For Municipal Partners

Hastings Prince Edward Public Health
Online Bulletin for Municipal Partners

March 26, 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

Status of Cases in Ontario (Ministry of Health)

• The total number of lab-confirmed cases in Hastings and Prince Edward Counties remains 5. 
• The total number of lab-confirmed cases in Canada is 3,385.

Federal

Federal Aid Plan

• The federal government's aid package was passed yesterday by the House of Commons and Senate; the opposition parties were able to change the bill to limit the time-frame in which the Finance Minister can exercise his new powers and the type of spending over the next six months.
• Finance Minister Morneau announced $52B in direct support and another $55B through tax deferrals thus bringing the total federal funding to tackle the pandemic to $107B.

Employment Insurance (EI) and Canada Emergency Response Benefit Program

• A new emergency benefit program will provide $2,000 per month for a period of four months to those who don't have any income as a result of COVID-19, provided they have generated a revenue of more than $5,000 in the last year.
• Almost 1 million people have applied for EI and over 140,000 applications have been processed.
• An online portal is expected to be launched on April 6^th for the program with benefits being delivered within 10 days, with some 13,000 federal public servants are being reassigned to process claims.

Quarantine Act Invoked

• Health Minister Hajdu invoked the Quarantine Act yesterday. Beginning from midnight Wednesday, all travelers, irrespective of whether showing symptoms or not, will be:
  • forbidden to take any city buses, trains and subways.
  • asked to quarantine at their city of landing for the 14-day isolation period.
• The Public Health Agency of Canada will be providing travel, food and accommodation for these travelers during those 14 days.

Funding for Indigenous and First Nation communities

• $305M is being allocated to an Indigenous Community Support Fund, of which:
  • $215M will be provided to First Nations communities (each will get a base amount adjusted for population, remoteness and community wellbeing).
  • $45M and $30M will be provided to Inuit and Metis communities respectively.
  • $15M will help regional, urban and Indigenous organizations support those living away from their community.

Provincial

OPP Performing Only Essential Police Record Checks

• To limit the volume of requests for police record checks made to the OPP, Municipal and First Nations police services/forces in the short term, the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services is asking that all service providers and partners refrain from requesting new police record checks unless deemed essential to meet an immediate need (e.g. to assess, reduce or eliminate risk of harm, or to maintain safety and security). If there is an urgent need, please contact the local OPP Detachment or Municipal Police Service of Jurisdiction.

Overview of Ontario's Fiscal Update

Finance Minister Phillips tabled his March 2020 Economic and Fiscal Update entitled, "Ontario's Action Plan: Responding to COVID‑19". The plan included:

• $7 billion for health care and direct support for people and jobs, including $160 million in public health funding to support COVID-19 monitoring, surveillance, and laboratory and home testing as well as for virtual care and Telehealth Ontario.
• $10 billion for people and businesses through tax and other deferrals to improve cash flow and protect jobs.
• $1 billion COVID-19 contingency fund.
• $25B projected deficit and $2.5B reserve.

Procuring Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

• The province procured around 7 million N-95 masks.
• Ontario manufacturing companies like Magna, Woodbridge and Linamar have stepped up to make PPEs for Ontario and Canada.

Construction Sites

• Despite pleas from construction workers and some unions to shut down construction sites, Premier Ford has asked the workers to stay at home if they feel unsafe and requested employers to keep their workplaces safe with appropriate measures for hand washing and sanitization.

Local

• To ensure all information is evidence-based and current, Hastings Prince Edward Public Health requests that municipalities refrain from providing health information or advice in their communications to the public and/or the media. Up-to-date health advice for residents can be found on our website hpePublicHealth.ca and those questions not answered online can be directed to our COVID-19 information line at 613-966-5500 or our facebook and twitter.

• To best accommodate the tremendous support from the community, Quinte Health Care (QHC) is now asking that donations of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) be dropped off at the Sills 2 Main Entrance between 8 am and 4 pm. A dedicated team has been assigned to coordinate the PPE donations. Enquiries can be directed to CovidWarehouseCoordinator@qhc.on.ca.

• Belleville's WORK IN BELLEVILLE program still working. If you’re an employer needing staff to help during this difficult time, please contact the Economic Development office of the City of Belleville to obtain resumes that may help you fill your labour needs. If you are a resident in need of work, please send your resume to the Economic Development office. All emails should be sent to ecdev@belleville.ca. For more information on the program, please call 613-967-3238. Additional information on this program is available at: https://belleville.ca/city-hall/page/employee-database-program
• In response to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on our communities, individual municipalities have implemented new measures to help their residents. Examples of measures include deferring property taxes and water billing, approving a certain number of free garbage bag pickups for a limited time, modifying public transit schedules and fees, and others. Initiatives are unique to each municipality, information is shared on municipal social media pages and websites. 

• Earlier today, the city of Kingston declared a state of emergency after receiving confirmation that COVID-19 has spread through the community in the Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington region.

Public Health

• This afternoon Dr. Pior Oglaza, Medical Officer of Health and CEO at HPEPH hosted his first in a series of live facebook broadcasts aimed at sharing information and advice about COVID-19 with the community and answering questions real time. The video continues to be available on the HPEPH facebook page. The event was well attended and another is being planned for the end of next week. Details to follow closer to the date. 

• Free online prenatal education is available anytime to residents of Hastings and Prince Edward on our website hpepublichealth.ca/clinic/prenatal-education/. 

• Parents of new babies can also access breastfeeding and infant feeding support by calling Public Health at 613-966-5500 ext. 223 or texting 450-990-5551, Monday to Friday from 8:30 am to 4 pm. 

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

You have received this email at kkhani@hpeph.ca from Hastings Prince Edward Public Health as a result of a request you have made or due to a service/subscription that you are registered for. While you may discontinue your subscription to this mailing at any time by pressing the unsubscribe button below, this bulletin will be used to provide important updates about COVID-19 in our community.