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Health

Trudeau warns of a dangerous third wave as Canada copes with a vaccine ‘drought’

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“We have to keep taking strong public health measures,” said Trudeau during a news conference Friday adding, “otherwise we could see a third wave that is even worse than the second or the first, and I know that’s not the news you want to hear.”

Canadian public health officials released alarming new modeling Friday indicating that even current public health measures will not be enough to contain a third wave if fueled by faster spreading variants of Covid-19.

“We need to make sure that, even as provinces look at loosening up certain restrictions, that other restriction are kept in, and there is an ability to … respond quickly when variants appear,” said Trudeau.

The new modeling underscores the fact that “variants of concern” have now been detected in all provinces and continue to spread. Based on the projections released by public health officials, current public health measures would not be enough to contain the spread of the virus by Spring if the new, more contagious variants take hold.

“A resurgence is very likely if people let go of the public health measures right now. What you want to do is to keep avoiding this yo-yoing effect of up and down. You need to avoid complete lockdowns and curfews and all those things by trying to maintain a strong level of public health measures,” said Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer at a modeling presentation Friday.

The province of Ontario announced Friday that the city of Toronto and one of its neighboring regions will remain in a lockdown, with a stay-at-home order, until at least March 8 as the threat of new variants spreading continues to concern health officials.

Canada remains quite vulnerable to a third wave as new Covid-19 variants continue to spread and the vaccine rollout remains painfully slow right across the country.

“We need more vaccines, more vaccines will solve massive issues …” said Doug Ford, Ontario’s premier, at a news conference in Toronto Friday.

Like other provinces and territories throughout Canada, Ontario has managed to vaccinate the vast majority of residents and staff in long-term care homes. Those residents continue to represent those most vulnerable to Covid-19 in Canada.

But there has been no significant vaccine rollout in other vulnerable groups, except Indigenous communities. The commander leading the vaccine rollout in Ontario characterized the situation as a “vaccine drought.”

“We have not wasted our time while we’ve been in that drought, with a minimal amount of vaccines to use, what we have been doing is preparing for the day when more arrive,” retired General Rick Hillier said at a news conference in Toronto Friday.

General Hillier said his vaccine task force would now prioritize “patient-facing” health care workers, among other at-risk groups and said he expected the scarcity of vaccine doses to improve over the next few weeks.

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Sports

2021 SheBelieves Cup: USA vs. Canada

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2021 SheBelieves Cup, Presented by Visa

Date: Feb. 18, 2021
Venue: Exploria Stadium; Orlando, Fla.
Broadcast: FS1, TUDN
Broadcast Time: 7 p.m. ET

 

Starting XI vs. Canada: 1-Alyssa Naeher; 20-Margaret Purce, 4-Becky Sauerbrunn (Capt.), 7-Abby Dahlkemper, 19-Crystal Dunn; 8-Julie Ertz, 9-Lindsey Horan, 11-Catarina Macario; 15-Megan Rapinoe,10-Carli Lloyd, 6-Lynn Williams


Available Subs: 2-Casey Krueger, 3-Jaelin Howell, 5-Kelley O’Hara, 12-Tierna Davidson, 13-Alex Morgan, 14-Emily Sonnett, 16-Rose Lavelle, 17-Sophia Smith, 18-Jane Campbell, 21-Casey Murphy, 22-Kristie Mewis, 23-Christen Press

Game Notes

  • U.S. WNT Starting XI Cap Numbers (including this match): Lloyd (296), Sauerbrunn (180), Rapinoe (171), Dunn (108), Ertz (106), Horan (89), Naeher (66), Dahlkemper (64), Williams (32), Purce (5), Macario (3)

  • Goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher is slated to make her 63rd start and 66th appearance overall for the U.S. Women’s National Team. One of three finalists for The Best Female Goalkeeper of 2020, Naeher has 38 career shutouts and has recorded a clean sheet in each of last eight outings, the longest such streak of her career.

  • Margaret Purce is set to make her second career start and earn her 5th cap overall. Purce made her first career start in her international debut on November 10, 2019 playing the full 90 minutes in the USA’s 6-0 win over Costa Rica. She scored her first international goal in the USA’s 6-0 win over Colombia on Jan. 22.

  • Defender and team captain Becky Sauerbrunn will be earning her 180th cap and enters the match having played 13,940 total minutes for the USA, 13th-most in USWNT history. Sauerbrunn needs 44 more minutes to pass Brandi Chastain for 12th.

  • Abby Dahlkemper will be making her 57th start and 64th appearance overall for the USA. Dahlkemper led the team in total minutes played in both 2019 and 2020 and led all field players in total minutes played at the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup. Dahlkemper played the full 90 minutes in each of her last eight appearances for the USWNT.

  • The only player to appear in all nine games in 2020, Crystal Dunn will make her 109th appearance for the USA tonight against Canada. Heading into the SheBelieves Cup, Dunn has featured in 21 of the USA’s last 23 games and started in all but two of those games. Dunn tallied her 18th career assist in the USA’s 6-0 win over Colombia on Jan. 22, setting up Lindsey Horan’s goal in the second half.

  • Julie Ertz will be making her 106th appearance for the USA and has gone the full 90 minutes in her last eight appearances for the USWNT. Ertz earned her 100th cap on March 5 vs. England at Exploria Stadium in the first match of the 2020 SheBelieves Cup and has 20 international goals, the 29th American female to hit that mark. 

