A week of encouraging development of the Coronavirus pandemic in Canada

I vaguely felt guilty this week when I went to a sports complex in suburban Ottawa for my vaccination. As I write this, only 19 percent of Canadians shared my experience and just before my vaccination day arrives, tens of thousands of vaccinations have been canceled in Manitoba and Ontario.

My appointment was also during the same week in which there was frightening and discouraging news regarding the pandemic and the vaccines that promised to repel it. Canada has set a record for new daily cases, and there is at least one forecast that is going to be even worse.

In a symbolic moment, Canada, on average, drew new cases per capita ahead of the United States. Moderna cut off the delivery of its vaccine to Canada and other countries, while the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which was yet to arrive in Canada, came under safety control.

Emergencies in many parts of the country, especially in Ontario, are reaching their breaking points, as well as intensive care units. In an effort to alleviate the tension, children’s hospitals in Ottawa and Toronto have opened their ICU beds for adults.

The numbers are terrible. By Friday, the average of seven days to Canada daily was 8,600; hospitalizations increased by 22 percent; Admission to the ICU increased by 34 percent; and every day 41 people died from Covid-19, an increase of 38 percent over the previous week.

Many factors are behind the increasing numbers. Among them is the arrival of more contagious variants of the virus. An outbreak of P.1, the variant first found in Brazil, spread from Whistler across British Columbia and then into Alberta. Manitoba unveiled its first case of the variant this week. In Ontario, the B.1.1.7 variant that initially appeared in Britain is the concern; according to a projection released Friday, the province could be destroyed daily with 10,000 new cases.

But behavior also plays a role. Numbers may occur in Atlantic Canada, but because the region has maintained the strictest pandemic restrictions in the country, it is now escaping the level of outbreak seen in Ontario and elsewhere.

After a scientific advisory council in Ontario presented its grim prediction on Friday, Doug Ford, the province’s premier, said he would close the borders with Manitoba and Quebec, playgrounds, golf courses, basketball courts and other outdoor sports facilities, with a variety of others, close. measures. Police are also on hand to stop and interrogate people to determine if their travels outside the home are necessary.

“I know you are all sick and tired of Covid-19,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Friday when he urged Canadians to abide by their provincial rules. “We all just want to be done with this.”

The news about this week’s vaccines was more mixed. The canceled vaccination appointments that made me feel guilty were caused by the delay in shipping Moderna’s plants in Switzerland and Spain. That situation got worse on Friday. The federal government said that due to the shortage of labor and materials, Moderna would shorten an upcoming shipment of 1.2 million doses by 650,000.

Earlier this week, the United States suspended the use of Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose vaccine due to concerns that it could be linked to a rare but serious blood clotting disorder. Canada expects its first shipment of the vaccine on April 27 – 300,000 doses -.

My colleagues Denise Grady and Carl Zimmer investigated the blood clotting risk that the vaccine as well as the AstraZeneca vaccine may pose. Their conclusion: if there is a risk, it is low.

[Read: J & J Vaccine and Blood Clots: The Risks, if Any, Are Very Low]

But perhaps it all compensates with the announcement of Mr. Trudeau that Pfizer will sell another eight million doses of the vaccine he developed with BioNTech to Canada, half of which will arrive next month and all of which will arrive by the end of July. The company will also ship purchases earlier. That could all mean all Canadian adults got at least one shot by July, the prime minister said.

I discussed my vaccine appointment the first day that Ontario is eligible for vaccination for people over 60 years of age. So do many other people. So it took me three tries, the last one of which had some patient observation of a stick figure next to a progress bar on the screen.

But the process itself was remarkably smooth. Like many things in the pandemic, there were some do-it-yourself initiatives at the Ottawa Public Health Clinic, where I saw my chance. The signs circulating for those receiving the vaccine were handwritten with the marker and some used many colors of adhesive tape.

When I got into a parking lot, a man in an orange vest told me to stay in the car until my appointment was announced with a very loud speaker to prevent people from crowding. After going through two shows by people who kept welcoming, despite having to endlessly ask the same questions, and booking a registration, I got a chance four minutes after my scheduled appointment. It was injected by someone who more than qualifies for the job: an orthopedic surgeon.

Canada’s decision to get at least one chance at as many people as possible means I’m only scheduled for a second dose in August.

As many Canadians look at vaccination rates in Britain and the United States, their frustration has increased. At present, only 2 percent of Canadians are fully vaccinated compared to 24 percent of Americans. But the scheduled increase in vaccines – the Moderna move aside – could help Canada catch up slightly over the next few weeks.

If so, it will also be a relief to the medical world. After releasing the projections drawn up by Ontario’s table of science experts, which indicated that business could get $ 30,000 a day if nothing was done, Adalsteinn Brown, dean of the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto, said: ‘More vaccination, more vaccination, more vaccination. ”

• Catherine Porter profiled Khaleel Seivwright who was locked up in a fight with the city of Toronto after he and a group of volunteers built 100 small shelters for homeless people to come during the winter. He now has an even bigger plan.

• Geneva Abdul, a Times colleague now based in London and a former member of Canada’s national football team, wrote about the confidence the sport gives her.

• A comprehensive review found that anti-gay prejudice by Toronto police helped allow a serial killer to prey on the city’s gay community.

• William Amos, a Liberal MP from Quebec, pulled out after a jog while not realizing that the camera from his computer was on and being broadcast to his fellow lawmakers in a virtual meeting. Some people are now asking who the photo of mr. Amos leaked naked to the public.

Ian Austen, born in Windsor, Ontario, was educated in Toronto, lives in Ottawa and has reported on Canada for The New York Times for the past 16 years. Follow him on Twitter at @ianrausten.

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