Good evening, let’s start with today’s top stories:
Canada’s top doctor said Friday there are signs that the COVID-19 epidemic is easing, despite top-line numbers showing that case counts have doubled in the past month.
Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer, said the success of the vaccine rollout will likely determine whether lockdown measures can be lifted this summer. New modelling released Friday hint that actions intended to slow the spread of COVID-19 that have recently been introduced in several provinces have put a dent in the current surge.
Federal officials added that the stricter measures probably won’t be able to be relaxed until at least 75 per cent of Canadian adults get their first shot, including 20 per cent who would be fully vaccinated.
Not long after Tam gave her update, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada has secured 35 million booster doses of the Pfizer vaccine for next year, and another 30 million in the year after.
As the virus responsible for COVID-19 continues to mutate, booster shots are expected to become important, similar to how the flu shot is altered every year to be effective against the most dominant strain.
Also Friday, the National Advisory Committee on Immunization is recommending that people 30 and older can get a shot of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine
The committee initially recommended a pause on using AstraZeneca shots for people younger than 55 out of an abundance of caution after reports of rare blood clots. It says Health Canada released a safety assessment that showed the benefits of the shots outweigh the risks, which the committee also evaluated.
- The Globe’s Eric Reguly: The COVID-19 pandemic is making this family-owned Italian company’s vaccine-filling machines hot sellers
- Opinion: No, Canada, we’re not all in this together
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau looks on as Pharmacist Zaineb Hassan administers the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to Sophie Gregoire Trudeau in Ottawa on Friday.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
National Bank CEO says policymakers need more research before reining in the hot housing market
National Bank of Canada CEO Louis Vachon says more steps might be needed to cool housing markets in Canada, but he urged policymakers and regulators to get a better grasp of the root causes before changing any rules.
Regulators are “fully aware” of the dangers a housing bubble could pose to the economy and social well-being, he said, and they may need to do more to keep one from building. That could include tailored measures such as ending blind bidding on homes for sale, he said.
Vachon is encouraging policymakers to understand which factors that are driving prices higher are temporary symptoms of the pandemic, and which are likely to last.
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ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Potential new malaria vaccine shows promise in Burkina Faso trial: The candidate vaccine, developed by scientists in Britain, showed up to 77 per cent efficacy in the year-long trial of 450 children. Scientists around the world have been working for decades to develop a vaccine to prevent malaria – a complex infection caused by a parasite carried in the saliva of mosquitoes that infects millions of people every year and kills more than 400,000.
Port of Montreal strike set to begin Monday: The dockworkers union has issued the required 72-hour notice to the Maritime Employers Association and, barring a last-minute reprieve, the 1,150 port workers affiliated with the Canadian Union of Public Employees will be in a legal strike position as of Monday morning.
Globe multimedia project gets Amnesty International award: The project by Stephanie Nolen, Félix Márquez, Laura Blenkinsop, Jeremy Agius and Timothy Moore won in the mixed media category of the 26th annual Amnesty International Media Awards in Canada. The Gone project explored families’ risky search to uncover the truth behind Mexico’s mass graves.
MARKET WATCH
Investors shook off U.S. tax hike concerns as strong economic data pushed North American stock markets to end the week hovering around record territory.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 70.69 points to 19,102.33.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 227.59 points at 34,043.49. The S&P 500 index was up 45.19 points to 4,180.17, while the Nasdaq composite was up 198.40 points at 14,016.81.
The Canadian dollar traded for 80.07 cents US compared with 80.00 cents US on Thursday.
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TALKING POINTS
While Putin threatens the world with annihilation, it’s Russians he’s holding hostage
“Whenever angry middle-class Russians have massed in the streets in significant numbers, he has turned to the same tropes and tools: the restoration of the Soviet empire’s territorial expanses, the freeing of the mythic Russian and Orthodox heartlands to the country’s west, the creation of a world-leading civilization and economy in “Eurasia,” the battle against the menace of the liberal-democratic West.” - Doug Saunders
Bill C-15 is a small step forward for Indigenous rights. But there is still a long way to go
“What government has always resisted – including the Trudeau government, when it abandoned its own platform commitments from 2015 – is doing what true reconciliation requires. This means decolonizing its own structures, laws, policies and practices so that it can get out of the way of Indigenous Nations as they determine and shape their futures.” - Jody Wilson-Raybould
Where, exactly, is the justice for Black victims of police violence?
“While the Prime Minister often squawks about systemic racism existing in our institutions and addressing anti-Black racism, he continues to empower and reward those same institutions to figure it out on their own.” - Erica Ifill
LIVING BETTER
Spring books preview: 45 titles for you and the young readers in your life
featured image for rv-bk-springpreview-0419Supplied
After a long and isolating winter, plan for warmer days ahead with new titles for adults, young adults and children.
TODAY’S LONG READ
Canada isn’t facing a third wave of COVID – we are facing a new epidemic
UBC medical geographer Tom Koch says looking at the current surge in COVID-19 cases as a fresh wave is the wrong way to look at the problem. He says we are experiencing a new pandemic, driven by “variants of concern” whose different demographics (younger persons), greater transmissibility and increased virulence mark it as distinct.
As the early phase of the pandemic progressed, he says it was assumed that existing measures would keep the virus under control. But, as he writes, “the children of SARS-CoV-2 took a different, unexpected turn.”
Read his full story here.
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