The latest coronavirus news from Canada and around the world on Thursday. This file will be updated throughout the day. Web links to longer stories if available.
6:13 am: Workers, labor advocates and some business owners wonder why, with Omicron rampant and the economic outlook as uncertain as it has been over the course of the pandemic, the new federal benefit is lower. For many affected workers, the lower amount will mean a heartbreaking choice of which necessities in life to do without.
Read the full story of Josh Rubin from Star.
6:12 am.: Experts say employers need to be more flexible than ever to accommodate the latest wave of remote learning as parents are pushed to the limit.
“Parental mental health has been really compromised throughout this pandemic,” said Paula Allen, global research leader at human resources services and technology company LifeWorks (formerly Morneau Shepell).
For employees who have children at home, flexibility makes all the difference, Allen said.
Employers should prioritize communicating to employees the relief options available to them, he said, be it compressed work weeks, mental health days or short-term leave, of which there has been a massive increase.
Read the full story of Rosa Saba from Star.
6:10 am: With gold standard tests for COVID-19 becoming increasingly difficult to find, the debate revolves around whether to collect a throat swab sample along with a nose swab for rapid testing at home, against some instructions on the package.
For most tests, the accuracy of a combined nose and throat swab has not yet been tested, and the official Canadian and US health guide still advises people to follow the kit’s user instructions that have on hand.
However, a debate has emerged on social media and among some experts after anecdotal evidence from people who said they only tested positive after rubbing the back of their throat and nasal cavity, despite the test instructions. of rubbing only the nose.
Read the full story of Nadine Yousif from Star here.
6:09 am: US health officials said Wednesday they will not change the requirements to be “fully vaccinated” against COVID-19, but urge Americans to stay “up to date” on their protection against the virus by receiving booster shots. when they are eligible.
The move to maintain the existing definition of complete vaccines, whether it be two doses of Pfizer and Moderna mRNA vaccines or a single dose of Johnson & Johnson vaccine, comes as health officials warned of diminishing protections from starting doses. They are encouraging Americans to get extra doses to avoid serious illness and death from the delta and omicron variants.
The decision to keep the initial definition, established more than a year ago when the vaccines were first released, means that federal travel or employment vaccination mandates will not require a booster dose.
Keeping the existing definition of “fully vaccinated” could make it more difficult to encourage some Americans who only received their primary doses of the vaccine reluctantly to step up, as they would not face onerous restrictions often imposed on the unvaccinated. , including testing requirements or, in some jurisdictions, prohibited from eating indoors and other facilities.
“People are considered fully vaccinated against COVID-19 if they have received their primary series,” said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “That definition is not changing.”
Instead, the CDC released information to make it easier for Americans to determine their eligibility for booster doses to keep up with their COVID-19 vaccinations.
6:08 am: California is struggling to staff hospitals and classrooms as a staggering increase in coronavirus infections sweeps across the state.
The rapidly spreading omicron variant of COVID-19 is bypassing exposed or infected healthcare workers, even as hospital beds fill with patients and “some facilities will be subject,” the Health Secretary said Wednesday. and Human Services, Dr. Mark Ghaly.
About 40% of hospitals expect to face a critical staff shortage with some reporting that as many as a quarter of their staff are out for virus-related reasons, said Kiyomi Burchill of the California Hospital Association.
In Fresno County, more than 300 workers at area hospitals were isolating themselves due to exposure or recovering, said Dan Lynch, the county’s director of emergency medical services.
The Los Angeles County Fire Department is taking patients to hospitals in fire trucks instead of ambulances because 450 firefighters are absent after testing positive, Acting Deputy Chief Brian Bennett told Carson City Council on Tuesday, according to Los Angeles Daily News.
Going forward, the county Fire Department will only receive medical calls when absolutely necessary, authorities said.
6:06 am: Thailand on Thursday reported its biggest spike in coronavirus cases in weeks after a holiday season in which people traveled and gathered in large numbers amid the rapid spread of the omicron variant.
Authorities registered 5,775 new cases, prompting the Public Health Ministry to raise the official warning level to 4 on a scale of 5, Permanent Secretary Kiatiphume Wongrajit said. The alert level had been at 3 since the end of December.
Under level 4, the ministry recommends closing high-risk locations, including those with poor ventilation, increasing restrictions on interprovincial travel, limiting group sizes in public places, and prolonging quarantine requirements for travelers entering Thailand. .
The ministry has submitted a proposal to the Center for Management of the COVID-19 Situation, chaired by Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, to increase restrictions on the virus due to the jump in cases. The CCSA will meet on Friday and is expected to make a decision on the new measures.
6:06 am: Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi on Thursday called for the US military in Japan to remain inside their bases to prevent further spread of COVID-19.
Hayashi said he spoke by phone with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and he was promised maximum efforts to ensure people’s health. It was not immediately clear if a base curfew would be issued.
Major Thomas R. Barger, a spokesman for the US Armed Forces in Japan, said he could not comment on the request, but that a team was carefully monitoring cases and trends.
Hayashi’s request came as the US military promised stricter measures to curb the spread of cases. The new measures require all personnel, even when fully vaccinated, to wear masks on base until a third negative coronavirus test, and reiterates the order that all personnel wear masks when off base, Barger said.
US forces have come under fire after a surge in coronavirus cases in areas where they are found in large numbers, including Okinawa and Iwakuni, both in southern Japan.
6:05 am: Immunity against COVID-19 among vaccinated Canadian adults and those who have already contracted the virus has been declining across the population, tests on donated blood have found.
Tests on around 9,000 donated blood samples from across Canada show that antibodies in the blood that fight the virus decreased in October among all age groups, and experts say the decline in immunity likely continued in November and dicember.
But the head of the government’s COVID-19 Immunity Task Force says the highly contagious Omicron variant may offer an “immune dividend” offering new protection against future infections.
The task force scientists are now looking at the scope of immunity that Omicron offers, as well as the “memory of immune protection” in cells that may be activated with future COVID-19 infections.
With the task force’s studies of immunity levels informing government policy on booster shots, the findings are likely to influence when and how many booster shots people can get in the future.
6 am: Rising COVID-19 cases fueled by the fast-transmitting Omicron variant are pushing the healthcare system to the brink and putting pressure on some police and transit services.
With 170 registered staff members on COVID-19-related leave, the Winnipeg Police Service declared a state of emergency on Wednesday and Edmonton and Calgary police services warned of staffing challenges after increasing numbers of members tested positive or isolated.
GO Transit of Ontario says a temporary reduction in train and bus service in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton regions will begin in a few days due to staff shortages caused by the Omicron bypass.
Federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos announced yesterday that Ottawa will distribute 140 million rapid tests nationwide this month, four times the amount delivered in December.
Public Health Director Dr. Theresa Tam said restrictions on molecular laboratory testing mean there is no way to be sure how many COVID-19 cases are actually in Canada.
According to the latest figures from Health Canada, the Omicron variant of COVID-19 has fueled 344,140 active cases across the country.
Reference-www.thestar.com