For Municipal Partners

Hastings Prince Edward Public Health
Online Bulletin for Municipal Partners

March 23, 2021

To ensure everyone has current information, Hastings Prince Edward Public Health will be providing regular COVID-19 updates.

For more information please review our website or call 613-966-5500 or 1-800-267-2803.

Updates

Epidemiological

• Hastings and Prince Edward Counties have 443 cumulative lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 6 active, 431 resolved and 6 deceased. There were no new cases reported today.
  • There are no local long-term care facilities experiencing COVID-19 outbreak; additional outbreak details can be found online.
  • More information is available on our website hpePublicHealth.ca
• Vaccines administered to date:  20,818
• Fully vaccinated individuals to date:  1,895
• Ontario is reporting 1,546 cases of COVID-19 and 9 deaths as more than 32,600 tests have been completed. There are 465 new cases in Toronto, 329 in Peel, and 161 in York Region.
• In Canada, as at March 22, 2021, there are 938,719 total cases of COVID-19 with 35,844 active cases and 880,159 recovered. To date, there have been 22,716 COVID-19 related deaths and more than 26,704,383 individuals tested.

Summary of cases of COVID-19: Ontario, January 15, 2020 to March 22, 2021

Summary of Cases in Ontario Schools - Updated March 23, 2021.

Local Updates

Upcoming Vaccincation Clinics

Loyalist College - Belleville - 9 am to 4 pm - 75+ age group

• Wednesday, March 24 (FULL)
• Thursday, March 25
• Friday, March 26
• Saturday, March 27
• Monday, March 29
• Tuesday, March 30 - 12 pm to 7 pm

Prince Edward Community Centre - Picton - 9:30 am to 3:30 pm - 75+ age group

• Saturday, March 27
• Sunday, March 28
• Monday, March 29
• Tuesday, March 30

Madoc Township Hall - Eldorado - 10 am to 4 pm - 75+ age group

• Tuesday, March 30

Duncan McDonald Memorial Community Centre - Trenton - 9 am to 4 pm - 75+ age group

• Monday, March 29
• Tuesday, March 30
• Wednesday, March 31

Bancroft Legion - Bancroft - 10 am - 3 pm - 75+ age group

• Monday, March 29
• Thursday, April 1

Provincial

Quick Summary of Provincial Developments:

• Ontario continues to report highest number of new daily cases in weeks. Of the new cases, the majority were found in people under the age of 40.
• Health Minister Elliott noted that while variants of concern are impacting more younger people, the province is working to contain them while racing against time to inject as many people as possible with the COVID-19 vaccine.
• Ontario is reporting a total of 1,424 confirmed cases of variants of concern. Of this, 1,340 cases of the B.1.1.1.7 (United Kingdom) virus variant have been reported, 48 cases of the B.1.3.5.1 (South Africa) virus variant and 36 cases of the P.1 (Brazilian) virus variant. There are an additional 13,226 samples that have screened positive for the mutation where no lineage has yet been determined because the sequencing has not been done.
• Restaurants in the Grey lockdown zone will be able to open for outdoor dining. Restaurants in the Red zone will also be able to open with 50% capacity to a maximum of 50 people.
• Premier Ford announced that starting on Monday, March 22, Ontario will start accepting vaccination appointments for residents 75 years of age and older. On that date, pharmacies and primary care clinics will also begin booking appointments for individuals aged 60 and over for the AstraZeneca vaccine.
• Another 350 pharmacies will be brought onboard across the province in the next two weeks bringing the total to approximately 700 locations and then doubling to 1,500 by the end of April.
• The Ontario government has extended to April 20 all emergency orders under the Reopening Ontario Act.
• Premier Ford confirmed that the government is keeping up to three days worth of vaccines to manage the supply so the province will not be forced to cancel and rebook appointments.
• During follow-up visits for educational workplace safety campaigns, provincial offences officers found that approximately 73 percent of businesses were in compliance with public health measures and compliance increased by 20 percent.
  • Occupational health and safety inspectors and multi-ministry teams of provincial offences officers have conducted more than 15,800 COVID-related workplace inspections and investigations across the province since the start of 2021. During those visits, they've issued over 11,900 orders and 410 COVID-19 related tickets, and stopped unsafe work related to COVID-19 a total of 20 times.

