ALBERTA
COVID-19: Oilsands organization says region operating with critical staff only because of Omicron
By Amanda Stephenson The Canadian Press
Posted January 7, 2022 

 photo of a dump truck working near the Syncrude oil sands extraction facility near the city of Fort McMurray, Alberta on Sunday June 1, 2014. 

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson

Alberta’s oilsands are maintaining production levels with critical staff only as operators try to minimize the workforce impact of the highly contagious Omicron variant.


However, depending on the trajectory of the virus, the head of an industry group said there could come a point when output is affected.

READ MORE: Severe illness not rising as fast as ‘enormous’ number of Omicron infections: Tam

“This period of low activity was planned for and prepared for,” said Perry Berkenpas, executive director of the Oil Sands Community Alliance. “I’ll offer that we can see on the horizon some emerging issues with staffing that have the potential to impact the operations in the next number of months.”

Berkenpas said energy companies operating remote camps in northern Alberta are currently focused only on routine day-to-day operations and are enforcing work-from-home orders for all other employees. This decision was made just before Christmas, when it became apparent that Omicron would likely have an impact, he said.

“The amount of work and the amount of people on-site has been as low as possible,” Berkenpas said, adding in normal times between 40,000 and 60,000 workers are on location at any given day at oilsands mines in the Wood Buffalo region of northern Alberta.

“Right now, in most cases it’s anywhere from 40 to 65 per cent fewer staff than would be there during normal operations.”

READ MORE: Report finds Alberta’s ‘fly-in, fly-out’ oilsands workers face significant stress, reluctant to seek help

The regular Christmas lull as well as the extreme cold weather that is idling some servicing rigs are also contributing to the reduced activity at sites, Berkenpas said. But he said sooner rather than later, companies will want to ramp up again — and the dynamic nature of Omicron means there’s a lot of uncertainty around when or how that will happen.

During earlier waves of the pandemic, Alberta’s oilsands camps were the source of significant outbreaks of the virus. Thousands of cases of COVID-19 were linked to oilsands production facilities in the spring of 2020, and again in the spring of 2021, when the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo was forced to declare a state of emergency due to rising cases.

It’s not clear how many oilsands workers are currently sick with COVID-19 during this current Omicron wave. The only oilsands facility currently listed on Alberta Health’s website as an outbreak location is Suncor Energy Inc.’s Fort Hills site — which according to the department, has been linked to 266 cases, all but three of which have already recovered.

Berkenpas said he could not provide an update case count for the oilsands, though he acknowledged the official government numbers might not be an accurate depiction of the situation given the accessibility of rapid at-home test kits that allow workers to forego a PCR test.

“I will say that we’re seeing less issues on-site than I think we’re seeing in the general population at this point,” he said. “But that becomes more of a challenge as soon as we try to ramp up some level of activity.”

Last spring, oilsands operators partnered with Alberta Health Services to hold COVID-19 immunization clinics at work camps and sites in the Wood Buffalo region. Berkenpas said 17,000 to 18,000 vaccines were administered during these campaigns, though no similar on-site clinics have yet been established to offer boosters.

An outbreak at Canadian Natural Resources Ltd.’s (CNRL) Horizon camp in the spring of 2021 became the largest workplace outbreak in Canada, and resulted in the deaths of three workers.

READ MORE: Inside the oilsands site that has seen Canada’s largest workplace COVID-19 outbreak

That company has made full vaccination mandatory for all workers and on-site contractors, and company spokeswoman Julie Woo said in an email there has been “minimal” impact to CNRL operations due to Omicron.

Woo said CNRL also has other extensive measures in place to prevent transmission, including documented daily health checks, screening protocols prior to boarding public transportation, physical distancing measures in its camp and dining room facilities, and mandatory mask wearing while indoors.

Both Imperial Energy Corp. and Cenovus Energy said they continue to operate safely and have implemented robust health measures across their sites, including encouraging vaccination and enforcing rapid testing at field locations.

Suncor Energy Inc. did not respond to a request for comment.

Calgary 

Highly contagious variant a concern for Canadian food production, farm groups say

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Strains already showing countrywide, from pork and

chicken plants to mushroom farms and more

Amanda Stephenson · The Canadian Press · Posted: Jan 07, 2022 

Production at dairy farms, greenhouses, and mushroom farms could be affected if large numbers of employees need to stay home sick with the Omicron variant, says the Canadian Federation of Agriculture. (Shane Hennessey/CBC)

Canada's chronically understaffed agriculture industry is warning that increased absenteeism related to the highly contagious Omicron variant could severely stress this country's food production systems.

Already, there are signs of strain. A slaughterhouse in Quebec opted to euthanize thousands of chickens that couldn't be processed this week, blaming rising COVID-19 infections among employees as well as federal delays processing temporary foreign worker applications for its protracted staff shortage.

Mushroom farms across the country are dealing with "unprecedented" levels of absenteeism that threaten some operators' very survival, according to Janet Krayden, workforce specialist with The Canadian Mushroom Growers' Association.

And Western Canada's beef industry is closely monitoring the status of Alberta's large meat processing plants, which so far remain operational in this latest wave of the virus, but which were the site of some of the country's largest outbreaks of illness in 2020.

Temporary foreign worker permits slowed to a crawl

Mary Robinson, president of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, said there are very few aspects of food production that aren't vulnerable to COVID-related labour shortages and interruptions.

