COVID-19: Provincial & Federal Briefings - Sept. 12 -16, 2022
Gowling WLG
An international law firm that's in tune with your world, aligned with your opportunity and ambitious for your success.
As COVID-19 continues to have a major global impact, our online resource hub is here to help you manage the challenges and mitigate the risks for your business.?Visit our COVID-19 resource hub by clicking here.
A summary of developments from Monday, September 12 to Friday, September 16, 2022 follows.
?World Health Organization
On September 14, the World Health Organization (WHO) stated that after nearly three years, the pandemic may be nearing its close. The WHO reported that global weekly deaths from COVID-19 have reached their lowest point since March of 2020. WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said “[w]e have never been in a better position to end the pandemic […] We are not there yet, but the end is in sight.” Despite this position, the Director General still urged nations to stay vigilant against new variants through six key actions: continued testing, treatment and vaccinations, infection control in health care facilities, steps to combat misinformation and clear public communication.
Federal Government
On September 13, the Prime Minister’s Office announced new measures to make the rising cost of living associated with the pandemic more manageable for Canadians. The Prime Minister announced a number of bills, representing $3 billion in new spending that would be introduced in the House of Commons when Parliament resumes next week. The proposed legislation will:
Additionally, the government announced the following support measures:
Enhancing the Canada Workers Benefit at a cost of $1.7 billion in new support for an estimated three million low-income workers this year. Most recipients first received this additional support through their 2021 tax refund.
Cutting regulated child care fees in half on average for families in Canada by the end of this year.
A 10 per cent increase to the Old Age Security (OAS) pension for seniors 75 years and older, which began in July 2022, to provide more than $800 in new support to full pensioners over the first year, and increase the number of beneficiaries by more than three million seniors.
Providing more support for students by doubling the Canada Student Grant amount until July 2023 and by waiving interest on Canada Student Loans through to March 2023.
National Travel Updates
On September 16, the Canada Border Services Agency announced that they would resume services at 55 airports across the country still affected by temporary measures put in place for COVID-19.
Furthermore, Service Canada stated that it is adjusting its operations in order to provide previously scheduled appointments despite the closures due to the National Day of Mourning for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on September 19.
COVID-19 Data Trends
The Canadian COVID-19 statistics were updated on Friday, September 16 at 7:00 a.m. EDT.
In the past week, The Public Health agency of Canada (PHAC) reported 16,501 new COVID-19 cases in Canada and 217 deaths, bringing the cumulative total of cases to 4,216,141 and deaths to 44,740.?
National vaccination data as not been updated since August 14.?At that time, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) reported that 85.24%?of the Canadian population was vaccinated with at least one vaccine dose.
Update on Monkeypox in Canada
Today, Chief Public Health Officer of Canada Dr. Theresa Tam, and Deputy Chief Public Health Officer of Canada Dr. Howard Njoo provided a technical update on the spread of monkeypox in Canada.
While there are over 60,032 confirmed cases of monkeypox globally, PHAC reported a total of 1,338 confirmed cases of monkeypox across Canada: 631 in Ontario, 515 in Quebec, 150 in British Columbia, 34 in Alberta, 3 in Saskatchewan, and 1 in Manitoba, 1 in New Brunswick, 1 in Nova Scotia and 2 in the Yukon.
Ontario
In an interview on Thursday, Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Kieran Moore, announced that Ontario has more than enough Omicron-targeted COVID-19 vaccine supply. Dr. Moore stated that there are “plenty of appointments available, we have the vaccine, we have the partnerships, we just need to realize we all need to be protected for this winter, and maximize our level of protection at a community level.” Since becoming available, around 22,000 doses of the new bivalent vaccine have been administered in the province.
Ontarians aged 70 and older, long-term care residents, health-care workers, Indigenous people and their adult household members, immunocompromised people 12 and older and pregnant people are eligible for the Omicron-targeted booster now. All others 18 and older can book now for appointments starting as of Sept. 26.
The Ministry of Health recommends waiting 6 months from receiving your last vaccine, however, the minimum interval is 84 days.
领英推荐
COVID-19 Data Trends
The COVID-19 statistics for Ontario were last updated on September 10.