Additional Funding for Hospitals:

• The Ontario government announced on March 22 an investment of over $1.2 billion to help hospitals manage the financial pressures created and worsened by COVID-19. These funds will be disbursed as described below:
  • $696.6 million will be allocated to help cover the historic deficits of qualifying public hospitals (e.g. small and medium hospitals and specialty and rehabilitation hospitals); and
  • $572.3 million will be allocated to reimburse qualifying portions of revenue losses, including co-payments for private rooms and reduction of retail services.

Public Health Unit Region Classifications:

• As of March 22, eight public health unit regions have moved from their current level in the Framework to the following levels due to concerning trends:
  • Red-Control: Brant County Health Unit;Chatham-Kent Public Health; and Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit.
  • Orange-Restrict: Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health.
  • Yellow-Protect: Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington Public Health; North Bay Parry Sound District; Porcupine Health Unit; and Timiskaming Health Unit.

Ontario Provincial Booking System for COVID-19 Vaccines Information:

• Individuals who will be turning 75 or older and wish to make an appointment — or an individual trusted to make an appointment on their behalf — can visit Ontario.ca/bookvaccine.
• For individuals who do not have internet access, they can call the Provincial Vaccine Information Line at 1-888-999-6488, open Monday to Sunday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
• When booking an appointment, individuals will be asked for information from their green Ontario health card, birth date, postal code and email address and/or phone number. At the time of booking, eligible individuals will schedule their first and second vaccination appointments.
• Individuals who still have a red and white health card, or who require assistance with booking, can call the Provincial Vaccine Information Line number at 1-888-999-6488.

Federal

Quick Summary of Federal Developments:

• Prime Minister Trudeau confirmed that Canada will receive more than one million doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine starting Monday, March 22nd until the end of May.
• Indigenous Services Canada and the Canadian Armed Forces will begin supporting an accelerated vaccination program in a number of isolated First Nations communities starting in Manitoba.
• As of March 21, a total of 5,154 Variants of Concern have been reported across Canada, including 4,807 B.1.1.7 variants, 243 B.1.351 variants and 104 P.1 variants.
• The Canadian and American governments are finalizing an agreement on the exchange of AstraZeneca doses that will see Canada receive 1.5 million doses before the end of the month.
• The federal government has extended the deadline for new Canada Emergency Business Account applications from March 31 to June 30, 2021.
• New regulations to increase the number of weeks available under the Canada Recovery Benefits have come into effect.

Other News

• Medicago, a Canadian biopharmaceutical, working with GlaxoSmithKline announced that it will begin Phase 3 trials of its COVID-19 vaccine.
• Comparing Vaccines: All vaccines in Canada have undergone the protocols of various levels of trials, following scientific processes and due diligence. There are no bad vaccines and comparing COVID-19 vaccine efficacy numbers can be misleading. The clinical trials were done at different times and different settings. Check out this short video which can help explain why you should not just look at the efficacy rate. The best vaccine for you is the one that is available to you right now.
• The updated guidance on Phase 2 Prioritization for COVID-19 Vaccination is now available.
• The Guidance for Prioritizing Health Care Workers for COVID-19 Vaccination has been updated.

Useful Links

• HPEPH COVID-19 General Information
• HPEPH COVID-19 Information for Health Care Providers
• How Ontario is responding to COVID-19
• Public Health Ontario Coronavirus Disease
• Canada Coronavirus disease

We want to ensure this bulletin is as useful as possible. Please send your questions, comments and suggestions to etubbs@hpeph.ca

Contact Information: 

To give us your comments: etubbs@hpeph.ca

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