Coronavirus Update: Ontario schools to notify families when 30 per cent of staff and students absent

Good evening, here are the COVID-19 updates you need to know tonight.

Top headlines:

1. Ontario schools to notify families when 30 per cent of staff and students absent
2. Ottawa extends deadline to repay CEBA loans by one year
3. British PM Boris Johnson faces calls to resign after he apologizes for attending party during COVID-19 lockdown

In the past seven days, 262,712 cases were reported, down 9 per cent from the previous seven days. There were 558 deaths announced, up 106 per cent over the same period. At least 8,279 people are being treated in hospitals.

Canada’s inoculation rate is 15th 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

• In Ontario, families will be notified only when their school’s absence rate reaches 30 per cent under new guidelines that replace daily reporting of COVID-19 cases in classrooms. Previously, families were notified when someone tested positive for COVID-19 in their child’s classroom, which would trigger a 10-day isolation period. The province is also bracing for staff shortages in schools ahead of the return to in-class learning next week. Meanwhile, the Chief of Bearskin Lake First Nation says he’s disappointed with the federal government’s response to an outbreak that has infected half the members of his community. The province is reporting 3,448 people in hospital with COVID-19, including 505 people in intensive care.
• In Quebec, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association called the province’s plan to tax the unvaccinated deeply troubling. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau did not comment on the proposed tax for people who refuse to get vaccinated, saying he needs more information to gauge whether it will be effective. And a Quebec Superior Court judge has temporarily suspended a father’s right to see his child based on evidence that the man is not vaccinated against COVID-19. The province is reporting 52 more deaths linked to the pandemic and a rise of 135 COVID-related hospitalizations.
• British Columbia Provincial Health Officer Bonnie Henry said yesterday the explosion of COVID-19 cases continues and will likely go on “for the next few weeks.” Meanwhile, businesses that were ordered to close last month because of public-health orders can now apply for provincial relief grants of up to $10,000.
• Alberta Premier Jason Kenney says the province will not impose a financial penalty on those who refuse to get vaccinated against COVID-19, despite Quebec’s announcement yesterday. Meanwhile, the province continues to see record-high case counts, even as it scales back access to PCR testing to a cover just a small group – largely health care workers, and workers and residents at long-term care facilities.
• As Saskatchewan deals with record-high cases owing to Omicron, contact-tracing positive cases in students is now the responsibility of school principals and administrators.
• Manitoba’s deputy chief public health officer, Jazz Atwal, refused to directly answer when asked whether public-health officials have recommended tougher restrictions on public gatherings and business openings to contain the spread of the Omicron variant.
• In Nova Scotia, between 500 and 700 health workers have been off the job because of COVID-19 in recent days, creating staff shortages across the system, from long-term care to emergency health services. The province reported 837 new cases of COVID-19 Wednesday.

Experts are sounding the alarm over recent social media posts that have fed into the notion that swabbing the throat with a COVID-19 rapid antigen test kit might yield more accurate results. Experts caution that swabbing the throat instead of the nose could produce false results.

• Earl Brown, a microbiology and immunology professor at the University of Ottawa, said swabbing the throat could potentially change the test’s effectiveness if it dilutes the nasal sample, or if food or drink particles became mixed with saliva.

Hospitalizations: Health units across the country are grappling with high hospitalization rates, just as officials in Ontario and British Columbia said they believe the Omicron wave could peak within weeks.

Staff shortages at women’s shelters: Shelters are overwhelmed in part because of significant staff turnover and shortages owing to workers in COVID-19 isolation. Meanwhile, during the pandemic, several helplines for women experiencing domestic violence have reported striking jumps in calls, with many noting the urgency and severity of callers’ situations having intensified.

Vaccines for young children: Moderna said on Wednesday it expects to report data from its COVID-19 vaccine trial in children between the ages of 2 and 5 in March.

Vaccine requirement: The head of the Canadian Trucking Alliance says about 10 per cent of the 120,000 Canadian big riggers who cross the border may not be able to work those routes because they’re unvaccinated. This could strain already struggling supply chains, truckers are warning.

Community spaces: As COVID-19 created varied community needs, Canada’s libraries stepped up to the plate.

Coronavirus around the world

• Britain Prime Minister Boris Johnson is facing growing calls to resign over allegations that he and his staff repeatedly flouted COVID-19 restrictions by holding a series of parties at the Prime Minister’s Downing Street office. Mr. Johnson offered a lengthy apology Wednesday in a statement to the House of Commons.
• Tennis star Novak Djokovic acknowledged Wednesday that his Australian travel declaration form contained incorrect information, and he also confessed to an “error of judgment” in taking part in an interview and photo shoot in Serbia last month after testing positive for COVID-19.

Coronavirus and business

The federal government is giving small businesses an extra year to pay back their Canada Emergency Business Account loans, one of the most widely used business supports during the pandemic.

• Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Wednesday that businesses now have until Dec. 31, 2023, to repay the loans without accruing interest and to qualify for partial loan forgiveness. The previous repayment deadline was Dec. 31, 2022.
• The extension had been a top request of business groups because many small businesses in hard-hit industries were worried they would not be able to repay the loans in time.

Also today: Vancouver-based Acuitas Therapeutics Inc. has inked a deal with Pfizer Inc. to expand its efforts for treatments beyond the COVID-19 vaccine. Pfizer announced on Monday an option deal to use Acuitas’s lipid nanoparticle technology to develop up to 10 vaccines and therapies.

And: Will the Omicron variant add fuel to an already overheated real estate market? Realtors say yes.

Also see: The impact of the pandemic on your Canada Pension Plan is beneficial, especially for people who will start receiving their benefits in the next few years.

Globe opinion

• John Ibbitson: Refusing the COVID-19 vaccine comes with a price
• André Picard: Quebec’s tax on the unvaccinated is punitive and unhelpful
• Konrad Yakabuski: Macron and Legault play politics with the unvaccinated
• Cathal Kelly: In the midst of pandemic chaos, the Raptors are still exciting

More reporting

• Radiologists warn of growing backlog in medical imaging because of the COVID-19 pandemic
• Online trading platform Robinhood plans to permanently shift most employees to remote working
• Canada military struggling with shortage of medical personnel as provinces look for help
• Quebec Premier François Legault said yesterday that adults who refuse to be vaccinated will have to pay a ‘significant’ financial penalty
• French soccer club PSG calls off trip to Qatar and Saudi Arabia because of COVID-19 concerns
• Russia’s KHL to suspend its season for a week as multiple teams grapple with COVID-19 outbreaks
• Oil prices shrug off Omicron slump, hit two-month highs
• I caught Omicron. Does this mean I’m immune to a COVID-19 reinfection?

Information centre

• Everything you need to know about Canada’s travel restrictions for vaccinated and unvaccinated people
• Where do I book a COVID-19 booster or a vaccine appointment for my kids? Latest rules by province
• 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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