The latest on the coronavirus outbreak for June 11

During Ngola’s overnight round trip to retrieve his four-year-old daughter during the week of May 10, he interacted with only a few people — all of whom have since tested negative for COVID-19, said Etienne. “Dr. Ngola must have therefore contracted the virus from a vector in New Brunswick; and, therefore, he cannot have been the individual who carried the virus over the border,” he wrote in a letter to the premier Wednesday. Based on the coronavirus’s incubation period of up to two weeks, the private investigator concluded Ngola was infected in New Brunswick by either a patient or a colleague. But Ngola has suffered a “barrage of threats … online racial attacks, local harassment and racial slurs” since May 27, when Higgs announced the case at a news conference, according to Etienne. He has had to seek police protection, Etienne told CBC News.

Higgs has never publicly named Ngola for the Campbellton cluster. He did blame the resurgence of the coronavirus in the province, after more than two weeks of no cases, on an “irresponsible” medical professional who travelled to Quebec for personal reasons, “was not forthcoming about their reasons for travel upon returning to New Brunswick” and didn’t self-isolate. In his 11-page letter, Etienne calls the premier’s “rushed judgment” about Ngola’s actions and “disparaging comments” about him “grossly unfair.” Etienne, a Toronto-based lawyer, wants Higgs to publicly call for “civility and respect” in the public discourse of all matters relating to Ngola. The premier’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday night and Thursday morning.

Craig Hannaford, the private investigator hired by Ngola’s lawyer, proposed “credible alternatives” to the source of infection. During his investigation, the retired RCMP officer spoke to “whistleblowers” within the health-care system “who can attest to unclear guidelines and practices that have resulted in many first responder health-care professionals travelling in and out of Campbellton since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic from as far as Montreal to then be reinserted into the regional health unit without self-quarantining before attending to patients on their return,” according to Etienne’s letter. The provincial government requires health-care workers who live and work in New Brunswick to self-isolate for 14 days upon return from travel outside the province, but there are exceptions. Etienne argued Ngola’s actions were “consistent with guidelines and standard daily practices of his colleagues and supervisor/superiors.” He declined to say what border officials told Ngola about isolation requirements.

Ngola, who has practised in the region since 2013, has been suspended by Vitalité Health Network and is under investigation by the RCMP. He is seeking to be reinstated as soon as he has a clean bill of health. Ngola was planning to leave his practice, according to the registrar of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New Brunswick, but Etienne dismisses this. Ngola also wants the private investigator to be given “full transparency” to track who in government allegedly leaked his private health-care information through social media. Ngola told Radio-Canada’s program La Matinale on June 2 that he did not self-isolate when he got back to New Brunswick. He returned to work at the Campbellton Regional Hospital the next day. “Maybe it was an error in judgment,” he said. Etienne clarified by saying Ngola takes the position that his conduct was never professionally or ethically negligent. RCMP are continuing to investigate to “determine if a violation has occurred,” a spokesperson said on Thursday.

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IN BRIEF

Montreal’s poorest and most racially diverse neighbourhoods hit hardest by virus, data analysis shows

Since the start of the pandemic, Montreal districts with higher numbers of Black people and more cramped housing have registered the most cases of COVID-19, according to an analysis by CBC News. The findings confirm what many already suspected, given the high death toll in low-income, racially diverse neighbourhoods like Montréal-Nord, where 222 people have died from the virus — more than in all of British Columbia. They also echo observations made in other major North American cities, where the novel coronavirus has disproportionately affected the poorest and most racially diverse neighbourhoods.

Unlike in some other jurisdictions, in Canada, public health officials have not disclosed data on the race of COVID-19 patients. That has frustrated community activists like Tiffany Callender, executive director of the Côte-des-Neiges Black Community Association. She says such information could have been used to identify and protect vulnerable communities. Although the province’s public health director, Dr. Horacio Arruda, promised in early May the government would begin collecting race-based health data, the Health Ministry acknowledged Wednesday there are no immediate plans to do so. For the moment, the ministry said, “all our efforts are being put toward protecting the population and those infected.” In order to get a more accurate picture of how race and other socio-economic factors have played a role in the outbreak, CBC News cross-referenced census data with case numbers for each borough or municipality, released daily by the public health authority for the island of Montreal.