  • After tying for the team lead in scoring in 2020 with seven goals, Lindsey Horan will make her second start of 2021 and earn her 89th cap overall. Horan had a stellar game vs. Colombia on Jan. 18, directly playing a part in three of the four goals, which included earned a penalty kick just seconds into the second half. Against Colombia on Jan. 22, she scored her first goal of the year – directly off a corner kick — after coming off the bench to play the final 28 minutes. It was her 20th career goal, making her the 31st USWNT player to hit 20 career goals.

  • Catarina Macario will make her second consecutive start and third appearance for the USA overall. She earnedher first career USWNT cap on Jan. 18, coming on for Megan Rapinoe in the second half against Colombia and scored her first USWNT goal in her first USWNT start less than two minutes into the game against Colombia on Jan. 22. Macario received FIFA approval to play for the USA on Jan. 13 and the appearance against Colombia on Jan. 18 was her first professional game and first international match at any level.

  • Megan Rapinoe will earn her 171st cap tonight and make her third consecutive start, joining Julie Ertz and Lynn Williams as the only USA players to start every match of 2021 thus far.

  • This tournament marks Rapinoe’s return to the U.S. roster for the first time since March of 2020 at the SheBelieves Cup where she scored a brilliant free kick against Japan in the USA’s final match to help clinch the tournament title. She had an assist in her 45 minutes against Colombia on Jan. 18 – setting up Samantha Mewis for the USA’s first goal of 2021 – and then scored twice, once from the penalty spot, against Colombia on Jan. 22. The caps moved her to 170 and into a tie for 17th place on the USA’s all-time list while her goals gave her 54, just two short of tying Carin Gabarra for 11th all-time. 

  • The USA’s active leader in all-time caps with 297 (including tonight), Carli Lloyd is third all-time in USWNT history and, is one the verge of becoming only the third American, and third player ever, to play 300 or more times for her country, where she would join former teammates Kristine Lilly and Christine Rampone.

  • Lloyd has three assists so far in 2021 – already matching her total assist output for 2020 – and has hit the back of the net in eight of her last 16 appearances for the USA, scoring 10 times. She has scored in four of her 11 matches under Andonovski. Lloyd’s most recent goal came on Jan. 5, 2020 at Orlando’s Exploria Stadium, scoring in the 55th minute of the USA’s 2-0 win over England at Exploria Stadium to start the 2020 SheBelieves Cup. 

  • Lynn Williams is set to earn her 32nd cap and will be making fourth consecutive start for the USA. Williams, who scored the game-winner and tallied an assist in the USA’s 3-0 win over Canada in the 2020 Concacaf Olympic Qualifying Tournament final, scored her 10th international goal in the 60th minute of the USA’s 6-0 win over Colombia on Jan. 22.

  • All 23 players on the SheBelieves Cup roster will dress for the match. The only uncapped player in camp is goalkeeper Casey Murphy.  Defender Casey Krueger, midfielder Jaelin Howell and forwards Alex Morgan, Christen Press and Sophia Smith could all see first game action of 2021.

  • Press was one of only two players to play in all 24 WNT games in 2019 and played in all nine in 2020 before missing the first two of 2021. Press has been directly involved in 26 goals in her last 27 appearances for the USA, scoring 11 goals and assisting 15 more. 

  • For the USA’s November training camp and match in the Netherlands, Morgan made her return to the roster for the first time since becoming a mom on May 7, 2020. She played the second half vs. Netherlands in what was her first USWNT game since the 2019 Women’s World Cup Final, a span of 509 days. She missed the January training camp and games while recovering from illness. She is currently tied with Michelle Akers for fifth on the USA’s all-time goals list with 107 international goals.

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World

Toronto official wants to extend restrictions

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TORONTO — Canada’s largest city is asking the province of Ontario to extend a lockdown order for at least two more weeks instead of having it expired as planned on Monday.

Dr. Eileen de Villa, Toronto’s Medical Officer of Health, said she has never been as worried about the future as she is now because of coronavirus variants.

Toronto Mayor John Tory said leaders need to ensure the current lockdown is the city’s last. Schools just reopened in Toronto while retail stores are scheduled to open Monday.

Canada is poised to receive millions of vaccine does this spring.

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THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:

— Japan begins COVID-19 vaccination drive amid Olympic worries

— Fidelity Charitable says record year of donations falls short of need during pandemic.

— Native Americans embrace vaccinations and other virus containment measures.

— COVID-19 bill would scale up ability to spot virus mutations.

— Latinos in U.S. face fear and other barriers to getting COVID-19 vaccines

— Pandemic stresses take a huge toll on college students, who struggle to pay for food and housing as jobs and internships dry up

— Follow all of AP’s pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic, https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak

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HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:

Pennsylvania health officials say their state is facing a shortage of the Moderna vaccine’s second, or booster, shot after some providers inadvertently used it as the first shot. The error would wind up impacting more than 100,000 people who will need to reschedule appointments.

Acting state health secretary Alison Beam said between 30,000 and 60,000 people who need the booster shot will have to wait one to two more weeks. Another 30,000 to 55,000 of the initial dose of the Moderna vaccine will also have to delayed.

The second-dose shortage does not affect the Pfizer vaccine.

