Coronavirus Update: Protests over COVID-19 restrictions have ‘traumatized’ employees, customers in Ottawa

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

Top headlines:

1. The week-long protest to oppose government lockdowns has shut down commerce in the core of Ottawa, hurting businesses, workers and their customers
2. As the Omicron variant drove a steep uptick in COVID-19 infections in January, work absences due to illness soared to record levels and employment plummeted
3. One of Canada’s best hopes for a figure skating medal at the Beijing Olympics – Keegan Messing – is currently stuck in Vancouver after testing positive for COVID-19

In the past seven days, 94,875 cases were reported, down 23 per cent from the previous seven days. There were 1,019 deaths announced, down 11 per cent over the same period. At least 8,877 people are being treated in hospitals.

Canada’s inoculation rate is 12th 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

• Next week in Alberta, Premier Jason Kenney plans to announce the end of almost all COVID-19 health restrictions by the end of the month, provided the pressure on hospitals continues to decline. A protest that blocked access to the U.S.-Canada border near Coutts, Alta., remains in place, though one lane of traffic has been opened in each direction. Chief Medical Officer Deena Hinshaw would not say whether she believed ending the province’s vaccine certificate program is a good idea.
• Ontario is easing visitor restrictions at long-term care homes starting on Monday, when the number of designated caregivers per resident will increase from two to four. In Toronto, staff and volunteers at Fred Victor charity are hoping to raise $100,000 to provide shelter and services for the city’s unhoused.
• Quebec Premier Francois Legault says a trucker protest planned in Quebec City this weekend against COVID-19 public health orders won’t be tolerated if it resembles the truckers’ protest in Ottawa. The province continues to see the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations and intensive care patients drop.
• The Saskatchewan legislature is closed today in advance of a demonstration expected on Saturday against COVID-19 restrictions.
• British Columbia officials say there are two new COVID-19 outbreaks at health-care facilities in the province for a total of 56, most of them in long-term care homes.
• A Nunavut senator has quit the Conservative caucus over the party’s support for the trucker protests in Ottawa.

Thousands more demonstrators are expected to arrive this weekend in the capital, prompting Ottawa Police to deploy more officers as part of a new strategy to manage the occupying demonstrators.

• Deputy Chief Steve Bell said Ottawa Police are anticipating another 300 to 400 trucks may travel to Ottawa this weekend, along with as many as 2,000 protesters arriving on foot and up to 1,000 counter-demonstrators. Police estimate 200-250 truckers were already blockading the street on Friday.

$10-million raised: GoFundMe has pulled the plug on a fundraiser for convoy protesters, as MPs call on GoFundMe staff to testify about efforts to screen out hate campaigns

Trucker exemption clarification: The federal government has issued a clarification after the Canada Border Services Agency created widespread confusion last month when it issued a statement saying that unvaccinated truckers would remain exempt from quarantine and testing requirements.

Olympic medal dreams sidelined: Canada’s top male figure skater has had to sit out of the Beijing Olympics so far. Keegan Messing has been isolating in a Vancouver airport hotel since he tested positive for COVID-19 before Team Canada’s plane departed for China last week.

Competing in COVID times: During the pandemic, virtual reality helped Canadian Olympic athletes overcome hurdles caused by COVID-19.

Health-care transfers: Premiers are calling on the federal government to transfer more money for long-term care to the provinces with no strings attached – but the Liberal government is pushing for the creation of national standards.

Coronavirus around the world

• Epidemiologists who model the COVID-19 pandemic in Britain say there’s a realistic possibility of large waves of COVID-19 infection in the future.

Our Olympic team has a daily newsletter that lands in your inbox every morning during the Beijing Winter Games. Sign up today to join us in keeping up with medals, events and other news from our reporters on the ground in Northern China.

Coronavirus and business

Canadian employment plummeted in January and work absences due to illness soared to record levels as the Omicron variant drove a steep uptick in COVID-19 infections.

• The job losses were worse than expected: The median estimate by financial analysts was a decline of 110,000 positions. The actual number of jobs lost last month was 200,000.

Also today: Restaurants are now thinking about what the future of hospitality – hotels and dining – could look like as the industry emerges from the pandemic. Food-service sales are expected to grow this year, with nearly $80-billion in revenues – 3.8 per cent higher than prepandemic levels.

And: Regeneron’s fourth-quarter revenue tops estimates on strong sales of Eylea, a COVID-19 antibody therapy

Also see: How Canada’s economic recovery is leaving Canadians behind

Globe opinion

• Editorial Board: Protest is a legal right. But a blockade isn’t a legal protest
• Kelly Cryderman: Kenney looks to avoid O’Toole’s fate in Alberta’s trucker standoff

More reporting

• Amid talent shortage, employers rank employees as most important stakeholder, study says
• Fleury returns for COVID-19 isolation to post win at Scotties

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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