For Municipal Partners

Hastings Prince Edward Public Health
Online Bulletin for Municipal Partners

August 25, 2020

To ensure everyone has current information during this quickly evolving outbreak, 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 has 48 cumulative lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19, for a total of 4 active cases, with 39 having recovered and 5 deceased. More than 22,145 tests have been completed to date.
  • There are no local facilities experiencing COVID-19 outbreak; additional outbreak details can be found online.
  • More information is available on our website hpePublicHealth.ca.

• In Canada, there are 125,647 lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 resulting in 9,083 deaths. To date, more than 5,169,166 individuals have been tested.

Summary of cases of COVID-19: Ontario, Jan. 15, 2020 to Aug. 24, 2020

Federal

Changes to Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB)

• The federal government announced a $37-billion aid package that extends the CERB for an additional four weeks before replacing it with a "simplified" Employment Insurance (EI) program.
• Canadians who aren't eligible for EI when CERB winds down will be able to apply for one of three new additional benefits: the Canada Recovery Benefit, for self-employed worker or people who do not quality for EI; the Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit; or the Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit.
• Federal officials indicated that legislation will be introduced when Parliament returns so that these additional benefits can be implemented.

Changes to the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS)

• The Canada Revenue Agency has opened applications for Period 5, the first period of the enhanced CEWS program; these enhancements will increase the number of employers who are eligible for the subsidy.

Canada's Flight Plan for safe air travel

• This new action plan puts in place a multi-layered system of safety measures such as: travel restrictions,mandatory use of face masks for passengers and crew,mandatory health checks by air carriers prior to passenger boarding, temperature screening at the busiest Canadian airports and enhanced cleaning and sanitation protocols and practices.

Return to Work Guidance from the Canadian Center for Occupational Health and Safety

• The Canadian Center for Occupational Health and Safety released a free online Course covering topics including how coronavirus spreads and its symptoms, employer and worker duties and responsibilities, methods of control and understanding the impacts of a pandemic on mental health.

New Investment in Made-In-Canada N95 Respirators

• The Government of Canada and the Government of Ontario are taking steps to guarantee a secure, made-in-Canada supply of medical equipment to protect the health and safety of front-line health care workers.
• An agreement was announced Friday between the Government of Canada, the Government of Ontario and 3M Canada on a joint investment to expand a manufacturing facility for N95 respirators in Brockville, ON.
• The Government of Canada and the Government of Ontario are supporting 3M’s capital investment by contributing $23.33 million each.
• The facility will produce 25 million N95 respirators for the Government of Canada and 25 million for the Government of Ontario per year over five years. This will provide 50 million N95 respirators annually to help health care workers, first responders and other essential workers with the equipment they need to continue their vital work.

Provincial

Ontario Extends Orders Under the Reopening Ontario Act, 2020

• The Ontario government has officially extended the pandemic emergency orders in place until at least September 22. The Education Sector order will end on August 31. The orders that remain in force for at least another month include Work Deployment Measures in Long-Term Care Homes, Limiting Work to a Single Long-Term Care Home, Patios, Rules of Areas in Stage 3, and more.

Mitigation Funding for Public Health

• Municipal Affairs Minister Steve Clark announced $47 million in one-time mitigation funding for both the 2020 and 2021 calendar years to ensure municipalities do not experience any impacts as a result of the change to the 70 per cent provincial and 30 per cent municipal cost-sharing for public health units that came into effect in January.
• The Ontario government is also providing $77 million to support paramedic services and dispatch centres and increasing its funding to the Land Ambulance Service Grant by five per cent in 2020/21.

School Reopenings

• Education Minister Stephen Lecce announced that Ontario school boards can stagger their reopening over the first two weeks of school so that different grades can return on different days.
• Minister Lecce asked boards and teachers' unions to provide the maximum flexibility so that "the full 300 instructional minutes in a day should be used for learning."
• As teachers' unions consider whether to launch legal action over the province's back-to-school plans, Premier Doug Ford called on teachers' unions "to work with us" and "step up" as he noted other essential workers have done.
• When asked about making masks mandatory, Premier Ford said he agrees with the recommendations from SickKids that younger students should not be required to wear masks but noted "Keeping a mask on in JK or senior kindergarten might be difficult, but we'll support it [if that is what a board wants to do]."
• Dr. David Williams stressed that parents should not send their child to school if they have any symptoms associated with COVID-19, influenza or a cold.

