Daily Archives: March 23, 2021

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British Columbia's top doctor is again calling on people to follow the current guidelines andnot gather inside,pointing to the increased transmissibility of the B117 variant and saying it is"much easier to spread it with even minimal contact in indoor settings."

As of Monday evening, a tracking site maintained by federal officials showed 1,240 reported cases of the B117 variant in B.C. alone. Across the country, there have been 5,117 reported cases of the variant, which was first reported in the U.K.

Dr. Bonnie Henry said indoor gatherings of "any size" remain a risk and urged people to follow public health guidelines and only gather in small groups of up to 10 outside.

"The areas where we know it spreads most quickly and most dangerously are the same as they were last yearbut now there's even less a margin for error," Henry said Monday as she provided updated COVID-19 figures for the weekend.

"This is a time where we need to take those little sacrifices all of us so that we can continue to keep those important workplaces open,we can continue to support our children to be in school, and we can continue to support our immunization programs so that we can all be safe very soon."

Under the current restrictions in place in B.C., social gatherings of any size aren't allowed inside homes with "anyone other than your household or, if you live alone, your core bubble."

Henry said that while morepeople are getting their shots every day, it's important for people to understand that the risk "for all of us remains high."

Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada's chief public health officer, said Monday on Twitter thatAlberta, Ontario, British Columbia and Quebec are reporting the highest numbers of COVID-19 cases involving more transmissible variants.

Variants of concern are "moving quickly," Henry said. "To counter that, we continue to be slow and steady and to find our balance, our path to get to those brighter days which are not that far away now."

As of Monday, COVID-19 hospitalizations in the province stood at303, including 80 in critical care, Henry said.

Adrian Dix, the province's health minister, reiterated Henry's call and said indoor gatherings remaina "major problem" in B.C.

"If you are thinking of going out for a birthday celebration or someone invites you to a wedding celebration somewhere do not go right now."

-From CBC News and The Canadian Press, last updated at 7 a.m. ET.

WATCH |3rd COVID-19 wave hitting young Canadians harder:

As of 1p.m. ET on Tuesday, Canada had reported 940,929 cases of COVID-19, with 36,096 cases considered active. A CBC News tally of deaths stood at22,729.

In Atlantic Canada,Prince Edward Islandreported two new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, both in people under the age of 19.

The island, which has not recorded any COVID-19 related deaths since the pandemic began, had eight active cases as of Tuesday, officials said.

InNova Scotia, meanwhile, health officials reported one new case of COVID-19 on Tuesday.Newfoundland and Labradorreported no new cases.

Health officials inNew Brunswickhad not yet provided updated figures for the day.

Ontarioon Tuesday reported 1,546 new cases of COVID-19 and nine additional deaths. According to provincial data, the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations stood at 868, with 324 in intensive care units.

People aged 75 years and older in Ontario on Mondaybegan booking their vaccine appointments through a provincial online portal and call centre, while pharmacies in three public health units started administering AstraZeneca-Oxford shots to those aged60 and older.

InQuebec,health officials reported 656 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday and four additional deaths. Hospitalizations in the province stood at 519, with 113 COVID-19 patients reported to be in intensive care units.

In the Prairie provinces,Manitobaofficials said they are keeping the province at the highest level of restrictions inthe pandemic response system, though a few restrictions will be loosenedbeginningFriday.

The limits on outdoor gatherings, weddings and funerals is increasing to 25 people from 10, and the maximum capacity forstores is increasing to 500 people from 250, although stores may not exceed 50 per cent capacity.People will also be allowed to leave their vehicles while attending drive-in events.

The decision to keep the province at code red is due tofeedback from Manitobans, concerns over rising numbers of more transmissible coronavirus variants, and the need to maintain stability in the health-care system, the province said in a news release. Manitobareported 66 new cases and one additional death on Monday.

WATCH |Should Canadians be wearing N95-style masks?

Meanwhile, inSaskatchewan,health officials reported 205 new cases of the illness caused by the novel coronavirus and no additional deaths.Concerns about a growing number of the more infectious COVID-19 cases in the Regina area have prompted some school divisions to restart online learning.

