Pregnant women will soon be able to receive a COVID-19 vaccine as the province plans to move pregnancy from the at-risk category of health conditions to the highest risk category for vaccine eligibility, a source has confirmed to 680 NEWS.
The change will be effective April 23. The majority of health units are offering vaccinations to those in the highest risk and high risk categories.
A Twitter post from Chatham-Kent’s Public Health Unit also said the province had moved pregnancy to the highest risk category for health conditions identified in Phase 2 and encouraged pregnant woman to book their appointment.
Pregnancy was originally announced as part of the third tier of health condition or the “at-risk” category with vaccine eligibility estimated to be in mid-May.
One of the largest reports on COVID-19 vaccination in pregnancy was published Wednesday by researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and bolstered evidence that it is safe, although the authors did say more comprehensive research is needed.
The preliminary results are based on reports from over 35,000 U.S. women who received either the Moderna or Pfizer shots while pregnant.
Their rates of miscarriage, premature births and other complications were comparable to those observed in published reports on pregnant women before the pandemic.
The federal government is suspending incoming passenger flights from India and Pakistan for the next month as cases of COVID-19 surge in both countries.
“Effective 11:30 p.m. Eastern time tonight, I am suspending all commercial and private passenger flights arriving in Canada from India and Pakistan for 30 days,” Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said Thursday.
“Cargo flights will be allowed to ensure the continued supply of vaccines, PPE and other essential goods. This is a temporary measure while we assess the evolving situation and determine appropriate measures going forward.”
To discourage people from getting around the flight ban by booking flights through other countries, Canada will require passengers transiting through a third nation to go through customs in that country and remain there until they obtain another negative COVID-19 test. Only then can they board their flight to Canada. They will be required to quarantine in Canada as well.
“Those are the measures that are actually effective in not just eliminating direct flights and the risk that might represent from hot-spot countries but also by taking the steps that are necessary to ensure that we don’t allow people using connecting flights,” said Public Safety Minister Bill Blair.
The rules apply to Canadian citizens and foreign nationals.
All passengers arriving in Canada by land or air from any country have to show a negative COVID-19 test and quarantine for two weeks, with some exceptions for essential workers. Air passengers must quarantine for the first three days at an approved hotel awaiting a COVID-19 test result, and must test again 10 days after arriving.
About 300 people have been fined $3,000 each for refusing to quarantine in an approved hotel upon arrival.
Health Canada has said about one per cent of all hotel quarantine passengers test positive for COVID-19.
Health Minister Patty Hajdu said half of the people who are testing positive for COVID-19 after arriving in Canada on an airplane came from India, even though Indian flights accounted for only one-fifth of air traffic.
She said passengers coming from Pakistan are also testing positive at higher rates than average.
British Columbia’s provincial health officer said it’s a difficult time for not just people in India but those living here who have family and friends in that part of the world.
“We hope that they will be able to get control of this wave in that country,” Dr. Bonnie Henry said.
B.C. health officials are “very supportive” of the federal government temporarily stopping flights coming into Canada from India and Pakistan, she said.
“We’ve seen this when we had increased rates in the U.K., where we needed to take a break and ensure that we had an understanding of what was going on.”
Canada is struggling with a third wave, so anything that can be done to stop further introductions is welcome, especially since officials have noticed “challenges” with the quarantine program for international travel, Henry said.
Health Canada data show 112 flights landing in Canada since April 7 have carried at least one passenger who later tested positive for COVID-19, including 32 from Delhi and two from Lahore, Pakistan.
There were also 10 such flights from France, 20 from multiple cities in the United States, and 10 from the United Arab Emirates.
India is seeing the biggest surge of COVID-19 to date, with more than 314,000 new cases reported Thursday, its highest one-day total ever.
Ruby Dhami, a travel agent in Surrey, B.C., said families of those who had travelled to India and planned to return in the coming days have been calling to ask how their loved ones could get home.
“We don’t have any answers on that,” she said, adding about 80 per cent of people who went to India live in Canada as permanent residents on a work or student permit.
“With a lot of COVID cases coming up a lot of their family or friends have passed away so most likely people have gone for that.”
Travellers who feared a temporary ban on flights from India as COVID-19 cases surged there had booked up return flights for April and May, Dhami said.
“If someone has to come from India for an emergency, only business class is open. All economy classes, everything’s been sold out.”