"Dairy farms are a concern. The cows have to be fed, have to be milked, have to be cared for," she said. "The pork industry is a concern — you can't stop a sow from farrowing. You're going to have thousands and thousands of animals being born, you can't slow that down."

The rural, isolated nature of farm jobs and the physicality of the work are two of the reasons behind a chronic, long-standing labour shortage in Canadian agriculture. In 2014, primary agricultural producers lost out on $1.4-billion in potential sales due to the inability to find workers, Robinson said.

That number rose to $2.9 billion in 2020, in large part due to the impact of COVID-19 on the industry's workforce challenges, she added.

"That's almost four per cent of the sector's total sales that we've lost," Robinson said. "Those are lost opportunities for the entire country."

Due to difficulties attracting local workers, the agriculture industry has long relied on temporary foreign workers and immigrants to fill positions at feedlots, greenhouses, and processing plants.

But Krayden said federal processing of work permits has slowed to a crawl during COVID-19, with some farms waiting up to seven months to get approvals. She said job vacancies at some mushroom farms now approach 40 per cent.

"It makes it very difficult for any business, and in particular, our food system to survive," Krayden said. "Unless governments put some long-term strategies in place so we can continue to function and grow food, we will begin to see less and less Canadian-grown food on the shelves."

2020 outbreaks caused shutdowns

In 2020, outbreaks of COVID-19 at meat-packing plants in Alberta sickened hundreds of workers and resulted in four deaths. The outbreaks also caused temporary plant shutdowns that left Western Canada's beef slaughter capacity at about 25 per cent of normal.

Both Cargill Inc. and JBS Canada said Thursday that their production capacity has been unaffected during the Omicron wave. JBS spokesman Cameron Bruett said the company's plant in Brooks, Alta., has not seen a material increase in cases, while Cargill spokesman Daniel Sullivan said case numbers at the company's facility at High River, Alta., "tend to ebb and flow with community numbers."

Bob Lowe, president of the Canadian Cattlemen's Association, said packing plants have put in many safety precautions since that deadly first wave, and both companies have organized successful vaccination campaigns for workers.

He added the move by some provinces, including Alberta, to reduce mandatory isolation periods for COVID-positive vaccinated workers to five days should help reduce the strain on packing plants.

Still, Lowe said the industry is watching very closely. The plant shutdowns in spring of 2020 led to a major backlog of ready-for-market cattle that suddenly had nowhere to go. According to industry estimates, at the height of the crisis, Canadian feedlot operators were losing $500,000 per day paying to feed and retain cattle that normally would be ready to ship to slaughter.

"It's a bottleneck if something happens, as we found out," Lowe said. "So we're watching it pretty closely, and just crossing our fingers."

Quebec-based Olymel L.P., which operates approximately 40 hog and chicken processing plants in Canada, is seeing an increase in COVID cases among its employees, said spokesman Richard Vigneault.

In some cases, he said, rising case numbers are causing reduced production speeds.

If the Omicron contamination continues to escalate, it is not impossible that there will be some disruption in our operations, but we are not there yet," Vigneault said in an email.

He added Olymel is working with the public health authorities in Quebec to develop a safe return-to-work protocol for asymptomatic contact cases among employees.

Omicron variant batters Nunavut, finding even the remotest of Arctic communities

January 7, 2022

Michael Patterson, Nunavut’s chief public health officer.Emma Tranter / The Canadian Press

In the Nunavut hamlet of Rankin Inlet, a rapidly spreading COVID-19 outbreak has prompted Kathy Towongi and her neighbors to start a new practice they hope won’t last: closing its doors .

Ms Towtongi, a former member of Nunavut’s legislature, explained, “The Inuit generally don’t close their doors.” “But we are closing our doors because the spread is so shocking. we heard it was a [case] In December. Now it’s 45. We are on total lockdown. ,

Rankin Inlet, a community of about 3,000 people north of Churchill, Mann., is one of 14 fly-in communities in Nunavut battling cases of COVID-19 believed to be caused by Omicron, which Spread through a type of coronavirus. There is no version like the field before.

The Arctic outbreak sheds light on how Omicron is finding its way into every corner of Canada. Confirmed or predicted positives have been reported in locations as remote as Pond Inlet at the northern tip of Baffin Island; Sanikiluaq, the only community on the Belcher Islands in Hudson Bay; and Whale Cove, a village of about 300 people.

“We have never had so many cases of COVID-19 in our region,” Nunavut Premier PJ Akigok told a news conference on Thursday. “Most of us know a few families that struggle with the stress of separation.”

Nunavut Hado 244 Known Active Cases As of Thursday, that’s enough to persuade the area’s chief public health officer, Michael Patterson, to follow other jurisdictions in rationing confirmatory laboratory tests for the virus.

Twelve Nunavut communities have confirmed positive cases and at least one in two has been caught positive by rapid testing. Dr. Patterson said the bulk was Omicron.

The true number of cases in Nunavut is almost certainly higher. Arviat’s mayor, Joe Savikatak, Jr., said Thursday that his community total — 48 — had not been updated in days because Blizzard was blocking planes from taking samples to Rankin Inlet for testing.

Arviat, located halfway between Churchill and Rankin, has the second largest outbreak in the region after the capital, Iqaluit. It was the hardest-hit community in Nunavut earlier in the pandemic.

