Coronavirus Update: B.C. announces vaccine passport to access restaurants, gyms, concerts

Good evening, we’re updating the coronavirus newsletter to better reflect the pandemic as it changes. What would you like to see included? Send your thoughts to audience@globeandmail.com

Top headlines:

1. B.C. will require a vaccine card for access to activities, events and restaurants starting Sept. 13. It’s the third province to implement a vaccine passport, following Quebec and Manitoba
2. An outspoken doctor in Ontario’s pandemic science advisory group quit, alleging “political considerations” were influencing its work. He accused the province of sitting on modelling data that “projects a grim fall”
3. The U.S.’s Food and Drug Administration granted full approval to the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. The two-dose vaccine was given emergency-use authorization in December

In the past seven days, 17,661 cases were reported, up 27 per cent from the previous seven days. There were 110 deaths announced, up 307 per cent over the same period. At least 797 people are being treated in hospitals and 1,422,624 others are considered recovered.

Canada’s inoculation rate is 10th among countries with a population of one million or more people.

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Sources: Canada data is compiled from government websites, Johns Hopkins and COVID-19 Canada Open Data Working Group; international data is from Johns Hopkins University.

Coronavirus explainers: Coronavirus in maps and charts • Tracking vaccine doses • Lockdown rules and reopening

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Coronavirus in Canada

• British Columbia Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says starting Sept. 13, a new provincial order will require proof of having had at least one dose of a vaccine to access ticketed sports events, concerts, theatres, indoor and patio dining at restaurants, as well as nightclubs and casinos, fitness centres and attend organized indoor events such as weddings.
• A doctor on Ontario’s pandemic science advisory table resigned over “political considerations” that were influencing its work. Dr. David Fisman posted on Twitter that he had grown “increasingly uncomfortable” with how much politics was driving what the advisory table did. The province reported 639 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, with 515 of the infected people not fully vaccinated against the virus, or with unknown vaccination status.
• In Quebec, the city of Montreal will end the state of emergency that has been in place since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The municipal government said high vaccination rates and the soon-to-be imposed vaccination passport will allow it to plan and carry out its emergency orders without depending on the “exceptional powers” granted by the state of emergency.
• Long-term care homes in Regina are restricting visits after a recent increase of COVID-19 cases in the facilities. The Saskatchewan Health Authority says family can only visit during end-of-life care. COVID-19 outbreaks are either confirmed or suspected at seven of Regina’s long-term care homes.
• Prince Edward Island’s Education Minister has released a back-to-school plan recommending students and staff continue to wear masks until at least October. In a news release, Natalie Jameson said masks are recommended for students when they are moving inside school buildings, but not when they are seated inside classrooms.
• Nova Scotia requires people coming from New Brunswick to show proof of vaccination because of rising COVID-19 cases. Premier-designate Tim Houston also announced that people coming from New Brunswick with just one dose will have to isolate for a week along with some testing, while those with no vaccinations will face two weeks of self-isolation, with testing.
• Almost 2,000 new COVID-19 infections were identified in Alberta in the last three days.

Throughout the pandemic, the premiers called on the Liberal government to approve a major increase in health care funding transfers to provincial governments. The current formula requires the transfer to grow each year in line with economic growth, with a guaranteed increase of at least three per cent.

• At a campaign stop on Monday, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau was asked about the rate of increase for federal health transfers to the provinces, but he did not offer specifics.
• Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole has promised a six per cent annual increase.

Booster moratorium: The head of the World Health Organization is calling for a two-month COVID-19 vaccine booster moratorium as a means of reducing global vaccine inequality.

Coronavirus around the world

• The U.S. FDA has granted full approval for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, making it the first COVID-19 vaccine to secure the FDA’s full approval as health authorities struggle to win over vaccine skeptics.
• Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has extended New Zealand’s strict nationwide COVID-19 lockdown, saying the current outbreak of the Delta variant had not yet peaked – as criticism mounts of her strategy to eliminate COVID-19 amid the slow rollout of the country’s vaccine program. The Level 4 lockdown was extended by three days until midnight on Aug. 27, while Auckland, the epicentre of the outbreak, will have restrictions in place at least until Aug. 31.
• China has reported no new locally transmitted cases of COVID-19 for the first time since July, a sign the current outbreak may be waning amid Beijing’s ‘zero-tolerance’ stance and tough anti-virus measures across the country.
• Australia must start to learn to live with COVID-19 when higher vaccination targets are reached, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Monday, despite concerns in some states about the impact of a surge in cases in Sydney.

Coronavirus and business

Canadians paid down a record amount of non-mortgage debt in the first year of the pandemic, Statistics Canada said Monday.

• Overall non-mortgage debt fell by $20.6-billion from the start of the pandemic to January, 2021, including a $16.6-billion drop in credit-card debt. Mortgage debt, however, rose by a record $99.6-billion over the same period.
• The change came as household consumption spending dropped significantly, down 14.7 per cent in the second quarter last year compared with a year earlier – the largest year-over-year decline since Statistics Canada started tracking it in 1961.

Also today: Canada Life and Rogers Communications are the latest federally regulated companies to announce policies that will require employees either to be fully vaccinated or take frequent COVID-19 tests.

And: The U.S. central bank cancelled the in-person portion of its conference in Wyoming as the county sees cases surge due to the Delta variant.

Globe opinion

• André Picard: Vaccine mandates without teeth are just performative promises
• Gordon Pape: COVID-19 sent Pfizer stocks soaring. Is this temporary or a new growth period?

More reporting

• TIFF to require proof of vaccination or negative COVID-19 test for staff, audience members
• Blue Jays to require proof of vaccination or negative COVID-19 test to enter Rogers Centre, starting Sept. 13
• Euro zone business activity roared on in August as COVID-19 vaccinations allow more firms to reopen
• Mirvish Productions is set to relaunch in December – with vaccination requirements for those on stage, backstage and in the audience
• Chevron mandating COVID-19 vaccines for some employees, report says

Information centre

• Everything you need to know about Canada’s travel restrictions for vaccinated and unvaccinated people
• Waiting for a second dose? We answer your COVID-19 vaccine questions
• What is and isn’t ‘paid sick leave’ in Canada? A short primer
• Got a vaccine ‘hangover’? Here’s why

Sources: Canada data are compiled from government websites, Johns Hopkins University and COVID-19 Canada Open Data Working Group; international data are from Johns Hopkins.

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