COVID-19 live updates: Last chance to find COVID origins says WHO; U.S. to open border with Canada in early November; QR code vaccination app now available

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Nathan Martin

Publishing date:

Oct 13, 2021  •  12 minutes ago  •  8 minute read  •  Join the conversation

This file photo taken on Feb. 16, 2020 shows a doctor looking at an image as he checks a patient who is infected by the COVID-19 at the Wuhan Red Cross Hospital in Wuhan, China. A classified U.S. intelligence report delivered to the White House on Aug. 24, 2021 was inconclusive on the origins of the pandemic, in part due to a lack of information from China.
This file photo taken on Feb. 16, 2020 shows a doctor looking at an image as he checks a patient who is infected by the COVID-19 at the Wuhan Red Cross Hospital in Wuhan, China. A classified U.S. intelligence report delivered to the White House on Aug. 24, 2021 was inconclusive on the origins of the pandemic, in part due to a lack of information from China. Photo by STR/AFP

COVID-19 news happens rapidly, we have created this file to keep you up-to-date on all the latest stories and information on the outbreak in and around Edmonton.

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What’s happening now

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Share your COVID-19 stories

As Alberta grapples with a fourth wave of COVID-19 at the start of another school year, we’re looking to hear your stories on this evolving situation.

  • Have you or a loved one had a surgery rescheduled or cancelled in recent weeks?
  • Are you someone who has decided to get vaccinated after previously being skeptical of the vaccines?
  • Have you changed your mind about sending your children back to school in person?
  • Have you enrolled your children in a private school due to COVID-19?
  • Are you a frontline health-care worker seeing new strains on the health system?
    Send us your stories via email at edm-feedback@postmedia.com

9:00 a.m.

WHO says it may be ‘last chance’ to find COVID origins

Reuters

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People wearing protective clothing and masks arrive at Hankou Railway Station in Wuhan, to board one of the first trains leaving the city in China’s central Hubei province, April 8, 2020.
People wearing protective clothing and masks arrive at Hankou Railway Station in Wuhan, to board one of the first trains leaving the city in China’s central Hubei province, April 8, 2020. Photo by HECTOR RETAMAL /AFP via Getty Images / Files

GENEVA — The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday that its newly formed advisory group on dangerous pathogens may be “our last chance” to determine the origins of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and called for cooperation from China.

Maria van Kerkhove, WHO technical lead on COVID-19, voiced hope that there would be further WHO-led international missions to China which required its cooperation. Reports of China doing tests for antibodies present in Wuhan residents in 2019 will be “absolutely critical” to understand the virus origins, she said.

Mike Ryan, WHO’s top emergency expert, told the news conference that it may be the last chance to establish the origin of SARS-CoV-2, “a virus that has stopped our whole world.”

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Tuesday

U.S. to open border with Canada starting in early November

Reuters

The international border crossing between Canada and the United States at the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, Ont.
The international border crossing between Canada and the United States at the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, Ont. Photo by Nick Brancaccio/Postmedia/File

The United States will open its border with Canada to vaccinated Canadians starting in early November, three U.S. lawmakers said on Tuesday.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has confirmed the plans, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Tuesday.

The office of New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand said the United States had decided to allow fully vaccinated travellers from Canada and Mexico to come into the United States for non-essential travel through all ports of entry.

Canada on Aug. 9 began allowing fully vaccinated U.S. visitors into the country for non-essential travel.

The border closures with Canada, which have been in place for 19 months to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, have hit border communities hard and U.S. lawmakers have been pushing the White House to lift restrictions since March 2020.

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Tuesday

Opposition calls for all-party committee to examine Alberta’s COVID-19 response

Ashley Joannou

NDP Leader Rachel Notley says the NDP will bring forward a proposal to establish an all-party committee that would seek to deliver justice and accountability for the UCP government’s management of the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2021.
NDP Leader Rachel Notley says the NDP will bring forward a proposal to establish an all-party committee that would seek to deliver justice and accountability for the UCP government’s management of the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2021. Photo by David Bloom /Postmedia

Alberta’s NDP opposition wants a committee made up of politicians from both sides of the aisle and independent MLAs to investigate the government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

At a press conference Tuesday, NDP Leader Rachel Notley said Opposition house leader Christina Gray will be introducing a motion on the first day of the fall sitting, which is expected to be Oct. 25, to establish an all-party committee to conduct a comprehensive review of Alberta’s COVID-19 response.

“The powers of the committee would be broad,” Notley said. “They would be allowed to compel political, public service, and third party witnesses and compel documents to be released from government ministries.”

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Premier Jason Kenney and house leader Jason Nixon said Tuesday that a review of the government’s response will happen eventually but that now is not the time.

Alberta has struggled during the fourth wave of the pandemic with high case numbers overwhelming the health-care system, leading to requests for military relief on the ground as well as the cancellation of thousands of surgeries.

“We have heard reports of people being forced to wait to have brain tumours removed, to wait for kidney transplants, and we know that more than 800 children have had critical pediatric surgeries cancelled or delayed,” Notley said.

“I’ve travelled to all corners of this province and the message has been the same: The UCP government has failed and it is Albertans who are paying the price with these failures.”

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Tuesday

Nearly 50 Alberta schools have COVID-19 outbreaks as staff tasked with contact tracing

Eva Ferguson

With nearly 50 school outbreaks across Alberta, staff are being tasked with most of the workaround contact tracing after the province reinstated the protocol starting this week.