“People need to be able to know that they’re going to get their second-dose shots” in a timely fashion, even if their appointments need to be delayed, Beam, said at a news conference.

Second doses of the two-shot Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are typically administered 21 and 28 days apart, respectively, but the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently updated its guidance to allow the time between shots to be delayed up to six weeks.

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MADRID — Spain will place those arriving from Brazil and South Africa in quarantine for 10 days in a new bid to stem the propagation of coronavirus variants from those countries.

Health Minister Carolina Darias said Wednesday Spain has registered 613 cases of the British variant, six of the South African type and two of that from Brazil.

Spain has already restricted arrivals from all three countries to Spanish nationals and foreign residents in Spain. It also insists on negative PCR tests from within the previous 72 hours as well as anti-body tests on arrival.

The ministry Wednesday said Spain’s COVID-19 pandemic figures continued their positive downward trend, with the 14-day incidence rate falling to 349 per 100,000 inhabitants, down from 385 a day earlier and far below the near 900-case high at the end of January.

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WASHINGTON — The Biden administration says it will spend more than $1.4 billion to boost testing supplies and coordination as U.S. officials aim to return more students to the classroom.

The White House says it will spend $815 million to increase U.S. manufacturing of testing supplies that have been subject to frequent shortages for months, including materials used in laboratories and for rapid point-of-care tests.

Officials also announced $650 million to setup regional testing “hubs” around the country to help coordinate testing at K-8 schools, universities, homeless shelters and other gathering places.

The U.S. failure to provide fast, widespread testing is one of the most enduring stumbles in the federal government’s response to COVID-19. As a candidate, Biden said his administration would deliver free, comprehensive testing at a national scale. He has asked Congress to provide $50 billion for testing in the stimulus bill before lawmakers.

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ALBANY, N.Y. — New York is set to let amusement parks open in early April and overnight camps open this summer as long as they submit reopening plans to the state.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday that arcades and other indoor family entertainment centers can open with 25% capacity starting March 26. Outdoor amusement parks can open with a third of their normal capacity by April 9, while day and overnight camps can start planning for reopening this summer.

New York is seeing a drop in infections statewide, though at a slower pace than the nation. But the governor said the overall statewide drops are enough to allow New York to bring back recreational industries.

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WASHINGTON — The U.S. is vaccinating on average 1.7 million Americans per day for the coronavirus, up from under 1 million a month ago.

New figures from the White House show the steady increase in the pace of vaccinations over President Joe Biden’s first month in office.

Much of the increase, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, comes from people receiving their second dose of the approved vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer.

The pace of first dose vaccinations has been largely steady over the past several weeks, hovering around an average of 900,000 shots per day.

Biden is on track to blow past his goal of 100 million injections in his first 100 days in office — though the pace must pick up even further to meet his plans to vaccinate nearly all adults by the end of the summer.

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WASHINGTON — The White House says drugmaker Johnson & Johnson has just a “few million” doses of its COVID-19 vaccine in inventory ready to be distributed, should the Food and Drug Administration grant it emergency approval.

Coronavirus coordinator Jeff Zients is looking to lower expectations for the impact of approval for the promising, one-dose vaccine, which could happen in the next several weeks. The company has contracted to provide 100 million doses — enough for 100 million Americans — by the end of June.

Zients says, “We’re going to be started only with a few million of inventory.” He adds the Biden administration is working to expedite the vaccine deliveries as much as possible.

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RIO DE JANEIRO — Rio de Janeiro halted new vaccinations against COVID-19 for a week starting Wednesday due to a shortage of doses, one of a growing number of Brazilian cities that have run low on supplies and are demanding help from Brazil’s federal government.

City officials said they will continue to deliver second doses to those who have already been injected once, but have paused new shots for the elderly.

Officials say vaccines for new recipients ran out partly because they had pushed forward their schedule by one week after receiving a fresh lot of doses. Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes said on Monday that additional shots won’t be delivered before next week.

“We are ready and we have already vaccinated 244,852 people,” he said on his official Twitter profile. “We just need the vaccine to arrive.”

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ATLANTA — Snowy and icy weather across much of the nation has “significantly” delayed shipments of COVID-19 vaccine to Georgia, state health officials said Wednesday.

Both Pfizer and Moderna vaccines that normally would have arrived the first part of this week were held back by the manufacturers due to the winter weather, The Georgia Department of Public Health said in a statement.

As a result, health departments and other vaccine providers have been forced to reschedule appointments, the agency said. When those shots can be administered will depend on when vaccine shipments resume and when they arrive in Georgia, health officials said.

Delays are expected to continue through the week, officials said.

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ANKARA, Turkey — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says the country will soon begin to ease restrictions aimed at slowing the spread of coronavirus in provinces where infection rates are low.

In a televised speech following a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Erdogan said that in March Turkey’s provinces would be divided into four categories according to infection levels and the percentage of people who have been vaccinated. Restrictions, such as weekend lockdowns, would start to be lifted in regions where infections are tailing off.

Measures to help ease the hardship suffered by restaurants and cafes which have been hurt by the lockdowns would be announced in the coming days, he added.

The country has been imposing nighttime curfews during the week and full lockdowns at weekends. Restaurants and cafes have been allowed to offer takeout meals only.

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FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Workers at the mass vaccination site at Gillette Stadium have now given out 65,878 coronavirus shots, enough to fill every seat at the home of the New England Patriots.