Ontario will fast-track COVID-19 booster shots for education and childcare workers

We have the tools to beat Omicron. use them

Nunavut has been in lockdown since December, meaning social gatherings were banned during the Christmas holidays, a period of communal festivities typically during the darkest stretch of the Arctic winter. Indoor dining, libraries, gyms, amphitheaters and churches are also closed.

“The gifts weren’t really passed on or visited with families,” said Rachel Kitsulik-Tinsley, executive director of Parizet Tigummiyaktikkut, an aging society in Iqaluit. “No dancing, no feasting, no church services. So it was all really different. In communities, it was hard for people.”

However, Ms Kitsulik-Tinsley said the Inuit elders she knows are coping well with the lockdown, having survived harsh winters and potential starvation on land in their youth.

As Omicron gains a foothold in more Nunavut communities, stopping its spread may be difficult because places to isolate are notoriously in short supply.

“The worry is homes are overcrowded,” Ms Towtongi said. “Like, there will be 13 people in a two-bedroom house. and if [the outbreak] Continues and continues, food security will become an issue.”

Dr. Patterson said Nunavut residents who develop symptoms while living with someone who is COVID positive should assume they are infected and isolated, rather than seeking testing. He added that sooner and more rapid antigen tests will be distributed in Nunavut, including some airports.

Dr. Patterson said the sector had to cut the number of gold-standard lab tests it processes to free up staff to run routine diagnostic tests for heart conditions, diabetes, tuberculosis and other diseases.

“Something had to be given,” he said.

Iqaluit’s lack of lab staff to process tests is just one way the region’s underfunded health care system is struggling with the latest outbreaks.

François de Vet, Nunavut’s regional chief of staff and chief of staff of the region’s only hospital, Kikkitani General, said five of Iqaluit’s eight lab technicians resigned in November and December, leaving the lab unusually low. . He said another technician has been hired.

Dr. De Vet said that Qikiqtani General has not been affected so far in the absence of COVID-related staff in hospitals in other parts of the country. Some doctors and nurses from the South could not come to Nunavut as planned because of testing positive.

Dr. Patterson told the news conference that six Nunavut residents were hospitalized for COVID-19 during this wave. Dr. de Vet said in an interview that all have been shifted to hospitals in the south for care.

For now, the major staffing challenge for all sectors in Nunavut is the lack of child care for workers. Schools are closed until at least January 17 and some daycare centers have decided to close temporarily.

The premier issued a “special petition” to reopen the daycare. “Our health care workers, store workers, water and waste management staff must go above and beyond to help our region during the severe wave of COVID-19,” Mr Akigok said. “Many of these critical services are now close to breaking point. Employees are tired of balancing work as well as child care.”

For Iqaluit, the COVID-19 outbreak that began in the first week of December marked the end of a two-month water crisis. Residents were forbidden from drinking from their taps for two months after an underground fuel leak contaminated a tank at the city’s water treatment plant.

“This is the answer. We go from crisis to crisis,” said Dr. de Vet. “The people here are resilient. If you look at the social values ​​of the Inuit – thinking out-of-the-box, working together, finding consensus Being innovative – it really serves us well in situations like this.”

At Rankin Inlet, Ms Towtongi, who is also the wife of Mayor Harry Towtongi, said the community was looking for creative ways to break out of lockdown. On January 1, residents started the new year with a safe vehicular parade and a fireworks show, held a day late due to wild winds.

He said Facebook and the local Inuktitut radio station have also been a lifeline. People try to head out for walks and snowmobile rides, including an elderly cabin outside the community that serves as a scenic overlook.

“Everyone is following the public-health rules,” Ms Towangi said. “At Rankin, we’re a close family. If someone dies, we’ll get to know him right away and know who he is and that hurts.”

Our Morning Update and Evening Update newsletters are written by Granthshala editors, giving you a brief summary of the day’s most important headlines. ,

Hospitalizations skyrocket in kids too young for COVID shots
By LINDSEY TANNER and MIKE STOBBE

Registered nurse Morgan Flynn works inside a patient's room in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, in Lebanon, N.H., Monday, Jan. 3, 2022. Hospitalizations in U.S. children under age 5 with COVID have soared dramatically to unprecedented levels, a worrisone trend in youngsters too young to be vaccinated.

 (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Hospitalizations of U.S. children under 5 with COVID-19 soared in recent weeks to their highest level since the pandemic began, according to government data released Friday on the only age group not yet eligible for the vaccine.

The worrisome trend in children too young to be vaccinated underscores the need for older kids and adults to get their shots to help protect those around them, said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Since mid-December, with the highly contagious omicron variant spreading furiously around the country, the hospitalization rate in these youngest kids has surged to more than 4 in 100,000 children, up from 2.5 per 100,000.

The rate among children ages 5 to 17 is about 1 per 100,000, according to the CDC data, which is drawn from over 250 hospitals in 14 states.

Overall, “pediatric hospitalizations are at their highest rate compared to any prior point in the pandemic,” Walensky said.

She noted that just over 50% of children ages 12 to 18, and only 16% of those 5 to 11, are fully vaccinated.

The overall hospitalization rate among children and teens is still lower than that of any other age group. And they account for less than 5% of average new daily hospital admissions, according to the CDC

As of Tuesday, the average number of under-18 patients admitted to the hospital per day with COVID-19 was 766, double the figure reported just two weeks ago.