InAlberta, health officials on Monday reported 456 new cases and five additional deaths. The update came as Health Minister TylerShandroannounced the province would not be moving into the next phase of its reopening, saying that will happen only when hospitalizations are under 300 and on a "clear downward trajectory."

"Today, while hospitalizations are indeed below 300, they've risen in recent days," he said Monday."The decline that we saw in January and early February has stopped. Alberta now sits at 280 COVID hospitalizations, which is a rise of 16 from a week ago."

Across the North, Nunavut reportedno new cases on Tuesday. TheNorthwest TerritoriesandYukonhave not yet reported updated figures for the day.

-From CBC News and The Canadian Press, last updated at 1p.m. ET

As of Tuesday afternoon, more than 123.8million cases of COVID-19 had been reported worldwide,with 70.2 million cases listed as recovered, according to a tracking tool maintained by Johns Hopkins University. The global death toll stood at more than 2.7 million.

InEurope,the French hospital system could face an "unprecedented violent shock" in about three weeks if the country fails to curb its vertiginous rise in cases, the president of the French hospital federation said.

A leading European Union official has lashed out at the AstraZeneca vaccine company for its massive shortfall in producing doses for the 27-nation bloc, and threatened that any shots produced by them in the EU could be forced to stay there.

Sandra Galina, the chief of the European Commission's health division, told legislators on Tuesday that while vaccine producers like Pfizer and Moderna have largely met their commitments, "the problem has been AstraZeneca. So it's one contract which we have a serious problem."

The European Union has been criticized at home and abroad for its slow vaccine rollout, standing at about a third of jabs given to their citizens compared to nations like the United States and United Kingdom.

Galina saidthe overwhelming responsibility lies with the AstraZeneca vaccine, which was supposed to be the workhorseof the drive, because it is cheaper and easier to transport and was supposed to be delivered in huge amounts in the first half of the year.

"We are not even receiving a quarter of such deliveries as regards this issue," Galina said, noting thatAstraZeneca could expect a response from the EU. "We intend, of course, to take action because, you know, this is the issue that cannot be left unattended."

The EU already closed an advance purchasing agreement with the Anglo-Swedish company in August last year for up to 400 million doses.

Meanwhile, Germany is extending its lockdown until April 18 and calling on citizens to stay at home over the Easter holidays to try to break a third wave of the pandemic, Chancellor Angela Merkel said, as the country races to vaccinate its population.

In theAsia-Pacificregion,with new infections on the rise the past few weeks,India will start vaccinating everyone over the age of 45 starting on April 1.

Federal information minister Prakash Javadekar made the announcement on Tuesday, when more than 40,000 new cases were detected in the last 24 hours. Most infections are in Maharashtra state in India's western coast. But cases have spiked in other states like Punjab, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in has received his first shot of AstraZeneca's vaccine as he plans to attend June's Group of Seven meetings in Britain.

Moon on Tuesday received his shot at a public health office in downtown Seoul along with his wife and other presidential officials who plan to accompany him during the June 11-13 meetings.

Moon's office said he was feeling "comfortable" after receiving the shot and complimented the skills of a nurse who he said injected him without causing pain. The office said Moon will likely receive his second dose sometime around mid-May.

South Korea launched its mass immunization program in February and plans to deliver the first doses to 12 million people through the first half of the year, including elders, front-line health workers and people in long-term care settings.

Officials aim to vaccinate more than 70 per centof the country's 51 million population by November, which they hope would meaningfully slow the virus and reduce risks of economic and social activity.

In theAmericas,Dr. Anthony Fauci is warning that a surge of coronavirus cases in Europe could foreshadow a similar surge in the United States. Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease doctor, is urging Americans to remain cautious while the nation races to vaccinate its citizens.

In an interview on ABC's Good Morning America,Faucisaidhe is "optimistic" of the vaccines' effectiveness and expressed hope that AstraZeneca's vaccine could join the arsenal of inoculations.

He deemed it an "unforced error" that the company may have used outdated data in a clinical trial, perhaps casting doubt on its effectiveness. But he says Americans should take comfort knowing the FDA would conduct an independent review before it was approved for use in the United States.

Uruguay confirmed that it had detected the presence of two coronavirus variants that originated in neighbouring Brazil as the tiny South American nation faces a spike in cases and deaths.