Brigitte Peters, 79, of Uxbridge, received two tickets to the team’s 2021 home opener for getting the landmark shot on Tuesday evening. It will be her first Patriots game.

She said she was excited to tell her grandchildren about the tickets, and the vaccination process was easy and painless.

“It couldn’t have been better, I didn’t even feel it,” she said. “It was so easy.” The site operated by CIC Health opened Jan. 18 and started by administering about 300 vaccines per day. It is now giving about 4,000 shots per day, and plans to continue expanding.

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PORTLAND, Maine — Maine’s attorney general has warned state health care providers against administering COVID-19 vaccines to ineligible people.

Attorney General Aaron Frey said Tuesday he issued the advisory in response to reports of improper administration of the vaccines. Officials in Maine, including Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, recently chastised MaineHealth for providing coronavirus vaccinations to out-of-state consultants hired to fight an effort to unionize nurses.

MaineHealth has called its decision to vaccinate the consultants a mistake. Frey said providers are required to follow the state’s protocols about who is eligible for the vaccine. Maine is still in an early stage of rolling out the coronavirus vaccine and is focusing on older residents and health care providers.

Frey said providers who ignore the state’s protocols risk hurting the public trust in the response to the pandemic.

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COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – Sri Lanka announced Wednesday its restriction on travelers from Britain entering the country due to the new variant of the coronavirus has been lifted immediately.

The foreign ministry said passengers from Britain no longer must submit to a 14-day quarantine and PCR tests.

Sri Lankan health authorities have found patients with the British variant from several parts of the country despite the restrictions.

There are 77,553 COVID-19 reported in Sri Lanka including 409 deaths.

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LOZNICA, Serbia — Dozens of Bosnian Serb medical workers have crossed into neighboring Serbia for vaccination as Belgrade seeks to show solidarity in the region after launching mass inoculation in the country.

The vaccination on Wednesday took place in three Serbian towns that are close to the border with Bosnia. Officials say several hundred health staff from Republika Srpska, which is the Serb-run half of Bosnia, will receive jabs daily.

More than 2,000 Bosnian Serb health workers have applied for vaccination in Serbia, which has mainly used China’s Sinopharm vaccines, along with Russia’s Sputnik V and to a lesser extent Pfizer-BioNTech jabs.

So far, Serbia has vaccinated more than 600,000 people and has started administering second doses. The Balkan country has been among the top countries in Europe when it comes to vaccination rate.

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BERLIN — The Swiss government plans to start relaxing the country’s coronavirus restrictions on March 1, allowing shops to reopen with limited capacity.

Health Minister Alain Berset said Wednesday that the federal government also is proposing to reopen museums, libraries and some other leisure facilities, with mask-wearing and distancing rules, and allowing groups of up to 15 people to meet outdoors. He said a final decision will be made next week.

Restaurants, bars, sports facilities and cultural institutions in Switzerland have been closed for weeks, though the country didn’t shut down skiing — unlike its neighbors. Berset said it has been able to halve new infections in a month but needs to be cautious in reopening — with new steps being taken roughly every four weeks.

President Guy Parmelin said that “lifting all the measures in one go would be unrealistic and dangerous at this point — it would risk quickly reducing the nothing the results we have obtained until now.”

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BRUSSELS — The European Union announced that it has agreed to buy a further 300 million doses of Moderna’s vaccine against COVID-19 and was injecting almost a quarter of a billion euros (almost $300 million) into efforts to counter the threat of coronavirus variants that are spreading on the continent.

The news came hours after Pfizer and BioNTech said they had signed a deal to deliver an additional 200 million doses of their vaccine to the bloc.

The EU Commission said its second contract with Moderna provides for an additional purchase of 150 million doses in 2021 and an option to purchase an additional 150 million in 2022. Should the EU have enough supplies by then it will consider donating the vaccine shots to lower and middle-income countries.

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COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Denmark could reopen large part of the society if people get tested twice a week, the Danish government said Wednesday as it announced it had bought 10 million of a new type of quick coronavirus tests.

Health Minister Magnus Heunicke said Denmark has bought 10 million of the new tests where the cotton swab isn’t being stuck so high up in the nose but only a few centimeters. The first batch of 400,000 had already arrived. The name of the test was not immediately available.

“They are just as good and accurate as the ones” we have been using, Heunicke said.

The Dutch government also said it is pumping more than 8.5 billion euros ($10 billion) into schools and universities to support students and teachers hit by the coronavirus pandemic.

Denmark has been keeping all shops except food stores and pharmacies closed as well as banning public gatherings of more than five people. Cafes and restaurants also remain closed but can still sell takeout food. Gyms, public libraries, beauty parlors and hairdressers are shut until Feb. 28.

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World

Canada introduces weapons bill that would allow cities to ban guns

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Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Tuesday called for sweeping measures, amendments to an existing gun control law, that would permit municipalities to ban handguns and institute a new federal buy-back program.

“You can’t fight gun violence or any violence on just one front,” Trudeau said during a press conference. “You can’t fight it without addressing its root causes.”

CANADA DESIGNATES THE PROUD BOYS AS A TERRORIST ENTITY

The legislation not only includes increased penalties for established illegal activities like gun trafficking but tighter restrictions on importing ammunition and increased policing authority.

