For Municipal Partners

Hastings Prince Edward Public Health
Online Bulletin for Municipal Partners

December 8, 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 116 cumulative lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 38 active, 140 resolved and 5 deceased. There were 9 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 1,676 cases of COVID-19 and 10 deaths as nearly 39,198 tests have been completed. There are 588 new cases in Toronto, 394 in Peel and 141 in York Region.
   
• In Canada, as at December 7, there are 423,054 total cases of COVID-19 with 71,542 active cases. To date, there have been 12,777 COVID-19 related deaths and more than 12,069,537. individuals tested.

Summary of cases of COVID-19: Ontario, Jan. 15, 2020 to Dec. 7, 2020
 

Summary of Cases in Ontario Schools - Updated Dec 8, 2020.

Guidance/Directive Updates

• Directive #3 for Long-Term Care Homes has been updated and will come into effect on December 9, 2020. The directive is available on the Ministry’s website.
• The Management of Cases and Contacts of COVID-19 in Ontario guidance has been updated and is available on the Ministry’s website.

HPEPH

• On Sunday, HPEPH issued a media release regarding a declaration of a COVID-19 outbreak at  Walmart Trenton.

Local Updates

• The Hastings Prince Edward District School Board (HPEDSB) shared information about a positive COVID-19 case at Trenton High School.
  • High-risk contacts have been identified and are being contacted directly by Public Health. The school remains open. All families are being notified by phone and low-risk contacts will receive a letter.
• Last week, HPEDSB issued a letter to families of C.M.L. Snider School in Wellington regarding a temporary school cosure due to a positive case of COVID-19. This weekend, HPEDSB announced that all high risk contacts are isolating and school would resume operations.
• Quinte Health Care is reminding residents that anyone booked for a surgical procedure at one of their hospitals is required to have a COVID-19 test within 2-3 days of the procedure.
• The County of Prince Edward is preparing to take further action if the municipality moves from yellow-protect to orange-restrict under Ontario's COVID-19 response framework.
• The City of Quinte West will be offering free parking throughout December to encourage residents to shop locally. The meters will still accept coins as all money raised goes to the Food for Learning program.
• On December 3, Rick Phillips was sworn in as Hastings County Warden for 2021-2022.

Provincial

• Last week, Ontario announced that three regions would move to new levels in the COVID-19 Response Framework. HPEPH continues to remain in the yellow/protect zone.
• Yesterday, Ontario announced that key groups have been identified for the distribution of initial COVID-19 vaccines.
• The provincial government is ready to distribute COVID-19 vaccines as soon as they are received, beginning with vaccinating vulnerable populations and those who care for them. Groups receiving the early vaccine doses in the first few months of the Ontario immunization program will include:
  • Residents, staff, essential caregivers, and other employees of congregate living settings (e.g., long-term care homes and retirement homes) that provide care for seniors as they are at higher risk of infection and serious illness from COVID-19;
  • Health care workers, including hospital employees, other staff who work or study in hospitals, and other health care personnel;
  • Adults in Indigenous communities, including remote communities where risk of transmission is high; and
  • Adult recipients of chronic home health care.
  • Ontario will also be prioritizing the rollout of the vaccine in regions with the highest rates of COVID-19 infection, including those in the Red-Control and Lockdown zones.
  • While Ontario is expected to receive about 85,000 of those initial doses, it remains unclear whether it will be able to use them to vaccinate long-term care home residents at first.
• The provincial government is investing nearly $4.4M to support the long-term sustainability of the province's vital tourism industry.

Federal

First Pfizer vaccine shots to be given right at delivery sites, not LTC homes: Tam

• Canada's chief public health officer says the first doses of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine are likely to be given only to people who can physically be at one of the 14 delivery sites.
• Dr. Theresa Tam says experience moving the vaccine around might eventually allow it to be taken to other sites but acknowledged this likely means many long-term care home residents won't get the initial doses.

Canada to receive early delivery of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine:

• The Minister of Public Services and Procurement announced today that following successful negotiations, Canada will receive up to 249,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in December 2020, contingent on Health Canada authorization of the vaccine.
• Pfizer, the Public Health Agency of Canada with the Canadian Armed Forces, and the Provinces and Territories are working together to finalize preparations at the first point-of-use sites this week, including training on how to handle the product, which must be transported and stored at -70 degrees Celsius.

Government of Canada awards contract to distribute COVID-19 vaccine from coast to coast to coast:

• The federal government has awarded a contract to FedEx Express Canada and Innomar Strategies Inc., for an end-to-end COVID-19 logistics solution for COVID-19 vaccines.
• Specifically, working under the direction of the Public Health Agency of Canada’s National Operations Centre led by Major-General Dany Fortin, FedEx Express Canada and Innomar Strategies Inc. will provide a variety of services that will assist in warehousing and transportation to provincial and territorial authorities and Indigenous partners to support timely and efficient vaccine administration across the country.
• The services provided by FedEx Express Canada and Innomar Strategies Inc. will be fully operational to receive initial doses of vaccines, and will facilitate the distribution of doses to provinces and territories from coast to coast to coast, as soon as Health Canada approves their use.

Government of Canada and partners invest $1.8M in strengthening pandemic preparedness in long-term care and retirement homes:

• The federal government announced today an additional investment of more than $1.8M to fund 14 Implementation Science Teams of researchers from across Canada.
• The research teams will partners with LTC and retirement homes to study the effectiveness of promising practices, interventions, and policy options designed to keep the residents, their families and caregivers, and staff at these homes safe from COVID-19. With the support the funding, research teams will be able to support the implementation of these interventions and evaluate their outcomes and impacts to understand their effectiveness in LTC and retirement homes across Canada. Findings from this research will be key to strengthening current pandemic preparedness, and mitigating risks and consequences of future outbreaks.

Government introduces legislation to provide critical support to Canadians and businesses during the pandemic:

• Yesterday, the Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister, Chrystia Freeland, introduced Bill C-14, An Act to implement certain provisions of the economic statement tabled in Parliament on November 30, 2020 and other measures.
• Bill C-14 is an essential step to implement measures from the Fall Economic Statement that would provide assistance to families with young children, support students, and invest in resources to protect the health and safety of Canadians.
  • provide additional funding of:
  • up to $133M to support access to virtual care, mental health tools, and substance use programming and
  • up to $262.6M for a suite of COVID-19 initiatives, including testing, medical research, countermeasures, vaccine funding and developments, border and travel measures and isolation sites;

Canadian Armed Forces Cancels 2021 SkyHawks Season:

• The Canadian Armed Forces has cancelled the 2021 Canadian Armed Forces Parachute Team performance season as a result of public health and other considerations related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
• The SkyHawks demonstrate the highest levels of professionalism, dedication and teamwork through daring parachute performances at air shows, sporting events, and festivals across Canada between May and September each year.
• The SkyHawks team has been based out of 8 Wing Trenton, Ontario, for nearly twenty years and is part of the Canadian Army Advanced Warfare Centre.

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: 

To give us your comments: etubbs@hpeph.ca

You have received this email at 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.