Pakistan’s government warned this week that major cities might be closed if COVID-19 cases there keep growing.
Canada joins several other governments in clamping down on travel from India. Pakistan has barred entry from India for two weeks, Hong Kong banned incoming flights from India for two weeks and New Zealand went as far as to stop entry to anyone who had been in India, including New Zealand nationals.
New Zealand did so April 11 after 17 people arriving from India tested positive for COVID-19.
On Friday, the United Kingdom is expected to add India to its “red list” of countries from which travellers are not welcome. British citizens are allowed to return home but must quarantine in a hotel for 10 days.
Alghabra said there are no flights currently arriving from Brazil but Canada won’t hesitate to ban further commercial flights if the data support it.
With files from Camille Bains and Hina Alam in Vancouver.
Toronto police are launching what it calls “dedicated enforcement teams” in each division to focus on large gatherings that choose to ignore the current COVID-19 related restrictions.
The units will respond to reports of large gatherings across the city that flout the stay-at-home order and Ontario’s gathering limits.
The maximum size allowed under provincial guidelines is five people that reside in the same household.
Staff superintendent Randy Carter is overseeing the enforcement action and says the divisional teams will focus on large gatherings including parties at short-term rentals or at bars and restaurants.
“Everyone must do their part to protect our health and safety, and for police that means continuing to enforce equitably and effectively,” he said.
Police chief James Ramer says officers will not be conducting random stops of people or cars.
Additionally, people are not compelled to explain why they are out of their residence, nor is being outside evidence of a failure to comply with the emergency order.
“We are at a critical stage of this pandemic. COVID-19 is now a matter of public health and public safety,” said Ramer.
“The Toronto Police Service will enforce the provincial orders and will work with the city’s bylaw officers and Toronto Public Health to enforce the measures that will help slow the rapid spread of COVID-19 that is putting public safety at risk.”
Ontario reversed course on sweeping new police powers Saturday, just one day after Premier Doug Ford announced the measures that triggered a swift and furious backlash.
The stay-at-home order allows people to leave their residence for essentials such as grocery shopping, going to the pharmacy, getting vaccinated, or exercising outdoors. This includes going to work if you can’t work from home.
Ramer says workers are not required to have proof from their employer that they are traveling to, or from their workplace.
“The Service will have a dedicated enforcement team in each Division across the city to respond to reports of large gatherings which jeopardize the health and safety of our community,” added Ramer.
“I again urge all Torontonians to please comply with the Stay-at-Home order. Let’s work together to stop the rapid growth in cases and relieve the pressure on our health care system.”
A new program, with the same goal as always: to win the race against COVID-19 and the variants.
The City of Toronto is ramping up its efforts to get more residents living in hotspot communities vaccinated at a quicker pace, introducing a new mobile vaccination strategy with an aim to triple the amount of vaccine in those neighbourhoods.
At today’s COVID-19 briefing, Toronto mayor John Tory and medical officer of health Dr. Eileen de Villa elaborated on a “sprint strategy” with Toronto health sector partners, confirming that Toronto expects to start regularly receiving larger shipments of vaccine from the province.
Tory says the goal is to ensure that this increased vaccine supply will be offered to eligible residents, especially those living in 13 specific hotspots, as quickly as possible through mobile and pop-up community vaccination clinics.
“We’re united in one goal: get vaccines to our most vulnerable, as quickly as possible. By working together to ramp up vaccinations in the 13 highest priority areas through mobile and pop-up clinics, we are working to protect Torontonians at greatest risk of COVID-19, including frontline and essential workers,” said the mayor.
“Right now, it’s all hands on deck to get vaccines out to our hardest-hit communities, and into Torontonians’ arms.”
Toronto Public Health identified these 13 priority areas classified by postal code to direct increased vaccine to through mobile and pop-up clinics:
- Northwest: M9W, M9V, M9L, M9M, M9N, M6M, M3K, M3J, M3N, M3M
- Central: M4H
- East: M1J, M1G
This will be conducted through a combination of mobile, and pop-up clinics, and the shots will be available for anyone at least 18 years old.
When those 13 areas are done, the city will move on to the next group of hotspot regions.
This past weekend TPH allocated 3,700 doses for these mobile and pop-up clinics. For following sprint strategy clinics, the plan is to allocate 12,000 doses a week.
