For Municipal Partners

Hastings Prince Edward Public Health
Online Bulletin for Municipal Partners

July 21, 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 continue to have 43 cumulative lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 37 having recovered and 5 deceased. Over 14,531 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 111,124 lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 resulting in 8,858 deaths. To date, over 3,573,630 individuals have been tested.

Summary of cases of COVID-19: Ontario, January 15, 2020 to July 6, 2020

Federal

Safe Restart Agreement Supports Canadians

• On July 16, Prime Minister Trudeau announced a federal investment of more than $19 billion to help provinces and territories safely restart their economies and become more resilient to possible future waves of the virus.
• This investment, through the Safe Restart Agreement, will help address the key priorities, agreed upon by Canada’s First Ministers, for the safe restart of Canada’s economy over the next six to eight months.
• It will support measures to increase testing and contact tracing of the virus to protect Canadians from a future outbreak, and support the capacity of our health care systems, including services for people facing mental health challenges.
• It will also assist with the procurement of personal protective equipment to help our essential workers, and in protecting the most vulnerable senior population.

Provincial

Ontario Extends Emergency Orders

• The Ontario government, in consultation with the Chief Medical Officer of Health, has extended most emergency orders currently in force under s.7.0.2 (4) of the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act (EMCPA) until July 29.
• "Although the trends in public health indicators continue to improve, we must remain on our guard and only relax emergency orders if and when safe to do so," said Premier Doug Ford.
• On July 7, 2020, the Government of Ontario introduced the Reopening Ontario (A Flexible Response to COVID-19) Act, 2020 that would, if passed, ensure important measures remain in place to address the threat of COVID-19 once the provincial Declaration of Emergency has ended.

Ontario Provides Additional Support for Farmers

• The Ontario government is expanding the Risk Management Program a year earlier than planned by $50 million, for a total of $150 million annually. This funding supports farmers with unforeseen challenges such as fluctuating market prices, extreme weather events like flooding or drought, and disease.
• The increased investment in the Risk Management Program is in addition to a $15 million Enhanced Agri-food Workplace Protection Program. Farmers and other operators have access to cost-share funding to help enhance health and safety measures for employees, such as purchasing personal protective equipment, medical testing equipment, enhanced cleaning and disinfection, and temporary or permanent modifications to enhance physical distancing.
• Support is also available for farmers who experience unexpected costs for housing and transportation as a result of a COVID-19 outbreak on their farm.

Province Takes Steps to Ensure All Ontarians Benefit from Local Research and Innovation

• The Ontario government announced a made-in-Ontario Intellectual Property Action Plan to help ensure the tremendous social and economic benefits of taxpayer-funded research and innovation stays right here in the province.
• As part of its strategy to strengthen the research and innovation economy, the Ontario government is funding an additional 20 proposals that were submitted in response to the government's $20 million Ontario COVID-19 Rapid Research Fund.
• The government is also creating the Special Implementation Team on Intellectual Property (SITIP), which will be comprised of the IP experts who previously served on Ontario's Expert Panel on Intellectual Property.

Ontario Moving More Regions Into Stage 3

• The Ontario government is allowing seven more regions to enter Stage 3 on Friday, increasing the number of businesses and public spaces that will reopen across the province.
• This decision was made in consultation with the Chief Medical Officer of Health and is based on positive local trends of key public health indicators, including lower or low transmission of COVID-19, ongoing hospital capacity, public health capacity to conduct rapid case and contact management, and a significant increase in testing.
• The following regions will remain in Stage 2 until local trends of key public health indicators demonstrate readiness to move into Stage 3:
  • Peel Public Health
  • Tronto Public Health
  • Windsr-Essex County Health Unit

Local

• On Friday, July 17, Prince Edward County reopened public playgrounds and libraries across the county with physical distancing and infection control measures in place. All library branches have reopened with modified services, while continuing to provide curbside pick-up and book mailing.

• In Belleville, city crews now have four playgrounds operational and will continue to open others during the upcoming weeks as resources allow. The four parks now open include West Zwick’s Park, the Pirate Ship at Riverside Park, Kinsmen Park and Thurlow Park. Parents and caregivers are asked to ensure children are physically distancing at all times. It is recommended residents bring hand sanitizer and that hands are washed carefully with soap and water before and after use.

• As of this past Friday, July 17, most Town of Bancroft park locations are open for public access. Review the notice for more specific details for each location.

• For now, the North Hastings Public Library will continue providing curbside service, Interlibrary Loan, eBooks and downloadable audiobooks for library borrowers. Computer usage (with a mask), is offered by appointment. When preparations are complete, the library will offer two options: people wearing masks will be offered counter service, and those not wearing a mask will still be able to access the collection through curbside pick-up. Call 613 332-3380 or email nhpl.customerservice@gmail.com for assistance.

• Today, the Madoc Public Library has reopened for grab-and-go service, with Saturday hours, computer access, photocopy, and Interlibrary Loan services also resuming. Review the notice for the new procedures in place.

• The Tweed Recreation Area will reopen tomorrow, July 22, with enhanced safety measures in place. Review the notice for more information.

Public Health

• Several guidance documents created by HPEPH have recently been updated. The COVID-19 Public Health Guidance for Use of Public Washrooms and the COVID-19 Requirements for Food Businesses have both been updated. A new document, COVID-19 Requirements for Enclosed Public Spaces and Commercial Environments has replaced the Garden Centre, Hardware and Retail Store Requirements During COVID-19 document. These documents, along with other COVID-19 guidance documents, are shared on the main COVID-19 page and Healthy Workplaces pages of our website.

• HPEPH has created a new document, COVID-19 Requirements for Cooling Centres, to provide guidance for reducing the risk of infection transmission during the COVID-19 pandemic for those seeking relief from extreme heat in public cooling centres.

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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