Danuta is a new Canadian, and she thought this was a free country. That is, until she got a $1,200 ticket for having an authorized gathering in her house, at a time when nearly all private gatherings have been outlawed by the government in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
Except Danuta wasn’t having an unauthorized gathering. Not even close. She was selling her furniture to someone she met online to make a little cash.
Ontario is reporting more than 3,300 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday as a stay-at-home order came into effect across the province to reduce transmission of the virus.
Public health officials reported 3,326 new infections and 62 additional deaths today.
Canada lags in vaccines because of Trudeau’s inaction
There are more than 400,000 Canadians vaccinated and that’s a good thing. The downside, though, is that we are only at about 1% of the population vaccinated.
According to the COVID-19 database, Our World in Data compiled by Oxford University, just over one in 100 Canadians is vaccinated against COVID-19.
In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks two decades ago, stunned and shaken Western allies scrambled to set up a terrorism intelligence exchange among themselves — a dedicated intelligence stream between the partners of the “Five Eyes” alliance to warn them of future attacks.
A former senior Canadian intelligence official now predicts that five-member intelligence alliance — between Canada, the United States, Britain, Australia and New Zealand — will follow a similar path in the wake of COVID-19 by pooling medical intelligence that could provide early warning of the next pandemic.
It’s wintertime in the Great White North. And while it might be cold, the silver lining is that if you like to skate, play hockey or go cross-country skiing, there’s an abundance of frozen H20 all across our great Dominion. Indeed, bodies of water ranging from small ponds to large lakes have already frozen over, so let the frigid frivolity begin, right?
Police departments across Quebec issued dozens of $1,550 fines as the province’s curfew went into effect, it was reported.
“I said, I think it was in March, last March. That you know, lockdowns are not the solution, and now they are doubled on it. Now we have lockdowns and a curfew here in Quebec, and maybe in other provinces.. And why is it not the solution? Because it isn’t working. And at the same time, you know, we need to have our freedom, and governments actually, right now, are looking at us as irresponsible children that they must tell what to do. But we are responsible citizens, and we don’t need lockdowns to fight this virus.”
A mutated and more infectious coronavirus strain first identified in South Africa is “disturbing” and could pose a threat to Covid antibody treatments, White House advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said.
The masked madness continues, as this mandate is being heavily enforced on one side but entirely disregarded on the other. Mask exemptions seem to be clearly laid out in all provincial and municipal orders, and yet, time and time again we are seeing that businesses aren’t respecting them, and enforcement is increasingly heavy handed.
The New York Times published an article on Tuesday advocating for its readers to double up on masking as a method for extra protection against coronavirus.
“Double-masking isn’t necessary for everyone,” the article states, but it could be helpful “for people with thin or flimsy face coverings.”
Concludes elementary schools reopening will probably undermine any possible benefits from the partial lockdown in effect.
Japan will suspend the entry of all nonresident foreign nationals into the country as part of its efforts to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said Wednesday.
Albertans are experiencing something we would have thought was unthinkable just a few short months ago. The government of Alberta has made protesting the government itself illegal.
The province says police and bylaw officers will have the power to enforce the stay-at-home order and issue tickets to rule-breakers, but hasn’t given details on how that will play out.
Locked-down Britons are today questioning if the Covid crackdown has gone too far after a jogger was stopped by a marshal for ‘breathing heavily’, while a daughter was slapped with a £60 fine for visiting her dementia-suffering mother.
Ontario is reporting 2,961 cases of #COVID19 and over 50,900 tests completed. Locally, there are 738 new cases in Toronto, 536 in Peel, 245 in Windsor-Essex County, 219 in York Region and 171 in Hamilton.
— Christine Elliott (@celliottability) January 13, 2021
Ford government officials to publish ‘legal parameters’ of how to enforce new stay-at-home order
The Ontario government is expected to provide more details today regarding its newly issued stay-at-home order, which takes effect tomorrow.
The province says it will publish the “legal parameters” for the order online today and offer more clarification on the measure.
As of tomorrow, residents will have to stay home except for essential purposes such as grocery shopping, accessing health care and exercising.
