Today's coronavirus news: Ontario reports 218 new cases of COVID; Ontario pharmacists say thousands of Moderna vaccines set to expire; Quebec is lifting further COVID restrictions - Toronto Star

The latest coronavirus news from Canada and around the world Sunday. This file will be updated throughout the day. Web links to longer stories if available.

6:00 p.m.: A day after it recorded the most new daily cases since the start of the pandemic, Florida on Sunday broke a previous record for current hospitalizations set more than a year ago before vaccines were available.

The Sunshine State had 10,207 people hospitalized with confirmed COVID-19 cases, according to data reported to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.

The previous record was from July 23, 2020, more than a half-year before vaccinations started becoming widespread, when Florida had 10,170 hospitalizations, according to the Florida Hospital Association.

Florida is now leading the nation in per capita hospitalizations for COVID-19, as hospitals around the state report having to put emergency room visitors in beds in hallways and others document a noticeable drop in the age of patients.

Read the full story here: Florida breaks record for COVID-19 hospitalizations

5:00 p.m.: Public health officials in New Brunswick have reported 18 cases of COVID-19 over the weekend.

Officials say 17 of the new cases identified on Saturday and Sunday were reported in the Moncton area, ranging in age from under 19 to over 40.

Nine of those infections are contacts of previously reported cases, two are travel-related and six are under investigation.

One case was reported in the Saint John region and officials say it is travel-related and involves a person in their 20s.

The province now has 37 active infections.

The news comes after officials dropped all public health measures Saturday as the entire province moved to the "green" stage of its COVID-19 recovery plan.

3:45 p.m.: Thousands turned out in Berlin on Sunday to protest the German government’s anti-coronavirus measures despite a ban on the gatherings, leading to clashes with police and around 600 arrests.

Local authorities had banned several different protests this weekend, including one from the Stuttgart-based Querdenker movement, but protesters in Berlin defied the ban.

Berlin’s police department deployed more than 2,000 officers to try and disperse the protests, but it said officers who sought to redirect protesters or disband larger groups were “harassed and attacked.“

“They tried to break through the police cordon and pull out our colleagues,“ Berlin police said, adding that officers had to use irritants and batons.

Read the full story here: Berlin protesters decry coronavirus measures; 600 arrested

3 p.m. Quebec is lifting further COVID-19 restrictions, including extending closing times for bars and restaurants, and increasing capacities for gatherings.

The health ministry announced the latest relaxed COVID-19 measures for the beginning of August on July 26.

Quebecers are now allowed to drink alcohol in bars and restaurants until 1 a.m., gaining an additional hour from the previous restrictions set at midnight.

Indoor venues and stadiums can now seat 7,500 people, with a maximum of 500 per section, and outdoor festivals can have up to 15,000 with pre-assigned seats.

Indoor and outdoor public gatherings, including houses of worship, amateur sporting events and ceremony halls can have up to 500 people.

Quebec is, however, maintaining mandatory masks and social distancing in enclosed public spaces and transit.

1:30 p.m. You can’t see it or feel it, but it’s driving a social divide that’s upending everything from school rules to international travel to small talk at backyard barbecues.

It’s your COVID-19 vaccination status.

As more and more people emerge from isolation, blinking against the sunlight and dusting off the Cheetos crumbs, we’re finding socializing to be a challenge — and not just because most of us are out of practice.

This week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that Canada has enough doses to fully vaccinate all eligible people in the country. That means the vast majority of unvaccinated people will soon be so by choice, rather than due to a lack of vaccine supply.

Read the full story here by the Star’s Alex Boyd.

12 p.m. Dr. Anthony Fauci warned Sunday that more “pain and suffering” is on the horizon as COVID-19 cases climb again and officials plead with unvaccinated Americans to get their shots.

Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, also said he doesn’t foresee additional lockdowns in the U.S. because he believes enough people are vaccinated to avoid a recurrence of last winter. However, he said not enough are inoculated to “crush the outbreak” at this point.

Fauci's warning comes days after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention changed course to recommend that even vaccinated people return to wearing masks indoors in parts of the U.S. where the delta variant is fueling infection surges. With the switch, federal health officials have cited studies showing vaccinated people can spread the virus to others.

Read the full story here on the Star.

10:15 a.m. (updated) Ontario is reporting another 218 COVID-19 cases and two more deaths, according to its latest report released Sunday morning.

Ontario has administered 60,583 vaccine doses since its last daily update, with 19,519,781 vaccines given in total as of 8 p.m. Saturday night.

