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COVID-19

Mask, vaccine mandates for travel defended as government eases border restrictions

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OTTAWA — The government signalled it is aspiring to a “more sustainable” approach to COVID-19 restrictions at the border with several small changes Friday, but public health officials say vaccine and mask mandates remain important.

Unvaccinated children aged five to 11 travelling with a fully vaccinated adult will no longer need a COVID-19 test to enter Canada as of Monday.

Pre-entry tests will still be needed for partially vaccinated or unvaccinated travellers over the age of 12 who are eligible to travel to Canada.

Children under five don’t currently require a COVID-19 test.

Airports will still conduct random mandatory COVID-19 tests on travellers as they arrive, but they will be refocused to four major Canadian airports: Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto and Montreal.

In a news release Friday, government officials announced several other small changes to ease restrictions for international travellers that will take effect after the weekend, “as of part of the Government of Canada’s plans to move toward a more sustainable approach to COVID-19 travel requirements.”

Fully vaccinated travellers, and any kids under 12 with them, will no longer need to provide their quarantine plans when they enter the country.

And when vaccinated people arrive in Canada, they won’t need to wear a mask for 14 days, keep a list of contacts or report COVID-19 symptoms.

The government will also do away with the need for fully vaccinated travellers to quarantine if someone in their group develops COVID-19 symptoms or tests positive.

It’s a good time to ease restrictions at the border, deputy chief public health officer Dr. Howard Njoo said at a briefing in French Friday.

“If people are fully vaccinated, measures can be relaxed,” Njoo said in French.

The minor changes come as particularly good news for people travelling as a family this season, said National Airlines Council of Canada president Suzanne Acton-Gervais.

While Njoo and his chief, Dr. Theresa Tam, said restrictions should be constantly reviewed they also expressed support for the vaccine and mask mandates that are in place.

“I’m not saying anything about it from a policy perspective, but yes, the higher our vaccination rate is, the higher the uptake is of vaccines, the better overall,” Njoo said.

Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos did not appear at the press briefing, but said in a statement that the government would continue to consider further easing of border measures based on science as vaccination levels and health-care system capacity improve.

Airlines in the United States dropped their mask mandates after a Florida judge ruled that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention overstepped its authority in enacting the mandate on public transportation in the first place.

Combined with the fact that many provinces have announced plans to scrap their own mandates, that has prompted some to question whether Canadians should have to mask up on planes and trains.

Tam said if a mandate will encourage people to wear a mask and reduce transmission, why not have one?

“I mean, it has a certain amount of inconvenience perhaps, but it does not essentially restrict travel as such. So I think it’s one of the least intrusive measures, but adds definitely another layer of protection,” Tam said.

Transportation Minister Omar Alghabra says federal and provincial COVID-19 mandates are not out of step with each other at all.

“I actually think the federal rules and provincial rules are almost in sync,” he said at a separate press conference Friday.

“We’ve dropped testing requirements, we’ve dropped quarantine requirements, pre-departure tests. So we’ve really adjusted many of our measures.”

Ontario announced Friday it will extend its mask requirement in high-risk settings until June 11 while it weathers this latest wave of infections.

Tam said COVID-19 is still widespread throughout Canada, and the current wave appeared to be reaching a peak in some parts of the country before the Easter long weekend. It’s too soon to tell if gatherings over that long weekend will result in another bump in cases, she said.

Generally, the number of hospitalizations appears to be manageable during this wave, though some hospitals are suffering as health workers take time off because of COVID-19 infections, she said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 22, 2022.

Laura Osman, The Canadian Press

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COVID-19

Nearly Half of ā€œCOVID-19 Deathsā€ Were Not Due to COVID-19 – Scientific Reports Journal

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FOCAL POINTS (Courageous Discourse) Nicolas Hulscher, MPH's avatarĀ Nicolas Hulscher, MPH

45.3% of ā€œCOVID-19 deathsā€ in Greece had no symptoms — exposing the coordinated PSYOP deployed to maximize fear and enforce mass compliance with draconian control measures.

The study titled ā€œDeaths ā€œdue toā€ COVID-19 and deaths ā€œwithā€ COVID-19 during the Omicron variant surge, among hospitalized patients in seven tertiary-care hospitals, Athens, Greeceā€ was just published in the journalĀ Scientific Reports:

Abstract

In Greek hospitals, all deaths with a positive SARS-CoV-2 test are counted as COVID-19 deaths. Our aim was to investigate whether COVID-19 was the primary cause of death, a contributing cause of death or not-related to death amongst patients who died in hospitals during the Omicron surge and were registered as COVID-19 deaths. Additionally, we aimed to analyze the factors associated with the classification of these deaths. We retrospectively re-viewed all in-hospital deaths, that were reported as COVID-19 deaths, in 7 hospitals, serving Athens, Greece, from January 1, 2022, until August 31, 2022. We retrieved clinical and laboratory data from patient records. Each death reported as COVID-19 death was characterized as: (A) death ā€œdue toā€ COVID-19, or (B) death ā€œwithā€ COVID-19. We reviewed 530 in-hospital deaths, classified as COVID-19 deaths (52.4% males; mean age 81.7 ± 11.1 years). We categorized 290 (54.7%) deaths as attributable or related to COVID-19 and in 240 (45.3%) deaths unrelated to COVID-19. In multivariable analysis The two groups differed significantly in age (83.6 ± 9.8 vs. 79.9 ± 11.8,Ā p = 0.016), immunosuppression history (11% vs. 18.8%,Ā p = 0.027), history of liver disease (1.4% vs. 8.4%,Ā p = 0.047) and the presence of COVID-19 symptoms (p < 0.001). Hospital stay was greater in persons dying from non-COVID-19 related causes. Among 530 in-hospital deaths, registered as COVID-19 deaths, in seven hospitals in Athens during the Omicron wave, 240 (45.28%) were reassessed as not directly attributable to COVID-19. Accuracy in defining the cause of death during the COVID-19 pandemic is of paramount importance for surveillance and intervention purposes.


