USA

Wednesday April 7, 2021

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday April 7, 2021

So tired of the Pandemic

November 27, 2020

Folks, just because you’re legally allowed to go into malls doesn’t mean that you should go into malls — especially not for the purpose of “doing a little wander around” and leaving without shopping bags.

I mean, if you’re going to literally risk your life by entering the jam-packed Yorkdale Shopping Centre or Eaton Centre amid a pandemic, you should at the very least stimulate the economy while you’re at it.

This is just common sense, or so it appears to be in the eyes of Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who on Tuesday went off on the many people who flocked to malls in and around Toronto this past weekend, as they were fully permitted to do under existing lockdown rules.

As many on Twitter are now pointing out in the wake of Ford’s comments, consumers weren’t necessarily being irresponsible on purpose by going to malls this weekend: Current shutdown rules still permit shopping centres to operate at 25 per cent capacity. (blogTO)  

April 1, 2021

Meanwhile, more than 30,000 people attended the Texas Rangers home opener Monday against the Toronto Blue Jays, in the first major, full-capacity sporting event in the U.S. in more than a year.

The Rangers announced a sellout crowd of 38,283 tickets sold for their 2021 home debut at Globe Life Field in Arlington, where Toronto scored a 6-2 victory.

Masks are mandated inside the new ballpark, though pictures from Monday’s game showed many spectators not wearing them.

One noted fan not in attendance Monday was Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who declined to throw the ceremonial first pitch because Major League Baseball moved its All-Star Game out of Atlanta in protest of Georgia’s move to restrict voter access.

The $1.2 billion Arlington stadium, which has a retractable roof and a listed capacity of 40,518, was the site of 30 Rangers homes games in 2020, a truncated campaign that did not allow fans inside. (NBC)  

July 18, 2020

Meanwhile, a Leamington restaurant is defying the provincial COVID-19 shutdown orders and remaining open for in-person dining.

Kristy Leathem, the owner of Family Kitchen at 73 Erie Street South, says her doors have been open for dine-in restaurant during regular business hours since February.

“If Walmart down the street can remain open at 50 per cent capacity why can’t I?” said Leathem.

Her establishment has a capacity for 100 people, but Tuesday morning she said she had about 50 customers.

She says she is not planning on exceeding capacity rules at 50 per cent, but wants a more even playing field when it comes to rules for the shutdown.

Ontario issued a province-wide emergency brake shutdown on Thursday. Under the new rules, restaurants are prohibited from in-person dining and are allowed to be open for takeout and delivery only. (CTV)  

March 11, 2021

Meanwhile, Ontario is reporting 3,065 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, bringing the provincial total to 367,602.

Tuesday’s case count is higher than Monday’s which saw 2,938 new infections. On Sunday, 3,041 new cases were recorded and 3,009 on Saturday.

According to Tuesday’s provincial report, 955 cases were recorded in Toronto, 561 in Peel Region, 320 in York Region, 165 in Ottawa, 132 in Niagara Region, 128 in Hamilton, 119 in Halton Region and 101 in Durham Region.

All other local public health units reported fewer than 100 new cases in the provincial report.

The death toll in the province has risen to 7,458 as eight more deaths were recorded. (Global) 

 

Wednesday March 17, 2021

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday March 17, 2021

The Colorado attack is the 7th mass shooting in 7 days in the US

The mass shooting at a supermarket in Boulder, Colorado, on Monday took place less than a week after eight people were killed in a series of attacks on spas in Atlanta.

The two incidents are likely to spur discussion about gun control legislation in the United States, where firearm deaths are tragically common.

They are also among at least seven mass shootings in the past week across the United States — including three incidents on Saturday alone.

CNN defines a mass shooting as: a shooting incident which results in four or more casualties (dead or wounded) excluding the shooter(s).

Tuesday, March 16, Atlanta, Georgia: Eight people, including six Asian women, were killed when a White gunman stormed three spas, police said.

Wednesday, March 17, Stockton, California: Five people who were preparing a vigil in Stockton, in California’s Central Valley, were shot in a drive-by shooting, the San Joaquin Sheriff’s Department said. None had life-threatening injuries.