The trend among the very youngest kids is being driven by high hospitalization rates in five states: Georgia, Connecticut, Tennessee, California and Oregon, with the steepest increases in Georgia, the CDC said.

At a briefing, Walensky said the numbers include children hospitalized because of COVID-19 and those admitted for other reasons but found to be infected.

The CDC also said the surge could be partially attributable to how COVID-19 hospitalizations in this age group are defined: a positive virus test within 14 days of hospitalization for any reason.

The severity of illness among children during the omicron wave seems lower than it was with the delta variant, said Seattle Children’s Hospital critical care chief Dr. John McGuire.

“Most of the COVID+ kids in the hospital are actually not here for COVID-19 disease,” McGuire said in an email. “They are here for other issues but happen to have tested positive.”

The nation’s top infectious-disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said earlier this week that omicron appears to cause less-severe disease across the board, but that the sheer number of infections because of its extreme contagiousness will mean that many more children will get infected, and a certain share of them will wind up in the hospital.

Fauci also said many children hospitalized with COVID-19 have other health conditions that make them more susceptible to complications from the virus. That includes obesity, diabetes and lung disease.

Fauci and Walensky have emphasized that one of the best ways to protect the youngest children is to vaccinate everyone else.

The surge in hospitalizations only heightens some parents’ worries.

Emily Hojara and Eli Zilke of Sawyer, Michigan, are being extra protective of their daughter Flora, who turns 2 in May. They limit her contact with other children, and no visitors are allowed in the house unless masked, not even grandparents.

“It’s been a struggle, and now with this new variant, I feel it’s knocked us back,” Hojara said.

“It’s scary that she can’t be vaccinated,” she said of her daughter.

Dr. Jennifer Kusma, a pediatrician with Chicago’s Lurie Children’s Hospital, said she has seen increasing numbers of kids hospitalized with omicron, and while most aren’t severely ill, she understands parents’ worries.

“I really wish we already had that vaccine for these young kids,” Kusma said. But she added that what may seem like a long wait should reassure parents that vaccine testing is not being rushed.

Many had hoped the new year might bring a vaccine for young children, but Pfizer announced last month that two doses didn’t offer as much protection as hoped for in youngsters 2 to 4.

Pfizer’s study has been updated to give everyone under 5 a third dose, and data is expected in early spring.

Also on Friday, the CDC issued a report showing Pfizer shots seem to protect older children who develop a serious but rare COVID-19-linked condition that involves inflammation of multiple organs.

Among 102 kids ages 12 to 18 who were hospitalized with the condition, none who had received two Pfizer shots at least 28 days earlier needed ventilators or other advanced life support. By contrast, 40% of unvaccinated children required such treatment.

The condition, multisystem inflammatory syndrome, causes symptoms that may include persistent fever, abdominal pain and rashes. Most children recover, but 55 deaths have been reported.

A separate CDC report found that children who had COVID-19 were more than twice as likely to be diagnosed with diabetes as youngsters who had not had the virus. Scientists are investigating why but say the virus seems to attack insulin-producing cells in the pancreas.

___

AP Medical Writer Carla K. Johnson contributed from Seattle.

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Germany needs jabs, not omicron's 'dirty vaccination' — health minister

Health Minister Karl Lauterbach has said it's "naive" to think the omicron variant will be the end of the pandemic. He warned that new COVID-19 mutations were still possible.


Lauterbach warned that trying to achieve herd immunity with omicron would cause 'big problems'


German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach has insisted vaccine mandates are the only way out of the pandemic, as the omicron variant continues to spread in Germany and across the world.

Speaking to the Sunday edition of German daily Welt, Lauterbach said gaining immunity through infection was a "dirty vaccination" and not the solution.

"We still need a vaccine mandate. Otherwise, omicron is a dirty vaccination through the backdoor. Counting on everyone getting infected sooner or later and becoming immune ... would cause big problems," he said.

The omicron version of the virus has so far appeared to be milder than previous variants. But the health minister warned that "many people would become seriously ill with often permanent damage," if omicron was left unchecked.

"For our children it would be an absolutely irresponsible experiment," he said in a tweet earlier this week.

Fear of future variants

The health minister also said it was "naive" to think that "omicron is the end of the pandemic."

"Mandatory vaccination is also important for the future variants that may still develop," he told Welt. "Omicron infection does not necessarily make one immune to the next viral variant."

Lauterbach also warned of the possibility that a new, more dangerous variant could start spreading.

"Imagine for a second that the omicron variant were significantly more deadly. Then we would be in existential danger now," Lauterbach said. "No one can guarantee that a variant will not develop soon that is much more dangerous."

When quizzed by Welt as to whether there would be sufficient vaccine stock, Lauterbach said procurement had been a key priority since the new government took office last month.

He said 25 million doses of the Moderna vaccine had been procured, which would be enough for 50 million booster shots in for the first quarter of 2022.

Germany tightens COVID restrictions

On Saturday, the country recorded 55,889 new coronavirus infections, according to the public health agency, the Robert Koch Institute. There were 268 deaths recorded within a 24-hour period, bringing the total number of reported deaths to 113,900.

Germany's rate of vaccination is lower than that in several European countries: 71.5% of the population is fully vaccinated and 40.9% have received a booster shot.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz's government has set a vaccination goal of 80%, and hopes to administer 30 million booster shots by the end of January.

