Today’s coronavirus news: Ontario reports fewer than 1,000 hospitalized with COVID-19; Vaccines kept protecting kids, teens after Omicron surge: CDC report
The latest coronavirus news from Canada and around the world Tuesday. This file will be updated throughout the day. Web links to longer stories if available.
1:50 p.m.: COVID-19 vaccines protected children and adolescents from severe disease even after the immune-evasive omicron variant emerged, according to findings from U.S. government reports.
After omicron became dominant in the U.S. late last year, protection against infection and urgent care visits declined for 5- to 17-year-olds who'd received primary inoculations, according to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data released Tuesday. However, vaccinated children and teens were still less likely to get infected than their unvaccinated peers, the agency said in its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
The findings may add confidence in moves to relax social Covid measures as infections fall across the U.S. The CDC released recommendations last week saying that schools in areas of low and moderate risk can drop indoor mask mandates, the first update to its guidance on the topic since July.
Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE's vaccine is the only shot that has been authorized for use in children ages 5 to 17 in the U.S. The CDC looked at vaccine protection against infection, urgent care visits, hospitalization, and death among vaccinated children ages 5 through 11 and adolescents ages 12 through 17 before and during the omicron surge.
1:47 p.m.: Apple Inc. plans to begin testing vaccinated retail staff twice a week for COVID-19, a step toward dropping its mask requirement for employees.
The company announced the plan in a memo to U.S. retail staff Tuesday, changing a policy that had required vaccinated workers to test once a week. Unvaccinated staff had already been required to test twice weekly. At the same time, the company is now allowing employees to verify their results independently rather than providing proof.
Based on what we've learned from our testing pilot, everyone will now be required to self-test twice per week, regardless of vaccination status," the company said in the memo. In addition, if you were submitting your test results for verification, you're no longer required to do so."
Apple also said in the memo that it is reconsidering the mask requirement for employees and that an update will be shared soon. At this point, team members should continue to wear a face mask in store," according to the memo. The company is currently reviewing our face mask guidance for team members."
1:45 p.m.: Ontario's proof-of-vaccination and capacity rules ended Tuesday, but the province has also left it up to individual businesses to decide whether to still require proof of status to gain entry.
That means some larger venues in the GTA have dropped the use of the vaccine passport, while others have said they would still check on vaccination status in a bid to protect their customers while COVID-19 remains a concern.
The province's proof-of-vaccination system was introduced in late September for entry into bars, restaurants, movie theatres and gyms. The QR code version of the vaccine certificate became mandatory in the first week of January, with the province announcing by mid-February that the entire system would end by March.
The mask mandate for indoor public spaces remains in place.
Read the full story from the Star's Olivia Bowden.
1:30 p.m. As the province moves to its next stage of reopening, the City of Toronto has also announced it's revoking a number of bylaw orders related to COVID-19. Orders related to self-isolation and workplace outbreaks have been either revoked or tweaked, per the city medical officer of health Dr. Eileen de Villa.
Toronto Public Health will continue to monitor Toronto's local epidemiological context and is prepared to respond, if needed, should context and circumstances change," she wrote in a statement.
The requirement for masks in indoor public spaces remains in effect.
You can view her statement here.
1 p.m.: South Korea will no longer require people to show proof of vaccination or negative tests to enter any indoor space starting Tuesday, removing a key preventive measure during a fast-developing omicron surge that's elevating hospitalizations and deaths.
The Health Ministry's announcement on Monday came as the country set another one-day record in COVID-19 deaths with 114, breaking the previous high of 112 set on Saturday. More than 710 COVID-19 patients were in critical or serious conditions, up from 200-300 in mid-February, while nearly half of the country's intensive care units designated for COVID-19 were occupied.
11:45 a.m.: Quebec is reporting 14 more deaths linked to COVID-19 today and a seven-patient drop in hospitalizations related to the disease.
The Health Department says there are 1,439 people hospitalized with COVID-19, after 86 patients were admitted in the past 24 hours and 93 were discharged.
The number of people in intensive care dropped by four, to 90.
Officials are reporting 698 new cases detected through PCR testing, which is reserved for certain high-risk groups.