InAfrica,Nigeria suspended the airline Emirates from flying into or out of its territory last week after the carrier imposed additional COVID-19 test requirements on passengers from the country, the aviation minister said.

In theMiddle East, the United Arab Emirates said unvaccinated private sector workers in five industries must get a PCR test every two weeks, in a bid to encourage vaccine uptake.

-From The Associated Press and Reuters, last updated at 12:15p.m. ET

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Coronavirus: What's happening in Canada and around the world on Tuesday - CBC.ca

(March 23, 2021) Fourteen new coronavirus cases were reported on Nantucket Tuesday morning, increasing to 1,294 the total number of positive tests on the island since the pandemic began a year ago.

The results also included 111 negatives. One-hundred-three new COVID-19 cases have been reported on the island since March 1, and 27 in the past week. Health officials attributed the most recent surge to school-break-related travel. The public schools' winter break ended three weeks ago.

People ignored the travel orders and traveled anyway, Nantucket health director Roberto Santamaria said. This is the consequence of that.

Some of those who returned to the island infected with the virus then passed it on to others, he added.

"Though the people who were traveling may not be showing symptoms, they passed it on to other people, which has nowresulted in a secondary outrbeak. We must reiterate, mask orders, travel orders, social distancing, workplace orders and safety regulations are there not only to protect you, but to protect those who you come in contact with," Santamaria said.

"It is an understatement that no surge in cases is welcome. We must also recognize we are going to be particularly vulnerable in the coming weeks as the number of individuals on Nantucket climbs dramatically," Nantucket Cottage Hospital president and CEO Gary Shaw said in a statement to the community Friday.

"If the surge is not controlled it is not inconceivable that measures taken last year to stop the spread be reconsidered by the Department of Public Health, the town, and our Board of Health. Bells are ringing that we might listen and reflect on curbing behaviors that spread the virus."

Click here to read Shaw's complete statement.

The 27 new cases reported in the past week represent a 6.0 percent positivity rate.

"Our biggest line of defense is you working together with us to help prevent the spread of this heinous virus. We are in the 24th mile of a full marathon. The end is near, but we cant quit now," Santamaria said in a recent Twitter message.

There have been four COVID-19 Nantucket deaths since last March, the most recent Dec. 22, 2020, a man in his mid-80s.

The second round of Phase 2 vaccinations began in early March. Appointments for teachers, childcare workers and school staff opened March 11, and front-line workers and those over 60 March 22. The state last week rolled out its plan for vaccination of the general public, which is scheduled to begin April 19. (Click here for story.

As of Monday, 4,105 first doses and 1,483 second doses of vaccine have been administered on Nantucket.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on March 8 issued its first set of guidelines for fully-vaccinated people. Click here for more.

Free asymptomatic testing under the state's "Stop the Spread" program is administered indoors at the VFW on New South Road from 8-10 a.m. Monday-Saturday, but is limited to 75 tests per day.

Symptomatic testing is provided at the hospital's drive-through portico on Prospect Street from 7:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m. Monday through Friday.

Hospital staff have collected 28567 nasal swabs for testing since the start of the pandemic. In addition to the 1,294 positive tests 4.53 percent of the total number returned 27,261 have come back negative, and 12 are awaiting results.

The Board of Health on Dec. 11, 2020 established a COVID-19 task force to better enforce and raise awareness of coronavirus regulations (Click herefor story).

Gov. Charlie Baker late last month lifted the 9:30 p.m. statewide restaurant closing time, and in early March increased capcacity limits for restaurants, theaters, museums and other indoor locations. Additional capacity increases took effect March 22 (Click here for story).

Part-time in-class learning for Nantucket public-school students resumed Jan. 14 after being remote only since before Christmas. State officials are targetting April 5 for a full return to in-class learning for elementary-school students, and later in April for middle- and high-school students.

"I ask everyone on Nantucket to take personal responsibility and do all you can to reduce the potential for transmission in our community. That means wearing masks, staying physically distant, washing your hands, and not hosting or attending gatherings with people outside your immediate households," Shaw said recently.

"Most of all, we want our community to stay healthy, we want our economy to remain open, we want our public schools to be able to return to in-person learning. To that end, we must work together and apply the simple preventive measures that will keep this situation from spiraling out of control."