On Friday, authorities across the country were told to tighten restrictions on bars and restaurants. Customers now need to provide a negative COVID test or proof of a booster shot to enter venues.

KENNEY IS CANADA'S DESANTIS

Provinces could make vaccination mandatory, says federal health minister

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Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos says vaccination remains

 the only way out of the pandemic

Peter Zimonjic · CBC News · Posted: Jan 07, 2022

 

Federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos says mandatory vaccine laws could eventually exist in Canada, but provincial leaders in Alberta and Saskatchewan are among those already saying no to the idea. 2:44

Provinces are likely to introduce mandatory vaccination policies in the coming months to deal with surging COVID-19 caseloads, Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said today.

"What we see now is that our health care system in Canada is fragile, our people are tired, and the only way that we know to get through COVID-19, this variant and any future variant, is through vaccination," Duclos said. 

Duclos said that while rapid tests, masking and social distancing are useful tools, they won't end the pandemic on their own.

"Fifty per cent of hospitalizations now, in Quebec, are due to people not having been vaccinated," he said. "That's a burden on health care workers, a burden on society which is very difficult to bear and for many people difficult to understand.

"That's why I'm signalling this is a conversation which I believe provinces and territories, in support with the federal government, will want to have over the next weeks and months."

• Would national vaccine mandates work in Canada? Experts aren't sure

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• O'Toole accuses Trudeau of 'normalizing lockdowns' by failing to provide enough rapid tests, PPE

Duclos said that while discussions about mandatory vaccination policies are not taking place now, he believes that, based on his "personal understanding of what we see internationally and domestically and in my conversations [with] health ministers over the last few weeks," the discussion will start in the coming weeks or months.

He stressed that it's up to the provinces to decide whether to implement mandatory vaccination policies.

WATCH | Duclos predicts mandatory vaccinations:

Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos says he personally thinks that 'at some point,' vaccines will become mandatory across the country in order to get Canada out of the pandemic. 1:34

Duclos said the provinces are facing a perfect storm of record-setting case numbers, a shortage of health care workers and up to seven million eligible Canadians still unvaccinated.

"What we can do … is provide vaccines, tests, personal protective equipment," he said. "We can provide tracing support, we can provide all sorts of other non-human resources types of assistance."

Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc said there are limits to what the federal government can do to ease shortages of health care staff.

"It's no surprise that provincial and territorial governments have considerably more health human resources, for example, than would the government of Canada," he said.

Quebec, Europe strengthen vaccine policies

Earlier this week, Quebec's Health Minister Christian Dubé announced that Quebecers will need to show proof that they are fully vaccinated in order to enter government-run liquor and cannabis shops as of Jan. 18.

Dubé said half of the people with COVID-19 being admitted to ICUs in the province are unvaccinated and that the new restrictions are needed to slow down hospital admissions.

The minister also said the Quebec government will soon expand the use of the vaccination passport to other non-essential businesses, such as personal care services. That announcement is expected in the coming days.

"By limiting the places they can go, we're limiting their contacts," Dubé said, referring to the unvaccinated.

"If you don't want to get vaccinated, stay home."

A spokesperson for Quebec's health minister said Friday, however, that mandatory vaccination is not something the province is looking at yet.

In a social media post, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said his government will not make vaccines mandatory.

Robert Strang, chief medical officer for Nova Scotia, told CBC Radio's The House in an interview airing Saturday that his province isn't considering mandatory vaccination but it is looking at increasing the number of places in the province that can be accessed only by those who are fully vaccinated.

"To me, it's a big step further to say you have to be vaccinated. First of all, how would we ever enforce that? You know, there's all sorts of legal and human rights issues," Strang hold host Chris Hall.

"I think we need to be in the space that we ... ultimately allow people the choice. But that choice means that there's a lot of restrictions ... on what they can do compared to people who are vaccinated."

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe issued a statement saying that while he strongly encourages people to get vaccinated, his province will not be implementing a mandatory vaccine policy.

Some European countries, such as Austria and Greece, have moved in that direction already as infection rates hit record highs and vaccination campaigns stall.

Greeks over the age of 60 who are not yet vaccinated are now subject to monthly fines of 100 euros ($140 Cdn). Austria, which has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the European Union, is looking at fining unvaccinated Austrians more than 7,000 euros ($9,880). Slovakia, meanwhile, is offering payments of 600 euros ($844) to encourage people to get their shots.

There are signs that enforcing these new vaccine rules will be a challenge. In late November, roughly 40,000 people assembled in Vienna to protest the new rules.

Protesters against COVID-19 measures in Vienna on Nov. 20. European countries such as Austria and Greece are moving in the direction of national vaccine mandates because they are seeing infection rates three times higher than at any other time during the pandemic, and vaccination programs have stalled. (Leonhard Foeger/Reuters)

Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada's chief public health officer, said the national average daily case count has increased by 65 per cent since the previous week, with a daily average of 42,000 new cases being reported.

Tam said that about 29 per cent of laboratory tests are coming back positive, indicating significant community transmission of the virus.

She said non-ICU hospitalizations increased 91 per cent over the previous week, while ICU admissions went up by 25 per cent.

"Although evidence from ongoing surveillance and recent studies indicates that the risk of hospitalization is lower for Omicron compared to Delta, the sudden acceleration of Omicron and enormous volume of cases is driving severe illness trends," she said.

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Duclos said that while the current surge in hospitalizations is hitting Quebec and Ontario the hardest, other provinces should prepare for the same.