They say 11,079 COVID-19 vaccine doses were administered in the previous 24 hours.
The rate of COVID-19 transmission is rising in Quebec's Cote-Nord region, with the latest data indicating there are roughly 500 cases per 100,000 people, the highest rate in the province.
11:15 a.m.: A Hamilton family court judge has ruled in favour of a mother who does not want two of her children to be vaccinated against COVID-19, suggesting in his written decision that she presented credible evidence from the internet that the jab may have dangerous side effects.
The case involved a mother, C.G.. who is 34, and father, J.N. 35. The couple married in 2007 and separated in 2014. They have three children, a 14-year-old son, 12-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son. The youngest two reside primarily with their mother. The eldest son lives with his dad. Only their initials are used in the ruling.
Read the full story from the Star's Betsy Powell.
11:05 a.m.: Omicron is fading away, and so are Americans' worries about COVID-19.
As coronavirus pandemic case numbers, hospitalizations and deaths continue to plummet, fewer people now than in January say they are concerned that they will be infected after the rise and fall of the wildly contagious virus variant, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
Just 24% say they are extremely" or very" worried about themselves or a family member contracting COVID-19, down from 36% in both December and January, when omicron caused a massive spike in infections and taxed public health systems. Another 34% say they are somewhat worried. More than 140,000 deaths in the U.S. have been attributed to COVID-19 since omicron became the dominant strain of the coronavirus in mid-December.
10:15 a.m. (updated): Ontario is reporting 278 people in ICU due to COVID-19 and 914 in hospital overall testing positive for COVID-19, according to its latest report released Tuesday morning.
Of the people hospitalized, 45 per cent were admitted for COVID-19 and 55 per cent were admitted for other reasons but have since tested positive. For the ICU numbers, 80 per cent were admitted for COVID-19 and 20 per cent were admitted for other reasons but have since tested positive.
The numbers represent a less than one per cent decrease in the ICU COVID-19 count and a 7 per cent decrease in hospitalizations overall. 25.8 per cent of the province's 2,343 adult ICU beds remain available for new patients.
Given new provincial regulations around testing that took effect Dec. 31, 2021, case counts - reported at 1,176 on Tuesday, down 10 per cent from the previous day - are also not considered an accurate assessment of how widespread COVID-19 is right now. 18 new deaths were reported in the latest numbers.
Read the full story from the Star's Ashleigh-Rae Thomas.
10 a.m.: When workers head back to the office in the coming months, the spaces might look similar to how they were left when the pandemic began in March 2020.
But flicking on a light switch, visiting the washroom or even heading to another floor could reveal a slew of issues missed amid the health crisis.
When something small goes wrong, like a sink overflows or leaks ... it gets noticed like right away probably 99 per cent of the time ... but because these buildings are empty, or almost empty, there's not nearly as many eyes to catch those things," said Jim Mandeville, senior project manager at property restorer First Onsite.
Mandeville expects everything from burned out light bulbs to malfunctioning elevators to become issues as Canada plots a return to pre-pandemic conditions, including working from the office.
That return to spaces Canadians retreated from will remind people that dormant buildings or ones that saw few visitors for months or years can be like a petri dish.
Read the full story from the Canadian Press here.
10 a.m.: Queen Elizabeth II is returning to work after a COVID scare, Buckingham Palace said Tuesday, ending more than a week of heightened concern about the health of Britain's longest-reigning monarch after it was announced that she had tested positive for the coronavirus.
The palace said that the monarch was feeling well enough to resume virtual engagements and other duties, including audiences with representatives from other countries.
Elizabeth, 95, first tested positive for the coronavirus Feb. 20, with the palace describing her symptoms as mild.
It was unclear where or from whom the queen had contracted the infection, but several others in her residence at Windsor Castle, west of London, also tested positive, suggesting an outbreak there. The queen had also recently met her eldest son and heir, Prince Charles, who was later reported to be isolating after becoming reinfected with the coronavirus.
9:45 a.m.: Toronto Mayor John Tory says 63.8 per cent of eligible residents 12 years old and older have received three doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, while 35 per cent of kids aged 5 to 11 have received two doses.
