COVID-19: Provincial & Federal Briefings - July 4 - 8, 2022
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A summary of developments from Monday, July 4, to Friday, July 8, 2022 follows.
Federal Government
Travel Measures
Last week, the Government of Canada announced it was extending current border measures for travellers entering Canada, including Temporary Foreign Workers. Requirements for travellers arriving in Canada are expected to remain in effect until at least September 30, 2022, in order to reduce the risk of the importation and transmission of COVID-19 and new variants in Canada related to international travel.
Additionally, the pause of mandatory random testing will continue at all airports until mid-July for travellers who qualify as fully vaccinated. Mandatory random testing will continue after mid-July and be conducted outside of airports.
This week the Government of Canada announced cruise ship pre-embarkation requirements.
Canadians leaving Canada by sea vessels are required to have a full vaccine schedule, with limited exemptions.
Before boarding, Canadians must also:
This is part of the rules set out by the Emergency Orders under the Quarantine Act and Interim Orders under the Canada Shipping Act to help reduce the spread of COVID-19.
Government of Canada and Air Industry Work on Reducing Congestion Airports
On July 6, the Minister of Transport Omar Alghabra, the Minister of Health Jean-Yves Duclos, the Minister of Public Safety Marco Mendicino, and the Minister of Tourism Randy Boissonnault issued a joint statement on the government’s efforts to tackle wait times and congestion at Canadian airports.
On July 4, the Minister of Transport Omar Alghabra, met with the CEO of Air Canada to discuss the current and planned actions taken by the airline to address increasing travel demands. This meeting followed similar meetings between Minister Alghabra and the CEOs of the Greater Toronto Airports Authority and WestJet last week.
Some actions taken by the Government include:
In June 202, Canada’s air departure traffic was 58 times higher than it was in spring 2020, and global travel volumes are up more than eight times. A significant number of travellers continue to face travel delays, flight cancellations, and issues with airport check-in and baggage services.
Newsletter – COVID-19 and your Business
Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) has developed a newsletter in response to a need for Canadian businesses to obtain direct information on COVID-19 updates, tools and resources, on topics such as vaccination and workplace testing. Those interested in subscribing can do so through the Canada Business App.
Information on COVID-19 from the Public Health Agency of Canada
There are a number of updated resources available on the Public Health Agency of Canada website for the public including an Outbreak Update and the COVID-19 Virtual Assistant: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19). COVID-19 information of interest include the following:
1. Individuals who are at increased risk of severe illness from COVID-19 should be offered a fall COVID-19 vaccine booster dose regardless of the number of booster doses previously received. (Strong NACI Recommendation).
2. All other individuals 12 to 64 years of age maybe offered a COVID-19 booster dose in the fall of 2022, regardless of the number of booster doses they have previously received. (Discretionary NACI Recommendation).
3. COVID-19 booster doses may be offered at an interval of 6 months since a previous COVID-19 vaccine dose or SARS-CoV-2 infection. A shorter interval of at least 3 months may be warranted in the context of heightened epidemiologic risk, as well as operational considerations for the efficient deployment of vaccine programs. (Discretionary NACI Recommendation).
NACI has committed to provide recommendations on the type of COVID-19 vaccines for booster doses in the fall as evidence on new COVID-19 vaccine formulations, including multivalent COVID-19 vaccines, becomes available.
COVID-19 Data Trends
The Canadian COVID-19 statistics were last updated on Monday, July 4.
In the week prior to July 4, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) reported 16,489 new COVID-19 cases, and 109 new deaths in Canada: bringing the cumulative total of cases to 3,932,523 and a total of 41,756 deaths.
Ontario
Ontario’s chief medical officer, Dr. Kieran Moore told CBC News that Ontario has entered its seventh COVID-19 wave. According to the province’s science table, test positivity is above 10 per cent for the first time since May, with wastewater signals rising across the province. Further, Ontario is seeing its first increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations since May.
This wave is driven by the BA.5 sub-variant, which has been rising slowly since early June but has more recently taken off, and becoming a dominant strain. Approximately 60 per cent of current confirmed cases are a result of the BA.5 sub-variant.
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The province can likely expect another four to five weeks in this wave, and infections are expected to increase over the next 10 days before beginning to slow. Dr. Moore indicated that the province may ask Ontarians to wear masks indoors in the fall and may mandate masks if health system capacity becomes an issue.
The Ontario science table group said the current evidence does not suggest BA.5 is more severe than strains that drove previous waves or that it will lead to the level of hospitalizations seen at earlier points in the pandemic.
COVID-19 Data Trends
The COVID-19 statistics for Ontario were last updated on Thursday, July 7.
