WHO chief calls for caution as cases climb ahead of major U.S. holiday

As a nation, we are supposed to be built around trust. Look at the back of the bills in your wallet. “In God We Trust.”

Love may be the emotion we like to think ultimately propels us, but it’s trust that informs how we go about our daily lives. And yet. Our level of trust, our very foundation, has been crumbling for a long time now. Scandals, abuse and corruption in the major pillars of our society — religious institutions, education, business, military, government, health care, law enforcement, even the sports world — have made us a wary people.

When the pandemic came, first as murmurs that were easy to tune out, then as an unbounded crisis we couldn’t tune into enough, our relationship to trust was newly infected with something we didn’t fully understand. And before long, who and what we trusted — or didn’t — in the form of elected leaders, scientists and doctors became one more cause of death here and all over the world. In this way, distrust was a kind of pandemic itself: widely contagious and passed by the mouth.

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As many employers continue to require their employees to get immunized against the coronavirus, soap opera actor Steve Burton said he was terminated from the show “General Hospital” after declining to get vaccinated.

Burton, who portrayed character Jason Morgan on the medical drama, announced Tuesday in an Instagram video that “unfortunately, ‘General Hospital’ has let me go because of the vaccine mandate.”

Burton said that he applied for medical and religious exemptions but that they were denied.

“This is also about personal freedom to me,” he said. “I don’t think anybody should lose their livelihood over this.”

The Washington Post has confirmed that Burton is no longer on “General Hospital” and did not comply with the production’s vaccine mandate.

Burton joins others in Hollywood and elsewhere who have been fired or quit over vaccine requirements. This month, Burton’s former colleague Ingo Rademacher was reportedly fired from the show for the same reason. Rapper-actor Ice Cube recently turned down a role in an upcoming comedy co-starring Jack Black because producers wanted him to get vaccinated, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

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TORONTO — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, deprived again of the majority he sought in an unpopular snap pandemic election in September, pledged Tuesday to get the pandemic under control and go “further, faster” to fight climate change.

His plan, presented in the Speech from the Throne for a new session of Parliament, was mostly a rehash of promises he has made in past addresses, budgets and campaign platforms, such as building affordable housing, working with the provinces to create a national child-care system, increasing immigration and advancing reconciliation with Indigenous people.

The address was delivered in a ceremony filled with ancient traditions, pomp and pageantry by the governor general, who represents Queen Elizabeth II in Canada, but it was written by the prime minister and his aides.

It came more than two months after a federal election that produced a Parliament that looks virtually unchanged from the last one. Trudeau called the election betting that voters would reward him for his response to the coronavirus pandemic with a majority government.

The United States is set to pass another somber milestone, with deaths related to covid-19 for 2021 surpassing such deaths in 2020 — despite copious supplies of vaccines.

The provisional count for coronavirus disease deaths by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published Tuesday recorded 385,343 deaths for 2020. That figure has already been surpassed this year, with 386,233 deaths recorded so far. And that number will rise, with more than a month to go until the end of the year. The CDC also notes that “it can take several weeks for death records to be submitted … processed, coded, and tabulated,” creating a data lag, meaning the number could be higher still.

Almost 200 million Americans have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, and about 40 percent are not, according to a Washington Post tracker. Vaccine hesitancy, misinformation and complacency around boosters are among several reasons, health officials have said.

All adults have been eligible for a shot since April. In May, vaccines were authorized for almost 17 million children ages 12 through 15. An additional 28.5 million children ages 5 through 11 can now receive vaccinations, making 87 percent of Americans eligible for a vaccine. Despite that, around 1 million doses per day are administered nationwide, far fewer than during the spring peak when vaccines first became widely available.

Denver on Wednesday began requiring masks or proof of vaccination for entry to indoor spaces, with city leaders calling the measure necessary to relieve pressure on hospitals.

Mayor Michael B. Hancock (D) said a flood of mostly unvaccinated covid-19 patients was causing “a dangerous strain,” creating the possibility of reduced or even rationed care unless steps were taken to mitigate the burden.

“We are issuing what I like to call a ‘vax or mask’ mandate,” the mayor said during a Tuesday news conference announcing the measure. “Either your venue or business is requiring proof of vaccination or you choose to be a place where only masks are required.”