The bill backs municipalities in creating bylaws that make the possession, storage, and transportations of handguns illegal.

Chief Firearms Officers would also have the authority to suspend or revoke gun licenses if there are “reasonable grounds to suspect” an individual is no longer eligible to maintain their license. This would allow authorities to investigate individuals reported by friends or family members under a new “yellow flag” law.

“Gun ownership in Canada, in this country, is a privilege and not a right. It’s a privilege that’s predicated on the strict adherence to our laws, our regulations, and our restrictions,” Public Safety Minister Bill Blair told Canada-based news outlet News 1130.

Police and border officials would additionally be able to share licensing and registration data to investigate matters involving firearms, particularly when it comes to gun smuggling along Canada’s southern border with the United States.

“Canadians called for these bold steps, we heard you and we are taking action,” Trudeau said, adding that a buy-back program will be introduced “in the coming weeks” to get gets firearms off of the streets.

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“We are not targeting law-abiding citizens who own guns to go hunting or for sport,” the prime minister said. “The measures we are enforcing are concrete and practical and they have one goal, and one goal only: protecting you, your family, and your community.”

The legislation announced Tuesday is in addition to a ban on over 1,500 varieties of “assault-style” firearms Trudeau introduced in May of last year.

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World

Canada expected to pass sweeping gun legislation that includes banning handguns

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Canada is expected to pass sweeping gun reform legislation, including a measure that allows municipalities to ban handguns.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin TrudeauJustin Pierre James TrudeauBiden’s treatment of energy firms is no way to run a healthy economy Harris speaks with Trudeau in first call with foreign leader as VP Trudeau announces new restrictions on international travel to Canada MORE announced the new measures on Tuesday, a sweeping package that builds on a ban of more than 1,500 assault-style firearms.

Trudeau said at a news conference on Tuesday that the country would move forward with a buyback program “in the coming months.”

The proposals include the Canadian government supporting municipalities that restrict storage and transportation of handguns within their boundaries. Breaching these bylaws would carry a maximum penalty of two years in prison and a possible revocation.

Another proposal would create “red flag” and “yellow flag” laws that would make it easier for concerned friends and relatives to petition courts for the immediate removal of a firearm or to ask a chief firearms officer to suspend and review a person’s license for firearms.

In addition, the bill would increase penalties for firearms trafficking and smuggling from 10 years to 14 years in prison, as well as allow the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and local law enforcement to share licensing and registration data to investigate or prosecute firearms trafficking offenses.

“You can’t fight gun violence or any violence on just one front,” Trudeau said. “You can’t fight it without addressing its root causes.”

The measures come as gun reform measures that were passed in June 2019 are expected to take effect. Those measures include requiring sellers to verify a firearms license before a purchase and expanded background checks that consider an applicant’s lifetime history.



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Business

Canada Approves Bitcoin ETF, Options Markets Not Pricing for $100K BTC

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Editor’s Note: Welcome to the year of the Ox. Blockchain Bites will not publish on President’s Day, Monday, Feb. 15.

Three stories

Bull market buzz

The first bitcoin exchange-traded fund in North America has been approved by Canada’s securities regulator, a move some commenters see as opening the door for the U.S. to follow. The U.S. government has been hesitant to approve a bitcoin ETF product, which tracks the price of bitcoin and is traded on a stock exchange, due to bitcoin’s supposedly shallow liquidity and risks the asset could be manipulated.

Bitcoin miners earned a record $4.06 million in just 60 minutes yesterday, according to Glassnode data. The majority of those proceeds came from the bitcoin subsidy – 6.25 BTC issued roughly every 10 minutes – though some $47,000 was collected in network fees. 

Bitcoin options market sees a 12% probability of prices rising above $100,000 by the end of December, according to a mathematical metric called the Black Scholes formula. It looks at strike prices, call option prices, the actual asset and U.S. Treasurys to determine the fair price of an option’s contract.

Everybody wants in?

PayPal CEO Dan Schulman said the payments giant is looking to become a CBDC distributor, if a central bank digital currency ever launches. “You think about how many [digital wallets] we’re going to have in the next two, three or five years, and we’re a perfect complement to central banks and governments to distribute those digitized forms of currency,” Schulman said at the company’s investor day.

Wall Street suits are pressuring their employers to move into crypto, according to CNBC. In response to internal questions, JPMorgan Chase co-President Daniel Pinto reportedly said the bank would consider bitcoin trading if customer demand was “there,” which “I’m sure it will be at some point.”

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez has floated everything from a bitcoin city treasury to paying employees in the crypto. Yesterday, however, city commissioners tapped the brakes on these ambitious plans to study their impact first. Commissioners did vote to launch education campaigns in English, Spanish and Creole to inform people about crypto.

Figure Technologies, a blockchain lending startup, is moving to set up a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), aka a “blank check” company. The firm, Figure Acquisition Corp. I, will raise $250 million to take a competitive startup public.

Around the world

Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced Thursday it has put plans to regulate cryptocurrencies on hold in light of the central bank’s decision to ban them, according to a report by the Guardian Nigeria. This follows a meeting yesterday where Nigeria’s Senate summoned the country’s top financial regulators to speak about the bill, which had received public pushback.