"These provinces and territories must know and must act on the basis of what they see with other provinces like Quebec and Ontario," he said.

"That's also a warning, a kind warning, but a clear warning, to some provinces and territories that they need to act now. Because if they don't act sufficiently it's going to be difficult for the federal government to help after, because we don't have the capacity to do so."

'I see it coming': Mandatory vaccinations on the horizon, federal health minister says

'Our people are tired and the only way as we know through COVID–19, be it this variant or any future variant, is through vaccination,' Duclos said at a press conference Friday

Author of the article:Ryan Tumilty, Michael Higgins

Publishing date:Jan 07, 2022 •

Minister of Health Jean-Yves Duclos takes part in a news conference, as the Omicron variant emerges as a threat, in Ottawa, on January 5, 2022.

 PHOTO BY REUTERS/BLAIR GABLE


OTTAWA – Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said he believes mandatory vaccinations will happen in Canada.

Duclos signalled Friday that provincial governments should be discussing mandatory vaccinations, saying it is a conversation that has to happen as unvaccinated patients continue to put strain on hospitals.

Asked about mandatory vaccination, he said in French, “I personally think we will get there at some point.”

According to a translation on CBC, he added, “I see it coming personally. Not now. I don’t think we are there yet. But I think discussions need to be had about mandatory vaccinations because we have to get rid of Covid 19.”

Duclos told a press conference that any decision would be in the hands of provincial governments, but he said the unvaccinated were creating a sizeable burden on others.

“What we see now is that our health care system in Canada is fragile. Our people are tired and the only way as we know through COVID–19, be it this variant or any future variant, is through vaccination,” he said.

He said in Quebec, where his riding is located, hospitals were under serious pressure.

“I see in my own province 50 per cent of hospitalizations now in Quebec are due to people not having been vaccinated,” he said. “That’s a burden on healthcare workers, a burden on society which is very difficult to bear and for many people difficult to understand.”

In a statement later Friday, Duclos’s office stressed that the decision was in provincial hands.

“Provinces and territories will continue to take decisions that are within their jurisdiction. As a government, we will continue to do everything we can within our federal authority to keep Canadians safe.”

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney made clear his province would never consider such a step.

“Alberta’s Legislature removed the power of mandatory vaccination from the Public Health Act last year and will not revisit that decision, period,” he said. “While we strongly encourage those who are eligible to get vaccinated, it is ultimately a personal choice that individuals must make.”

Both vaccinated and unvaccinated Canadians are catching the Omicron variant, but provincial data has shown that unvaccinated people are much more likely to require hospital care.

Some European countries have implemented vaccine requirements, Greece will fine anyone over 60 who is not vaccinated, $144 per month starting next week. Austria has a similar policy with higher fines amounting to over $5,000 every three months. Italy has made vaccines compulsory for people over age 50 and German legislators are considering similar steps.

This week Quebec announced it was expanding its mandatory vaccination passport system so people in the province would eventually need three doses of a vaccine to get certain services. The province also announced that it was extending its passport system for people who wanted to enter liquor and pot stores.

Canada has had vaccine mandates for certain occupations and for school children to combat some diseases, but never a broad-based policy requiring vaccination.

The current COVID-19 vaccine mandates for employment have faced legal challenges, but so far courts have found the mandates are in line with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The federal government has imposed a vaccine requirement on travellers and public servants, as well as on workers in federal regulated industries like travel.

Conservative Opposition leader Erin O’Toole did not address Duclos comments Friday, but on Thursday he said the government’s existing policies were already dividing people and the government should find a balance.

“Reasonable accommodations could and should be found for a small number of Canadians who may not be vaccinated,” he said.

Duclos said measures like rapid tests are simply not enough to control the virus and allow Canadians to move past the pandemic.

“Rapid tests are not going to end the crisis. Rapid tests are not going to solve COVID-19. The only thing that will solve COVID-19 is vaccination.”

COVID-19 cases are continuing to surge across the country, as the much more transmissible Omicron variant spreads widely.

Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer, said the country is currently seeing an average of around 42,000 cases per day, up 65 per cent from a week ago.

In previous waves of the virus, case numbers that high would have swamped hospitals, but the Omicron variant is much less likely to lead to hospitalization in vaccinated people. Still, the sheer number of new infections has increased the number of Canadians in hospital by 91 per cent over the last week.

The federal government has sent support to provinces with small teams of doctors and nurses, but Interprovincial Affairs Minister Dominic Leblanc made clear Friday the government would reach a limit to the help it could provide

“We’re moving expeditiously to do obviously everything we can, but it’s no surprise that provincial and territorial governments have considerably more health human resources than the Government of Canada,” he said. “It shouldn’t surprise anybody that it’s not a limitless number of federal health care resources that we can bring to bear.”

Provinces have the constitutional responsibility for health care and the federal government has a very small number of medical staff on its payroll, most of whom are in the armed forces.

Anger as Cambodia's Hun Sen meets Myanmar military leader


Fri., January 7, 2022



BANGKOK (AP) — Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen’s visit to Myanmar seeking to revive peace efforts after last year's military takeover has provoked an angry backlash among critics, who say he is legitimizing the army’s seizure of power.

Hun Sen is the first head of government to visit Myanmar since the military takeover last February. The authoritarian Cambodian leader has held power for 36 years and keeps a tight leash on political activity at home.