July 25, 2018

Thursday, March 18, Gresham, Oregon: Four victims were taken to the hospital after a shooting in the city east of Portland, police said in an initial report.

Saturday, March 20, Houston, Texas: Five people were shot after a disturbance inside a club, according to police. One was in critical condition after being shot in the neck, the rest were in stable condition, according to CNN affiliate KPRC.

Saturday, March 20, Dallas, Texas: Eight people were shot by an unknown assailant, one of whom died, according to police.

Saturday, March 20, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: One person was killed and another five were injured during a shooting at an illegal party, CNN affiliate KYW reported. “There were at least 150 people in there that fled and believed they had to flee for their lives,” Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said.

Monday, March 22, Boulder, Colorado: Ten people, including a Boulder police officer, were killed in a shooting at the King Soopers supermarket, according to police.

It’s unclear how this number of mass shootings compares to an average week in the US.

Though some official gun violence data is available, the US federal government does not have a centralized system or database to track firearm incidents and mass shootings nationwide. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which tracks some gun violence data, nearly 40,000 people were killed in incidents involving firearms in 2019. (CNN) 

 

Saturday March 20, 2021

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday March 20, 2021

Biden Takes First Jab At Vaccine Diplomacy, Sharing Doses With Mexico, Canada

Under pressure to share AstraZeneca vaccine doses not yet being used to inoculate Americans, the Biden administration is finalizing plans to loan millions of doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to Mexico and Canada. It’s a first foray into vaccine diplomacy for the Biden administration, weeks after global competitors China and Russia began using vaccine doses to exert influence.

March 13, 2021

The U.S. government has contracts to buy hundreds of millions more vaccine dosesthan there are people living here, but with most of those doses not yet delivered and Americans still struggling to get vaccination appointments, the Biden administration has so far focused on making sure Americans get vaccinated first. 

While AstraZeneca’s vaccine has been approved for use in many other countries, including Mexico and Canada, it still hasn’t been given emergency use authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. So, the White House announced it is working through the technicalities to loan 2.5 million doses to Mexico and 1.5 million doses to Canada from its stockpile of 7 million doses. 

“This action will allow our neighbors to meet a critical vaccination need in their countries, providing more protection immediately across the North American continent,” said Jeff Zients, White House coronavirus coordinator.

February 9, 2017

While the United States has vaccinated more than 12% of its population according to Johns Hopkins data, Canada has vaccinated only 1.7% of its population and Mexico only 0.5%.

Zients said the loans will be repaid through dose deliveries from AstraZeneca later in the year. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said many countries have asked to borrow from the stockpile, but said it’s not yet clear whether other requests may be granted.

After briefly pausing vaccinations with AstraZeneca in Europe due to concerns about blood clots developing, health officials there this week announced they believe the vaccine to be safe and effective and resumed administering the vaccine. (NPR) 

 

Saturday March 13, 2021

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday March 13, 2021

Where should U.S. vaccine production go next? Canada and Mexico, says one lawmaker

News Tuesday that the United States is racing ahead to mass-vaccination against COVID-19 months faster than expected is a big deal not only for Americans but could also have implications for Canada, which has so far been prevented from importing U.S.-made vaccines.

January 26, 2021

U.S. President Joe Biden tweeted Tuesday that the U.S. should have enough vaccines for all Americans by the end of May, two months sooner than the previously announced target.

So, where will massive American production volumes shift next?

One U.S. lawmaker’s suggestion: Canada and Mexico. 

Vicente Gonzalez, a member of the House of Representatives, says the U.S. must make it a priority to ship vaccines across the border to its neighbours once Americans are inoculated.

The Texas Democrat says he’s looking forward to when the U.S. can ease up on an export ban that has prevented foreign shipments of doses produced in the country.

June 4, 2020

Biden’s administration, like the Trump administration before it, has blocked exports and rebuffed requests from Canada and Mexico for supplies.

“The borders are closed in my district,” the Democratic lawmaker, whose district sits along part of the U.S.-Mexico border, told CNN Monday.

“Mexican nationals with visas who normally travel here or own second homes [or] come and do business here are not allowed across the border right now.