CBC News performed a simple statistical procedure known as a linear regression to establish which correlations are the strongest. Of the 24 socio-economic factors tested, the strongest correlation was between cases per 100,000 residents and the percentage of Black residents. CBC News also found strong correlations for concentrations of health-care workers, low-income earners and unsuitable housing (a measure of whether there are enough bedrooms for the size of a household). A correlation study such as this one does not determine what factors cause the relationship, nor does it explain how several different factors may interact with each other. The correlation study also can’t adequately represent the experiences of communities that don’t make up significant proportions of a neighbourhood population. With these limitations in mind, it’s nevertheless clear that Montreal boroughs with large Black populations have been the hardest-hit by COVID-19; the correlation between cases and race was stronger for Black people than for any other visible minority.

Read more about the data analysis

Toronto to make face coverings mandatory on public transit, will hand out 1 million masks to riders

Toronto plans to make face coverings mandatory on its public transit system, a rule that could go into effect starting July 2. “As the restart and reopening begins, we know that more people will be back on the TTC … at the same time, physical distancing will become a greater and greater challenge,” Mayor John Tory said. The Toronto Transit Commission board will need to approve the recommendation at its meeting next week, though TTC CEO Rick Leary has already said he supports the plan.

Toronto also announced on Thursday a plan to give out one million non-medical masks to transit users, with a focus on low-income and marginalized communities. The TTC said it plans to launch an extensive education campaign to inform riders about the new rule. Tory said enforcement will not be a priority, though he suggested riders could face fines in certain circumstances. “We don’t believe strict enforcement is necessary,” Leary added. There will be some exemptions to the rule, including children under the age of two and people with medical conditions. The TTC says between 50 and 60 per cent of its riders are already using face coverings on the transit system. ATU Local 113, which represents Toronto’s transit workers, had been calling for mandatory face coverings since early May.

The TTC and GO Transit, which serves commuters across the Greater Toronto Area, have both reduced service during the pandemic. However, as more businesses are allowed to reopen, pressure on those systems is growing. Union Station, Toronto’s central transit hub, has been expanding in recent years to keep up with demand; before COVID-19 hit, some 250,000 people flowed through the downtown station every day. As ridership is expected to rebound, the TTC has warned that physical distancing will not be possible on its vehicles. The provincial government recommended last month that face coverings be used by all people on public transit, though it did not make the advice mandatory. Ottawa became the first Canadian city to make masks mandatory on its transit system on June 1. Like Toronto, Ottawa has signalled that it will not strictly enforce the rule.

Read more about the city’s plan

COVID-19 safety protocols for customers range from strict to inconsistent

The range of policies being implemented by Canadian businesses to keep their staff and customers free of the virus are all over the map. Government advice on how to prevent the spread of COVID-19 only asks companies to “consider” various risk-mitigation measures, which leaves plenty of latitude for businesses to do whatever they think is appropriate. As the pandemic wears on and some businesses begin to reopen, owners and managers are faced with the impossible task of pleasing every customer with COVID safety measures. Depending on the customer’s own opinions about the level of risk, protocols can be viewed as either too strict or too lax.

“I was quite taken aback,” said Winona Zelenka, a cellist with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra who recently took her 2015 Volkswagen Jetta into her local VW dealership to have the tires changed. She said neither customers nor staff appeared to be taking the type of precautions she’s observed at other stores and workplaces. “The first thing I said was, ‘Where are the masks?’ and the guy said, ‘We’re social distancing,'” Zelenka said. That relaxed approach is in sharp contrast to the Wireworks, an orthodontics office in Toronto. The practice has advised patients it will be checking both their temperatures and their oxygen saturation levels, which can be abnormally low in severe COVID cases, before entering the office for an appointment. Patients must sit in their cars and wait to be advised by text or phone call that they can go in.