In his role as the current chairperson of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, he met with Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, who ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, plunging Myanmar into violent conflict and economic disaster.

In their meeting, Min Aung Hlaing told Hun Sen that Myanmar had extended a ceasefire with all ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) in the country that was originally set to expire at the end of February through the end of the year, according to a joint statement released late Friday by the two leaders.

Min Aung Hlaing said he “welcomed the participation of the special envoy of the ASEAN Chair on Myanmar to join the ceasefire talks with and among the EAOs,” the statement added. “This important step is embodied in the ASEAN five-point consensus.”

Last April, ASEAN leaders, including Min Aung Hlaing, agreed on a five-point roadmap toward a peaceful settlement of the Myanmar crisis, including an end to violence and a political dialogue between all stakeholders.

Myanmar’s leader on Friday “pledged support (to the ASEAN special envoy) ... in fulfilling his mandate to implement the five-point consensus in accordance with the ASEAN charter,” the statement said.

Hun Sen was accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister Prak Sokhonn, the current ASEAN special envoy, and other top Cambodian leaders.

Photos posted by a military-related publication, the Popular News Journal, showed Min Aung Hlaing and Hun Sen standing side by side in face masks, bumping forearms and seated on ornate gilt chairs before an elaborate golden screen.

Protests and rallies were held in some parts of Myanmar as people expressed anger over Hun Sen's visit.

Hundreds of protesters burned portraits of the Cambodian prime minister and chanted, “Torch inhumane Hun Sen. People who engage with Min Aung Hlaing should die horrible deaths," videos of the protest posted online showed.

The Myanmar leader was barred in October from attending ASEAN meetings after the group's special envoy was prevented from meeting with Suu Kyi and other political detainees, which was one of the stipulations of the agreement.

Hun Sen said on Wednesday before leaving Cambodia that he had not set any preconditions for his visit.

“What I would like to bring to the talks is nothing besides the five points, consensus points that were agreed upon by all ASEAN member states," he said.

Myanmar’s military has said Hun Sen will not be allowed to meet with Suu Kyi, who was convicted in December on charges of incitement and violating coronavirus restrictions and sentenced to four years in prison — a sentence that Min Aung Hlaing then cut in half.

A legal official familiar with Suu Kyi's legal proceedings said she appeared at a special court in Naypyitaw, Myanmar's capital, on Friday for hearings in three corruption cases against her that include allegations she diverted charitable donations to build a residence and abused her authority.

The army's takeover prevented Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party from beginning a second term in office. It won a landslide victory in national elections in November 2020 and independent election observers did not find any major irregularities.

Min Aung Hlaing's move undid 10 years of progress toward democracy as the army loosened its grip on power after decades of repressive military rule.

The Myanmar military has a history of bloodshed, including a brutal campaign against the Rohingya Muslim minority. Its seizure of power provoked nationwide nonviolent demonstrations, which security forces have quashed with deadly force.

The military has recently engaged in violent suppression of all dissent, disappearances, torture and extra-judicial killings. It has also launched air strikes and ground offensives against ethnic armed rebel groups.

Security forces have killed about 1,443 civilians, according to a detailed tally by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. As the crackdown has become more severe, an armed resistance has grown inside the country.

The visit by Hun Sen drew international criticism.

His decision to meet with Min Aung Hlaing was “an affront to the people of Myanmar who strongly oppose the visit," said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch.

“The visit is a slap in the face of the other ASEAN member states who had no say in the matter" even after they limited Min Aung Hlaing's participation in the 10-nation regional group, he said.

Having retained power by exiling or imprisoning the Cambodian opposition, Hun Sen may be hoping his visit will burnish his own tarnished international image.

The National Unity Government, an underground Myanmar opposition group and parallel administration, urged Hun Sen to stay away.

“Meeting Min Aung Hlaing, shaking blood-stained hands. It’s not going to be acceptable,” said Dr. Sasa, a spokesman for the group who uses one name.

___

Associated Press journalists Sopheng Cheang in Phnom Penh, Kiko Rosario in Manila, Philippines, and Jerry Harmer in Bangkok contributed to this report.

Elaine Kurtenbach, The Associated Press

Chileans protest lithium contract sale
Author: AFP|Update: 08.01.2022 

Demonstrators in Santiago, Chile protest against President Sebastian Piñera over the privatization of the lithium industry / © AFP

Chileans took to the streets Friday to protest a government plan to sell a lithium extraction contract, reviving debate about nationalization of the resource as a new leftist president prepares to take over.

Protests were called by the opposition under the banner: "To reclaim our resource."

Opposition lawmakers launched a court action -- rejected Friday because the clock on the process had run out -- earlier this week to stop the bidding process for a 20-year contract to extract 400,000 tons of lithium in the world's second-largest producer of the metal, which notably is used in electric car batteries.


The tender process, which opened last October, will close this month, just two months before center-right president Sebastian Pinera is replaced by leftist Gabriel Boric.

In Santiago Friday evening, marchers chanted, "Pinera, understand that lithium is not for sale."

Boric, Chile's youngest-ever leader, was elected last month on a promise of installing a "social welfare" state and has said Chile cannot repeat the "historical error of privatizing resources" such as lithium.

Boric has proposed creating a "national lithium company" similar to the national Copper Corporation (Codelco) -- the world's biggest copper company formed in the 1970s out of nationalized mining firms.