“So, we definitely need to immunize our friends across the border at some point, once we’re finished doing it here in our country.”

November 12, 2018

Gonzalez said the U.S. will only truly recover from the pandemic when its neighbours are safe, too.

“I think we have five vaccines for every American, so we certainly have some extra vaccines that we could share with other countries — especially somebody like Mexico or Canada, who we do a lot of business with … where a lot of commerce and tourism flow on a regular basis,” Gonzalez said in the interview. 

“So we don’t live in this world, isolated. It’s a global community, and certainly, North America is a very tight-knit community. We have relatives on both sides of the border, we do business on both sides of the border, whether it’s Canada or Mexico.”

Gonzalez’s comments point to a question that will only intensify over the coming months about what happens to the big production capacity within the United States once export bans are lifted on plants such as Pfizer’s in Michigan and Moderna’s in New England.

The United States has vaccinated residents at quadruple the rate of Canada. Biden has said in the past that there should be enough vaccines for all Americans by the end of July before revising that to late May on Tuesday.

That puts the U.S. schedule several months ahead of Canada’s. (CBC)

Sketch of America saving Canada’s bacon

 

Thursday March 11, 2021

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday March 11, 2021

Vaccination passports: a long, tortuous road

Prepare for the next COVID-19 controversy: vaccine passports. The idea that vaccine, or immunity, passports will need to be developed and implemented manifests in two major ways. They can be loosely defined as domestic and international.

January 9, 2021

For the purpose of international travel, Canada won’t have much choice but to adopt vaccine passports. Countries around the world have already started down this road, including Israel and several European countries. Denmark and Sweden announced last month they are developing digital passports. President of the European Commissions Ursula von der Leyen tweeted March 1 that a proposed “Digital Green Pass” would help EU citizens move around safely. The pass will include a record of vaccination, or failing that of a negative COVID-19 test.

And Canadian airlines are already asking for the government to make vaccine passports part of the plan for reopening international travel.

September 19, 2020

So Canada needs to decide, and fairly soon, if it wants to be part of this worldwide movement. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has expressed misgivings. He worries, as do many, about the potential of some people being unfairly and unintentionally targeted, such as people who cannot be vaccinated for reasons of immunosuppression. Others worry the passport may stigmatize those who, for whatever reason, choose not to get vaccinated. 

These are legitimate concerns, which is why this subject will only become more contentious over the coming weeks and months. Notwithstanding Trudeau’s concerns, Health Minister Patti Hajdu has said the government is having “very live” discussions with international partners. All things being equal, some form of international travel vaccine passport is pretty much inevitable, and those who don’t have one won’t be travelling. 

October 8, 2020

The contentiousness only gets thicker when you consider how this will apply domestically. Will provincial governments want proof of vaccination for interprovincial travel? That is relatively easy to police through airports, but what about land crossings? Given the Constitution guarantees Canadians freedom of movement, not just those vaccinated, how long until a legal challenge is launched? Might some provinces simply say you are not welcome unless you are vaccinated? (The likely answer is yes — look at the Maritime bubble.)

October 15, 2020

It’s not just about travel, either. Consider major events. Will those organizing football, hockey, basketball, concerts and graduations and the like want a virus-free environment? The only way to ensure that is through record of vaccination. So is someone who isn’t vaccinated precluded from attending?

Consider it at the individual level. If you are making a reservation with friends at your favourite restaurant, surely you are entitled to ask if the restaurant has restrictions for unvaccinated patrons. Even though you are protected, you could still carry the virus and pass it to unprotected people, such as your unvaccinated parents, friends and kids. 

Consider small to medium-sized businesses, already struggling through pandemic restrictions. At some, vaccinated patrons may demand proof of safe passage. If five per cent of the business’s customers refuse vaccination, will the business have to write off their business? Can they afford to do that given the financial pressure they are already under?

It’s headache-inducing. If everyone who can safely be vaccinated is, the problem will be dramatically reduced. But we know that isn’t likely to happen, that even with vaccine hesitancy reduced, a percentage of the population will stubbornly refuse. How the rest of us relate and interact with those people poses new and thorny challenges. (Hamilton Spectator Editorial)