The nine city-operated COVID-19 immunization clinics will continue to operate from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days per week.
“The teams from our Toronto Hospitals, primary care providers, and teams across the health system continue to inspire me as we work together on the mobile sprint strategy,” said de Villa.
“These clinics, held in communities through the leadership and wisdom of community leaders are inspiring and give me hope that Toronto can dampen the effect of this virus to the point that we can think about a future where we live with this virus and regain much of what we’ve lost to the pandemic.”
A new block of approximately 231,000 appointments in city-operated immunization clinics between May 10th and June 6th will soon be made available through the province’s online booking portal.
TPH also announced that clinic resources will be enhanced at multiple immunization centres, including Scarborough Town Centre (25 percent increase), the Malvern Community Recreation Centre (25 percent increase), and The Hangar Sport and Event Centre (25 percent increase).
De Villa repeats her warning that we can not vaccinate our way out of the third wave of the virus, saying it will take a combination of vaccinations and public health protective measures to flatten the curve.
“The more vaccine that comes, the harder the teams will work to bring this about.”
The Toronto Catholic District School Board elementary teachers have voted in favour of strike action as they are set to return to the bargaining table with the school board, two sources close to the situation tell CityNews.
In a screenshot of an email obtained by CityNews, the Toronto Elementary Catholic Teachers (TECT) union says teachers voted 90.8 per cent in favour of strike action d
uring a meeting Tuesday evening.
The two sides are set to return to the bargaining table on April 27. Neither the union or the school board would confirm the vote in favour of strike action to CityNews.
Union President Julie Altomare-DiNunzio said they were unable to comment “as we are still in the bargaining process which remains confidential at this time.”
Among the items being discussed in bargaining include eliminating a Friday PA day in lieu of teachers working parent-teacher interviews over two evenings.
Also:
- Infractions that teachers receive would need to be reported to the board within 48 hours, whether teachers are guilty or innocent. This includes violations of the Ontario Highway Traffic Act … such as speeding tickets.
- Currently if a teacher is absent for five days, they need a doctor’s note. The board wants to require a doctor’s note for a single-day absence.
- The school board also wants to restrict when union reps can join teachers in meetings with administration.
The TECT represents over 4,000 elementary Catholic school teachers who work in Toronto.
With files from Diana Pereira
Doug Ford’s government will be announcing “additional enhancements” to paid sick days in the “very near future,” Ontario government house leader, Paul Calandra, said at Queen’s Park on Wednesday without providing further details.
WATCH: https://toronto.citynews.ca/2021/04/21/announcement-on-paid-sick-day-enhancements-coming-in-near-future-house-leader/
When asked by NDP Leader Andrea Horwath if the Ford government would bring paid sick days to Ontario, Calandra responded: “We were … disappointed that the federal budget did not include some of the enhancements that we asked for, that we were assured would be in that budget, and given that those enhancements that we have advocated for (weren’t included) we have been very clear that the government of Ontario would be coming forward with additional enhancements in the very near future.”
Sources tells CityNews an announcement on paid sick days is expected later this week or early next week, but the Ford government won’t be supporting the NDP motion on the matter, with Calandra calling it too “vague.”
Sources also say the Ford government is changing its internal process to avoid rushed decisions that lead to policy reversals.
Premier Ford, who is currently isolating after coming into close contact with a staffer who tested positive for COVID-19, is expected address the public in the near future.
Ford and Solicitor General Sylvia Jones both came under fire for new COVID-19 measures announced last Friday that gave police enhanced powers to stop and question citizens, as well as banning families from using playgrounds.
Both of those measures were reversed a day later after considerable backlash.
If you are in need of mental health support, please reach out to one of the following services who are ready to help:
Black Youth Helpline
- Serves all youth and specifically responds to the need for a Black youth specific service – offers multicultural youth helpline & services.
Phone: 1-833-294-8650
Canadian Crisis Hotline
Crisis Text Line is the free, 24/7, confidential text message service for people in crisis. The service is currently available in the Canada via SMS at 686868.
Phone: (1-855-242-3310) or chat support for Indigenous people
Call 1-800-273-TALK (1-800-273-8255) to be directed to a crisis centre closest to you
Younger residents in Durham can start getting vaccinated.
Pop-up clinics will be opening up for appointments only in Ajax and Pickering so residents living in hotspot postal code areas 18 years and older, or turning 18 years old this year, can get their shot.
