For Municipal Partners

Hastings Prince Edward Public Health
Online Bulletin for Municipal Partners

May 28, 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 and 182 probable cases, with 32 lab-confirmed cases having recovered and 5 deceased.
  • Approximately 7,152 COVID-19 tests have been conducted, with a 0.6% positivity rate.
  • Facilities experiencing COVID-19 outbreak can be found online.
  • More details are available on our website hpePublicHealth.ca.

• In Canada, there are 87,508 lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 resulting in 6,765 deaths. To date, over 1,530,931 individuals have been tested.

Summary of cases of COVID-19: Ontario, January 15, 2020 to May 27, 2020

Note: 224 cases did not specify male or female. 14 cases had an unknown age.

• There are 26,866 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ontario reported to date. This represents an increase of 383 confirmed cases from the previous report.
  • 43.3% of cases are male, 55.9% are female.
  • 40.3% of cases are 60 years of age and older.
  • Greater Toronto Area public health units account for 65.6% of cases.
  • 12.5% of cases were hospitalized.
• 2,189 deaths have been reported (please note there may be a reporting delay for deaths). This is an increase of 34 deaths from the previous report.
• 298 outbreaks have been reported in long-term care homes. There is no increase of outbreaks from the previous report. 

Federal

Governments and International Organizations Collaborate to Address Economic Challenges

• United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and the Prime Minister of Jamaica, Andrew Holness, will convene world leaders and international organizations today in a joint initiative to sharpen and accelerate the global response to the significant economic and human impacts of COVID-19, and advance concrete solutions to the development emergency.
• With more than 50 Heads of State and Government participating, the High-Level Event on Financing for Development in the Era of COVID-19 and Beyond is the most inclusive gathering of countries to focus on the socio-economic recovery and financing needs from the pandemic.
• World Health Organization (WHO) figures show that the COVID-19 pandemic has already claimed more than 340,000 lives, with more than 5.4 million cases globally. Without immediate action, UN projections indicate that the pandemic could slash nearly $US8.5 trillion from the global economy over the next two years, forcing 34.3 million people into extreme poverty this year, and potentially, an additional 130 million people during this decade.
• The Event will also launch a collaborative effort to enable discussions on concrete proposals to overcome challenges in six areas, and progress will be reported back at the margins of the High Level Political Forum (HLPF) in July, the General Assembly in September, and at the end of the year that include:
  • The need to expand liquidity in the global economy and maintain financial stability to safeguard development gains.
  • The need to address debt vulnerabilities for all developing countries to save lives and livelihoods for billions of people around the world.
  • The need to create a space in which private sector creditors can proactively engage in effective and timely solutions.
  • Prerequisites for enhancing external finance and remittances for inclusive growth and creating jobs.
  • Measures to expand fiscal space and foster domestic resource mobilization by preventing illicit financial flows.
  • Ensuring a sustainable and inclusive recovery by aligning recovery policies with the Sustainable Development Goals.

Provincial

Ontario Taking Action at High Risk Long-Term Care Homes

• Following the startling revelations documented in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) report on five long-term care homes, Premier Ford announced further measures for protecting the most vulnerable:
  • The CAF will be staying at least until June 12 to help manage the outbreaks in these homes and address the range of issues occurring at:
    • Eatonville Care Centre, Etobicoke
    • Hawthorne Place Care Centre, North York
    • Orchard Villa, Pickering
    • Altamount Care Community, Scarborough
    • Holland Cristian Homes' Grace Manor, Brampton
• The Premier has also launched a full investigation the results of which will be turned over to the police.
• Effective immediately, the Ford government will be taking over the management of these five homes, as well as Camilla Care in Mississauga, and deploying six teams of two inspectors each to conduct expanded and rigorous inspection and monitoring over the next two weeks.
• After the inspections are completed, the ministry will set up regular status calls, monitoring, and unannounced in-person follow up inspections.
• Results of these inspections will be posted on the ministry's website.
• The Premier stressed that, "We are fully prepared to take over more homes... to pull licenses, to shut down facilities, if it is necessary. We will do whatever it takes for as long as it takes."
• When asked about suspending the licences of these homes, the Premier said that the inspection would determine the way forward and also suggested that the residents may be moved out.
• In addition, the Premier announced that the independent commission scheduled to start in September on long-term care homes, will now be established in July. It will be similar to the SARS commission and include public hearings, witnesses and a public report.

Local

• The City of Quinte West will continue to provide one FREE bag of garbage until June 30th. Every subsequent bag of garbage requires a bag tag. Bag tags can be purchased online or at a number of retail locations.

• The Quinte West parks crew has begun installing the docks at the Centennial Park boat launch. It is anticipated the docks should be ready for use by the weekend.

• The City of Belleville has been preparing Meyers Pier and Victoria Harbour to open on May 30. Staff are operating under the Province’s guidance in addition to adhering to strict guidelines from Hastings Prince Edward Public Health and Boating Ontario. Review the news release to see which services are available.

• The Quinte Sports & Wellness Centre offers weekly workouts adn fitness demonstration videos to help residents stay home and stay active. Follow along for weekly workouts posted every Wednesday.

• As of yesterday, the Madoc Public Library is now offering contact-free porch pick-up service of up to 5 items by scheduled appointment. Visit their website for more details.

• Three Oaks is reminding residents that their crisis line is available by calling 613-966-3074 or toll free 1-800-267-0533. Three Oaks are committed to the promotion of equality and the end of violence against women and children.

• North Hastings EarlyON virtual schedule for June is now available, with some new dates, times and programs. All programs are held on the ZOOM Platform. NHCS ensures they have high security in place by having a waiting room, controlled screen sharing, meeting ID, password and locking the program once everyone is in. If you would like to be sent links weekly, please email Nicole at nbeaudin@nhcs.ca.

• The Community Futures Development Corporation (CFDC) of North & Central Hastings and South Algonquin reminds residents that they are available to help local businesses. Business that have been impacted by COVID-19 and unable to access other federal support, may be eligible for the new Regional Relief and Recovery Fund.

• Grace Inn, Belleville Homeless Shelter is overwhelmed with gratefulness for the response they have received with the request for water, and are now in need of other items to care for the guests. These items include sunscreen, spf lip balm, aloe vera, bug spray, afterbite, hats and sunglasses. 

Public Health

• Dr. Oglaza and Dr. Toumishey are hosting our weekly Facebook Live event today at 2:00 pm. If you are unable to participate in the live event, go to the Hastings Prince Edward Public Health Facebook page facebook.com/hpepublichealth afterwards to watch the recorded video.

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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