There have been 1,231 coronavirus cases confirmed on Nantucket in the past six months, beginning Sept. 9, 2020 with a spike linked to workers in the trades, followed by a second surge in late September tied to a church function in which a communal meal was shared.

A third spike in early November was again tied to workers in the trades, followed by significant surges related to holiday gatherings and travel at Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's.

Prior to Sept. 9, Nantucket had one of the lowest COVID-19 rates in the state per 100,000 population, and the fewest confirmed cases of any county in Massachusetts.

The state's current travel order requires all those entering Massachusetts from out of state, excluding Hawaii, to quarantine for two weeks or produce a negative COVID-19 test from the most recent 72 hours upon arrival. Failure to comply could result in a daily $500 fine.

The Board of Health on Oct. 6, 2020 voted to require all people on publicly-accessible property across the island to wear a mask, not just downtown and in Sconset, as was previously mandated, and limited public gatherings to 10 people or less indoors and outside

It decided in mid-November against tightening restrictions to limit the total number of workers on a job site to six in an attempt to stop the spread (Click here for story).

Nantucket Cottage Hospital does not have an intensive-care unit and only five ventilators. Shaw has said patients in need of acute respiratory care would be transferred to mainland hospitals if at all possible.

The criteria for symptomatic drive-up testing at the hospital includes at least one of the following signs or symptoms consistent with a viral respiratory syndrome: subjective/documented fever, new sore throat, new cough, new runny nose/nasal congestion, new shortness of breath, new muscle aches or anosmia (new loss of sense of smell). Close contacts of COVID-19 positive patients and pre-procedure patients can also be tested.

For more information about symptomatic and asymptomatic testing, click here.

Click hereto sign up for Above the Fold, The Inquirer and Mirrors twice-weekly newsletter, bringing you both the news and a slice of island life, curated with content created by Nantuckets only team of professionally-trained journalists.

For up-to-the-minute information on Nantuckets breaking news, boat and plane cancellations, weather alerts, sports and entertainment news, deals and promotions at island businesses and more, Sign up for Inquirer and Mirror text alerts.Click Here

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Fourteen new coronavirus cases reported on Nantucket Tuesday - The Inquirer and Mirror

Open the Government, a nonpartisan coalition seeking to make the government more transparent and accountable, issued a report on Monday about challenges to government transparency during the pandemic, particularly with Freedom of Information Act requests. Agencies such as the State Department, Office of Legal Counsel, Department of Health and Human Services, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Customs and Border Protection, Food and Drug Administration, Environmental Protection Agency, etc. blocked access to information, failing to honor expedited processing for coronavirus-related requests, even after granting the requests in the first place, said the organization. Also, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention inappropriately rejected standard FOIA requests, claiming requests were too vague or too broad in scope a recurring theme for denials.

There are several recommendations at the end of the report to reform FOIA law and encourage transparency at the agencies. Here are some of the other recent headlines from over the weekend and today that you might have missed.

AstraZeneca announced on Monday that its vaccinethat it developed with the University of Oxfordis 79% effective and there arent any safety concerns, following a large clinical trial in the United States, Chile and Peru. The company will continue to analyze the data and plans to apply for emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration in the coming weeks. The U.S. Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority and National Institutes of Health provided funding for the trial.

Several European countries recently paused their rollouts of the vaccine due to concerns of blood clots, but the European Medicines Agency determined last week the benefits outweigh the risks, Stat News reported on Monday. Also the new study did not see a specific type of clot in blood vessels near the brain that the [European Medicines Agency] said might be associated with the vaccine. However, this type of clot, called a cerebral venous sinus thrombosis, is so rare it might not be expected to occur in even a large clinical trial.

The Office of Management and Budget sent a memo to agencies on Friday on how to effectively implement the American Rescue Plan while also ensuring good stewardship of taxpayer funds. It says agencies should use existing financial transparency and accountability mechanisms established by OMB in April 2020. It also outlines actions for equity, payment integrity and compliance with oversight bodies.

Pete Buttigieg, Transportation secretary, published an article in The Wall Street Journal on Saturday about the lessons and challenges of telework during the pandemic. Im among the Americans who have learned some surprising lessons of telework: that a video meeting can be less intimate than a phone call, that not commuting to work can be strangely exhausting, and that having more time doesnt mean getting more done, he wrote. Ultimately, I learned how little of what we have to tell each other is communicated in words, even in word-heavy disciplines like politics and academia.

