The latest on the coronavirus outbreak for August 19
CBC News | Posted: August 19, 2021 8:12 PM | Last Updated: August 19, 2021
- Coronavirus tracker: Follow the pace of COVID-19 cases, vaccinations in Canada.
- Across the country, calls grow for masks in schools.
- Fiscal restraint not likely to be a predominant theme of next month's federal election.
- World roundup: Amid Africa's COVID-19 challenges, WHO official slams West's rush to further vaccinate its own citizens.
- Explore: Toronto announces vaccine policy for city employees, excluding TTC transit workers and police… Wildfires, pandemic a double blow to Kelowna tourism.… Alberta's chief medical officer of health apologizes again for being tardy on data justifying COVID-19 policies.
Despite known delta risks, masks aren't yet compulsory for many Canadian school districts
While health experts have cautioned that it's not clear that the delta variant is more virulent, it is more transmissible and has led to troubling stories in low-vaccination populations in the U.S. of pediatric hospitalizations.
Parents across Canada are pressuring school boards and officials to improve ventilation and ensure teachers are vaccinated or tested frequently. But with less than three weeks until the beginning of school for most kids, few jurisdictions have opted to make masks compulsory. Experts caution there's still opportunity for delta to grow amid vaccination rates in most provinces and territories that are impressive but not foolproof.
As is well known, vaccine trials involving kids under 12 are still ongoing, and if the shots are authorized, it is still likely months before they can start being administered. This is an unvaccinated population that numbers in the seven figures nationally; in Ontario's Peel Region alone, the number of kids under 12 is about 205,000, the top public health official there said this week.
Teri Mooring, the president of the B.C. Teachers' Federation (BCTF), told CBC's The Early Edition on Tuesday that the union wants students and staff to wear masks starting in September. It is easier to start with measures already in place than to try to implement them later on if needed, Mooring reasoned.
Across the country, Dr. Olivier Drouin, a pediatrician at Montreal's Sainte-Justine Hospital and a public health researcher, agrees.
"I think we should err on the side of caution: have kids start the year with masks, and then remove them if we see we are going in the right direction," Drouin told CBC Montreal.
Jennifer Heighton, an elementary school teacher in Burnaby, B.C., said last year she had 23 students and this year it's closer to 30, meaning she will need to add another row of desks and students will have to sit in pairs.
"I worry about keeping them safe," she told CBC's On The Coast this week.
Ontario is currently the only large province to already say that come September masks will be mandatory in schools. School boards could act of their own volition and likely not face the type of COVID-19 culture war pushback from senior levels of government that has been seen in some U.S. states. In Alberta, where the province has only mandated mask-wearing on school-related transit, both large Edmonton school divisions have masking requirements that go further, maintaining rules from the previous year.
As well, the Calgary Board of Education said Wednesday masks will need to be worn by kindergarten to Grade 12 students and staff when classes resume in September. The CBE said the decision was made after taking into account increased COVID-19 cases and the lower vaccination rates for youth ages 12 to 19 in the city. Province-wide, it's estimated that 56 per cent of those aged 12 to 19 have received two doses of a COVID vaccine.
Mercedes Phillips, a Grade 11 student at Campbell Collegiate in Regina, said she would like to see a mask mandate in place there, especially in places where physical distancing is not possible.
"I'm very excited to get back to school and see my friends again and my peers and get back to learning, but with the current sort of the climate in the city, I am very cautious," she said.
From The National
IN BRIEF
Delta variant threat to the global economy means fiscal prudence may take election back seat
One COVID-19-related economic issue that commentators say could well have an impact on how people vote in the federal election on Sept. 20 is business shutdowns.
While many small businesses have lobbied against some public health measures that they saw as preventing them from earning a living, a number of small business owners are particularly anxious to avoid new shutdowns at all costs, said Shadi McIsaac, CEO of RBC subsidiary Ownr, which helps new companies register and incorporate.
Rather than worrying about how the federal government will pay for all the bailouts so far, businesses are still focused on the danger of a fourth wave and whether they can survive it, she said.
"What we heard from business owners is that they are going to be listening very closely on each party's policy and perspective," she said. "What are the funding and grants that are coming forward to support entrepreneurship and the small business community, and what's the sentiment [of each party] around further lockdowns."
There are broadly two considerations for the economy during this election and both involve more stimulus, says Michael Smart, a University of Toronto economist and founder of the think-tank Finances of the Nation. One is having a response ready in case the economic recovery falters, whether due to a new variant or some other cause. The other is to recharge the economy once the threat from the virus finally passes.
David Macdonald, senior economist at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, agrees that balancing the budget will be a very theoretical consideration in this election.
"I think no matter which party you are, there's no realistic way you're going to get to a zero deficit, probably, in the next three years," said Macdonald.
Supply-chain disruptions of raw materials, transportation bottlenecks in a time of reduced travel and the stimulus packages to help keep millions off the unemployment lines have contributed to inflationary pressure on a range of goods and services.
Higher prices can put the squeeze on consumers, but when they assume the role of voters, will it play a factor?
"Public health shocks come from abroad. So do economic shocks," said Smart. "Should Canadians hold politicians responsible for how the economy is performing [right now]? Probably not, to be honest. But will they? I don't know."
World roundup: In addition to COVID-19 strain, West Africa sees recent cases of Ebola, Marburg
The African director for the World Health Organization has sharply criticized the decisions by some richer countries to roll out COVID-19 booster shots.
"As some richer countries hoard vaccines, they make a mockery of vaccine equity," Matshidiso Moeti said Thursday.
African health officials, including the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, had warned against booster shots in recent weeks as less than two per cent of the African continent's population of 1.3 billion people is fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
The situation in Africa remains "very fragile" as the more infectious delta variant is now dominant in most of the continent's 54 countries, she said. More than 7.3 million cases, including more than 186,000 deaths, have been confirmed across the continent during the pandemic.
On top of the COVID-19 pandemic, West Africa is facing new outbreaks of the viral haemorrhagic fevers Marburg and Ebola, risking huge strains on ill-equipped health systems.
"We are particularly concerned about West Africa," Moeti said. "Fighting multiple outbreaks is a complex challenge."
Ivory Coast began vaccinating health workers against Ebola in the commercial capital Abidjan on Monday after declared its first case of that disease since 1994. Separately, Ivory Coast has identified an outbreak of the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian flu near the capital.
And last week, health authorities in Guinea confirmed one death from Marburg, which is similar to Ebola.
In the Americas, Mexico is set to receive the first batch of 1.75 million doses of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine from the United States this weekend, Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said on Wednesday, shortly after Mexico authorized its emergency use. The country on Wednesday posted a record 28,953 new confirmed infections and 940 deaths, with its pandemic-long total around 250,000 deaths.
For more world coronavirus developments, you can follow here.
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