Canadian coronavirus cases grow and spread as once-effective unity frays

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Mon, 2020-11-16 11:04 — mike kraft

Canadian coronavirus cases grow and spread as once-effective unity frays Cracks are emerging in the “Team Canada” approach; a spiraling resurgence is buffeting provinces once heralded as success stories. Amanda Coletta Washington Post

ORONTO — For the Canadian prime minister, it was a reversal of sorts. Justin Trudeau had said he was not in the business of judging whether some provinces had mismanaged the coronavirus pandemic. Now he was suggesting otherwise.

“I would hope that no leader in our country is easing public health vigilance because they feel pressure not to shut down businesses or slow down our economy,” Trudeau told reporters last week. “I urge premiers and mayors to do the right thing: Act now to protect public health.”

Which ones were doing the wrong thing? He wouldn’t name names.

The coronavirus is surging, but Canada is keeping schools open

Canada’s spring wave battered Ontario and Quebec, the two most populous provinces. Now, a spiraling resurgence is buffeting provinces once heralded as success stories, as cracks emerge in the “Team Canada” approach.

The seven-day average for new cases in Canada climbed to approximately 4,300 on Friday, up about 22 percent from the previous week and almost 45 percent from the end of October. Indicators in much of the country are blinking red. Several provinces in western Canada are setting hospitalization records.

Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer, said new modeling projects that the country could see 10,000 new coronavirus cases a day by early December — five times what the country saw at the peak of its spring wave. ...

Infectious-disease experts say Canada squandered a summer of comparatively low case counts when it could have been beefing up testing and contact tracing, which is collapsing. They say politics is creeping into some provincial responses, and messaging is often muddled.

“In some parts of Canada this is being managed as a public health problem and those outcomes tend to be pretty good,” said Colin Furness, an epidemiologist at the University of Toronto. “In other provinces, it’s being managed as a political problem and we’re seeing a resurgence.” ...

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