Worldwide stats provided by Worldometers put the global COVID-19 number of reported cases today at 119,205,673. (Deaths: 2,643,610 and Recovered: 94,797,065)
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 March 12, 2021:
Health Canada reported 899,757 confirmed cases of COVID-19, to date. 30,672 cases are active, there have been 22,371 deaths and 846,714 people have recovered.
The official Province of Ontario website is reporting 313,520 total confirmed cases and 7,109 total deaths. 11,283 are active. Currently, there are 646 people are in hospital with 280 of those cases currently in ICU. 295,128 cases have been resolved. The Ontario government has previously said that when the number of COVID-19 patients in the ICU exceeds 300, it becomes nearly impossible for health-care workers to provide care not related to the disease.
The Region of Durham reported 12,293 confirmed cases of COVID-19 (285 active). Clarington rose to 919 cases, of which 25 are active. Hospitalized in Clarington currently: "3", total deceased: "15"
In international news,
Brazil’s Covid Crisis Is a Warning to the Whole World, Scientists Say. Brazil is seeing a record number of deaths, and the spread of a more contagious coronavirus variant that may cause reinfection. Covid-19 has already left a trail of death and despair in Brazil, one of the worst in the world. Now, a year into the pandemic, the country is setting another wrenching record. No other nation that experienced such a major outbreak is still grappling with record-setting death tolls and a health care system on the brink of collapse. Many other hard-hit nations are, instead, taking tentative steps toward a semblance of normalcy. But Brazil is battling a more contagious variant that has trampled one major city and is spreading to others, even as Brazilians toss away precautionary measures that could keep them safe. On Tuesday, Brazil recorded more than 1,700 Covid-19 deaths, the highest single-day toll of the pandemic. “The acceleration of the epidemic in various states is leading to the collapse of their public and private hospital systems, which may soon become the case in every region of Brazil,” the national association of health secretaries said in a statement. “Sadly, the anemic rollout of vaccines and the slow pace at which they’re becoming available still does not suggest that this scenario will be reversed in the short term.”
In national news,
Doctor cautioned to stop encouraging people to breach pandemic public health orders. Newfoundland medical regulator issued advisory to Dr. Peter Morry after social media posts. A family doctor has been cautioned by Newfoundland and Labrador's medical regulator to stop encouraging people to disobey Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Janice Fitzgerald's health orders during the pandemic. Since last year, Dr. Peter Morry, who works in the town of Bay Bulls, N.L., has been posting COVID-19-related misinformation on his Facebook account. Several of the links on his account carry warnings that they contain false or partly false information. Morry has defended himself by stressing that he is simply trying to foster debate about COVID-related issues. On Facebook last August, Morry made a series of posts that are false or misleading.
They included:
"The world is starting to wake up. They know that the corona statistics are exaggerated and that there is a cure.… It is time we had Newfoundland stood up and stop wearing our masks and said enough is enough."
"We as a society are being battered by the deep state. They are taking away our freedoms. We are losing our free speech. We are losing the right to control what happens with our own bodies by overbearing governments and people who were too dumb to know that they're being manipulated."
"The mandatory wearing of the mask ordinance coming up is a huge loss of freedom. The next loss of freedom will be the mandatory forcing of you to take a vaccine. Step-by-step we will lose our freedoms and we have none at all."
"Evidence worldwide shows that COVID-19 is not much worse than influenza."
Morry did not agree to a recorded interview with CBC News, but did have four telephone conversations with a reporter.
In Ontario,
Ontario will need even harsher third lockdown soon due to COVID-19 variants, top epidemiologist says. The scientific director of Ontario’s COVID-19 Science Table says the province will need to enact a third lockdown even harsher than what was enacted in the past in order to avoid a crippling surge in coronavirus cases brought on by the spread of the B.1.1.7 variant. Dr. Peter Jüni told CTV News Channel that Ontario is currently experiencing “two pandemics” at the same time, with older “wild” variants of the virus well under control and receding, while the variants of concern, chiefly the B.1.1.7 variant first detected in the United Kingdom, continue an exponential climb. “We keep having the old variants under control, cases are plummeting, that’s all good but the problem is we don’t have the new one under control and therefore we start talking about a pandemic within a pandemic,” Jüni said. Jüni and his colleagues on the Science Table spent much of the last four weeks warning that the variants of concern would spoil efforts to curb COVID-19 infection that spanned most of January and February. “We need once more, firmer restrictions – firmer than before actually,” Jüni said. “If we lock down once more it will be the last time we will have to do that.” Their current calculations show that the so-called “wild” or “early” variants of coronavirus are receding, with a reproduction number of 0.9, meaning every 10 infected persons will go on to infect 9 others. But among the variant of concern cases, now representing 40 per cent of all infections in the province, they had a reproduction number of 1.24, signalling exponential forward growth. All of Ontario was under a state of emergency and stay-at-home order for more than one month starting Jan. 13, after which most of the province was allowed to reopen. The last regions of the province – Toronto, Peel and North Bay – just exited the stay-at-home order on Monday. Jüni said he had seen a recent English study that said B.1.1.7 caused at least a 30 per cent higher risk of death in infected patients and said he agreed with its conclusions.
