Legislative, Regulatory & Legal

Federal health officials are extending the U.S. ban on cruise ships through the end September as coronavirus infections rise in most U.S. states, including Florida. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Thursday that it was extending a no-sail order that had been scheduled to expire July 24.

Another record for monthly overdose deaths related to illicit drugs has been set in British Columbia, prompting the former provincial health officer to call for radical steps to reduce fatalities including access to pharmaceutical-grade heroin produced in Canada. Dr. Perry Kendall, now interim director at the BC Centre on Substance Use, said access to injectable diacetylmorphine needs to be ramped up after a sharp rise in overdose deaths four years after he declared a public health emergency.

lberta Health Minister Tyler Shandro says it's not true that doctors are quitting or withdrawing services in large numbers because of changes to fees and billing. Shandro says in a statement that the reports are nothing more than a bargaining tactic in the pay dispute between the government and physicians

Alberta Health Minister Tyler Shandro is escalating his pay dispute with doctors, asking the College of Physician and Surgeons to make rules to stop doctors from withdrawing services en masse. Shandro, in a letter dated June 18, says patients—particularly those in rural areas—have a right to timely access to care and that the college has to do more to make sure that happens.

A week after anti-mask groups rode public transit without face coverings to protest new city bylaws requiring them, the CBC those same groups are making "exemption cards" that claim they are medically exempt from wearing face coverings. The Canadian Red Cross told CBC Toronto said the cards contain a version of the organization's emblem that is being used without permission.

Premier Doug Ford said Tuesday his government has a plan to deal a second wave of COVID-19 this fall, a pledge that comes as Ontario's hospitals warn the surge may come as flu season strikes. Ford said he has been consulting with provincial health officials about the plan, but offered no details about how or when it will be announced.

Nearly two weeks after a loosened travel agreement between their provinces came into effect, Atlantic Canadian premiers are not rushing to set a date to welcome visitors from the rest of the country. The Atlantic travel "bubble'' that opened July 3 allows residents of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island to travel between the four provinces without being required to self-isolate for 14 days.

Nova Scotia's auditor general says the COVID-19 pandemic has the potential to raise costs for a health care expansion project that represents the largest capital output in the province's history. Michael Pickup released his second report on the expansion of the Halifax Infirmary and the construction of a community outpatient centre, which has an estimated $2-billion price tag.