For Municipal Partners

Hastings Prince Edward Public Health
Online Bulletin for Municipal Partners

May 27, 2020

To ensure everyone has current information during this quickly evolving outbreak, Hastings Prince Edward Public Health will be providing regular COVID-19 updates over the next several weeks.

For more information please review our website or call 613-966-5500.

Updates

Epidemiological

• Hastings and Prince Edward Counties have 43 lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 182 probable cases, with 32 lab-confirmed cases having recovered and 5 deceased.
  • Approximately 7,057 COVID-19 tests have been conducted, with a 0.6% positivity rate.
  • Facilities experiencing COVID-19 outbreak can be found online.
  • More details are available on our website hpePublicHealth.ca.
• In Canada, there are 86,636 lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 resulting in 6,639 deaths. To date, over 1,502,990 individuals have been tested.

Summary of cases of COVID-19: Ontario, January 15, 2020 to May 26, 2020

Note: 223 cases did not specify male or female. 15 cases had an unknown age.

• There are 26,483 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ontario reported to date. This represents an increase of 292 confirmed cases from the previous report.
  • 43.2% of cases are male, 56% are female.
  • 40.6% of cases are 60 years of age and older.
  • Greater Toronto Area public health units account for 65.3% of cases.
  • 12.5% of cases were hospitalized.
• 2,155 deaths have been reported (please note there may be a reporting delay for deaths). This is an increase of 32 deaths from the previous report.
• 298 outbreaks have been reported in long-term care homes. This is an increase of 1 outbreak from the previous report.

Federal

Efforts to Procure Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

• Over 40 flights from abroad have arrived with PPE over the last ten weeks.
• The federal government has signed contracts with:
  • General Motors to produce 10 million face masks; production has already begun.
  • A partnership between Canadian Nobel Laureate, Dr. Art McDonald, and Vexos, to produce 10,000 ventilators, bringing the total of made-in-Canada ventilators to 40,000; deliveries will begin this summer.

Support for Youth Jobs in Agriculture

• Prime Minister Trudeau announced that the federal government will fund 700 youth jobs in the agricultural industry over the summer.

Global Collaboration

• The Prime Minister announced that he will be collaborating with the Prime Minister of Jamaica and the United Nations Secretary-General to convene a special meeting on May 28 with heads of state from around the world to facilitate global solutions to address the economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on the most vulnerable.

Provincial

Investigation into Worst Hit Long-Term Care Homes

• A report prepared by the military leaders who are assisting with five long term care homes documented serious concerns around infection prevention, safety, staffing and levels of care. The disturbing conditions included in this report ranged from cockroaches, rotten food, patients with ulcers left bed-bound, to staff moving from unit to unit wearing contaminated PPE.
• In reacting to this report, Premier Ford described it as, "gut-wrenching" noting that "reading this report is the hardest thing I have done as Premier".
• The report also indicates that these five homes are beginning to stabilize with the support of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF).
• The Premier committed to taking immediate action to investigate these concerns and requested that the CAF extend their current mission for at least an additional 30 days.
• Ontario's Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Williams said that he is still assessing when family members can be allowed into care homes without putting residents and staff at further risk of COVID-19.

Testing

• The media continue to ask questions about the province's testing strategy and where the hot spots referred to by the Premier are located. While the Ministry of Health has indicated that it has data on case numbers by postal codes, this information is not being released yet to the public.
• Health Minister Elliott indicated that plans to expand the size of gatherings have been "pushed back" due to Dr. Williams' concerns about the increase in new cases.

Ontario Extends Emergency Orders

• The Ontario government has extended all emergency orders in force under s.7.0.2 (4) of the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act until June 9.
• Current emergency orders include the closure of outdoor playgrounds, play structures and equipment, public swimming pools and outdoor water facilities, as well as bars and restaurants except for takeout and delivery. Additionally, there continues to be restrictions on social gatherings of more than five people, and staff redeployment rules remain in place for long-term care homes and congregate settings like retirement homes and women's shelters.

Local

• Starting Monday, June 1, Belleville Transit will begin the gradual move towards the restoration of transit services in the city by launching a limited fixed-route weekday service schedule to allow for increased transit capacity during peak hours. Review the notice for schedule details.

• Community Learning Alternatives is hosting a Soft Skills Solutions workshop starting June 1. If you're looking to improve your skills, please call 613-962-9615 today to book your spot.

• Prince Edward Community Care has carefully screened workers at reasonable rates to assist seniors who need help with chores at home, either inside or out. Help is available with home maintenance, light and heavy housework, meal preparation, and outside work such as lawn cutting, raking, weeding and gardening. For information on this service call the Prince Edward Community Care office at 613-476-7493. Many other support services for seniors, including grocery and hot meal delivery, reassurance programs, and tax return assistance are offered through Community Care, review their website for more details.

• Community Care’s Thrift Shop will reopen with safety measures in place to ensure customers, donors and volunteers are safe. Physical distancing to be practised. Tap credit/debit available. Customers are asked to wear a face covering. Donations accepted by appointment only. Call 613-476-1555. Hours of operation are Monday 1:00 to 4:00 pm, Tuesday to Friday 10:00 am to 4:00 pm and closed on Saturdays until further notice. Check Community Care’s Thrift Shop Facebook page for updates.

• The Calvary Community Church located at 679 Dundas Street West, Belleville has advised that they will be conducting their first drive in service this Sunday, and then every Sunday moving forward, in accordance with the amendment to the provincial emergency order that permits such services. The  the services will follow all provincial COVID-19 protection requirements.

• The Hastings and Prince Edward District School Board continues to feature no-tech activities for children and youth in the free weekly community newspapers. Look for the full-page colour ads each week in the Bancroft Times, Community Press, County Weekly News, Napanee Beaver, Picton Gazette, Trentonian, Tweed News and Wellington Times.

Public Health

• Dr. Piotr Oglaza and Dr. Ethan Toumishey will be hosting the weekly Facebook live update tomorrow, May 28, at 2:00 pm on the HPEPH facebook page. The broadcast will feature a local COVID-19 update, responses to frequently asked questions, and the opportunity to address questions live to Dr. Oglaza. To participate in the live event, go to the Hastings Prince Edward Public Health Facebook page, facebook.com/hpepublichealth, at 2:00 pm tomorrow. If you have any questions for the doctors, please email them in advance or share them directly during the broadcast by commenting on the video.

• HPEPH has posted requirements for garden centres, hardware and retail stores online to support local businesses re-opening safely. Check out the detailed document, along with other relevant guidance documents, on our website.

• Local businesses are invited to attend an upcoming webinar, hosted by HPEPH, in partnership with Hastings County, on June 1 at 10:30 am. Participants will be provided with an overview of provincial guidelines available to help local businesses re-open following COVID-19 closures. To register, please follow the Eventbrite link. Please register by Friday, May 29, there is a limit to the number of participants, and spots will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis.

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

Contact Information: 

To give us your comments: klarose@hpeph.ca

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