Ontario’s latest COVID-19 modelling will project the province’s intensive care units to be filled beyond capacity by early February, and will also show how a new, more contagious variant of the coronavirus risks accelerating the spread of infections, sources tell CBC News.
Premier of Quebec, Francois Legault, has introduced a COVID-19 curfew to help reduce the province’s rising case numbers. It went into effect this past Saturday Jan 8th. Measures include an provincewide curfew from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. with exemptions for essential workers.
All “non-essential” workplaces and businesses including restaurants and gyms will be closed. The fine for breaking curfew will be $1,000 to $6,000. If you or anyone you know are issued one of these fines please head over to FightTheFines.com and we will fight your fine.
Denmark is the latest country to announce that it is rolling out a ‘Covid passport’, to allow those who have taken the vaccine to engage in society without any restrictions.
h/t RM
The government is now considering putting Britons under effective house arrest, with sources speaking to the Mail Online saying that unless people strictly follow the rules, Boris may ban people leaving their homes more than once a week.
Churches and all places of worship are once again closing in the province of Quebec in an effort to stop the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. This decision is part of a new series of containment measures announced by Premier Francois Legault Jan. 6.
Fifty years ago, I was a young teen growing up in Montreal. The fans of separation were being fanned by a group called Front de libération du Québec (FLQ).
The FLQ kidnapped British High Commissioner James Cross and days later, Quebec Minister Pierre Laporte. Laporte’s body was found in the trunk of a car at St. Hubert airport a week later.
Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau imposed the War Measures Act, which allowed him the ability to deploy troops to the streets of Montreal and extraordinary detention powers.
I remember some older teens in my neighbourhood were arrested just for going for a cocktail in a downtown club. In another incident, a bomb blew apart the mailbox at the corner of my street triggering a military response. It was a frightening time.
Looking at the video clips of the streets of Montreal on the weekend, when a curfew was implemented, triggered many memories for me. People just walking down the street were arrested just for drinking a coffee in public or trying to flag a cab in the downtown area.
“I addressed the regulations theologically, scientifically, legally, and politically. I knew that receiving a fine would be a real possibility. Having received one now, the course is unchanged,” he wrote, adding that he would not be following the restrictions and reducing capacity to ensure physical distancing or enforcing mask use within the church.
In Ontario, where multiple levels of government are trying to prevent infected travellers from bringing the virus in from abroad, experts warn regional movement remains a far greater driver of transmission. But it may also be trickier to curb — even as the presence of several highly transmissible new variants of the virus make it crucial to slow local spread.
Things seem to be working backwards at The Commons on St. Anthony nursing home in Auburn, New York. Vaccinating people is supposed to reduce or end coronavirus deaths. Right? But, at The Commons, such deaths are reported to have occurred only after residents began receiving coronavirus vaccinations.
Quebec elementary schools are set to reopen on Monday after a nearly three-week hiatus to help curb the spread of COVID-19 during the holidays.
Some feel the move to allow children and teachers to gather in classrooms again is still too early as coronavirus cases continue to skyrocket in the province.
Emerging data has shown a staggering amount of so-called ‘collateral damage’ due to the lockdowns. This can be predicted to adversely affect many millions of people globally with food insecurity [82-132 million more people], severe poverty [70 million more people], maternal and under age-5 mortality from interrupted healthcare [1.7 million more people], infectious diseases deaths from interrupted services [millions of people with Tuberculosis, Malaria, and HIV], school closures for children [affecting children’s future earning potential and lifespan], interrupted vaccination campaigns for millions of children, and intimate partner violence for millions of women. In high-income countries adverse effects also occur from delayed and interrupted healthcare, unemployment, loneliness, deteriorating mental health, increased opioid crisis deaths, and more.
The government is reportedly considering having the measures in place from 8 p.m. until 5 a.m. It would mean that most residents could not leave their properties during that time.
It comes after President Xi Jinping last week blocked investigators from the World Health Organization entering the country in a move that drew international condemnation. Meanwhile, state media outlets have published hundreds of stories claiming that the virus did not even originate in the city of Wuhan.
His comments come after Ontario Premier Doug Ford warned the province is “running out” of COVID-19 vaccine doses, claiming its Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine supply is slated to run dry at the end of next week.
Meanwhile, Toronto Mayor John Tory urged the Ford government to “get on with it,” when it came to enacting new public health measures.
