{"id":12241,"date":"2022-03-21T02:15:25","date_gmt":"2022-03-21T02:15:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tahrir2day.com\/news\/2022\/03\/21\/coronavirus-news-and-updates-for-sunday-march-20-2022\/"},"modified":"2022-03-21T02:15:25","modified_gmt":"2022-03-21T02:15:25","slug":"coronavirus-news-and-updates-for-sunday-march-20-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tahrir2day.com\/news\/2022\/03\/21\/coronavirus-news-and-updates-for-sunday-march-20-2022\/","title":{"rendered":"Coronavirus News and Updates for Sunday, March 20, 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The latest coronavirus news from Canada and around the world Sunday. This file is updated throughout the day. Web link to longer stories if available<\/em>.<\/p>\n

16:51 clock: <\/strong>Infants and children younger than 5 were hospitalized with coronavirus at much higher rates during the recent U.S. flood, when the highly transmissible omicron variant was dominant, compared to earlier periods in the pandemic, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.<\/p>\n

Hospitalizations of these children were approximately five times higher during the omicron flood, between December 19 and February 19, than during the period when the Delta variant was dominant, between June 27 and December 18.<\/p>\n

The rate of admission to intensive care has also risen dramatically among young children, reaching a peak on 8 January.<\/p>\n

Children of color younger than 5 are admitted to hospitals at disproportionate rates. Only one-third of the children were white, while 28 percent were Hispanic, and 23 percent were black. Hispanics make up 18 percent of the population, and black Americans make up 13 percent. (Six percent of the hospitalizations of children under 5 were among Asian or other Pacific Islander children, about the same as their representation in the population.)<\/p>\n

Experts say children of color are infected at higher rates because they are more likely to have parents who work in publicly targeted jobs and are more likely to live in poverty and in multigenerational households.<\/p>\n

Although hospitalization rates for young children are still relatively low, compared to rates among older Americans, the virus poses particular risks to young children and especially to infants.<\/p>\n

Infants 6 months old and younger were the most vulnerable, representing almost half of the hospitalizations among young children during the Omicron period. They were hospitalized at rates about six times as high at the peak of the Omicron flood, compared to the peak of the Delta wave. Two babies die, the CDC found.<\/p>\n

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13:46 clock: <\/strong>A Southern Ontario school council is sticking to its plan to extend its mask mandate over the provincial government, even after the government instructed it to drop the public health measure. <\/p>\n

In a statement released Friday night, the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board said it was wearing the masks until 1 p.m. <\/p>\n

“Supporting staff and families during this phased approach during the transition period is our priority. We remind staff and students to wear a mask until April 1 and exercise their choice by completing the mask release process when needed,” said Board of Directors President Dawn Danko in the statement. <\/p>\n

She released the statement in response to a letter sent by Education Minister Stephen Lecce on Friday.<\/p>\n

The government says the board has no legal authority to mandate masks in violation of a directive from a public health entity.<\/p>\n

In his letter, Lecce reiterated points made by the province’s top doctor.<\/p>\n

“Ontario now has both the prevention and response tools necessary to manage the impact of COVID-19,” the letter reads, saying the province is now able to “remove many of the emergency measures that have been in place in the past. two years on the ground. “<\/p>\n

The letter noted that some public health measures remain in schools, such as mandatory COVID-19 self-screening for staff and students, ventilation upgrades, and improved air quality practices.<\/p>\n

13:42 clock:<\/strong> A possible increase in U.S. COVID-19 cases may not lead to a full stream or call for a renewal of widespread restrictions, said one of President Joe Biden’s top advisers.<\/p>\n

“The support is that we may see an uptick in cases we have seen in European countries, particularly the UK,” Anthony Fauci, Biden’s chief medical adviser, told ABC “This Week” on Sunday. “Hopefully we will not see electricity. I do not think we will.”<\/p>\n

The BA.2 subvariant of Omicron causes cases in Europe and Asia, particularly in Hong Kong, and now accounts for about 30% of infections in the United States, where indoor mask and vaccination requirements have largely been reversed.<\/p>\n

While the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has argued that the U.S. must be prepared to take measures such as requiring masks in indoor public spaces, Fauci said, “At the moment, at this point, I do not see that happening. “<\/p>\n

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US cases, hospitalizations and deaths continue to fall. BA.2 is about 50% more transmissible than the original strain of Omicron, but it does not cause more serious illness or prevent the immunity of vaccines or an earlier infection, Fauci said.<\/p>\n

Fauci and U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy have urged Congress to pass a stalled package of new COVID-19 relief. The White House has sought $ 22.5 billion in funding, warning that it will soon have to close programs and can no longer afford therapeutic treatments.<\/p>\n

