Worldwide stats provided by worldometers put the global COVID-19 number of reported cases today at 36,792,906. (Deaths: 1,067,468 and Recovered: 27,691,035)
I emphasize reported because there is a wide variance in testing and manner of reporting from country to country and place to place.
As of 6:00 a.m. ET on Friday October 9, 2020:
Health Canada reported 175,559 confirmed cases of COVID-19, to date. 18,494 cases are active, there have been 9,557 deaths and 147,508 people have recovered.
The official Province of Ontario website is reporting 56,742 total confirmed cases and 2,992 total deaths. 5,442 are active. Currently, there are 206 people are in hospital with 47 of those in ICU. 48,308 cases have been resolved. (Hospitalizations in Ontario are steadily rising and of note, the total capacity number for ICU beds is 350. ICU bed utilization is the number to watch, not the total cases.)
Quebec continues to have the highest reported cases in the country with 82,992. (8,492 are active) Quebec case numbers continue to rise at the highest rate in Canada.
The Region of Durham reported 2,309 confirmed cases of COVID-19. The site reports 2 (new) current outbreaks (Hospitals, LTCF's and Retirement Homes) with 40 outbreaks having been "concluded." Clarington rose to 149 cases. (12 are in isolation, 130 are resolved and 7 people have passed away. Hospitalized in Clarington currently: "0")
School and Child Care Center outbreaks rose by "1" and are currently at "3." (A public school and a day care centre.)
In international news,
From the L.A. Times, Tensions rise as coronavirus cases surge in Wisconsin and Dakotas. A surge of coronavirus cases in Wisconsin and the Dakotas is forcing a scramble for hospital beds and raising political tensions, as the Upper Midwest and Plains emerge as one of the nation’s most troubling hot spots. The three states now lead all others in new cases per capita, after months in which many politicians and residents rejected mask requirements while downplaying the risks of the disease that has now killed more than 210,000 Americans. “It’s an emotional roller coaster,” said Melissa Resch, a nurse at Wisconsin’s Aspirus Wausau Hospital, which is working to add beds and reassign staff to keep up with a rising caseload of virus patients, many gravely ill.
China tourism rebounds over Golden Week but still below last year. Domestic tourism in China saw a robust rebound over the just-ended Golden Week holiday, encouraged by the country’s success in stamping out the novel coronavirus, although levels were still well short of last year. Tourism sites were visited by 637 million domestic tourists over the eight-day National Day holiday that started Oct. 1, 79% of last year’s total, China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism said in a statement on Thursday. Domestic tourism revenues stood at 466.56 billion yuan ($68.7 billion), it added, down from nearly 650 billion yuan a year earlier. That, however, marked an improvement from China’s last long holiday period over May 1-5 for Labour Day, when 115 million domestic tourists travelled and tourism revenues were only 47.56 billion yuan. Since then, COVID-19 cases have ebbed, with no new community transmissions in mainland China since early August.
Australia records second day without COVID-19 death for first time in three months. Australia reported its second straight day without any COVID-19 deaths on Friday, the longest stretch without any fatalities from the virus in three months. Australian states and territories reported 16 cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, down from 28 on Thursday, and no deaths for two days, the first time Australia has gone 48 hours without a COVID-19 death since July 11.
In national news,
Boom in pandemic gardening has led to shortage of mason jars and lids. 'Canning companies weren't ready for the jump'. Baker Dawn Woodward packs her glossy, hazelnut-chocolate spread in squat, widemouthed canning jars. The 250-millilitre vessels are as essential to the Nutella-inspired treat as the toasted nuts and cocoa. In a typical year, the use of jars would have been a given — not something worth mentioning. But due to an increase in the number of people gardening and preserving during the pandemic, the focus has shifted from the contents to the container. Canning supplies are now scarce in many parts of the country. Last week, after fruitlessly searching stores and wholesalers for 250-millilitre mason jars, Woodward put a call out on social media. Customers of Evelyn’s Crackers, the bakery she co-owns in Toronto, returned two dozen as a result of her Instagram plea, and she’s hoping to get more after mentioning the issue in her newsletter. “Now the challenge will be to find the lids,” she says, “because there’s a shortage of those too.” (Flat canning lids are designed to be single-use.)
New declaration calls for 'focused protection' to achieve COVID-19 herd immunity. Critics say it would be deadly. The campaign argues against lockdowns in favour of 'shielding' the elderly and vulnerable while allowing everyone else to get on with their normal lives. The Great Barrington Declaration’s (read the declarartion here) authors argue that the most “compassionate approach” to reaching herd immunity “is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to the virus through natural infection, while protecting those who are at highest risk.” Dr. David Naylor understands COVID-19 fatigue. “We had a taste of freedom as the summer wore on,” said Naylor, co-chair of Canada’s COVID-19 immunity task force, and now a “pretty dismal” winter looms, with on-again, off-again restrictions. It all makes the idea of quick fixes appealing, says Naylor, which is why he and others worry a new campaign that argues against lockdowns in favour of “shielding” the elderly and vulnerable while allowing everyone else to get on with their normal lives is bound to resonate in all the wrong places. “Obviously, the Great Barrington fix will excite the minimizers who pretend COVID-19 is not much worse than the flu and enliven the libertarians who object to public health measures on principle,” Naylor wrote in an email to the National Post. “So be it: they’ve been offside all along.” Thousands have signed the so-called “Great Barrington Declaration,” a 510-word pronouncement authored by three academics from Harvard, Stanford and Oxford universities who are advocating an age-targeted, “focused protection” approach to managing the global COVID-19 crisis.
