The coronavirus newsletter was mistakenly not sent yesterday. We apologize for the inconvenience.
Good evening. The coronavirus newsletter publishes Monday and Fridays
Top headlines:
- Routine vaccination rates for children, teens in Canada dropped dramatically since start of COVID-19 pandemic
- How much death, illness and disruption from COVID-19 infections are we willing to live with?
- A Chinese think tank criticized Beijing’s COVID policies for hurting the economy – and got censored
An increasing number of health agencies have changed how they're reporting data on the coronavirus. A look at the current numbers in Canada for reported cases, deaths from COVID-19 and for hospitalizations can be found here.
COVID-19 updates from Canada and the world
- Pandemic-related disruptions, including school closings and reduced access to physicians’ offices, resulted in a substantial drop in vaccine uptake among children and adolescents. In Toronto, only 55 per cent of students are up to date on the routine vaccines that protect against polio, measles and other illnesses. Physicians and public-health experts are concerned that a widespread return to in-person learning and the rise of misinformation could set the stage for outbreaks in schools.
- Millions of people in China are in lockdown following new outbreaks of COVID-19, as the government persists in its hard-line policy on containing the virus.
- New analysis from Statistics Canada found that Black people had the highest mortality rate from COVID-19, more than two times higher than non-racialized people.
- A protest against Western University’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate drew hundreds of people to the campus on Saturday for what an event organizer called the beginning of the push to overturn the controversial policy.
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Pandemic recovery
- In most situations in Canada, masks, proof of vaccination and, in some jurisdictions, self-isolation after a positive test are no longer mandatory. But without further efforts to reduce the spread of the virus, Canadians and policy-makers have tacitly accepted that COVID-19 related deaths are simply a part of life now.
- China’s strict COVID-19 policies are damaging the country’s economy at a time of growing instability, a prominent Chinese think tank warned this week in a swiftly censored report. Meanwhile, China’s three biggest airlines posted a combined 28.4 billion yuan ($4.12-billion) second-quarter loss, due to major travel disruptions including a lockdown in Shanghai.
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Globe opinion
André Picard: The pandemic isn’t over, and ending Ontario’s COVID-19 Science Advisory Table won’t help matters
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More reading
- Unvaccinated NBA players, team personnel must undergo weekly COVID-19 testing this season
Information centre
- Everything you need to know about Canada’s travel rules for vaccinated and unvaccinated people
- When will COVID-19 be endemic? The four factors that will shape the virus’s future
- Wastewater is filling the COVID-19 data gap
Thank you for subscribing to our Coronavirus Update Newsletter. As the pandemic eases, we plan to wind this down and eventually cease sending, but have many other newsletters to keep you informed, including Globe Climate, Carrick on Money and Breaking News.
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Samantha Edwards