With regard to the approach observed at Volkswagen Canada, the automaker’s media relations manager, Thomas Tetzlaff, said VW’s 143 dealerships across the country are independently owned and operated. Head office has issued “guidelines” for the COVID-19 protections they should follow, but Tetzlaff said “we are not in a position to mandate our recommendations.” But consistency is a challenge even for TD Bank, which does have companywide policies. When Dr. Camille Lemieux recently visited a Toronto branch of the bank to get a certified cheque, she was turned away after the manager discovered Lemieux runs the COVID-19 testing centre at Toronto Western Hospital. Even though Lemieux was wearing a mask, she said the manager refused her entry, saying it was too risky for the customers and staff. “A gentleman in the line said, ‘You’re saving lives, and they won’t let you in the bank?’ It was pretty upsetting,” Lemieux said. Her experience is not in line with TD’s official COVID policy, according to a statement provided to CBC News.

Read more about the range of safety protocols

THE SCIENCE

The WHO may be ‘imperfect’ but the world still needs it, says Dr. Anthony Fauci

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the world still needs the World Health Organization, despite some of the flaws that have been exposed during this pandemic. In an interview with CBC’s Rosemary Barton, Fauci — one of the lead members of U.S. President Donald Trump’s COVID-19 advisory panel — said he supports the WHO and is pushing for improvements so it can “correct some of the missteps of the past.”

Trump has been critical of the WHO’s performance. He’s accused the UN body of being too close to the Communist regime in Beijing, and at the end of May announced he was terminating the U.S. relationship with the WHO. Fauci said that, early on in the pandemic, some of the Chinese scientists working in infectious diseases were “not able to express” their concerns about the risk of human-to-human transmission in a transparent way. The result was the WHO downplaying the risk of that disease vector spread for weeks. Citing WHO talking-points, Canadian public health officials questioned the accuracy of media reports out of the city of Wuhan, in China, suggesting that the virus was spreading through person-to-person contact. “There may have been things that would have been done sooner both in China and outside China,” Fauci said. “The original reports were that this was a dominant animal-to-human spread.”

Fauci sounded a positive note on the prospect of a vaccine, saying Phase 3 trials — a crucial step in the vaccine-making process, when drugs are tested for efficacy and safety — are beginning in early July for a vaccine that his organization has developed. “If we’re successful, and I have to underline if … we’re cautiously optimistic that by the end of the year, the beginning of 2021, we could have a vaccine to deploy to the public,” he said. A vaccine is seen as essential to ending the pandemic that has infected more than 7.2 million people and killed 410,000 globally. Beyond a vaccine, Fauci said there’s an array of therapeutic treatments at various stages of development. He added it’s still possible that the U.S. and Canada can avoid a deadly second wave of the virus if outbreaks can be contained through mass testing and contact tracing.

AND FINALLY…

Despite pandemic cancellations, high school teachers in Redwater, Alta., help graduates celebrate

When health restrictions forced graduating high school students in Redwater, Alta., to cancel their grad, their teachers found another way to honour them. Teachers at Redwater School drove to the homes of the almost 30 graduates last Friday, bringing along a graduation cap, diploma, a mug and a few letters for each.

Each of the students came to the door in a suit or prom dress. Tori Michaluk, wearing a pink dress with matching Crocs, became emotional as she put on her cap and thanked the three teachers who delivered it. “It was really heartbreaking almost because I want to hug them and stuff,” Michaluk said. “But it’s really nice that they did that because a lot of schools didn’t even get anything,” Many of the grads have attended the Grade 5 through 12 school for eight years.

When the pandemic cancelled plans for a ceremony and banquet, the school’s grad adviser, Terra Beth Dowhaluk, looked for a way to safely honour the students. “I’ve been teaching some of them for eight years so to get to at least do something and say congratulations and let them know we’re thinking about them has been absolutely amazing,” she said.

Read the full story about the celebrations

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