There were 6,968 cases reported in the previous week with 314 additional hospital admissions and 54 COVID-19 related deaths. The total number of COVID-19 cases experienced in the province since the start of the pandemic has risen to 1,429,286 and 14,193 deaths.
As of September 11, 85.8% of the population has received one dose, 82.6% has received their primary series and 51.1% their primary series and 1 booster dose.
Quebec
The Quebec election campaign is still underway. There were no press briefings or press releases on COVID-19 this week.
Santé Québec reported 3,884 new cases with 71 virus-related deaths in the last 7 days. There was a net weekly decrease of 51 hospitalizations, bringing the total number of people being treated in hospital with the virus to 1,543. There was also a net increase of 5 patients in intensive care in the last 7 days, bringing the total to 35.
More than 20.9 million vaccine doses have been administered to Quebecers residing in and outside the province. The Santé Québec COVID-19 dashboard shows that 91% of the total eligible people aged 5 years and older have received their first vaccine dose and 56% have received their third dose, while 22% of the total eligible people have received their fourth vaccine dose.
Alberta
The province released updated COVID-19 statistics this week. As of September 12, on a 7-day average, 819 people were hospitalized, of which 26 were in intensive care. There were 1,098 new cases reported this week, making the positivity rate for testing on a 7-day average 16.94%. There have been 9,235,395 doses of COVID-19 vaccines administered in Alberta in total. 90.8% of the population 12 years of age and older are vaccinated with 1 dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 87.4% of the population 12 years of age and up are vaccinated with 2 doses.
According to an Alberta Government News Report, appointments for the bivalent COVID-19 booster vaccine can be booked starting September 21, 2022 with vaccine administration also beginning on September 21, 2022 for those 18 years of age and older.
Global News reports that some routine non-COVID-19 related vaccines for children and youth have declined in Alberta over the last two years due to delays caused by COVID-19. Alberta Health Services spokesperson Kerry Williamson says that this includes the immunization of grade six students for HPV and HBV vaccine, grade nine students for Diphtheria-Tetanus-Pertussis (dTop) and MenC-ACYW (which protects against four types of Neisseria Meningitis bacteria that cause Meningococcal disease) and grade one students who were not up to date with their childhood immunizations. Provincial data from the Calgary zone shows immunization rates of measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccines dropped from 86 percent of children with two doses by age seven in 2019 down to just shy of 78 percent in 2021. Infectious disease specialist Dr. Craig Jenne said that 78 percent is well below the coverage needed to prevent a measles outbreak, which is around 95 percent. Alberta Health Services said it is working with schools across the province to get the vaccinations back on track following the unprecedented disruption.
British Columbia
The province released updated COVID-19 statistics this week on their COVID-19 Dashboard. As of September 15, on a 7-day average, there were 314 people hospitalized with COVID-19, of which 23 were in critical care. There were 574 new cases this week and 16 new deaths.
Canada’s COVID-19 Tracker reported this week that 12,367,515 vaccine doses have been administered in British Columbia in total. 87.327% of all people in British Columbia have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 84.316% of all people in the province have received at least two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine. Only 54.374% of all people are fully vaccinated with a third dose.
According to a Ministry of Health Report, COVID-19 vaccination requirements for health-care system workers will remain in place to protect the province’s most vulnerable and the overall health-care system. Two Provincial Health Officer Orders regarding vaccination requirements for all workers in the health-care system, including hospital, community, and residential care workers, were updated on September 12, 2022 to alight with each other and to be consistent with the updated Health Professionals COVID-19 Vaccination Status Information Order issued on June 10, 2022. The scope of these orders has not changed. They continue to apply to people who work for health authorities, agencies funded by health authorities, and long-term care and assisted-living facilities. They do not, however, apply to regulated health professionals who do not work in these settings, such as dentists, naturopathic doctors, and opticians.
Global News reports that a study co-authored by Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry has found that at least 70 to 80 percent of children and youth in Greater Vancouver and the Fraser Valley have been infected with COVID-19. The study also finds that in contrast, only 60 to 70 percent of adulted aged 20 to 59 and about 40 percent of those aged 60 and over have been infected. The preprint study, which has not been peer-reviewed, was published online on September 9, 2022 and says a series of surveillance reports of infections were understating the actual levels of infection by a multiple of 92.?
*****
Glad to discuss further.?
Authors: