For Municipal Partners

Hastings Prince Edward Public Health
Online Bulletin for Municipal Partners

June 9, 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, with 33 having recovered and 5 deceased. There are 185 cumulative probable cases, with 178 having recovered.
    • 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 96,244 lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 resulting in 7,835 deaths. To date, over 1,930,141 individuals have been tested.
  • Summary of cases of COVID-19: Ontario, January 15, 2020 to June 8, 2020

    Severity

    Number

    Percentage

    Number of cases

    31,090

    N/A

    Change from previous report (new cases)

    230

    0.7 increase

    Resolved

    24,829

    79.9

    Change from previous report

    337

    1.4 increase

    Subset of all cases that are reported to be long-term care residents

    5,274

    17.0

    Subset of all cases that are reported as a health care worker associated with long-term care outbreaks

    1,948

    6.3

    Total number of deaths

    2,464

    7.9

    Deaths reported for residents in long-term care homes

    1,585

    64.3

    Deaths reported for health care workers in long-term care homes

    5

    0.2

    Total tests completed

    Total tests completed in the previous day

    Currently under investigation

    880,398

    13,509

    11,020

     

    N/A

    N/A

    N/A

Federal

Violence Against Black Canadians and Indigenous People

  • In response to questions about attending a recent Black Lives Matter protest in Ottawa, the Prime Minister indicated that he felt it was important for him to be there to listen and "be able to understand and to share with people how important it was to act... I recognize that it is a difficult situation where we are trying to balance very important competing interests [COVID-19 public health measures]."
  • Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Minister Blair reaffirmed his commitment to improving Indigenous policing.
  • The Prime Minister indicated that he spoke last week with the Commissioner of the RCMP and was assured by him that the RCMP will make use of all available tools to take quick and solid action to address issues of violence against Black Canadians and Indigenous People, including having RCMP officers wear body cameras.

Border Exemptions

  • The Prime Minister announced that staring this Tuesday the federal government will be introducing limited exemptions for immediate family members of citizens or permanent residents to enter Canada through the Canada-US border. These exemptions will include spouses or common-law partners, parents or step-parents, dependent children, guardians and tutors.
  • Any person entering Canada will have to self-isolate for 14 days.

Provincial

Ontario Permits More Businesses and Services to Reopen in the Coming Days

  • Yesterday, Premier Ford announced that the Ontario government is moving forward with a regional approach to Stage 2 of reopening the province. Effective Friday, June 12, for all regions of Ontario, the province will:
    • Increase the limit on social gatherings from five to ten people.
    • Allow all places of worship to open with physical distancing in place and attendance limited to no more than 30% of the building capacity to ensure the safety of worshippers.
    • Soon release more details on child care, summer camps, post-secondary education pilots to help people graduate, training centres and public transit.
  • Effective June 12, all Public Health Unit regions except those listed below will be allowed to move into Stage 2. At the beginning of each week, the government will provide an update on the ongoing assessment of these regions, and whether they are ready to move into Stage 2 by the end of the week. Those that will remain in Stage 1 include: Durham Region Health Department, Haldimand-Norfolk Health Unit, Halton Region Public Health, Hamilton Public Health Services, Lambton Public Health, Niagara Region Public Health, Peel Public Health, Toronto Public Health, Windsor-Essex County Health Unit and York Region Public Health.
  • Businesses and services permitted to reopen with proper health and safety measures in place in regions entering Stage 2 include:
    • Outdoor dine-in services at restaurants, bars and other establishments, including patios, curbside, parking lots and adjacent properties.
    • Select personal service settings with the proper health and safety measures in place, including tattoo parlours, barber shops, hair salons and beauty salons.
    • Shopping malls under existing restrictions, including food services reopening for take-out and outdoor dining only.
    • Tour and guide services, such as bike and walking, bus and boat tours, as well as tasting and tours for wineries, breweries and distilleries.
    • Water recreational facilities such as outdoor splash pads and wading pools, and all swimming pools.
    • Beach access and additional camping at Ontario Parks.
    • Camping at private campgrounds.
    • Outdoor-only recreational facilities and training for outdoor team sports, with limits to enable physical distancing.
    • Drive-in and drive-through venues for theatres, concerts, animal attractions and cultural appreciation, such as art installations.
    • Film and television production activities, with limits to enable physical distancing.
    • Weddings and funerals, with limits on social gatherings to 10 people.

Ontario Proposing Temporary Ban on Commercial Evictions

  • The Ontario government announced today that it intends to take action to protect commercial tenants from being locked out or having their assets seized by their landlords due to the negative impacts of COVID-19.
  • The proposed changes to the Commercial Tenancies Act would, if passed, temporarily halt evictions of businesses that are eligible for federal/provincial rent assistance.
  • If passed, the legislation would reverse evictions that occurred on or after June 3 and until August 31 of this year.

Ontario's Commitment to Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance (CECRA)

  • In partnership with the federal government, Ontario is committing $241 million to the CECRA for small businesses, which is providing more than $900 million in support.
  • CECRA for small businesses provides forgivable loans to eligible commercial landlords to help cover 50% of commercial rent for tenants for the months of April, May and June 2020.
  • The tenant will be responsible for covering up to 25% of rent, so that up to 75% of the rent is covered.
  • Tenants and landlords can learn how much they may be eligible for here.
  • Premier Ford said that only 7,000 landlords have taken the federal and provincial governments up on the rent abatement offer.

Local

  • Prince Edward County issued a notice reminding residents that public transit is available to help them get to work or appointments. Quinte Access, the public transit provider in Prince Edward County, is working to accommodate the work schedules of residents who require transportation and continues to offer specialized transit service for seniors and people with disabilities. Residents can call Quinte Access at 613-392-9640 (toll free 1-855-283-9640) to request a ride. Quinte Access encourages riders to wear masks or face coverings while using transit.
  • Yesterday, June 8, the Quinte West Public Library began home delivery service for community members who live in retirement and nursing homes, or who are homebound and cannot access the curbside pickup service option. Residents can sign up for home delivery on the library website: https://libraryaware.com/20ZRGC or by calling 613-394-3381, ext. 3325.
  • The City of Quinte West reminds residents that COVID-19 community testing is now available in Quinte West. Individuals must pre-register for a testing time by calling 613-961-5544. They will be given specific directions by the Community Assessment Centre (CAC) for testing. The Quinte West CAC is at the Duncan McDonald Memorial Community Gardens. The testing is done by drive-through appointment and is open 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, seven days a week.
  • The City of Belleville has issued a release confirming that the region will enter Stage 2 of reopening on Friday. City staff are reviewing all available information from this exciting announcement and planning for what this regional approach to reopening will mean to residents and businesses in Belleville. Updates and current information will be shared on Belleville's social media and website Belleville.ca.
  • Quinte Health Care has updated their visiting policy to align with the level of risk in the community. While some restrictions have been loosened, visitors will continue to only be permitted for certain patient populations. Maternity patients will now be permitted to have their labour/delivery support person visit between the hours of 8:00 am to 8:00 pm postpartum. More specific information is available on their website.
  • In the Municipality of Tweed, there will be COVID-19 drive through testing available at the community centre arena on Friday, June 12 from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm. Testing will be done on a first come, first served basis, but residents can pre-register and bypass the registration portion by calling 613-961-5544.

Public Health

  • The upcoming transition to Stage 2 of the provincial reopening on June 12 is exciting but also raises many questions for residents and businesses about how to proceed safely. HPEPH is continuously updating our website with COVID-19 information and resources.

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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