New provincial data says COVID-19 cases on the rise, postponed surgeries a concern. Ontario’s latest COVID-19 projections show vaccinations in long-term care are paying off. However, Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Williams says progress otherwise has stalled. Modelling data shows declines in community cases and test positivity levelling off as cases increase in most Public Health Units as more people start moving across Ontario. Projections indicate Ontario could see up to 6,000 cases reported daily by April assuming medium spread occurs. In the best-case scenario, that figure drops to less than 2,000 a day. Dr. Williams says controlling the continued spread of variants is directly related to avoiding a possible third wave this summer. As of this week, 25 long-term care homes have outbreaks involving residents, almost half of which are in York, Toronto and Peel. The province’s latest data also marks a grim milestone as the total number of LTC resident deaths in the second wave reaches 1,900, exceeding the 1,848 resident deaths in Wave 1. Williams says people postponing doctor’s appointments and missing critical screening for things like cancer is on the rise, which means there will be a surge in need for other medical care and surgeries for a long period of time. He says a cumulative total of over 227,000 surgical cases were backlogged province-wide by the end of last month.
In small town news,
Bancroft Rockhound Gemboree Cancelled for a Second Year. For the second year in a row, the Bancroft Rockhound Gemboree has been cancelled. Mayor Paul Jenkins says while the decision was difficult, it was done in the interest of public safety. With new COVID variants, along with the long time it takes to plan the Gemboree, the Town could not risk public safety. He says that it is the responsible decision, and would still be the right one if the pandemic was over before the Gemboree started. He says it is better to give everyone early notice that the event would not take place. In addition, Jenkins says that safety could not be guaranteed because of the international nature of the event. Some vendors had already expressed concerns with travel and the status of the US-Canada Border. However, Jenkins says this just means planning for next year can proceed, and hopes for a reenergized event when it is safe to do so.
Musing,
Well, it's been a year. And, what a year it was. I wonder what will the future hold for Canada? I don't have a crystal ball, but I fear for the future viability of small business and for our rights and freedoms. (Amazon and big box is taking over folks and it's happening right under our noses.)
"Harsh reality is always better than false hope." (JULIAN FELLOWES)
“Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.” (WINSTON CHURCHILL)
Did you know....Cobalt, Ontario is seeing a resurgence in mining activity due to cobalt being a component in electric car batteries?
Have you ever...bought Girl Guide cookies at the grocery store?
WTF is ...............27-CO-58.993?
On this day in history, Mohandas Gandhi begins 241-mile civil disobedience march.
On March 12, 1930, Indian independence leader Mohandas Gandhi begins a defiant march to the sea in protest of the British monopoly on salt, his boldest act of civil disobedience yet against British rule in India. Britain’s Salt Acts prohibited Indians from collecting or selling salt, a staple in the Indian diet. Citizens were forced to buy the vital mineral from the British, who, in addition to exercising a monopoly over the manufacture and sale of salt, also exerted a heavy salt tax. Although India’s poor suffered most under the tax, Indians required salt. Defying the Salt Acts, Gandhi reasoned, would be an ingeniously simple way for many Indians to break a British law nonviolently. He declared resistance to British salt policies to be the unifying theme for his new campaign of satyagraha, or mass civil disobedience.
Today is - NATIONAL GIRL SCOUT DAY - NATIONAL PLANT A FLOWER DAY - NATIONAL BAKED SCALLOPS DAY - NATIONAL WORKING MOMS DAY
The Bank of Canada unclaimed balances portal can be found here.
COVID-19 vaccination approximate dates here.
Lakeridge Health Mental Health Clinic 905-440-7534 or toll free at 1-833-392-7363 (Monday-Friday 9am-4pm)
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