The first pop-up location will be at the Ajax Community Centre at 75 Centennial Road and will be taking appointments only.
On Thursday, April 22 until April 24, appointments will be available for residents living in the L1S, L1T, L1V, L1X and L1Z postal codes from 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
You can start making appointments for these pop-up clinics on Wednesday by going online, or by calling 905-721-4828.
Those going for a jab from these hotspots must show proof of age and address when they arrive.
Afterwards the initial three-day clinics, appointments will continue at the Ajax Community Centre every Sunday to Wednesday until May 28.
The City of Toronto will force the closure of workplaces where COVID-19 outbreaks have been identified.
WATCH: https://toronto.citynews.ca/2021/04/20/toronto-cracks-down-on-workplace-covid-19-outbreaks-ordering-closures/
On Tuesday, the City said Toronto Public Health was issuing a Section 22 order to close workplaces where five or more COVID-19 cases are identified within a 14-day period.
The closures will last for a minimum of 10 days.
Saying that outbreaks are “increasingly linked to workplaces” the City said in a release that the order “is a necessary tool to break the chains of transmission…”
Order details (Source: City of Toronto):
• The Order is planned to require the closure of certain workplaces, or portions of workplaces, where five or more confirmed cases are identified within a 14-day period and where cases could reasonably have been acquired through infection in the workplace.
• The workplace closure will be in effect for a minimum period of 10 calendar days.
• During this time, workers at the affected workplace will be required to self-isolate.
• Certain workplaces, such as health care facilities, schools, child care centres, and workplaces providing critical services may be exempt from full closure requirements.
“This Section 22 order is meant to help slam the brakes on workplace outbreaks that we know are moving much faster due to the variants of concern,” Mayor John Tory said in a release. “I urge all employers to follow the public health advice to stop outbreaks and protect their employees including against the financial consequences of illness.”
Earlier Tuesday, Peel Public Health said it was issuing the same order for workplaces in the region.
Former Minneapolis Officer Derek Chauvin was convicted Tuesday of murder and manslaughter for pinning George Floyd to the pavement with his knee on the Black man’s neck in a case that touched off worldwide protests, violence and a furious reexamination of racism and policing in the U.S.
WATCH: https://toronto.citynews.ca/2021/04/20/derek-chauvin-verdict-george-floyd/
Chauvin, 45, could be sent to prison for decades.
The verdict set off jubilation around the city. People instantly flooded the surrounding streets downtown, running through traffic with banners. Cars blared their horns. Floyd family members who had gathered at a Minneapolis conference room could be heard cheering and even laughing.
“America, let’s pause for a moment to proclaim this historical moment, not just for the legacy of George Floyd but for the legacy of America,” Floyd family attorney Ben Crump said at a joyous news conference that included Floyd’s young daughter. “This is a victory for those who champion humanity over inhumanity. Those who champion justice over injustice.”
The jury of six white people and six Black or multiracial people came back with its verdict after about 10 hours of deliberations over two days. The now-fired white officer was found guilty on all charges: second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
His face was obscured by a COVID-19 mask, and little reaction could be seen beyond his eyes darting around the courtroom. His bail was immediately revoked and he was led away with his hands cuffed behind his back. Sentencing will be in two months; the most serious charge carries up to 40 years in prison.
Defence attorney Eric Nelson followed Chauvin out of the courtroom without comment.
As the judge asked jurors if they reached a verdict, a hush fell on the crowd 300 strong in a park adjacent to the courthouse, with people listening to the proceedings on their cellphones. When the final guilty verdict was announced, the crowd roared, many people hugging, some shedding tears.
At the intersection where Floyd was pinned down, a crowd chanted, “One down, three to go!” – a reference to the three other fired Minneapolis police officers facing trial in August on charges of aiding and abetting murder in Floyd’s death.
Janay Henry, who lives nearby, said she felt grateful and relieved.
“I feel grounded. I can feel my feet on the concrete,” she said, adding that she was looking forward to the “next case with joy and optimism and strength.”
An ecstatic Whitney Lewis leaned halfway out a car window in a growing traffic jam of revelers waving a Black Lives Matter flag. “Justice was served,” the 32-year-old from Minneapolis said. “It means George Floyd can now rest.”
Prosecutor Jerry Blackwell, who pounded away at Chauvin’s witnesses during the trial, said the verdict sends a message to Floyd’s family “that he was somebody, that his life matters.”
