VAXED PATIENTS OUTNUMBER UNVAXED IN AUSTRALIA

 For the first time, New South Wales (NSW) has seen more fully vaccinated patients hospitalized with COVID-19 compared to the number of unvaccinated patients as the Omicron outbreak continues to edge toward its peak.

Data published by the NSW government’s COVID-19 Critical Intelligence Unit has revealed that as of Jan. 9, 68.9 percent of COVID-19 patients aged 12 and over in hospitals had two doses of the vaccine, with 28.8 percent unvaccinated.

The number of double-dose vaccinated patients in intensive care units (ICUs) also surpassed those of the unvaccinated, with 50.3 percent of the vaccinated presenting to ICU with COVID-19, more than the 49.1 percent who are unvaccinated.

UNVACCINATED WORKERS FILING WRONGFUL DISMISSAL CLAIMS

Employers across the country have begun firing employees who are not fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to lawyers who say they are inundated with vaccine-related cases and claims of wrongful dismissal.

The deluge of cases sets up a crucial legal test of vaccine mandates imposed by employers, one that pits the individual rights of workers against employers’ health and safety concerns amid a pandemic that has dragged on for almost two years.

“The question we are all trying to answer is, can an employer, in a non-unionized setting terminate an employee with cause for not getting vaccinated? In my view, they cannot, except in very specific circumstances,” said Lai-King Hum, founder of Hum Law, a boutique law firm in Toronto that deals exclusively with labour and employment issues.

“The complication that employers are starting to realize is if your employment agreement did not state from the very beginning that vaccines are compulsory, then you would likely have to pay an employee if you want to terminate them. That cost adds up,” Ms. Hum said.

A CASE STUDY IN GOVERNMENT INCOMPETENCE

 There is no better example of our atrophied state capacity — the ability (or lack thereof) for Canadian governments to get stuff done — than our decade-long failure to buy a pistol for the Canadian Armed Forces.

The Armed Forces use Browning 9mm pistols as its standard-issue sidearm. Some specialized units use other pistols purchased for a specific purpose in smaller batches, but the Browning 9mm is the standard.

It’s a fine pistol, but it has an old design — the first “HiPower,” as they’re branded, was built in 1935. More to the point, the ones the Canadian Forces use were built during the Second World War.

FLY THE FLAG PROUDLY

The City of Port Colborne has backed away from ordering a woman to remove a popular anti-Trudeau flag from the front of her home.

Melissa, a working mother, said she had originally flown the “F*CK TRUDEAU” flag as a protest against the results of the Sep. 2021 federal election.

The “*” in “F*CK TRUDEAU” is represented by a maple leaf.

PM'S CUTE WORDS: ENCOURAGE & INCENTIVIZE

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says provinces are “right” to consider ways to encourage and incentivize COVID-19 vaccination.

His comments come just one day after Quebec Premier Francois Legault announced plans to impose a tax on any unvaccinated Quebecers who don’t have a valid medical exemption.

“Different jurisdictions are making different decisions about how to encourage people to get vaccinated, and as a federal government, we will be continuing to be there to support them in those decisions and to make sure that everyone gets vaccinated,” Trudeau said.

30% ABSENTEE RATES TRIGGERS OUTBREAK NOTIFICATION

The Ontario government says parents will only be notified of a potential COVID-19 outbreak when approximately 30 per cent of staff and students in the school are absent but data on absentee rates will be available to the public before that threshold is met.

Students in Ontario will return to in-person classes on Jan. 17 following nearly two weeks of remote learning due to a surge in COVID-19 cases.

When student and staff absenteeism in an individual school reaches approximately 30 per cent from its baseline, it will trigger the principal to notify local health officials, the government said Wednesday.

USA TRUCKERS TO CANADA MUST HAVE JAB

 Only days before Canadian truck drivers were required to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19 to get into the country or face quarantine, the federal government is backing away from the vaccine mandate.

The new rule will still take effect for American truckers starting this weekend, with drivers being turned away at the border unless they've been inoculated.

But a spokesperson for the Canada Border Services Agency told The Canadian Press late Wednesday that unvaccinated Canadian truck drivers, or those who have had only one dose, will not have to quarantine.

The head of the Canadian Trucking Alliance says about 10 per cent of the 120,000 Canadian big-riggers who traverse the border have not been fully vaccinated.