In Ontario,
'Alarm bells are ringing louder and louder,' Ontario's top doctor says after new single-day high for COVID-19 cases. Ontario is reporting a single-day record high of 797 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday and four new deaths, also setting a new daily record for the number of tests completed. "Locally, there are 265 new cases in Toronto, 182 in Ottawa, 134 in Peel and 78 in York Region," Health Minister Christine Elliott wrote on Twitter. ShMore than 58,000 test specimens were still awaiting processing on Thursday. The positivity rate generated by Thursday's result was 1.64 per cent. Ontario's previous record of daily cases was 732, recorded on Oct. 2. The province reported 583 cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday and 548 on Tuesday. Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Williams said there are differences between numbers seen recently and those at the peak of the first wave in April, specifically wider availability of tests.e said close to 48,500 tests were completed, approaching the Ford government's stated goal of 50,000 daily tests completed per day in October.
Premier Ford not convinced indoor dining needs to close in Toronto. A decision will be made in the next few days whether to continue to permit indoor dining in the City of Toronto as it contends with increasing coronavirus cases, Mayor John Tory said Wednesday, but Ontario's premier appears to be against the idea. For the better part of a week, the City of Toronto has asked the province to allow them to end indoor dining and limit indoor gymnasium activity in a bid to curb rising levels of COVID-19. The Premier replied that his government would need "hard, hard evidence" before doing so due to the impact on business, not acknowledging that up to 44 per cent of recent outbreaks in Toronto have been tied to restaurants, bars or entertainment venues in recent weeks.
A sign of the times, again. From Bancroft, Rally of the Tall Pines Cancelled for 2020 due to COVID-19 Concerns. The Lincoln Electric Rally of the Tall Pines has been cancelled for this year. The Maple Leaf Rally Club made the announcement this week. They say that provincial COVID-19 restrictions have made it virtually impossible to guarantee and safe event. They say that many options to make the event safe were explored, like a shorter route, virtual meetings and no spectator areas or VIP program. However, they say that keeping the high standards that volunteers, competitors and the community expect was not possible, and they did not want to put the community at risk.
In local news,
Durham Health Department reports sharp spike in COVID-19 cases. Health officials reported a sharp increase in the number of new COVID-19 cases confirmed in the region on Thursday. There were 32 new cases of the virus confirmed Oct. 8, according to the Durham Region Health department, a significant jump from previous days. There have now been 2,309 cases of the illness caused by the novel coronavirus since the beginning of the pandemic, according to statistics compiled by the health department. The region has been averaging about 13 new cases a day over the past week.
Pickering's Orchard Villa preparing for second wave of COVID-19. 78 people have died there as a result of pandemic. The operator of Orchard Villa in Pickering says it has made improvements since the first wave of COVID-19 devastated the facility. “In the months since COVID-19 emerged, Southbridge has taken a number of additional steps to fortify the quality of care residents and families deserve by adding expertise in not only recruitment, but operations and infection prevention and control as well,” said Candace Chartier, chief seniors’ advocate and strategic partnerships officer for Southbridge Care Homes, in an e-mail. Orchard Villa was one of five Ontario homes where the military was deployed in order to address COVID-19 outbreaks. Canadian Armed Forces released a scathing report while there. In the first wave, there were 78 deaths resulting from COVID-19 between the long-term care home and the retirement home.
Musing,
“The Pessimist Sees Difficulty In Every Opportunity. The Optimist Sees Opportunity In Every Difficulty.” (Winston Churchill)
You think Thanksgiving 2020 is gonna suck? Just wait until Christmas. Buckle up.....
"If people don't like you, it's because you don't like yourself." (me)
WTF is a "pro-life cupcake"?
Have you ever....wondered why people get so angry over differing opinions these days? It's no longer possible to have a civil conversation with differing opinions. People just become childish, defensive, petulant and resort to name-calling.
Did you know....there was no single author for the King James ("authorized") version of the Bible? King James commissioned the version to be written.
On this day in history, Che Guevara is executed.
On October 9, 1967, socialist revolutionary and guerilla leader Che Guevara, age 39, is killed by the Bolivian army. The U.S.-military-backed Bolivian forces captured Guevara on October 8 while battling his band of guerillas in Bolivia and executed him the following day. His hands were cut off as proof of death and his body was buried in an unmarked grave. In 1997, Guevara’s remains were found and sent back to Cuba, where they were reburied in a ceremony attended by President Fidel Castro and thousands of Cubans.
In 1936, Hoover Dam begins transmitting electricity to Los Angeles.
On October 9, 1936, harnessing the power of the mighty Colorado River, Hoover Dam begins sending electricity over transmission lines spanning 266 miles of mountains and deserts to run the lights, radios, and stoves of Los Angeles.
Today is - NATIONAL LEIF ERICKSON DAY - NATIONAL MOLDY CHEESE DAY - NATIONAL PRO-LIFE CUPCAKE DAY
The Bank of Canada unclaimed balances portal can be found here.
supportontariomade.ca
Here is how to clean your non-medical mask.
To book a COVID-19 test in Durham Region, click here.
Lakeridge Health Mental Health Clinic 905-440-7534 or toll free at 1-833-392-7363 (Monday-Friday 9am-4pm)
Live coronavirus map of Canada: Tracking every case of COVID-19 in the country.
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