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison commended the bystanders at Floyd’s slow-motion death who “raised their voices because they knew that what they were seeing was wrong,” and then “told the whole world” what they saw.
Ellison read off the names of others killed in encounters with police and said: “This has to end. We need true justice. That’s not one case. That’s social transformation that says no one is beneath the law and no one is above it.”
The verdict was read in a courthouse ringed with concrete barriers and razor wire and patrolled by National Guard troops, in a city on edge against another round of unrest – not just because of the Chauvin case but because of the deadly police shooting of a young Black man, Daunte Wright, in a Minneapolis suburb April 11.
The jurors’ identities were kept secret and will not be released until the judge decides it is safe to do so.
It is unusual for police officers to be prosecuted for killing someone on the job. Convictions are extraordinarily rare. Out of the thousands of deadly police shootings in the U.S. since 2005, fewer than 140 officers have been charged with murder or manslaughter, according to data maintained by Phil Stinson, a criminologist at Bowling Green State University. Before Tuesday, only seven were convicted of murder.
Floyd, 46, died May 25 after being arrested on suspicion of passing a counterfeit $20 bill for a pack of cigarettes at a corner market. He panicked, pleaded that he was claustrophobic and struggled with police when they tried to put him in a squad car. They put him on the ground instead.
The centerpiece of the case was the excruciating bystander video of Floyd gasping repeatedly, “I can’t breathe” and onlookers yelling at Chauvin to stop as the officer pressed his knee on or close to Floyd’s neck for what authorities say was 9 1/2 minutes. Floyd slowly went silent and limp.
Prosecutors played the footage at the earliest opportunity, during opening statements, and told the jury: “Believe your eyes.” And it was shown over and over, analyzed one frame at a time by witnesses on both sides.
In the wake of Floyd’s death, demonstrations and scattered violence broke out in Minneapolis, around the country and beyond. The furor also led to the removal of Confederate statues and other offensive symbols such as Aunt Jemima.
In the months that followed, numerous states and cities restricted the use of force by police, revamped disciplinary systems or subjected police departments to closer oversight.
The “Blue Wall of Silence” that often protects police accused of wrongdoing crumbled after Floyd’s death: The Minneapolis police chief quickly called it “murder” and fired all four officers, and the city reached a staggering $27 million settlement with Floyd’s family as jury selection was underway.
Police-procedure experts and law enforcement veterans inside and outside the Minneapolis department, including the chief, testified for the prosecution that Chauvin used excessive force and went against his training.
Medical experts for the prosecution said Floyd died of asphyxia, or lack of oxygen, because his breathing was constricted by the way he was held down on his stomach, his hands cuffed behind him, a knee on his neck and his face jammed against the ground.
Chauvin’s attorney called a police use-of-force expert and a forensic pathologist to help make the case that Chauvin acted reasonably against a struggling suspect and that Floyd died because of an underlying heart condition and his illegal drug use.
Floyd had high blood pressure, an enlarged heart and narrowed arteries, and fentanyl and methamphetamine were found in his system.
Under the law, police have certain leeway to use force and are judged according to whether their actions were “reasonable” under the circumstances.
The defence also tried to make the case that Chauvin and the other officers were hindered in their duties by what they perceived as a growing, hostile crowd.
Chauvin did not testify, and all that the jury or the public ever heard by way of an explanation from him came from a police body-camera video after an ambulance had taken the 6-foot-4, 223-pound Floyd away. Chauvin told a bystander: “We gotta control this guy ’cause he’s a sizable guy … and it looks like he’s probably on something.”
The prosecution’s case also included tearful testimony from onlookers who said the police kept them back when they protested what was happening. Eighteen-year-old Darnella Frazier, who shot the crucial video, said Chauvin just gave the bystanders a “cold” and “heartless” stare.
She and others said they felt a sense of helplessness and lingering guilt from witnessing Floyd’s death.
“It’s been nights I stayed up, apologizing and apologizing to George Floyd for not doing more, and not physically interacting and not saving his life,” she said.
Webber reported from Fenton, Michigan. Associated Press video journalist Angie Wang in Atlanta and Associated Press writers Doug Glass, in Minneapolis, Mohamed Ibrahim in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, and Todd Richmond in Madison, Wisconsin, contributed.
