Coronavirus Update: Ontario draws criticism for delay in announcing COVID-19 vaccine passport plan

Good evening, we’re updating the coronavirus newsletter to better reflect the pandemic as it changes. What would you like to see included? Send your thoughts to audience@globeandmail.com

Top headlines:

1. Ontario’s delay in announcing its planned vaccine passport system draws criticism – as province heads into a fourth wave
2. Most major accounting firms in Canada will require vaccination for workers to return to the office
3. The Canadian economy shrank by 1.1 per cent in the second quarter – casting a shadow over the country’s COVID-19 recovery process

In Canada, 23,017 cases have been reported, up 25 per cent from the previous seven days. There were 82 deaths announced, down 37 per cent over the same period. At least 1,237 people are being treated in hospitals and 1,440,973 others are considered recovered.

Canada’s inoculation rate is 12th among countries with a population of one million or more people.

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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

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Coronavirus in Canada

• Alberta Health Services is requiring its employees – including all physicians and front line workers – to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by the end of October. Meanwhile, a national survey, led by researchers at Toronto’s St. Michael’s Hospital, suggests vaccine hesitancy is highest in Alberta at 16 per cent.
• Ontario will extend its three-day pandemic sick leave program for workers until the end of this year. Meanwhile, the province’s delay to announce details of its planned proof-of-vaccination system drew criticism. Toronto will expand its mobile COVID-19 vaccination effort to areas with low rates of immunization. Two Ontario hospitals will open COVID-19 clinics for children amid a surge in cases. Plus, the province’s school boards plan to pay early attention to individual needs when students return to classrooms to help address “learning loss.” Lastly, Ontario also announced 525 new cases of COVID-19 today.
• Quebec reported 425 new COVID-19 cases and one more death. Meanwhile, parents and teachers expressed hope for a more normal school year as thousands of children in Montreal’s English-language school system went back to class today.
• British Columbia’s top doctor is encouraging everyone connected with children under 12 to get vaccinated as the school year begins. The latest modelling suggests COVID-19 cases are expected to rise by the end of September. The province is also prepared to give out COVID-19 booster shots should they be required and recommended by public health, said Health Minister Adrian Dix. Meanwhile, the union representing RCMP officers in B.C. says its members risk being overwhelmed by calls to enforce new provincial orders that require business owners to see proof of vaccination before serving customers.

Coronavirus around the world

• The U.S. warning that tells Americans to “reconsider travel” to Canada is mainly for the benefit of those not yet vaccinated against COVID-19, says the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Monday’s new Level 3 travel advisory marked a quick end to a three-week period when the State Department’s warning to would-be travellers to Canada was at Level 2, or “exercise increased caution.”
• China’s economy is under increasing pressure as factory activity slows down because of domestic COVID-19 outbreaks, high raw-material prices, slowing exports, tighter measures to tame hot property prices and a campaign to reduce carbon emissions.

Coronavirus and business

Canada’s economy contracted a surprise annualized rate of 1.1 per cent in the second quarter, Statistics Canada reported today.

• It was the first quarterly decline in output since the second quarter of 2020, when COVID-19 began to ravage the economy, and precedes a test from the Delta variant.
• “It was quite a bit weaker than expected,” Stephen Brown, senior Canada economist at Capital Economics, said of today’s report. “The key message here is that perhaps the recovery isn’t as strong as economists have thought.”

Also today: At least three of the Big Four accounting firms in Canada are requiring employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to return to the office.

And: Delta Air reiterated its policy that full vaccination is a condition of employment for new hires – including current employees who have been accepted into the training program for flight attendants – as it steps up hiring to deal with anticipated increase in travel demand.

Globe opinion

• Gary Mason: The hatred on display during the federal election campaign is a frightening sign of our COVID-19 times

More reporting

• During the COVID-19 pandemic, Black elementary students improved in reading at faster rates than several of their peer groups, new data from the Toronto District School Board show.
• Football: The Edmonton Elks release offensive lineman Jacob Ruby for breaching the team’s COVID-19 protocols, as the Elks – along with the Saskatchewan Roughriders – announce they will require proof of COVID-19 vaccination or negative test to attend home games.
• Theatre and performance: Crow’s Theatre will be the first not-for-profit theatre in Toronto to reopen doors this fall.
• No stranger to plagues, Venice opens this year’s film fest with caution.
• Fear of the indoors: After months of lockdowns, people are returning to indoor, in-person activities, but will it last?
• Google extended its voluntary return-to-office policy through January as COVID-19 concerns linger.
• Curling Canada will require COVID-19 vaccinations in order to attend or play in events.

Information centre

• Everything you need to know about Canada’s travel restrictions for vaccinated and unvaccinated people
• Waiting for a second dose? We answer your COVID-19 vaccine questions
• What is and isn’t ‘paid sick leave’ in Canada? A short primer
• Got a vaccine ‘hangover’? Here’s why

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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