As of Thursday, there were 741 people with COVID-19 in hospitals. That's up from 605 at the same time last week. Of those patients, 110 were being treated in intensive care.
Over the course of the last seven days, the estimated number of daily COVID-19 cases was 1,154, up from 942 cases for the same time last week. Another 35 Ontarians with COVID-19 died in the last seven days.
Currently, 90.5% of Ontarians, aged 5 or older have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 87.3% have received both doses. In addition, 62.1% of people aged 18 or older are vaccinated with three doses.
Quebec
Minister of Health and Social Services Christian Dubé held a press conference on July 7, 2022 to provide an update on COVID-19. He was joined by Dr. Luc Boileau, National Director of Public Health.
Minister Dubé said the province has entered its seventh wave of COVID-19, but no new restrictions are coming. Quebecers need to live with the virus.
Minister Dubé explained that the situation is under control for the moment, but he is urging residents remain vigilant and be cautious to minimize the spread of the COVID-19 virus, especially among those most vulnerable or at risk of complications.
Minister Dubé said that isolating when sick and keeping up to date on vaccinations are key to curbing this latest surge of the virus and protecting the most vulnerable members of the community, including the elderly and those with weakened immune systems. Dr. Boileau reminded the public to isolate for five days once symptoms appear. After that, infected people should wear a face mask for another five days during any social interaction.
Once again, Dr. Boileau and Minister Dubé asked people who are over the age of 60, who are immunocompromised or who have chronic illnesses to get a fourth COVID-19 vaccine dose if it's been at least three months since their third vaccine. The Health Ministry has prepared a chart to help people decide (French only) if and when they should get vaccinated again.
Dr. Boileau predicted that this new wave will be short-lived. He explained that the spread of the virus should taper down in July. He did indicate that current projections on the evolution of the seventh wave remain uncertain and noted that public health officials are monitoring the situation very carefully.
In responding to media questions, Dr. Boileau highlighted the prevalence of subvariants of the Omicron strain of the coronavirus, BA.4 and BA.5. He explained that while the two subvariants are proving to be more contagious, they don't appear at this time to be more virulent than previous variants. Dr. Boileau explained that the virulence of new COVID strains bring back more public health measures. If there's a variant that shows that it's a deadly one, then it will certainly reintroduce public health measures.
Santé Québec reported 11,051 new cases with 74 virus-related deaths in the last 7 days. There was a net weekly increase of 255 hospitalizations, bringing the total number of people being treated in hospital with the virus to 1,549. There was also a net decrease of 1 patient in intensive care in the last 7 days, bringing the total to 41.
More than 20.3 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 55% their third dose while 15% of the total eligible people have received their fourth vaccine dose.
Alberta
The Calgary Stampede returned for the first time in two years since the start of the pandemic this year. The 10-day celebration was cancelled for the first time in its 112-year history in 2020 and only came back last year with the implementation of mandatory rapid COVID-19 tests upon entry, limits on the number of people able to attend, and physical distancing guidelines. In the wake of last year’s scaled down events, City News Calgary reports that the Federal Government contributed 12 million dollars to the Calgary stampede to support Alberta’s tourism sector in the wake of nation wide lockdowns.
The province released updated COVID-19 statistics this week. As of July 6, 2022, based on a 7-day average, there have been 1,124 new cases reported, 568 people in hospital, and 21 people in intensive care. There have been 4,636 total deaths in Alberta. The 7-day average positivity rate is 14.95%. 90.6% of the population 12 years of age and older has been vaccinated with 1 dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. 87.2% of the population 12 years of age and older is vaccinated with 2 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine. 8,909,619 vaccine doses in total have been administrated in Alberta as of July 4.
British Columbia
The province released updated COVID-19 statistics this week. As of July 2 on a 7-day average, there have been 765 new cases reported. 369 people are currently hospitalized, of which 36 are in critical care. There have been 24 new deaths this week as of July 2. 12,104 new tests were completed this week, and the average testing rate for this week is 1,729 per 100,000.
According to COVID-19 Tracker Canada, 12,074,608 COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in the province as of this week in total. 86.693% of all people in British Columbia have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 84.014% of all people in British Columbia have received at least two doses. Only 53.219% of all people in British Columbia are vaccinated with a third dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
In a news release from July 7, the British Columbia government announced that 84 First Nations and local governments will receive provincial emergency-preparedness funding to help improve emergency operations centres (EOCs) and better equip them to respond to emergencies affecting the people in their communities. A total of 189 million dollars will be invested in emergency response. In the wake of emergency response worker shortages and hospital capacity issues due to COVID-19, funding designed to help mitigate and prepare for health and physical disasters (such as climate-related emergencies) is all the more important.
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