Canada has reached an ominous milestone in the COVID-19 pandemic.
For the first time since the global pandemic began, Canada has more new COVID-19 cases per capita than the United States.
There have been roughly 22 new recorded cases of Covid-19 per 100,000 people in Canada over the past seven days, higher than in the U.S., which has 10 times as many citizens.
However, the U.S. has managed to fully vaccinate nearly 30% of adults and is now averaging three million Covid-19 vaccinations per day. In contrast, Canada has struggled to secure vaccine supply from pharmaceutical companies and has, to date, only vaccinated about 2% of its population.
The Province of Ontario is being hit the hardest in Canada with hospitals coming under increasing strain, especially in Toronto, the country’s largest city.
Ontario has ordered all but emergency surgeries canceled across most of the province, for the first time since March 2020. Patients scheduled for cancer, cardiac and brain surgeries are being told to wait as intensive care units fill with COVID-19 patients. Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children is now treating adults with COVID-19.
Meanwhile, friction between exhausted health officials, desperate businesses and angry residents has been on the rise across Canada. Quebec police used tear gas after hundreds of people took to the streets in defiance of an 8 p.m. curfew, with a handful of protestors setting fire to garbage and breaking store windows.
The Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses (CFIB) says its members have incurred an average of almost $170,000 in additional debt because of COVID-19, according to a March survey. In Ontario, that debt figure is closer to $208,000.
Even with federal assistance, many business owners say they are running up credit-card debt, tapping mortgages, and draining bank accounts, the CFIB survey found.