India will give crypto holders a three-to-six month window to cash out, if a proposed ban on cryptocurrency goes through. The Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, floated this year, seeks to limit private currencies in the country and set up a framework for a national digital currency.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey announced Friday that he will partner with rapper Jay-Z and donate 500 bitcoin (~$23.6 million) to set up a new endowment trust supporting Africa and India. Separately, Dorsey donated $1 million to cryptocurrency policy think tank Coin Center, announced Wednesday.

At stake

Popping bubbles?
Former CFTC Chairman Christopher Giancarlo cleared the record on the commodity regulator’s role in popping the 2017 bitcoin bull market this morning on CoinDesk TV.

CoinDesk previously reported that the Trump administration acted to puncture the 2017 bubble by clearing the way for futures products. 

“We saw a bubble building and we thought the best way to address it was to allow the market to interact with it,” Giancarlo said in late 2019. He said the launch of bitcoin futures “would have the impact of popping the bitcoin bubble. And it worked.”

These comments have led to a conspiracy that U.S. regulators are antagonistic to the growth of the cryptocurrency industry. Similar questions arised earlier this week, after the Chicago Mercantile Exchange launched the nation’s first regulated ether (ETH) futures. 

Giancarlo tempered these fears this morning. Adding that security and commodity regulators don’t have the authority, nor the ability, to have such a heavy hand in capital markets. 

The story is slightly more complicated. Derivatives, Giancarlo, argued are an essential part of any mature market. 

“The ability to short a market is an essential maturatization point in the development of any market,” he said, adding that the in most modern market asset prices are not set in spot markets, but in a higher order financial level. “The institutional role in bitcoin has made it into a truly investment grade asset.”

To the extent that bitcoin futures did deflate the bubble, it was just a matter of good old capitalist price finding. 

“[Derivatives] brought the price of bitcoin back in correlation to its fundamental cost of production,” Giancarlo said. “In 2017, bitcoin had broken away from those fundamentals.”

So what does Giancarlo think about today’s frothy markets? He didn’t address the question directly, but we can again turn to the market itself. 

As CoinDesk markets reporter Omkar Godbole noted, derivative traders see a low probability of the market to inflate past six figures by the end of the year. 

“With the extreme volatility of the past two months, the market isn’t showing a lot of conviction on how bitcoin will trade for the rest of the year,” Sui Chung, CEO of CF Benchmarks, told Godbole. 

Quick bites

  • Grayscale may set up a Yearn Finance token trust, according to a new filing. (CoinDesk)
  • Bitcoin Lightning is reinventing e-sports. (CoinDesk)
  • Why DeFi Pulse hasn’t listed 1inch. (Decrypt) 
  • Crypto’s market cap is larger than some central banks. (Decrypt)
  • Do exchange hacks affect crypto prices? An academic dives in. (Protos)
  • “Investing as Entertainment” (helloshreyas)
  • The forces that may push banks to build their own stablecoins. (CoinDesk Opinion)

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World

Coronavirus live news: Canada has secured nearly 10 vaccine doses per person; US deaths pass 450,000 | World news

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On Wednesday, the chief executive of Gavi, one of the organisations that is helping to administer Covax, was asked if it was helpful that many wealthy countries did not opt to take vaccines from the first batch that will be distributed. “Of course it helps,” Seth Berkley, Gavi CEO, said. “That means there are more doses available for others.”

The supply through Covax – which is not final and subject to manufacturing and logistical delays – represents a boost to the six million doses Canada was already expecting from Pfizer and Moderna before the end of March.

Despite reserving large supplies, Canada has struggled to get its vaccination program off the ground. Unlike other rich countries, it does not have fully developed domestic production capacity and is reliant on shipments from abroad.

The Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, has said the country will vaccinate its population by September, but has so far managed to reach just 2.5% of people, raising doubts it will reach its target before 2022.

“Compared to other OECD countries, Canada is way down to the bottom of the pack in terms of vaccinations per hundred thousand,” said Ronald Labonté, former Canada research chair in globalisation and health equity at the University of Ottawa.

“Would I criticise Canada for having engaged in vaccine nationalism at the outset? Yes, but I would also do that with all of the countries that have since followed suit … We’ve moved from vaccine nationalism to a vaccine race.”

Research released last week predicted that most low-income countries would not have sufficient vaccine supplies until at least 2024, by which time most rich and middle-income countries may have achieved close to full vaccination.

The delay will slow the global economic recovery from the crisis and increase the chance of new variants emerging that overcome immunity induced by vaccines:

The Guardian’s Michael Safi and Leyland Cecco:

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Shutout by allies, Canada will produce its own vaccines by the end of 2021

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The agreement, announced Tuesday by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, is the first of several being developed as Canada says it intends to repatriate vaccine production for decades to come.

“What we’re very clear on is Canada will be developing domestic manufacturing, so regardless of what could happen in the future, we will have domestic production on top of all our partnerships and contracts signed with companies around the world,” said Trudeau during a news conference in Ottawa Tuesday.

He added that it was important for Canada to be “self-sufficient” in vaccine production.

Novavax is still doing clinical trials of its vaccine but submitted more data to Health Canada for review Friday. Canada has an agreement to buy 52 million doses from Novavax when and if its vaccine candidate receives Canadian approval.

Approval is not expected for weeks and any domestic production of vaccines won’t happen until fall, at the earliest.

That still leaves Canada with a significant shortage of vaccines in the short term. Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna are the only vaccines so far approved for use in Canada.

