Coronavirus Update: Despite rise in hospitalizations of kids with COVID-19, Omicron variant appears less severe

Good evening, here are the COVID-19 updates you need to know tonight.

Top headlines:

1. Many pediatricians attribute the rise in hospitalizations among children to community spread rather than the severity of the virus
2. Mobile hospitals that cost Ottawa $300-million sit in storage while Omicron strains Canada’s health system
3. Hospitalizations expected to surge in Canada, PHAC modelling says, while COVID-19 cases appear to be peaking

In the past seven days, 238,440 cases were reported, down 18 per cent from the previous seven days. There were 653 deaths announced, up 87 per cent over the same period. At least 9,147 people are being treated in hospitals, up 52 per cent from the previous seven days.

Canada’s inoculation rate is 15th 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

• The co-chair of Ontario’s COVID-19 Science Advisory Table, Peter Juni, said yesterday that rising hospital admissions due to Omicron in the province could plateau as early as Tuesday – meaning the growth in infections is already tapering off. The highly contagious Omicron variant of COVID-19 could send many teachers and other education workers into self-isolation, causing last-minute class cancellations, some school boards warn. Cabinet minister Rod Phillips, who took a controversial two-week trip to St. Barts despite public health rules against travel in Dec. 2020, is resigning from his current position as long-term care minister. Ontario’s top doctor, Kieran Moore, clarified remarks made earlier in the week about child vaccines.
• After a frenetic week battling the pandemic, Quebec Premier François Legault told residents that the worst of this fifth wave may soon be behind them.
• Health officials in Prince Edward Island are reporting the province’s first two COVID-19 deaths of the pandemic.
• In Alberta, a trio of universities are extending virtual classes into late February.
• New Brunswick reported four more COVID-19 deaths hours before the province goes into a level 3 lockdown, which will close gyms, entertainment venues and prohibit indoor dining at restaurants.

Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer Theresa Tam told a virtual press conference that the peak of the Omicron wave may be in sight, but there is still significant uncertainty about when cases and hospitalizations will begin to decline.

• Because COVID-19 testing capacity across the country has buckled under the volume of cases, the Public Health Agency of Canada has had to estimate the true number of coronavirus cases. The modelling shows that with the current public-health measures, daily case counts will peak at between 100,000 and 250,000 cases per day.

Mobile hospitals: The federal government gave a sole-sourced contract of up to $150-million to a joint venture between SNC-Lavalin and Pacific Architects and Engineers in April, 2020, to build five mobile respiratory-care hospitals that can be set up in existing structures such as conference centres and indoor skating arenas. Only one mobile hospital unit has been produced, but it is sitting in a warehouse in Ottawa and has never been deployed.

On The Decibel: Thinking through Quebec’s tax on the unvaccinated

COVID-19 in Indigenous communities: Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu said that COVID-19 cases in Indigenous communities are rising.

Military’s vaccines: Formal proceedings have been launched against more than 900 members of the Canadian Armed Forces for refusing to get the COVID-19 vaccine, the Department of National Defence says.

Coronavirus around the world

• On Saturday unvaccinated tennis star Novak Djokovic is set to fight his deportation from Australia in a federal court.
• Tens of thousands of devout Hindus, led by heads of monasteries and ash-smeared ascetics, took a holy dip into the frigid waters of the Ganges River in northern India on Friday, despite rising COVID-19 infections.
• A Rhode Island man who is believed to have fled the U.S. and faked his own death to evade prosecution for rape and financial fraud has been arrested in Scotland after being hospitalized with COVID-19.

Coronavirus and business

Just a few weeks ago two major winter performing arts festivals in Western Canada announced their return to full, in-person programming for early 2022. Calgary’s High Performance Rodeo was to begin Jan. 18; the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival in Vancouver two days later. Nobody was declaring the pandemic over, but with vaccinations, safety precautions – and huge desire – the return to live theatre felt possible and exciting.

• Then Omicron began to surge and the two festivals – both multidisciplinary, experimental envelope-pushers – and both in provinces that have (as of now) not mandated the closing of theatres – faced a tough decision.
• The HPRodeo has been cancelled, while the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival will go ahead with limited capacities. Marsha Lederman takes you inside the long list of decisions that were made by each festival.

Also today: Retail workers face a jumble of corporate sick-pay policies amid the Omicron surge

Globe opinion

• Andrew Coyne: Calm down: Quebec’s unvaccinated tax may be a stretch, but it’s hardly the assault on liberty critics claim
• Anneliese Lawton: Parents are burnt out. But many of us can’t afford the help we need
• Cathal Kelly: In Australia, the match between Djokovic, the kooks and the puritans looks pretty even
• Vincent Lam: Canada’s health care system is making clear that it still cares about the unvaccinated

More reporting

• Flying south for the winter? Here’s what restrictions await in popular winter travel destinations for Canadians
• DesignTO’s annual show returns with a showcase of inclusive and post-pandemic design
• Bayern Munich’s Alphonso Davies sidelined after mild heart inflammation detected following bout with COVID-19
• What helps with a pandemic hair regimen?
• QMJHL postpones its return to play to Feb. 1 due to ongoing COVID-19 challenges
• Maple Leafs add Kase, Ritchie and Holl to NHL’s COVID-19 protocol

Information centre

• Everything you need to know about Canada’s travel restrictions for vaccinated and unvaccinated people
• Where do I book a COVID-19 booster or a vaccine appointment for my kids? Latest rules by province
• 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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