But the Alberta Teachers’ Association says the phased-in approach will be highly problematic as principals and other school administrators again take on additional work they don’t have enough supports for.

“If you’re going to have contact tracing being done by schools starting today — and this is one thing they don’t need to be doing, they’ve got a myriad of things to do right now — then we need supports,” said ATA president Jason Schilling.

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The ATA is demanding more funding to hire additional staff, such as administrators or substitute teachers, to help with contact tracing and ensuring students are not exposed to positive cases of COVID-19.

Children aged five to 11 continue to be the demographic with the highest case counts in Alberta, hitting an average of 50 cases per 100,000 last week, according to AHS.

“We need to find a better way to make this contact tracing transition smoother until AHS can begin,” Schilling added.

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Tuesday

Digital app using QR code to prove COVID-19 vaccination status now available in Alberta

Lisa Johnson

Premier Jason Kenney listens during a COVID-19 update announcing the availability of a government-supported verification app to check proof of vaccination with a QR code during a press conference in Edmonton, on Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2021.
Premier Jason Kenney listens during a COVID-19 update announcing the availability of a government-supported verification app to check proof of vaccination with a QR code during a press conference in Edmonton, on Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2021. Photo by Ian Kucerak /Postmedia

Alberta businesses can now download a verification app to scan proof of COVID-19 vaccinations with a digital QR code.

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As of Tuesday, the AB COVID Records Verifier app is available to download through Apple and Android devices so businesses can scan a QR code to verify vaccination status as part of the province’s vaccine passport program.

Premier Jason Kenney said Tuesday the vaccine passport, or restriction exemption program, along with incentives and public health measures, have had a “real positive impact,” on COVID-19 numbers, and said the program could be in place until at least the first quarter of 2022.

“It was about ensuring Albertans who choose to protect themselves and others can safely do as many things as possible without public health restrictions,” said Kenney. As of Nov. 15, the scannable QR code will be the only acceptable proof of vaccination, and other records, including paper records or a screenshot, will be obsolete.

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Alberta reported 3,358 COVID-19 cases over the long weekend, including 1,085 new cases on Friday, 1,039 new cases on Saturday, 628 on Sunday, and 606 on Monday. Of the 1,053 COVID-19 patients currently in hospital, 242 Albertans are in intensive care. There are 15,295 active cases in Alberta.

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Tuesday

The Canadian Press

Parents concerned about COVID-19 spread in schools, support mask mandates: survey

A newly released Canada-wide survey shows most parents say they are concerned about the spread of COVID-19 in schools.
A newly released Canada-wide survey shows most parents say they are concerned about the spread of COVID-19 in schools. Photo by Leonhard Foeger /REUTERS

The majority of respondents in a newly released Canada-wide survey say they are concerned about the spread of COVID-19 in schools and want children and staff to wear masks.The survey by the Canadian Hub for Applied and Social Research at the University of Saskatchewan was done by phone between Sept. 3 and Sept. 28. It asked 1,000 people about any worries in sending kids to school and their thoughts on what public health orders should be in place.Most respondents (89 per cent) said they were vaccinated. Of those with children 12 and older who are eligible to get a dose, 81 per cent said their kids were also vaccinated.“Those who are vaccinated are more likely to have kids who are vaccinated and want to see the kids in the schools and staff wearing masks,” said research director Jason Disano.Parents have been watching closely as children returned to classrooms across the country during the fourth wave of the pandemic.

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Tuesday

Reuters

Moderna, J&J push for COVID-19 vaccine boosters ahead of FDA meeting

Vials with Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine labels are seen in this illustration picture taken March 19, 2021.
Vials with Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine labels are seen in this illustration picture taken March 19, 2021. Photo by Dado Ruvic /REUTERS

Moderna Inc and Johnson & Johnson on Tuesday said that U.S. regulators should authorize booster shots of their COVID-19 vaccines, citing data that showed waning effectiveness of both over time.

The comments were released in briefing documents by the companies ahead of a meeting of the FDA’s outside expert advisers on Thursday and Friday to discuss booster doses of the vaccines.

Moderna Inc cited data supporting the public health benefit of a booster dose and made a case for an U.S. authorization of the shot in adults aged 65 and over as well as high-risk individuals.

The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is currently offered as a booster dose in the United States and available to people aged 65 and older as well as to those who are at high risk of severe disease or are regularly exposed to the virus.

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Letter of the day

Voter isn’t undecided, he just doesn’t like any of the choices. (Cartoon by Malcolm Mayes)
Voter isn’t undecided, he just doesn’t like any of the choices. (Cartoon by Malcolm Mayes)

Confusing instructions on mail-in ballots

I voted in the municipal election by special ballot. The instructions say to use a black or blue ballpoint pen to mark the ballot. Right beside these instructions is a picture of a hand filling in the oval. Unfortunately, the hand is clearly holding a pencil. A red pencil. Can’t miss it.

I emailed Elections Edmonton and pointed out that they can expect to receive many special ballots marked in pencil. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words, not to mention that normally when voting at a poll you mark the ballot with the pencil provided. I asked if special ballots marked in pencil would be accepted. They replied that such ballots would be rejected. Considering how misleading the instructions are, it is completely undemocratic to reject these ballots. This problem needs to be addressed before the election on Oct. 18.

Jane Trotter, Edmonton

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