Today’s coronavirus news: Canada-U.S. border opens to non-essential travel; Germany reports record COVID-19 infection rate
The latest coronavirus news from Canada and around the world Monday. This file will be updated throughout the day. Web links to longer stories if available.
9:55 a.m. At least 84 Hamiltonians with COVID-19 have died during hospital outbreaks over the course of the pandemic.
The number doesn't include two deaths removed from the tally Nov. 4 after an associate medical officer of health said they were wrongly added.
Dr. Bart Harvey said all Hamilton COVID deaths were being reviewed because public health had inadvertently overexaggerated" the number by including those who clearly died of another cause."
The review is in the early stages and expected to take weeks. There's noestimate of how many deaths could be removed from Hamilton's pandemic toll of 420.
9 a.m. The U.S. lifted restrictions Monday on travel from a long list of countries including Mexico, Canada and most of Europe, setting the stage for emotional reunions nearly two years in the making and providing a boost for the airline and tourism industries decimated by the pandemic.
Wives will hug husbands for the first time in months. Grandmas will coo over grandsons who have doubled in age since they last saw them. Aunts and uncles and cousins will snuggle babies they haven't met yet.
I'm going to jump into his arms, kiss him, touch him," Gaye Camara said of the husband in New York she has not seen since before COVID-19 brought the fly-here-there-and-everywhere world to a halt.
8:45 a.m. Two elementary schools will be closed on Prince Edward Island on Monday after two children tested positive for COVID-19.
The kids under the age of 12 accounted for two of the four new diagnoses reported on Sunday.
All four people are from the same household, and their cases are related to out-of-province travel.
Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Heather Morrison says one of the children attends the Westwood Primary School, and the other is a student at Eliot River Elementary School in Cornwall, P.E.I., so both will be closed on Monday out of an abundance of caution.
8:30 a.m. Black Friday is around the corner, and with border restrictions loosening Monday, you may be wondering if the trip to the U.S. is worth those deals.
The pandemic spawned additional costs for Canadians travelling south. Here's a look at the extra costs cross-border shoppers will face and tips to avoid any nasty surprises.
Canadians travelling to the U.S. by air will be required to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination as well as a negative test result. This can be any kind of COVID test, including the cheaper rapid antigen tests.
A test costs anywhere from $16 to $40, depending on where you get it, said Marty Firestone, president of Toronto-based travel insurance company Travel Secure Inc.
Read the full story from the Star's Rosa Saba
8 a.m. After a year and a half of disrupted learning due to the pandemic, Katie Piccininni was looking forward to getting a detailed report card and attending parent-teacher interviews to understand how her son is doing in school. Now, that won't be happening.
The kids lose again," said Piccininni, whose son Josh is in Grade 8 at a Toronto Catholic school. After 18 months there are a lot of learning gaps."
She worries about those gaps for Josh, who has a learning disability. Last year, when classes moved online because of COVID-19 restrictions, he kept up with his studies, but midway his interest waned and by the spring he was exhausted from staring at a screen.
Read the full story from the Star's Isabel Teotonio and Kristin Rushowy
7:31 a.m. Ann Harkness is champing at the bit to start her annual migration.
For 13 years, the retired teacher and her husband, Steve, taunted the winter freeze by packing the car up each fall and driving south to Winter Haven, Fla., from Kingston, Ont., to while away the cold Canadian months until the spring thaw tempted them home again.
Last year, the COVID-19 pandemic put an end to that routine. For the first time in more than a decade, the Harknesses stayed home for the winter.
But this year, with winter fast approaching and the U.S. border finally opening to non-essential travellers Monday, Harkness and an estimated one million snowbirds like her are hearing the call of the mild again.
Read the full story from the Star's Steve McKinley
5:54 a.m.: Slovakia on Monday expanded strict coronavirus restrictions including hotel, bar and restaurant closures to almost a half of the country amid a record surge of infections.
The government is expected to discuss additional measures as the country's health minister joined medical personnel who treat COVID-19 patients in urging Slovaks to get vaccinated.
Only vaccination can take us through the pandemic," Health Minister Vladimir Lengvarsky said.
The measures will affect 36 of the country's 79 counties. Indicative of how fast infections are spreading, only five counties had imposed the measures three weeks ago, and another five a week later.
5:30 a.m.: Japan reported zero daily deaths from COVID-19 on Sunday for the first time in 15 months, as infections decline rapidly in the country.
Health officials on Monday said there were no deaths the previous day, giving Japan a total of 18,310 fatalities since the pandemic began.
Japan on Monday also eased entry restrictions for foreign students, workers and short-term business travelers who are fully vaccinated, have their activity plans guaranteed by sponsors and observe 10 days of self-isolation.
Self-quarantine for Japanese citizens and foreign residents was also shortened to three days from the previous 10 days.