Copper mining was nationalized by the government of Marxist ex-president Salvador Allende, ousted by dictator Augusto Pinochet who introduced a neoliberal, free market-friendly constitution that is now being rewritten in response to a mass uprising in 2019 against deep social inequality.

"We have two options: either we leave lithium in the ground or we use lithium for the benefit of all Chileans," President Pinera told reporters Friday.

"After seeing that lithium production had stagnated in Chile... and that countries such as Argentina and Bolivia were threatening to overtake Chile, we decided to launch a strategic plan to use lithium," he added.

But lawmaker Raul Soto of the center-left Party for Democracy, who submitted court papers Tuesday to stop the tender process, said Pinera's government was "putting the general interest of the nation at risk."

The government argues the sale is needed to return Chile to the position of the world's largest lithium producer, which it was until 2016.

It is currently number two, after Australia.

Five companies, including Chilean mining giant SQM and American Albemarle, have submitted tenders worth tens of millions of dollars for the license.

The government says the contract will cover no more than four percent of Chile's known lithium reserves -- it holds 57 percent of the world total -- and insists the winning bidder will have to comply with strict environmental regulations.

Boaty McBoatface Just Helped Solve a Deep-Sea Mystery

By Brian Kahn

The internet was a purer place in 2016, and there’s no more perfect distillation of that truth than the spontaneous, crowdsourced effort to name a £200 million state-of-the-art research vessel Boaty McBoatface. The British government eventually decided to go with the more stately RRS Sir David Attenborough, but it offered the public an olive branch by naming an autonomous sub Boaty McBoatface. And it brings me great joy to take a break from the hellscape that is the internet in 2019 and revisit Boaty the sub, which recently did some serious sciencing around Antarctica.

The results of Boaty’s autonomous explorations are the subject of a new paper published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. To be frank, the methods and results are esoteric. All of about 10 people would probably care about this research if it weren’t for Boaty McBoatface being involved. If there’s a lesson to take away here for scientists and research institutions, it’s that involving the public in seemingly trivial decisions can yield a greater interest in science.

Boaty McBoatface was deployed to help scientists solve the mystery of what’s going on in the abyss of the Weddell Sea, which sits sandwiched between the Antarctic Peninsula and East Antarctica. The sea is home to a huge glug of Antarctic Bottom Water, a pool of icy cold, salty water that’s part of the ocean conveyor belt. Scientists have known this water can rise as it jostles its way along the jagged ocean floor, but the mechanisms for how it mixes with the warmer water above it have eluded researchers.

Scientists studying the vast, remote waters encircling Antarctica frequently enlist the help of…Read more

Here’s where Boaty (or should it be McBoatface?) comes in during a 2017 research cruise to the region. The autonomous sub dove more than 13,100 feet (4,000 meters) below the ocean surface, skirting the rough floor of the Weddell Sea. The sub used an echo sounder to navigate about 110 miles (180 kilometers) of the seafloor without running into any of the peaks that rise from it, taking measurements of the water currents above and below its trajectory.

The results show that a hitherto unseen force was helping create greater mixing of the the warmer middle and cooler bottom waters. The study explains that “deep-ocean waters are rapidly laundered through intensified near-boundary turbulence and boundary–interior exchange” In plain English, that roughly translates to there’s more churning of water where the layers of water meet, stirring them up. In the press release announcing the findings, the British Antarctic Survey attributes this newfound turbulence to rougher surface winds, which have become more fierce due to changes in both the ozone hole and climate change in recent years.

All this matters to scientists because they can include this new mixing mechanism in models to refine sea level rise estimates as more warm water gets transported away from Antarctica. That’s great, but the main reason most people are invested in this is clearly Boaty McBoatface. I’m not saying let the public name everything, but it seems like one hell of a way to get folks engaged in serious science. Or even riding the ferry.

Dutch Plan To Boost Gas Output At Earthquake-Prone Site Sparks Anger

By Charles Kennedy - Jan 07, 2022

Residents in the Groningen area in the Netherlands have voiced their anger at a plan by the Dutch government to potentially double this year production from the Groningen gas field, which has been hit by earthquakes in the past.

The Dutch government said on Thursday that it might need more gas to be pumped at Groningen, once Europe’s biggest gas field, which the Netherlands has pledged to phase out this decade after frequent earthquakes in the past damaged homes in the area.

After years of debates and measures to curb production at the field, the Dutch government decided in 2018 that output at Groningen would be terminated by 2030, with a reduction by two-thirds until 2021-2022 and another cut after that. The authorities had already limited production from the field because of the earthquakes, but they decided in 2018 that the risks and costs were no longer acceptable.

Now the government says that more gas needs to be extracted from the Groningen gas field in 2022 to ensure supply because of long-term export contracts with Germany and a delay in the commissioning of a facility in the Netherlands to treat imported gas for use for Dutch households.

The government is expected to make a final decision by April 1 on how much gas will be extracted from Groningen this year.

“I realize it really is a disappointment for people in the quake region that it has indeed proved necessary to extract more gas,” Dutch Economic Affairs Minister Stef Blok said on Friday, as carried by Associated Press.

The Groningen Earth Movement, a group of residents who have suffered damages from earthquakes, slammed the plan for more gas extraction at the field.

The Ministry of economic affairs and climate policy is playing with the safety of people in Groningen, the movement said, adding that “a government should not and cannot treat the safety of its citizens so lightly.”

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com