According to the Star’s vaccine tracker, 10,484,446 people in Ontario have received at least one shot. That works out to approximately 80.4 per cent of the eligible population 12 years and older, and the equivalent of 71.2 per cent of the total population, including those not yet eligible for the vaccine.

Read here for the full breakdown of daily COVID-19 numbers in Ontario.

9:22 a.m.: Ontario pharmacists say thousands of doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine are set to expire soon and they warn the supply could go to waste if people don't show up to get a shot.

The CEO of the Ontario Pharmacists Association said some Moderna shots are set to expire in early August, and generally, supply that arrives in bulk must be used up within 30 days.

Justin Bates said a slowdown in Ontario's vaccine rollout and the public's preference for the Pfizer-BioNTech shot have made it difficult for pharmacists to use up the Moderna doses.

"It's an awful situation for them (pharmacists) to be in," Bates said in an interview. "They've done everything they can to make sure there's no wastage, but yet they're coming to that place where they may have to, or have already."

Bates’ comments came after a health unit covering London, Ont., asked the public to roll up their sleeves for Moderna vaccines before more than 21,300 unallocated doses expire in two weeks' time.

8:25 a.m.: You can’t see it or feel it, but it’s driving a social divide that’s upending everything from school rules to international travel to small talk at backyard barbecues.

It’s your COVID-19 vaccination status.

As more and more people emerge from isolation, blinking against the sunlight and dusting off the Cheetos crumbs, we’re finding socializing to be a challenge — and not just because most of us are out of practice.

This week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that Canada has enough doses to fully vaccinate all eligible people in the country. That means the vast majority of unvaccinated people will soon be so by choice, rather than due to a lack of vaccine supply.

With jurisdictions around the world grappling with how to boost vaccination rates, whether by stick or by carrot, the question becomes: What do the vaccinated owe the unvaccinated?

Read the full story from the Star’s Alex Boyd.

8:15 a.m.: Ohio has planted a memorial grove of native trees to remember people who died of COVID-19, and governors and state lawmakers nationwide are considering their own ways to mark the toll of the virus.

Temporary memorials have sprung up across the U.S. — 250,000 white flags at RFK stadium in the nation’s capital, a garden of hand-sculpted flowers in Florida, strings of origami cranes in Los Angeles.

The process of creating more lasting remembrances that honor the over 600,000 Americans who have died from the coronavirus, though, is fraught compared to past memorial drives because of the politics.

Last year, a bill kickstarting a national COVID-19 memorial process died in Congress as the Trump administration sought to deemphasize the ravages of the pandemic.

8 a.m.: Shouts of “Liberty!” have echoed through the streets and squares of Italy and France as thousands show their opposition to plans to require vaccination cards for normal social activities, such as dining indoors at restaurants, visiting museums or cheering in sports stadiums.

Leaders in both countries see the cards, dubbed the “Green Pass” in Italy and the “health pass” in France, as necessary to boost vaccination rates and persuade the undecided.

Italian Premier Mario Draghi likened the anti-vaccination message from some political leaders to “an appeal to die.”

The looming requirement is working, with vaccination requests booming in both countries.

Still, there are pockets of resistance by those who see it as a violation of civil liberties or have concerns about vaccine safety. About 80,000 people protested in cities across Italy last weekend, while thousands have marched in Paris for the past three weekends, at times clashing with police.

7:30 a.m.: An outdoor drinking party at the athletes village that broke rules designed to limit the spread of COVID-19 at the Games is being investigated, Tokyo Olympic officials said Sunday.

Organizing committee CEO Toshiro Muto said “multiple athletes” and other team officials were drinking alcohol at the park within the village late Friday. Police arrived after the incident, Muto said at a news briefing, without identifying the athletes or any team involved or what action, if any, officers took.

The 11,000 athletes at the Tokyo Olympics were warned before the Games that drinking alcohol in groups was a breach of the so-called playbook rules intended to limit COVID-19 infections.

Athletes were told they could drink alone in their rooms at the complex of 21 residential towers next to Tokyo Bay.

In the most serious cases of rule-breaking, athletes can be removed from the village and have their Olympic credential taken away.

Read more from the Associated Press.

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Today's coronavirus news: Ontario reports 218 new cases of COVID; Ontario pharmacists say thousands of Moderna vaccines set to expire; Quebec is lifting further COVID restrictions - Toronto Star
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