8:45 a.m.: Statistics Canada says economy grew at an annual rate of 6.7 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2021.
For the full year, the agency says the economy grew 4.6 per cent last year, compared with a decline of 5.2 per cent in 2020, the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.
8:40 a.m.: Hong Kong's COVID-19 fatality rate is now the highest in the developed world amid a wave of deaths among its under-vaccinated elderly population, ramping up pressure on officials to get the outbreak under control.
The banking regulator in Hong Kong is lobbying the government to shorten the strict hotel quarantine placed on incoming travellers, seeking to reduce the hotel quarantine to 7 days, followed by another week of isolation from home.
Hong Kong plans a lockdown to underpin a mandatory COVID-19 testing drive this month, according to local media. Japan ended a ban on new entry by foreigners and eased quarantine rules.
8 a.m. The provincial government will scrap Ontario's proof of vaccination requirement, a.k.a. the vaccine passports that gave many Torontonians peace of mind participating in city life these past several months; a requirement that in its current two-dose form doesn't make a ton of sense," Dr. Isaac Bogoch told media recently.
But whether or not it makes sense from a public health standpoint, it certainly provides a sense of security many are unwilling to shed.
Read the column by Emma Teitel
7:45 a.m. Food banks across York Region were at the front lines of witnessing the devastating effects of COVID-19 on hunger, including an increase of patrons.
"The long-term economic impact of COVID-19 has exacerbated existing trends of food insecurity in York Region," said Alex Bilotta, CEO and founder of the Food Bank of York Region (FBYR) based in Vaughan.
In response to the pandemic, the FBYR launched a Home Delivery Program (HDP) in May 2020, which involved delivering fresh food items and non-perishable foods right to the doors of clients in need.
7:30 a.m. A federal appeals court denied the Biden administration's attempt to reinstate the U.S. Navy's COVID-19 vaccine requirement Monday, more than a month after a federal judge in Fort Worth initially halted the mandate.
The mandate, which required all active-duty Navy service members to be fully vaccinated by Nov. 28, is being challenged by a group of U.S. Navy SEALs and other Naval special warfare personnel. The group says the mandate violates their religious freedom and that they have unjustly been denied religious exemptions from receiving the vaccine.
Their lawsuit is against President Joe Biden, the Department of Defense, the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of the Navy.
7:10 a.m. It's showtime.
There have been performances determinedly going on, in trying conditions, for the last few weeks, but pending last-minute derailment, March 1 means indoor entertainment is definitively back in Ontario - at full capacity and therefore economically viable, and without provincial mask requirements. For some, this is too early; but for culture vultures who have spent most of the last two years yearning for a return to normalcy, it's been a long time coming.
No one should coax you out if you're in the former group; this list is for the latter. It's suggestions for live entertainment to seek out, every day for the whole month. You'll notice it's light on touring acts and big stage shows (which can't reassemble themselves instantly after a hasty thumbs-up from the premier's office) and heavy on the local and low-tech. But there's lots of good stuff and - fingers crossed - this is only the start.
Read the full story from the Star's Garnet Fraser
5:53 a.m.: Life in Ontario is about to change once again, as the province lifts most remaining health restrictions on Tuesday, including vaccine passports and capacity limits for indoor public settings.
But just where do the COVID indicators stand as this happens?
The Star takes stock of the numbers,and surveys the experts for a status report on what this all means.
Read Ghada Alsharif and May Warren's latest here.
Tuesday 5:46 a.m.: The day after announcing that he planned to end the city's mask mandate for public schools and a proof-of-vaccination requirement for indoor dining, gyms and entertainment venues, Mayor Eric Adams smiled broadly as he rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange.
His appearance on Wall Street on Monday was part of his campaign to restore a sense of normalcy to a city battered by the coronavirus. The end of the mandates, planned for March 7, is part of his approach.
Adams decided to roll back the restrictions after meeting with his top health advisers and union leaders and watching the number of virus cases and hospitalizations in the city drop steeply.
The goal was to put in place ways to encourage people to get vaccinated," Adams said at a news conference in the Bronx. I believe we've accomplished that."