Windsor mayor seeks injunction to quash border COVID truck protest
Less than two hours before a Friday hearing asking the Chief Justice of the Superior Court of Ontario to order an end to the week-long protest on a bridge at the Canada-U.S. border, protesters began moving trucks to open a single lane.
In a show of good faith, the convoy, which is protesting COVID-19 restrictions and mandates, led the way after officials in the Canadian city of Windsor said they hoped to resolve the standoff peacefully but had police reinforcements ready if needed.
However, Ontario Premier Doug Ford declared a state of emergency on Friday over the blockade at the border and another in Ottawa. Protesters also closed border crossings at Coutts, Alberta, across from Montana and Emerson, Manitoba, across from North Dakota.
Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens said on Thursday the city government had filed an injunction with the Superior Court as US and Canadian officials discussed how to end the blockade on the Ambassador Bridge.
US Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg both spoke with their Canadian counterparts on Thursday, the White House said, and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer reiterated her concerns regarding the Friday morning protest, telling WXYZ-TV that “we burned the phone lines” talking to federal and Canadian officials.
The threat of a similar protest looms for the Super Bowl this weekend in Los Angeles and later President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address next month in Washington, according to an internal security memo. interior addressed to local and state law enforcement.
The convoy formed in Ottawa late last month to protest border mandates related to vaccines. Throughout the week, the group blocked the exit from the bridge and wandered around the area, waiving Canadian — and American — flags and interacting with police over barricades.
The Anderson Economic Group in Lansing calculated an initial estimate of direct wages lost in Michigan’s auto industry at more than $51 million as a result of the protest that began Monday.
Also in the news:
► New York City is expected to lay off some 3,000 unvaccinated workers on Friday, less than 1% of the city’s workforce, The New York Times reported.
► Pregnant women who contract the coronavirus are at risk of stillbirths because COVID-19 can lead to placental insufficiency, according to a new study which supports the CDC’s conclusion that the virus increases the risks of adverse perinatal outcomes .
► Some local fans can watch the Beijing Games in person, although it’s unclear exactly how they were selected for a visit inside the tightly controlled Olympic bubble.
► French President Emmanuel Macron refused to take a Russian COVID-19 test during his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin over fears the country might take his DNA, Reuters reported.
📈Today’s numbers: The United States has had more than 77 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 and more than 915,000 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Global totals: Over 405 million cases and over 5.7 million deaths. More than 213 million Americans — 64.3% — are fully immunized, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
📘 What we read: USA TODAY asked a dozen public health and infectious disease experts if it makes sense for people to continue wearing masks and under what conditions. The answer, they say, depends on how much a person wants to avoid infection, the rate of COVID-19 where they live, and other people around them.
Keep refreshing this page for the latest news. Want more? Sign up for USA TODAY’s free Coronavirus Watch newsletter to get updates straight to your inbox and join our Facebook group.
Moderna study: Vaccine reduces symptomatic infection and contagiousness
A new study published by Moderna found that its vaccine was 93.2% effective in reducing symptomatic coronavirus infections.
The research, published Thursday, studied more than 800 volunteers who caught COVID-19. Some trial participants received Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine, while others received a placebo.
The researchers found that volunteers given the placebo had 100 times more virus in their bodies than those inoculated with Moderna’s COVID vaccine.
Those who received the placebo were also significantly more infectious than those who received the real vaccine: while the vaccinated shed the coronavirus and remained infectious for a median of four days after infection, the participants with the placebo shed the virus for seven days.
The study took place between July 2020 and May 2021, before the delta and omicron variants infect residents of all 50 US states.
Nationwide, COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations have fallen sharply after peaking earlier this year amid the spread of the highly transmissible variant of omicron, and the vast majority of Americans are protected against the virus through effective vaccines and boosters.
Nevada governor ends state mask mandate
Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak announced Thursday morning the end of the state’s mask mandate, ending a regulation that has been in place since late July 2021.
Effective immediately, the governor lifted the mandate to wear face masks in public places in Nevada. Sisolak cited a declining number of COVID-19 hospitalizations in the state and the plentiful supply of vaccines as reasons for lifting the mandate.
State casino regulators followed with a rule change for casinos.
“Individuals are no longer required to wear a mask in indoor public areas of licensed gaming establishments,” the Nevada Gaming Control Board said, “unless a local jurisdiction still imposes such a requirement.”
But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continues to recommend wearing a mask indoors in places of “substantial or high transmission” of the virus, which as of Wednesday affected all but 14 rural counties of the United States.
New cases in Nevada have continued their steep decline since a statewide peak in mid-January. But the virus’s rate of spread remains high — well above the CDC’s thresholds for positivity and new cases per population of 100,000.
— Brett McGinness, Reno Gazette-Journal; Associated press
Contributor: Josh Meyer, USA TODAY; Frank Witsil, Detroit Free Press; The Associated Press
USA Today