Key Findings:

Massive Overcounting of COVID-19 Deaths

  • Out of 530 hospital deaths registered as COVID-19 deaths,Ā only 290 (54.7%) were actually caused by COVID-19.
  • 240 deaths (45.3%) were found to be completely unrelated to COVID-19 — patients diedĀ withĀ a positive PCR test, but showed no symptoms, required no COVID-specific treatment, and died of clearly unrelated causes.

Death Certificate Inaccuracy

  • Of the 204 certificates listing COVID-19 as the direct cause of death,Ā only 132 (64.7%)Ā were confirmed as such after clinical review.
  • Of the 324 certificates listing COVID-19 as a contributing factor,Ā only 86 (26.5%)Ā were found to be truly related.

Hospital-Acquired Infections Misclassified

  • Patients infectedĀ during hospitalizationĀ were significantly more likely to be misclassified as COVID-19 deaths (OR:Ā 2.3,Ā pĀ = 0.001).

Younger Age and Severe Comorbidities Associated with Misclassification

  • Patients who died ā€œwithā€ COVID-19 were younger, more likely to be immunosuppressed, have end-stage liver disease, or be admitted for other causes.

Symptoms and Treatments Differed Sharply

Patients who diedĀ ā€œdue toā€Ā COVID-19 were more likely to:

  • Exhibit classic symptoms:Ā hypoxia (44.1%),Ā shortness of breath,Ā fever, andĀ cough
  • RequireĀ oxygen supportĀ (93.4% vs. 66.9%) and receive COVID-specific therapies:
    • RemdesivirĀ (5-day course: 61.9% vs. 35.2%)
    • DexamethasoneĀ (81.7% vs. 40.7%)

Study Strengths

This study went far beyond death certificate coding, implementing a rigorous, multi-source clinical audit:

  • Full medical chart reviews: Included physician notes, lab data, imaging, and treatment records.
  • Attending physician interviews: Structured questionnaires captured real-time clinical insights from those who treated the patients.
  • Dual independent expert assessments: Two experienced infectious disease specialists (each with >2,500 COVID cases) reviewed each case independently for classification accuracy.

This study found that nearly half of all registered COVID-19 deaths during the Omicron wave in Greece were misclassified, with no clinical evidence linking them to COVID-19 as the true cause. Given that similar death coding practices were employed across Western nations, it is reasonable to conclude that COVID-19 death counts were artificially inflated to a comparable degree elsewhere.

This drastic inflation of death counts aligns with what many now understand to be a coordinated psychological operation (PSYOP)—designed to instill fear and maximize compliance with draconian pandemic measures such as lockdowns, mask mandates, and mass mRNA injection campaigns.

It is this weaponization of fear that has promptedĀ criminal referrals in seven U.S. states, triggering active criminal investigations into top COVID-19 officials for terrorism, murder and racketeering:

BREAKING – The Pandemic Justice Phase Begins as Criminal Investigations Commence

Ā·
Apr 18
BREAKING - The Pandemic Justice Phase Begins as Criminal Investigations Commence
 

By Nicolas Hulscher, MPH

 

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Nicolas Hulscher, MPH

Epidemiologist and Foundation Administrator, McCullough Foundation

www.mcculloughfnd.org

Please consider following both theĀ McCullough FoundationĀ andĀ my personal accountĀ onĀ XĀ (formerly Twitter) for further content.

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2025 Federal Election

Conservatives promise to ban firing of Canadian federal workers based on COVID jab status

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From LifeSiteNews

By Anthony Murdoch

The Conservative platform also vows that the party will oppose mandatory digital ID systems and a central bank digital currency if elected.

Pierre Poilievre’s Conservative Party’s 2025 election platform includes a promise to ā€œbanā€ the firing of any federal worker based ā€œsolelyā€ on whether or not they chose to get the COVID shots.

On page 23 of the ā€œCanada First – For A Changeā€Ā plan, which was released on Tuesday, the promise to protect un-jabbed federal workers is mentioned under ā€œProtect Personal Autonomy, Privacy, and Data Security.ā€

It promises that a Conservative government will ā€œBan the dismissal of federal workers based solely on COVID vaccine status.ā€

The Conservative Party also promises to ā€œOppose any move toward mandatory digital ID systemsā€ as well as ā€œProhibit the Bank of Canada from developing or implementing a central bank digital currency.ā€

In October 2021, the Liberal government of former Prime Minister Justin TrudeauĀ announcedĀ unprecedented COVID-19 jab mandates for all federal workers and those in the transportation sector. The government also announced that the unjabbed would no longer be able to travel by air, boat, or train, both domestically and internationally.

This policyĀ resulted inĀ thousands losing their jobs or being placed on leave for non-compliance. It also trapped ā€œunvaccinatedā€ Canadians in the country.

COVID jab mandates, which also came from provincial governments with the support of the federal government, split Canadian society. The shots haveĀ been linked toĀ a multitude of negative and often severe side effects, such as death, including in children.

ManyĀ recentĀ rulings haveĀ goneĀ inĀ favor ofĀ those whoĀ choseĀ not to get the shots and were fired as a result, such as an arbitratorĀ ruling that one of the nation’s leading hospitals in Ontario must compensate 82 healthcare workers terminated after refusing to get the jabs.

Beyond health concerns, many Canadians, especially Catholics, opposed the injections on moral grounds because of theirĀ link to fetal cell lines derived from the tissue of aborted babies.

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