Both of those vaccine suppliers have significantly slowed deliveries to Canada after a combination of manufacturing delays and demands from Europe, where Canada procures its doses, to restrict vaccine exports subject to EU approval.

Canada did not attempt to procure any vaccine doses from the US after the Trump administration indicated it would not allow any vaccines to be exported.

According to public health data from the provinces and the federal government, just over 2% of Canada’s population has received at least 1 dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.

Provinces in Canada, who are responsible for vaccine distribution, are growing frustrated as mass vaccination sites are ready, but in many cases sit “empty” awaiting vaccine doses.

“They have the capacity of several thousand each per day and the possibility to ramp up past that so all of us are a little disappointed, a little frustrated, and chomping at the bit to do more and get the vaccines to us,” said retired general Rick Hillier, now leading Ontario’s vaccine task force.

He added that he has lost confidence in the Pfizer supply chain as doses that were promised to Canada were not delivered.

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J&J vaccine trial; Canada tightens travel restrictions

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Despite COVID vaccine rollout, long lines persist.

USA TODAY

COVID-19 has killed more than 436,000 Americans, and infections have continued to mount despite the introduction of a pair of vaccines late in 2020. USA TODAY is tracking the news. Keep refreshing this page for the latest updates. Sign up for our Coronavirus Watch newsletter for updates to your inbox, join our Facebook group or scroll through our in-depth answers to reader questions.

The Biden administration on Friday announced it is running ahead of its initial vaccination goal, with an average of 1.2 million shots a day administered over the previous seven days. Biden said earlier in the week he’s hoping to get to 1.5 million vaccinations a day. 

Meanwhile, Johnson & Johnson said Friday data from its late-stage trial in the U.S. and seven other countries showed its one-shot vaccine had an overall 66% effectiveness in preventing moderate to severe illness.

Because of its single dose regimen, the J&J vaccine has been described as a “game-changer” in the campaign against the coronavirus pandemic. And the vaccine doesn’t need to be kept frozen, allowing it to be distributed through normal vaccine supply chains without the need for new, expensive equipment.

In the headlines:

►The European Union’s drug regulator on Friday authorized AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine for use in all adults despite concerns that not enough data exist to prove it works in older people. On Thursday, Germany’s vaccination advisory committee said in a draft recommendation that the vaccine should only be given to people aged 18-64 for now.

►Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan is calling on the state to stop hospital systems from giving special COVID-19 vaccine access to donors, board members or other connected community members following reports of several area hospital systems doing so. She also called for the state to reallocate vaccines to community health clinics that serve low-income communities of color

►This Kentucky couple did everything together for 56 years. Then one of them died alone of COVID-19.

►Arizona’s Department of Health Services reported the United Kingdom strain was confirmed in COVID-19 tests from three people. The agency is working with other public health agencies, including the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to monitor the situation.

►Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday announced stricter restrictions on travelers in response to new, likely more contagious variants of the novel coronavirus — including making it mandatory for travelers to quarantine in a hotel at their own expense when they arrive in Canada and suspending airline service to Mexico and all Caribbean destinations until April 30.

►’I have cried. I have begged. I have yelled’: Couples clash over COVID-19 as men do not take the virus as seriously as women and are less likely to follow safety measures, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

📈 Today’s numbers: The U.S. has more than 25.9 million confirmed coronavirus cases and more than 436,800 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. The global totals: More than 102.1 million cases and 2.2 million deaths. About 48.4 million vaccine doses have been distributed in the U.S. and 27.8 million have been administered, according to the CDC. 

📘 What we’re reading: COVID-19 side effects? Pain relievers like Tylenol and Advil are “perfectly fine” – but only after vaccination, experts say. Read the full story.

Medical school applications surge among Black, Latino students

Applications to medical school for this coming fall are up 18%, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges, which represents 155 U.S. institutions. Some schools have seen 30% jumps. And many school officials specifically note that the number of applicants from traditionally underrepresented Americans is helping to drive the surge.

Miriam Cepeda watched helplessly as her grandfather, an immigrant from the Dominican Republic who was sick with COVID-19, resisted pleas last March to go to the hospital. “He told us he had sad memories of hospitals back home and he just didn’t trust the medical system,” said Cepeda, 19, whose grandfather later passed away from COVID-19. “For a lot of minority communities, going to the doctor isn’t our first choice or solution.”

Cepeda, of New York City, hopes to change that. The Columbia University sophomore plans to apply to medical school in a few years so she can serve patients of color, whose healthcare inequities have been highlighted by a virus that has sickened and killed people of color in disproportionate numbers. Read more.

– Marco della Cava

Vaccinated US Rep. Stephen Lynch tests positive for COVID-19

A Massachusetts congressman who has received both doses of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine has tested positive for the virus.

The office of U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch said Friday that the lawmaker had had a negative test result before attending President Joe Biden’s inauguration. The office says Lynch’s positive test result came after a staff member in his Boston office tested positive earlier this week.

A statement says Lynch isn’t displaying any symptoms of COVID-19. Lynch will self-quarantine and vote by proxy in Congress in the coming week.

Lynch is the second member of the state’s congressional delegation to test positive in as many days. On Thursday, U.S. Rep. Lori Trahan announced she had tested positive after repeatedly testing negative.

