Clinic safety zones demanded by NDP
The issue of safety around COVID-19 vaccination clinics is getting provincial attention.
The call comes after an incident outside a child and youth clinic in North Bay on Sunday.
Abby Blaszczyk says her whole family was verbally accosted when they brought her seven-year-old son to get his first vaccination.
She says the crowd yelled that her son had been injected with ‘poison’ and that she was a ‘murderer’ and committing ‘genocide’.
She said it was not a protest, it was a verbal attack.
Because of the incident, Algoma-Manitoulin MPP Mike Mantha reiterated a call for safety zones around vaccination clinics adding we should be making it easier for parents to take their kids to get vaccinated against COVID-19, not leaving them vulnerable to walking a gauntlet of hate on their way into their appointment.
The bill would make it a provincial offence to subject people to anti-public health harassment in these areas.
Blaszczyk says that would be a big help but would also like to see a police presence at future clinics so no one else must go through what her family did.
Border changes today
Today is the day Canadians leaving the country for less than 72 hours no longer need to have a COVID-19 test before coming back home as long as they’re fully vaccinated.
The move came after pressure from political leaders in border communities, where residents had been used to making daily cross-border trips to nearby American communities.
However, a negative test result is still required for trips longer than 72 hours.
Omicron variant cases
Another two cases of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 have been found in Ontario.
That brings to four the number reported so far all in the Ottawa area.
All four people had recently travelled to Nigeria, but the cases aren’t related.
Canada has banned arrivals from several southern African nations following the announcement of the new variant last week.
Nigeria is not on the list.
Two other possible cases are being investigated in the Hamilton area.
Quebec has one confirmed case also in someone who had travelled to Nigeria.