11:30 a.m .:<\/strong> Ontario reports 182 people in intensive care due to COVID-19 and 551 in hospital tested positive for the virus overall, according to its latest report released Sunday morning. <\/p>\n

The figures represent a 1.6 percent decrease in the ICU COVID-19 number and a 10 percent decrease in hospitalizations overall. Thirty-one percent of the province’s 2,343 adult ICU beds remain available for new patients. <\/p>\n

Given new provincial regulations around tests that take effect on December 31, 2021, case numbers – reported at 1,680 a Sunday, down 19.1 percent from the day before – are also not seen as a correct assessment of how widespread COVID-19 is now. <\/p>\n

Three new deaths have been reported in recent figures.<\/p>\n

Read the full story of Star’s Erin LeBlanc.<\/p>\n

10:30 a.m .:<\/strong> Masks will no longer be part of the required dress code and most Ontario public spaces will come on Monday because the government makes the public health measure an individual choice. <\/p>\n

Weeks after the province lifted the proof-of-vaccination rules and capacity limits, face masks are not mandatory in schools, retail establishments and other places. <\/p>\n

Hospitals, nursing homes and public transit in some other areas are holding masks until the end of April, when the province aims to get all remaining public health rules back.<\/p>\n

Provincial politicians and top health officials say COVID-19 indicators have improved enough to clear mask rules, which have also been lifted in other jurisdictions across Canada and around the world. <\/p>\n

Some are celebrating the change, but other Ontarians remain cautious about the risk of the virus – as well as a lack of data on cases since the province stopped widespread PCR testing – and say they plan to mask it after Monday.<\/p>\n

Lisa Lam said she will continue to wear a mask on her business job. <\/p>\n

“There’s no freaking way I can change my mind about it,” she said outside a Toronto mall. “I think it’s way too fast.”<\/p>\n

Dr Kieran Moore, the province’s top doctor, said the true number of cases was nearly 10 times higher than the daily number of cases, which had a seven-day average of 1,821 on a Friday. The province’s expert science advisers said last week that there are between 15,000 and 20,000 cases in the province each day.<\/p>\n

7:52 a.m.:<\/strong> As Nova Scotia prepares to lift its mask mandate for most indoor public spaces on Monday, the province’s chief medical officer warns that there is no sign the pandemic is over.<\/p>\n

Dr Robert Strang wants people to know that there is “still a lot of virus around” and that they should continue to practice many of the public health measures that have been in place over the last two years and are now voluntary.<\/p>\n

“We still strongly recommend that people continue to wear masks, especially in indoor public places,” Strang said in an interview last week. “That does not change, whether it is mandated or not.”<\/p>\n

According to data released later last week, the Omicron variant of COVID-19 remains highly active in the province, resulting in a steady hospitalization rate and 120 deaths since the variant first appeared in December.<\/p>\n

7:51 AM:<\/strong> Buckhorn Maplefest organizers are optimistic about hosting its Maple Forest Festival again next year, after seeing it canceled for three years in a row now due to COVID-19. <\/p>\n

The McLean family has made the “difficult” decision to cancel the event this year, said Erin McLean, due to the uncertainty surrounding the pandemic when planning for it began in December. <\/p>\n

“It takes a lot of time and effort to set up the festival, so we really had to make that call before there was talk of lifting restrictions when things were even worse than they are now,” she said. <\/p>\n

“It’s a lot of time and effort and investment and it’s just hard to do all the work and not know how it’s going to turn out, especially since we have to completely modernize the festival to make it as safe as we want it to be for everyone out there. come in. It just was not in the cards this year. <\/p>\n

She said she hopes for a good maple season this year. In early March, they began collecting juice and cooking it at McLean Farm Sugar Bush south of Buckhorn to produce maple syrup to sell at local farmers markets and directly from their farm. <\/p>\n

Sunday 7:49 AM: <\/strong>The Hong Kong leader said on Sunday that the government would consider lifting strictly distancing measures as new COVID-19 infections in the city continue to trend downwards.<\/p>\n

“I would not promise now that there is room for adjustment,” said Chief Executive Carrie Lam. “But after a review, we have a duty to calculate the results in that review and the direction we are going.”<\/p>\n

Hong Kong is in the midst of a massive outbreak, registering over 1 million total cases in the city of 7.4 million. The city has been hit hard, with mortuaries full as they try to deal with a high number of deaths. Hong Kong has so far refused to accept a strict city-wide lockdown as the one that regularly imposes on China to control the spread of the virus.<\/p>\n

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Read Saturday Coronavirus News.<\/p>\n

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