For Municipal Partners

Hastings Prince Edward Public Health
Online Bulletin for Municipal Partners

December 29, 2020

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 273 cumulative lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 22 active, 246 resolved and 5 deceased. There were 8 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
• Ontario is reporting 2,553 cases of COVID-19 and 41 deaths as nearly 34,000 tests have been completed. There are 895 new cases in Toronto, 496 in Peel, 142 in York Region, and 144 in Hamilton.
   
• In Canada, as at December 21, there are 555,207 total cases of COVID-19 with 74,113 active cases and 465,973 recovered. To date, there have been 15,121 COVID-19 related deaths and more than 13,623,182 individuals tested.

Summary of cases of COVID-19: Ontario, January 15, 2020 to December 28, 2020
 

Summary of Cases in Ontario Schools - Updated December 22, 2020.

Local Updates

Quinte Health Care has updated its “Care Partners and Visiting During COVID-19” policy.

• The policy provides a transparent approach to who is permitted to enter QHC hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Only care partners and visitors residing in the following public health units will be permitted entry:
  • Hastings and Prince Edward;
  • Peterborough;
  • Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge;
  • Renfrew County and District; and
  • Kingston Frontenac and Lennox & Addington.

Quinte Waste Solutions COVID-19 Safety Protocols:

• In order to ensure the health and safety of collections and sort line staff, Quinte Waste Solutions is asking that residents who are required to self isolate, to either store recyclables until the isolation period has ended or carefully place all material into garbage bags and utilize their regular garbage collection day for disposal.
• Quinte Waste Solutions will also be postponing operations at the Household Hazardous Waste Depot located at 75 Wallbridge Crescent, Belleville and Electronic Waste recycling at Material Recovery Facility at 270 West Street, Trenton until further notice. Both locations will not re-open until Grey Lockdown restrictions have been lifted.

COVID-19 Update from City of Belleville:

• As of December 26, the Quinte Sports and Wellness Centre, John M. Parrott Art Gallery, Community Archives and Glanmore National Historic Site will be closed for the duration of the province-wide shutdown.
• From Monday December 28 until Saturday January 23, Belleville Public Library and John M. Parrott Art Gallery will offer pick-up and drop-off service only as per the Provincial lockdown orders. During this time, customers will not be able to enter the Library or Gallery and must pick-up and return items at the main entrance. Returns will also be accepted using the return slots on the outside of the building.
• All items returned to the library will be placed into quarantine for a minimum of 3 days before going back into circulation for other customers to borrow. No late fines will be applied during the quarantine period.
• The doors to City Hall will be closed to the public however staff will continue to work behind the scenes, while exercising COVID-19 safety precautions, to ensure services are provided for residents.
• ”I know many are disappointed but we are in a better position now than we were in March,” said Mayor Mitch Panciuk. “Our community has shown such strength and unity and I ask that you keep this momentum going. We will get through this and the vaccine will be distributed. Just a little longer Belleville – we can do this.”

Quinte West services impacted by provincial shutdown:

• Starting Thursday, December 24, 2020, City Hall and the Frankford Municipal office will be closed to the public. Residents are encouraged to visit quintewest.ca for information about online payment options. City business will be available by email and telephone.
• The following buildings will also be closed to the public:
  • Duncan McDonald Memorial Community Gardens in Trenton
  • Dr. McMullen Recreation Centre in Frankford
  • The Quinte West Public Library locations in Trenton and Frankford
  • The Public Works Operations Centre
  • The Trent Port Marina
  • All Fire Stations
  • Batawa Community Centre

H.J. McFarland Memorial Home adjusts visiting policy:

• "With cases of COVID-19 on the rise in our community, we need to be extra cautious to avoid exposing our residents and staff to the virus," says Kyle Cotton, Executive Director, H.J. McFarland Memorial Home. "We have seen just how harmful this virus can be, especially for seniors, so we need to do everything we can to prevent an outbreak."