Colorado mayor compares COVID-19 restrictions to George Floyd’s death

The mayor of a Colorado village compared county COVID-19 restrictions to the death of George Floyd in a statement he later said was a “poor choice,” according a local outlet. 

Snowmass Village Mayor Bill Madsen was advocating for lighter COVID-related restrictions during a meeting of the Pitkin County Board of Health on Thursday when he drew a comparison to the death of Floyd, a Black man who died after a police officer in Minneapolis held his knee to Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes. 

“We are creating a tremendous amount of ill will in the community,” Madsen said, according to the Aspen Daily News. “To hearken back to the George Floyd scenario, we have put our foot on the throat of the restaurant industry and they can’t breathe.”

He later walked back his comments: “I was just trying to make the point that the restaurant industry is suffering, and that was probably a bad choice of words,” Madsen said. “It was a poor choice. … I just wanted to make sure the restaurant industry is being heard, and I think throughout this whole process they haven’t felt that way.”

Iowa county leaders beg for patience amid COVID vaccine shortages

Leaders in some Iowa counties warned Friday that their supply of COVID-19 vaccine will remain far below demand for at least several more weeks. At the same time, the state is on track to expand vaccine eligibility to Iowans age 65 or older as well as people in certain high-risk professions.

“We are begging you to be patient as we continue to navigate this impossible situation,” Polk County Supervisor Angela Connolly said at a news conference. “It is a tough, difficult time. People want to be vaccinated, and we want to get that vaccine in their arms.”

Helen Eddy, director of the Polk County Health Department, said her agency will have only enough vaccine to offer first doses to 2,575 county residents next week, plus second doses to 4,500 people who already received initial shots. County health officials throughout Iowa face challenges similar to Polk’s. 

– Tony Leys, Des Moines Register

Mexican president says he’s recovering from COVID-19

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador posted a video of himself walking slowly through his offices Friday and talking for about 13 minutes straight, saying he is recovering from COVID-19.

López Obrador has not been holding his famous, hours-long daily press conferences for the first time since he took office on Dec. 1, 2018, and he evidently misses the opportunity to talk.

The president, who has been in isolation since testing positive for the coronavirus over the weekend, said: “The doctors tell me I am getting through the critical stage. I am doing well.”

Contributing: The Associated Press

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Canada to quarantine travelers, suspend flights south

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TORONTO (AP) — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday announced stricter restrictions on travelers in response to new, likely more contagious variants of the novel coronavirus — including making it mandatory for travelers to quarantine in a hotel at their own expense when they arrive in Canada and suspending airline service to Mexico and all Caribbean destinations until April 30.

Trudeau said in addition to the pre-boarding test Canada already requires, the government will be introducing mandatory PCR testing at the airport for people returning to Canada.

“Travelers will then have to wait for up to three days at an approved hotel for their test results, at their own expense, which is expected to be more than $2000,” Trudeau said.

“Those with negative test results will then be able to quarantine at home under significantly increased surveillance and enforcement.”

He said the measure will be take effect “in the coming weeks.”

The steep cost for the hotel stay includes the cost for a private PCR test, security, food and the cost of measures the designated hotels will have to take to keep their workers safe.

“The cost is a ballparking. This isn’t like any other facility. This is one where there has to be infection prevention control measures, security and other costs as well. It’s not just a regular stay at a hotel,” said Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer.

Tam also said a test will be required on the 10th day after people return.

The prime minister said those with positive tests will be immediately required to quarantine in designated government facilities to make sure they’re not carrying variants of particular concern.

Trudeau also said the government and Canada’s main airlines have agreed to suspend service to sun destinations right away. He said Air Canada, WestJet, Sunwing, and Air Transat are cancelling air service to all Caribbean destinations and Mexico starting Sunday until April 30.

“They will be making arrangements with their customers who are currently on a trip in these regions to organize their return flights,” Trudeau said.

He said starting next week, all international passenger flights must land at the following four airports: Vancouver, Toronto, Calgary and Montreal.

“We will also, in the coming weeks, be requiring nonessential travelers to show a negative test before entry at the land border with the US, and we are working to stand up additional testing requirements for land travel,” Trudeau said.

Canada already requires those entering the country to self-isolate for 14 days and to present a negative COVID-19 test taken within three days before arrival.

Tam, Canada’s top health official, said that security contractors will be going door-to-door to check on returnees who are isolating at home.

The move to require a hotel stay upon return would discourage vacations as people would not want to have to quarantine at a hotel at their own expense upon return.

“It’s excellent. It’s a shame it’s this late. This is something they could have done ages ago,” said Dr. Andrew Morris, a professor of infectious diseases at the University of Toronto and the medical director of the Antimicrobial Stewardship Program at Sinai-University Health Network.

“This is definitely a step in the right direction.”

More and more governments are thinking about ways to be more aggressive because of the new variants, delays in vaccines, the challenges with getting the population vaccinated and the strains on health care systems.

Public Safety Minister Bill Blair said officials have been urging Canadians to cancel all nonessential travel and are trying to eliminate it.

“Unfortunately, some are making the choice to engage in nonessential travel. If they are going to make that choice, they should bear the full cost,” Blair said.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford said his province will begin testing at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport on Monday as a stop gap until federal measures are in place.

Trudeau also announced there will be a delay in part of the next shipment of the Moderna vaccine, which arrives next week. He said Canada will receive 78% of the expected amount, translating to 180,000 doses.

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