Loading articles...

Second wave of COVID-19 taking grip across Canada

Last Updated Oct 15, 2020 at 7:10 pm MDT

FILE - Canada Goose is the only visitor outside at a Covid-19 testing centre in Toronto on Monday, April 13, 2020. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn)

Alberta reported no new cases and one recovery of COVID-19 in Wood Buffalo.

It’s the first time the RMWB had no new cases in almost two weeks.

Across the region, there are 20 active cases, one death, and 346 recovered cases of the infection.

Inside the urban service area, there are 17 active cases, one death, and 282 recovered cases of COVID-19.

Positivity rates almost reached two per cent as provincial health officials completed 12,721 tests.

Alberta Health Services listed only Elsie Yanik School in Fort McMurray with an outbreak situation or between two and four cases of COVID-19.

The Fort McMurray Catholic School Division (FMCSD) said it will continue to be vigilant with its procedures to limit COVID-19 in the community.

The province declared outbreak situations over at both Holy Trinity High School and St Gabriel schools on Oct. 14.

RELATED: Better data needed to address inequalities exposed by COVID-19

While COVID-19 appears to trend downward in Wood Buffalo, Alberta reported a spike in hospitalizations across the province.

Across Alberta, there are 244 new cases and one additional death linked to COVID-19 in the last 24 hours.

Edmonton Zone has a record 1497 active cases.

101 Albertans are now in hospital with COVID-19, including 16 in intensive care.

Alberta has 2738 active cases, 288 deaths, and 18,223 recoveries of COVID-19.

National response

Ontario and Quebec are weeks into the second wave of COVID-19.

There were at least 2500 new cases reported across the country, and provinces that appeared to have the transmission of the coronavirus under control are now also struggling to contain it.

Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba reported spikes in cases and hospitalizations.

Cases in Saskatchewan almost doubled in less than a week.

Manitoba set a daily case record on Oct. 15 with almost 150 new infections, and now the province is considering a lockdown.

“A lockdown has to be on the table. It has to be considered,” Said Manitoba Health Minister Cameron Friesen. “But if you’re going to tell people you can’t work, if you’re going to tell people you have to close your business, government has a responsibility to make sure that those people don’t go broke and that business doesn’t go under.”

Ontario reported 783 new cases, along with five deaths related to the coronavirus as the province completed nearly 40,000 tests.

Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott says 239 of the new cases are in Toronto.

With all the new cases, Canada’s most populous province announced plans to beef up its contact tracing as it recorded a nine per cent increase in new daily COVID-19 cases.

Overwhelmed Toronto Public Health officials suspended contact tracing of COVID-19 cases earlier this month.

Outside of outbreaks in congregate settings, medical experts continue to state it is a crucial weapon in the fight against the coronavirus.

Ontario said it has hired 100 more people to help track and isolate new cases of the novel coronavirus and plans to hire 500 more by mid-November.

Quebec reported 969 cases of COVID-19 and eight deaths in the past 24 hours.

There were 844 new cases recorded the previous day.

Health officials are also reporting another 22 deaths linked to the virus that they say occurred at earlier dates.

In B.C., health officials reported 158 new cases on Oct. 14, for a total of 10,892 since the start of the pandemic.

A new study published in the Journal of the Association for Consumer Research suggests governments and corporations are shifting the responsibility for managing the pandemic onto individuals.

A team of three Canadian researchers found that in the early days, governments and companies took decisive action to mitigate the risk of spreading COVID-19.

As the pandemic wore on, messaging shifted to urging consumers to follow guidelines such as physical distancing and mask use.

This article includes excerpts from Jaime Pulfer of The Canadian Press.