Tweed: COVID-19 Update

• Mayor Jo-Anne Albert declared a State of Emergency for the Municipality of Tweed due to the Province-wide lockdown which starts at 12:01 am December 26, 2020 and is to last for at least 28 days.
• She is encouraging all residents to stay home, limit travel and only go out for essential reasons (work, school, groceries, exercise, caring for vulnerable people and necessary medical appointments).
• As a result of the shutdown, the Administrative Office and Tweed Memorial Arena will be closed until further notice starting December 26th, while the Tweed Fire Department will be only responding to 911 calls.

Provincial

Update on the COVID-19 Vaccines roll-out:

• Gen. Rick Hillier provided an update on the COVID-19 vaccination rollout in Ontario this morning. As of December 29, 14,000 people in Ontario have been vaccinated.
• Moderna vaccines will arrive in the next 24 hours, and will be piloted at 4 long-term care sites in Ontario before being expanded.
• In the first three months of 2021, 1.1 million health-care workers and vulnerable people will get the vaccine, and the number could soar to 8.5 million by the end of Phase 2 in late July.

Province Provides an Update on Ontario Cases of COVID-19 UK Variant:

• Since the initial reporting of the first two cases of the variant on December 26, 2020, additional investigation and follow-up case and contact management has revealed that the couple had indeed been in contact with a recent traveller from the UK, which is new information not provided in earlier interviews. The cases and contacts have been informed and are now in self-isolation as per public health protocols.
• A third case of the COVID-19 UK Variant has been reported in an individual in Ottawa with recent travel from the UK. The Ottawa Public Health Department has informed the individual who is now in self-isolation. Case and contact management investigation is underway.
• "This further reinforces the need for Ontarians to stay home as much as possible and continue to follow all public health advice, including the provincewide shutdown measures," said Dr. Barbara Yaffe, Ontario's Associate Chief Medical Officer of Health. "This is also an important reminder about the need for arriving international travelers to maintain quarantine for 14 days."

Federal

Statement on the variants of COVID-19 virus found in Ontario:

• The Government of Canada has a monitoring program in place with the provinces and territories to identify new COVID-19 variants in Canada, such as the ones identified in the United Kingdom and South Africa.
• While early data suggests that these new variants may be more transmissible, to date there is no evidence that they cause more severe disease or have any impact on antibody response or vaccine effectiveness.
• More research is required to confirm these findings and the Canadian and global medical, public health and research communities are actively evaluating these mutations.
• The Government of Canada continues to advise against non-essential travel to other countries and are advising extra caution if you must travel to the United Kingdom or South Africa.
• Restrictions are changing quickly and may be imposed by countries with little warning, disrupting travel plans. Should individuals choose to take non-essential travel outside Canada, they may be forced to remain outside of Canada longer than expected

International Travel Restrictions and Quarantine Measures:

• On December 23, Public Safety Minister Blair noted that enhanced screening has been put in place at all Canadian airports and all points of entry for any travellers who may be arriving from the U.K. indirectly.
• In every case, individuals will be screened for having been in the U.K. in the past 14-days and, if they have, will be referred to the Public Health Agency Canada at both land and airports of entry.
• All travellers entering Canada are subject to COVID-19 prescreening, regardless of their country of origin or the mode of entry and, unless they are exempt, anyone arriving at the border must isolate for 14-days if they have symptoms or quarantine if they don’t have symptoms.
• The Public Safety Minister noted the majority of people who are exempt from quarantine restrictions are truck drivers and those doing the essential work of bringing much-needed supplies and goods in and out of our country.
• All travellers are required to provide contact and quarantine information.
• In addition to the screening measures for travellers, Public Safety Minister Blair indicated the government has scaled up the federal public health presence at 32 points of entry that accounts for the vast majority of traffic into Canada during normal operations.
• Public Safety Minister Blair noted that “COVID-19 cases related to international travel currently account for 1.8% of all cases. That means 98.2% of COVID transmissions are a result of community transmissions, not international travel.”

Other News

• Today, Quebec's health minister confirmed the province's first case of a COVID-19 UK variant.
  • The variant has been confirmed by health authorities in British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario.
• Energy Minister Rickford announced the government will hold electricity prices to the off-peak rate of 8.5 cents per kilowatt-hour for all time-of-use and tiered customers on a temporary basis starting January 1, 2021.

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: 

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