A protest at a major border crossing by Canadian truckers critical of vaccine mandates could head to a fourth day on Thursday, shutting down traffic on one international gateway and backing it up at another.The protest has heightened concerns about commerce and what comes next. It also has added pressure – and wait times – at another international bridge, the Blue Water Bridge in Port Huron, Michigan, where traffic is backing up.The bridge carries 25% of all trade between the U.S. and Canada, and Canadian authorities expressed increasing worry about the economic effects.Truckers calling themselves the Freedom Convoy are opposing a Canadian mandate requiring drivers entering the country to be fully vaccinated or face testing and quarantine requirements. There are now growing concerns that not only is the protesters’ fight spilling over the border to affect U.S. businesses and interrupt supply chains, but U.S. truckers may also be organizing similar protests in Washington and elsewhere.Meanwhile, both Detroit and Windsor have significant auto operations and the standstill is a huge concern for businesses that already have been suffering from global supply chain and local staffing issues. Ford said late Wednesday that parts shortages forced it to shut down its engine plant in Windsor and to run an assembly plant in Oakville, Ontario, on a reduced schedule.So far, automakers have suggested that the disruptions are minimal, but if the protest drags on, it has the potential to create more supply chain problems. “This interruption on the Detroit-Windsor bridge hurts customers, auto workers, suppliers, communities and companies on both sides of the border,” Ford Motor Company said in a statement. “We hope this situation is resolved quickly because it could have widespread impact on all automakers in the U.S. and Canada.”Also in the news: ►California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed off on extending COVID-19 supplemental paid sick leave for workers on Wednesday, along with more than $6 billion in tax relief for small businesses.►Allen Sills, the NFL’s chief medical officer, told reporters this week that he thinks it’s “absolutely possible” that players from the Los Angeles Rams and Cincinnati Bengals could contract COVID-19 and miss the Super Bowl.►Prince Charles tested positive for COVID-19 and is in self-isolation, a Twitter account for The Prince of Wales and Duchess Camilla said Thursday. The royal is next to succeed his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, on the throne in the United Kingdom.►In anticipation of a potential French protest inspired by the truckers in Canada, Paris police on Thursday banned road blockades, putting in place extra measures to protect highways and detain violators.📈 Today’s numbers: The U.S. has recorded more than 77 million confirmed COVID-19 cases and more than 912,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. Global totals: More than 404 million cases and over 5.7 million deaths. More than 213 million Americans – 64.2% – are fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.📘 What we’re reading: Moms are at war over COVID. Who’s to blame?Keep refreshing this page for the latest news. Want more? Sign up for USA TODAY’s free Coronavirus Watch newsletter to receive updates directly to your inbox and join our Facebook group.The United States is reporting fewer and fewer new cases of COVID-19, but case counts remain at high levels nearly everywhere. Case counts now are similar to some of the highest weeks of previous waves. The nation as a whole is reporting about 4.6 times the level of what the Centers for Disease Control says is a high level of community transmission, a USA TODAY Network analysis of Johns Hopkins University data shows.American death counts from COVID-19 remain high, at about 2,500 per day, or more than 100 every hour.Globally, case counts have fallen by more than a quarter from their peak just a couple weeks ago. The world is reporting about 30 cases every second, or about 17.9 million a week. The pace of global deaths continues to rise: About 76,400 deaths were reported in the week ending Wednesday – or about 450 deaths every hour.– Mike Stucka, USA TODAYNew York state will end a mandate requiring face coverings in most indoor public settings but will keep school masking rules in place, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Wednesday. Later in the day, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said his state will follow a similar path.They are the latest in a series of states to roll back mask mandates amid a decline in daily coronavirus infection and hospitalization numbers. Still, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday that for now her agency continues to recommend masking in areas of substantial transmission – most of the nation.”We are working on that guidance, we are working on following the trends for the moment,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said. “Our hospitalizations are still high, our death rates are still high … We are encouraged by the current trends, (but) we’re not there yet.”Across the country, indoor mask requirements in blue states are falling like dominoes: Delaware and Rhode Island’s mandates will end Friday; California’s next Wednesday. Oregon is lifting its requirements by March 31, and Nevada is expected to announce the end of its mandate Thursday. In addition, Oregon, Delaware and Rhode Island announced this week plans to lift masking in schools, as did New Jersey and Connecticut.– John Bacon and Jorge Ortiz, USA TODAYThe Warwick, Rhode Island, man who made national headlines as one of the first people to try to defraud federal relief programs during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic avoided jail time at his sentencing Wednesday.U.S. District Court Judge Mary S. McElroy sentenced David Butziger, 53, to three years of supervised release, with the first six months spent in home detention, for conspiring to commit bank fraud by submitting phony applications for $543,000 in forgivable loans that were intended to help keep struggling businesses afloat during the crisis.McElroy distinguished Butziger, a first-time offender, from his co-conspirator, David Adler Staveley, a repeated felon with a history of fraud. Staveley received 56 months in prison for his part in the scheme at his sentencing in October.McElroy referenced Butziger’s age, clean record, work history and acceptance of responsibility in rejecting a request by Assistant U.S. Attorney Lee H. Vilker that he serve 21 months behind bars.– Katie Mulvaney, The Providence JournalJeanie Evans died of “anaphylaxis due to COVID-19 vaccination,” according to her autopsy report.The Effingham, Kansas, resident died March 24, 2021, a day after the Moderna vaccine was administered to her in Jefferson County.The Topeka Capital-Journal, part of the USA TODAY Network, acquired the autopsy report Tuesday from the Shawnee County coroner’s office after submitting a Kansas Open Records Act request.Evans, 68, had a medical history of hypertension, environmental allergies, allergic disorder and reactive airway disease – which wasn’t asthma – and had experienced previous anaphylactic reaction to the drug Albuterol, the autopsy report said.It said Evans began to complain that her airway felt blocked about 15 to 20 minutes after she received her first COVID vaccination on March 23, 2021. Evans was taken by ground ambulance and died the next day.– Tim Hrenchir, Topeka Capital-JournalContributing: The Associated Press
US-Canada border protest over COVID vaccine mandate heightens worries