The last time Japan reported no new coronavirus deaths was on Aug. 2, 2020, according to the ministry.
5:15 a.m.: The Biden administration is encouraging local school districts to host clinics to provide COVID-19 vaccinations to kids - and information to parents on the benefits of the shots - as the White House looks to speedily provide vaccines to those ages 5 to 11.
First lady Jill Biden and Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy are set to visit the Franklin Sherman Elementary School in McLean, Virginia, on Monday to launch a nationwide campaign to promote child vaccinations. The school was the first to administer the polio vaccine in 1954.
The visit comes just days after federal regulators recommended the COVID-19 vaccine for the age group. The White House says Biden will visit pediatric vaccination clinics across the country over the coming weeks to encourage the shots.
4:40 a.m.: For the first time in nearly 20 months, non-essential traffic is once again moving in both directions across the Canada-U.S. land border.
Shortly after midnight, Customs and Border Protection agents began letting fully vaccinated vacationers, visitors and day-trippers drive into the United States for the first time since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020.
Not everyone is taking advantage, however.
Many Canadians with family members living in the U.S. say they aren't lining up to cross just yet, thanks in part to Canada's requirement that they get a costly COVID-19 test in order to return home.
New York congressman Brian Higgins will join today with mayors and community leaders from both sides of the Canada-U.S. border to urge the federal government in Ottawa to abandon the rule.
Canada's chief medical officer, Dr. Theresa Tam, said last week that the government is well aware of the complaints about the test requirement and that it is under review.
The U.S. is not requiring foreign nationals who are visiting by land to show proof of a negative test, but that won't matter much until Canada does away with the rule as well, critics say.
The Canada Border Services Agency issued a statement last week reminding would-be travellers that proof of a negative test, taken no more than 72 hours before travel, is required to re-enter Canada, along with proof of vaccination.
Not only is the expense discouraging people from travelling, it's a self-defeating measure that does little to improve public safety, said Perrin Beatty, a former federal cabinet minister who now serves as CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.
It just makes no sense," Beatty said in an interview.
4 a.m.: A debrief of the federal election campaign is expected to be high on the agenda when members of the Liberal caucus gather today.
It will be the first full meeting of the caucus since the Liberals emerged from the Sept. 20 election with a minority government.
The outcome, largely mirroring the pre-election configuration of the House of Commons, followed polls earlier in the year that suggested a majority Liberal government was within reach.
In addition to some administrative business, Liberal MPs are likely to talk about what to expect in the coming parliamentary session.
Key Liberal campaign promises included new measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, implementation of a buyback program for banned firearms, plans to boost home ownership and steps to finish the fight against COVID-19.
The House resumes sitting Nov. 22 for four weeks before taking a holiday break.
4 a.m.: Tourism operators have mixed feelings about the opening of the U.S. land border Monday.
An end to the 20-month closure of the world's longest undefended frontier marks a sign that restrictions are loosening and more international leisure travel may be on the horizon.
But if Canadians start to stream south for vacations and shopping sprees, they aren't spending their money on destinations here.
Chris Bloore, chief executive of the Tourism Industry Association of Ontario, says local visits to hot spots ranging from Niagara Region vineyards to the boutique hotels of Prince Edward County will undoubtedly decline after receiving a boost last summer.
There is definitely going to be a reduction in some numbers, for sure. That's absolutely inevitable," he said.
But as we start to welcome international visitors now back to Canada, as we try and push for PCR testing, changes to protocols, we're hoping to make sure that we're we're looking further afield to people as well to try and bring them to us."
Travel and tourism organizations are lobbying the federal government, which opened its border to Americans in August, to end the ongoing COVID-19 test requirement to enter the country.
Currently, any Canadian returning home by land who wants to avoid quarantine needs to provide a recent molecular test that shows a negative result. Non-residents who test positive are turned away at the border.
At a cost of $150 to $300 per test, that can be a pricey proposition, particularly for families.
2:30 a.m.: Germany's coronavirus infection rate climbed to its highest recorded level yet on Monday as what officials have called a pandemic of the unvaccinated" gathers pace.
The national disease control centre, the Robert Koch Institute, said the country has seen 201.1 new cases per 100,000 residents over the past seven days. That was above the previous record of 197.6 from Dec. 22 last year. While it's still a lower rate than in several other European countries, it has set alarm bells ringing.
The seven-day infection rate has long ceased to be the only yardstick for COVID-19 policy in Germany, but officials say hospitals are filling up in badly affected areas. The disease control centre said Monday that 15,513 new cases were reported over the past 24 hours - down from a record 37,120 on Friday, but figures are typically lower after the weekend.
Germany has struggled to find ways to pep up its much-slowed vaccination campaign. At least 67% of the population of 83 million is fully vaccinated, according to official figures, which authorities say isn't enough. Unlike some other European countries, it has balked at making vaccinations mandatory for any professional group.