Rising coronavirus infections expose a frayed Canadian response

The number of COVID-19 infections in Canada is climbing to record highs, prompting governments in some parts of the country affected by the coronavirus to impose new restrictions, while others cling to reopening plans that they hope will save their economies.

British Columbia has enacted two weeks of sweeping Lower Mainland restrictions, including a ban on home gatherings of any size, while Manitoba has expanded its “red zone” restrictions and the Peel region, west of Toronto, has implement the strictest COVID-19 Rules in Ontario.

Peel’s health officer of health announced the changes, which include closing banquet halls and banning wedding receptions until next year, the same day Prime Minister Doug Ford’s government eased restrictions in the regions. that meet the virus control goals that some infectious disease physicians and epidemiologists have warned are too lax.

Explanation: How many coronavirus cases are there in Canada, by province and in the world? The latest maps and charts

Is my city returning to the block? A guide to COVID-19 rules across Canada

COVID-19 news: pandemic updates and essential resources

The autumn resurgence of the pandemic has highlighted a gap between politicians willing to order the partial closure of businesses and those, such as Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, who have instead appealed to individual citizens to control the virus through good behavior volunteer.

But neither approach produced a sustained decline in new cases. Every province from Quebec to British Columbia reported record or near-record cases of just one day over the weekend. At the same time, doctors in hot spots say the rising tide of COVID-19 infections is putting a strain on hospitals and leading to more outbreaks in nursing homes.

The Manitoba government has promised an independent investigation into two private long-term care homes in Winnipeg that have seen COVID-19 outbreaks, one of which had to call paramedics to help deal with sick and dying residents.

“We’re in a world of pain,” said Anand Kumar, a Winnipeg ICU and infectious disease physician on Sunday, after Manitoba announced 441 new cases, the second-highest one day. “We’ve been pushed pretty hard now. If we see an average of 450 [daily cases] for a week or two we will be overloaded. They will scream for help. “

Canada is now recording an average of 44 deaths from COVID-19 per day, the highest since the second wave began, but significantly less than the spring peak.

In Quebec, where restaurants, bars, gyms and indoor theaters have been closed in some regions since late September, 1,397 new record cases were reported on Sunday, the fifth consecutive day of counts exceeding 1,000.

Ontario also reported the highest number of cases on Sunday, with 1,328 new cases, most of them in the Greater Toronto Area. Canada’s most populous province has recorded an average of 1,064 cases per day in the past week, more than double the average at the peak of the first wave, when testing was limited.

“We all looked at this with trepidation,” said Sumon Chakrabarti, an infectious disease physician at Trillium Health Partners, a hospital network in Mississauga.

Dr Chakrabarti said his biggest concern is that the number of new COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations and deaths in GTA increased gradually through October and early November, despite the province having closed restaurants outside. indoor, gyms and most indoor sports in Ottawa, Peel and Toronto starting October 9 and a week later in the York region.

Rather than extending the set of restrictions known as “modified phase 2”, the Ontario government last week unveiled a new color-coded facility that allowed a limited amount of indoor meals, drinks and exercise to resume on Saturday. Ottawa and York region.

The province accepted Toronto’s request to stay in the modified Phase 2 for another week.

The provincial government refused a similar request from Peel Medical Officer of Health Lawrence Loh, who responded by issuing their own policies. “The reality is that COVID-19 is rapidly spiraling out of control in the Peel region,” Dr. Loh said in an interview Sunday. “Regardless of what’s open or closed out there, everyone needs to limit their close contact to their immediate family and essential support.”

The worst situation in Peel is the city of Brampton, where the positive test rate is now 11% and its weekly rate of new cases is 170 per 100,000. On Sunday, two local hospitals, run by William Osler Health System, were treating 54 confirmed and 37 suspected COVID-19 patients. Hospitals have had to transfer more than 20 patients to other GTA hospitals to make room.

“The fact that we have appealed to our entire region for help hardly ever happens,” said Naveed Mohammad, president and chief executive of William Osler.

Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown said the main source of outbreaks in his hometown are industrial environments such as food processing plants, warehouses and manufacturing plants. Workers often carry the virus home to large multigenerational families, he added.

“The real support and resources we need are not yet getting,” he said. “We have a pending application for over a month now for an isolation center and we don’t.”

Thierry Bélair, spokesman for Federal Health Minister Patty Hajdu, said the minister’s office has worked with Peel’s public health officials and “can confirm that the federal government will fund the opening of a self-isolation site with 6, 5 million dollars “.

In British Columbia, where the COVID-19 positivity rate reached 4.9%, provincial health officer Bonnie Henry held a rare press conference over the weekend to discuss the “dangerously high and rapid increase in COVID cases. -19 “and announce a series of new, limited-time orders destined for the Lower Continent.

Effective immediately, residents of the most affected Vancouver Coastal and Fraser Health Regions must not hold social gatherings with anyone outside their immediate families, indoors or outdoors, even if people living alone can still maintain one. or two close contacts. Funeral and wedding receptions, group physical activities such as spinning classes, yoga and indoor sports where physical distances cannot be maintained, and party buses and limousines are all suspended.

Bars and restaurants are allowed to remain open as long as they “religiously” follow COVID-19 safety precautions, Dr. Henry said, but the ban on social gatherings applies to these establishments.

Dr. Henry highly recommends, even if he does not order, only essential travel in or out of the two health regions.

Alberta, which recorded a record of 919 new cases on Saturday and 727 on Sunday and has among the highest rates of new infections, active cases and hospitalizations in the country, has refused to implement similar restrictions.

The 15-person limit on meetings in place in Calgary and Edmonton was extended last week to other communities with high rates of infection, but the province continues to rely on voluntary measures. This includes Mr. Kenney asking Calgary and Edmonton residents to stop holding social gatherings at home.

“We have seen other jurisdictions that indiscriminately violate people’s rights and destroy livelihoods,” Kenney said Friday. “Nobody wants that to happen here in Alberta.”

With reports from The Canadian Press

Subscribe to Coronavirus Update Newsletter to read the day’s essential coronavirus news, reports, and explainers written by Globe reporters and editors.