Hancock said he knew it was “disappointing that the decisions of some, again, mean additional restrictions on our vaccinated residents.” He called the city’s vaccination rate “stellar,” saying 70 percent of residents had been fully vaccinated and 76 percent had received at least one dose. But the requirement is needed to prevent hospitals from reaching a breaking point, he said.

“Wear a mask or get vaccinated,” Hancock said. “We prefer, of course, our residents get vaccinated.”

The mandate, issued through a Tuesday public health order, applies to everyone older than 2. It is set to continue through Jan. 3.

Here’s what to know about the top coronavirus stories around the globe from news service reports.

• New Zealand will reopen its borders to the world starting early next year, the government said Wednesday. It will ease tough border restrictions and allow the return of displaced residents in January and tourists in April.
• New infections are soaring in South Korea, surpassing 4,000 cases in a day on Wednesday for the first time since the start of the pandemic. Most have been reported in the capital, Seoul, and its surrounding metropolitan area. An increase in hospitalizations has also stoked fears over shortages of intensive care beds.
• Germany’s military looks set to make coronavirus vaccines compulsory for troops, the Defense Ministry has said. The measure still needs to be formally added to military regulations, the ministry added. The U.S. military has a similar mandate in place. Public debate in Germany is also growing over whether there should be a broader vaccine mandate for other members of the population, as cases continue to climb.
• French authorities said they were taking control of some fuel stations on the French overseas territory of Martinique in the Caribbean because of concerns about fuel supplies following days of protests over measures to limit the spread of coronavirus.
• South Africa has asked Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer to delay delivery of vaccines because it has too much stock, Health Ministry officials said, as vaccine hesitancy slows an immunization campaign. About 35 percent of South Africans are fully vaccinated, higher than in most other African nations, but lower than the government’s year-end target.
• Slovakia’s government has approved a two-week national lockdown amid a record surge of coronavirus infections. The measures will take effect Thursday and affect both the unvaccinated and the vaccinated. The Health Ministry said daily infections surpassed 10,000 for the first time, with 10,315 testing positive on Tuesday.

TORONTO — The Pan American Health Organization warned Wednesday that a surge in coronavirus cases in Europe could be a “window into the future for the Americas,” urging countries across the region against the easing of public health measures, especially as the holidays approach.

“Time and again, we’ve seen how the infection dynamics in Europe are mirrored here several weeks later,” PAHO Director Carissa Etienne said at a virtual news conference. “The future is unfolding before us, and it must be a wake-up call for our region because we are even more vulnerable.”

Nineteen nations in the region are falling short of the World Health Organization’s goal to vaccinate 40 percent of every country’s population by the end of the year and 70 percent by the middle of next year, Etienne said, and many of them have lifted public health measures in densely populated areas.

“This is a worrisome combination that keeps us vulnerable to the virus and threatens our hard-fought gains,” Etienne said.

In the past week, the number of new cases in the Americas has increased by 23 percent, mostly in North America, according to PAHO. While new cases in Central America are declining, much of South America is also seeing a jump in new infections.

In Bolivia’s Santa Cruz department, new cases skyrocketed by 400 percent, the agency said, after strikes and protests blocked people from accessing vaccination centers and testing sites. Trinidad and Tobago is reporting record infection rates, and at least five of its hospitals are at more than 80 percent capacity.

ROME — Italy announced Wednesday that it would soon begin barring the unvaccinated from many leisure activities, including restaurants and bars — even if they have a recent negative coronavirus test.

It is Italy’s latest move to ramp up pressure on the unvaccinated as it tries to stem a worsening infection rate and avoid the kind of catastrophic spikes seen in other European nations, including neighboring Austria and Slovenia.

At an evening news conference, Prime Minister Mario Draghi framed the steps as a way to preserve normal economic activity through the winter and keep the virus in check.

“We see a situation outside of Italy that is very grave,” Draghi said. “We also see that our situation is gradually but steadily worsening.”

Greece and the Czech Republic are among the countries that have adopted similar measures. Some parts of Germany also are enforcing such rules, which restrict access to certain public spaces to those who have been vaccinated or have recovered.

Previously, Italy also considered a recent negative test a ticket to such activities. The new rules will apply nationwide from Dec. 6 until Jan. 15 — and will apply for longer periods in regions where the coronavirus situation is deemed more worrisome.

The government also said Wednesday that it would make vaccination compulsory for several new work sectors, including the military and police forces. For all other workers, a government-issued Green Pass is mandatory — but a recent negative test still suffices as a way to earn the pass.