Tom Vilsack, Agriculture secretary, launched an agency-wide review to determine what positions could be completely virtual after the pandemic, Federal News Network reported. In a memo, obtained by the outlet, he said, the change in 2018 that severely restricted telework had significant negative impacts on employee morale and retention.

Most of President Bidens senior aides wont qualify for relief payments under the new stimulus package, according to new financial disclosures, The Associated Press reported on Saturday.

HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra brought on Kristina Schake to be counselor for strategic communications, leading the agencys public education campaign on the pandemic, Politico reported on Monday. She was previously global communications director for Instagram, communications director for former First Lady Michelle Obama and deputy communications director for Hillary Clintons 2016 presidential campaign.

Demetre Daskalakis, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention division on HIV/AIDS prevention, is taking on a newly established role to lead the agencys vaccine equity efforts, The Washington Post reported on Friday.

Following the killing of eight people last week in Georgia, including six Asian American women, Biden on Friday asked Congress to pass the COVID Hate Crimes Act. He said in a statement: While we do not yet know motive, as I said last week, we condemn in the strongest possible terms the ongoing crisis of gender-based and anti-Asian violence that has long plagued our nation. [The act] would expedite the federal governments response to the rise of hate crimes exacerbated during the pandemic, support state and local governments to improve hate crimes reporting, and ensure that hate crimes information is more accessible to Asian American communities.

Upcoming: White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki will give a briefing at 12:30 p.m.

Help us understand the situation better. Are you a federal employee, contractor or military member with information, concerns, etc. about how your agency is handling the coronavirus? Email us at newstips@govexec.com.

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Coronavirus Roundup: Transportation and Agriculture Secretaries Discuss Telework; OMB Advises Agencies on Good Stewardship of Relief Funds -...

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indias health ministry warned on Sunday that a huge gathering of devotees for a Hindu festival could send coronavirus cases surging, as the country recorded the most new infections in nearly four months.

The ministry said up to 40 people were testing positive for COVID-19 daily around the site of the weeks-long Mahakumbh that began this month and peaks in April in the Himalayan holy town of Haridwar, next to the Ganges.

The festival is held only once every 12 years. Organisers have said here more than 150 million visitors are expected, as many Hindus believe bathing in the river during this period absolves people of sins and bring salvation from the cycle of life and death.

In a letter to the state government of Uttarakhand, where Haridwar is located, the ministry told local authorities their daily coronavirus testing of 55,000 people in Haridwar was not enough given the large numbers of pilgrims expected, and that cases were already rising.

This positivity rate has the potential to rapidly turn into an upsurge in cases, given the expected large footfall during Kumbh, the ministry said in a statement, citing the letter.

Currently more than 12 states in India have shown a surge in COVID-19 cases during the past few weeks, and pilgrims expected to visit Haridwar during the Kumbh Mela could also be from these states.

Uttarakhands government says it has made mask-wearing mandatory for devotees, would distribute millions of masks for free and also keep sanitising public areas, apart from following rules laid down by the federal government.

India reported 43,846 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, with its richest state Maharashtra again accounting for about 60% of the infections.

Deaths rose by 197, the highest in more than two months, to 159,755, data from the health ministry showed.

Indias new COVID-19 cases peaked at nearly 100,000 a day in September, and had been falling steadily until late last month.

But now five states - Maharashtra, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh - account for nearly 78% of the new cases. Maharashtra, home to Indias financial capital Mumbai, alone reported 27,126 cases and 92 deaths.

As cases increase, Prime Minister Narendra Modis government has been criticised for exporting more vaccines than the number of people inoculated at home so far.

Under pressure to boost local supplies, the Serum Institute of India has told Brazil, Saudi Arabia and Morocco that shipments of further doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to them would be delayed.

India has so far donated 8 million doses and sold nearly 52 million doses to a total of 75 countries. It has administered more than 44 million doses since starting its immunisation campaign in the middle of January.

Reporting by Aftab Ahmed and Krishna N. Das; Editing by Kim Coghill

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Massive religious gathering worries India as COVID-19 cases surge - Reuters