Visiting Policy at Hospitals and Long-Term Care Facilitates

• Premier Ford and Dr. Barbara Yaffe confirmed that while restrictive visiting policies at hospitals and longterm care homes remain, public health officials are continuing to assess whether any further changes should be made. Dr. Yaffe emphasized, "This is a very vulnerable high-risk population and so a risk averse approach is being taken to the visitor policy... to balance the risks of COVID with the risks of social isolation and mental health”.

Indoor Capacity for Meeting and Event Facilities Expanded

• Restrictions are being eased for facilities that rent out professional meeting and event spaces. Beginning August 21, facilities can have up to 50 guests for each indoor meeting room or event space within their facility. The facility would have to adhere to a plan approved by the Office of the Chief Medical Officer of Health.
• Contact information requirements for bars and restaurants are also being eased.

Local

• The Quinte West Public Library is now open to the public in Trenton and Frankford. Health and safety procedures include masks and following the direction of library staff.

• County Transit has officially launched their new Picton-Belleville bus route. The route will be operated by Quinte Access and will provide service from Picton to Belleville four times per day, Monday to Friday. For more information, please visit https://bit.ly/3gqgzjG

• With the current lack of physical options and more reliance on the digital landscape, digital marketing continues to provide value to small businesses looking to expand their reach and revenue. Small Business Centre is hosting a Marketing to Millennial's during COVID-19 webinar on Thursday, August27at 10 a.m. To register, please visit their EventBrite web page.

• North Hastings Children's Services is hosting a DIY Busy Boards learning session on August 26 at 10 a.m. via Zoom. This session is free and open to families with children 12-24 months. If you're interested, please email Nicole at nbeaudin@nhcs.ca to sign up.

• The Municipality of Centre Hastings has advised that there has been a sighting of a bear running through a resident’s back yard on Clearview Road. Please be vigilant and stay safe.

• The Municipality of Centre Hastings is reminding residents of their Summer Staycation campaign. Residents can participate for a chance to win a gift certificate for a local business of their choice! Summer Staycation Passports can now be picked up from Madoc Public Library, the Municipal Office or Centre Hastings Skate Park. For more information, please visit their website.

• The Hastings and Prince Edward District School Board has announced the opening of the new K-12 Virtual School. This new virtual school for online learning is in direct response to the results from the recent questionnaire asking parents/guardians to indicate whether their children would attend school in person or remotely for the 2020-2021 school year starting in September.

• The Algonquin & Lakeshore Catholic District School Board Return to School survey indicated that 90% of families who completed the survey are returning to school in September. For more information, please visit their website.

• Tri-Board is reminding parents that they can view their student busing information for the 20-21 school year on http://triboard.ca. Find out your bus #, pick up/drop off times, and stop location by scrolling going to the 2020-2021 Student Bus Details tab. Your OEN is available on your last report card.

Public Health

• A media release was issued by HPEPH this morning following a resident of Prince Edward County testing positive for West Nile virus. In response, HPEPH is applying larvicide within select locations of Hastings and Prince Edward Counties until Sept. 7, 2020. Please read the release for more information and strategies to avoid contracting West Nile virus.

• HPEPH has been working with area school boards and independent schools to prepare for a safe return to school this fall. To assist parents with planning for back to school we have created a Back to School page on our website, with all the information that is currently available and a number of frequently asked questions and responses.

• HPEPH monitors bathing beach water quality at designated municipal public beaches within our jurisdiction. Bathing beach water quality is monitored by the collection and analysis of water samples. Currently, Kingsford Conservation Area – Salmon River beach is posted as unsafe for swimming.

• HPEPH continues to remind residents that COVID-19 testing is available. Individuals who are concerned that they may have been exposed to someone with COVID-19 or are experiencing COVID-19 related symptoms should contact their health care provider, TeleHealth Ontario at 1-866-797-0000, or their local COVID-19 Assessment Centre. Individuals who are concerned about accessing an assessment centre or who have questions about COVID-19 are encouraged to call the HPEPH COVID-19 information line at 613-966-5500 / 1-800-267-2803. Visit our Getting Tested web page for more information.

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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