating tips when working from home; and five mistakes that might cause you to gain unwanted weight. Here are the essentials to stock up on and how to shop safely for groceries; the best pantry staples and how to stop stress-eating.
• Find answers to your coronavirus and employment questions.

Sources: Canada data are compiled from government websites, Johns Hopkins University and COVID-19 Canada Open Data Working Group; international data are from Johns Hopkins.

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