For Municipal Partners

Hastings Prince Edward Public Health
Online Bulletin for Municipal Partners

April 30, 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 41 lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 215 probable cases, with 20 lab-confirmed cases having recovered and four deceased.
    • Approximately 2,544 COVID-19 tests have been conducted, with a 1.8% positivity rate
    • Three area long-term care homes are in COVID-19 outbreak.
    • More details are available on our website hpePublicHealth.ca.
  • In Canada, there are 52,056 lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 resulting in 3,082 deaths. To date, over 788,283 individuals have been tested.

Summary of cases of COVID-19: Ontario, January 15, 2020 to April 29, 2020

  Number     Percentage
Number of cases 16,187 N/A
Change from previous report 459 2.9 increase
Resolved 10,205 63.0
Deceased 1,082 6.3
Demographics    
Male 6,754 41.7
Female 9,280 57.3
19 and under 371 2.3
20-39 3,693 22.8
40-59 4,871 30.1
60-79 3,581 22.1
80 and over 3,664 22.6
Testing    
Total tests completed 277,522 N/A
Total tests completed in the previous day 12,928 N/A
Currently under investigation 11,859 N/A
Hospitalizations    
Number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 999 N/A
Number of patients in ICU with COVID-19 233 N/A
Number of patients in ICU on a ventilator with COVID-19      181 N/A

Note: 153 cases did not specify male or female. Seven cases had an unknown age.

  • There are 16,187 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ontario reported to date. This represents an increase of 459 confirmed cases from the previous report.
    • 41.7% of cases are male, 57.3% are female.
    • 44.8% of cases are 60 years of age and older.
    • Greater Toronto Area public health units account for 59.5% of cases.
    • 11.6% of cases were hospitalized.
  • 1,082 deaths have been reported (please note there may be a reporting delay for deaths in iPHIS). This is an increase of 86 deaths from the previous report.
  • 190 outbreaks have been reported in long-term care homes. This is an increase of 9 outbreaks from the previous report.
  • 530 deaths have been reported among residents/patients in long-term care homes. This is an increase of 9 deaths from the previous report. 

Federal

Support for Students, Parents and Low-Middle Income Groups

  • The $9B student aid package which was passed yesterday by the House of Commons. This bill includes various relief measures for students including:
    • Canada Emergency Student Benefit.
    • Canada Student Service Grant.
    • Support for First Nations, Metis and Inuit populations.
    • Extension of scholarships and grants for student researchers.
    • Doubling student grants for low-middle income students for 2020-21.
  • The Canadian Child Benefit payment will be boosted in May.
  • The Goods and Services Tax credit for low income earners will be supplemented.

Other News

  • Prime Minister Trudeau noted that, "we will have good news to announce very soon" related to agreements being negotiated with each province about wage top-ups for essential workers.
  • In response to suggestions about using digital technology (e.g. smartphones) for tracking the spread of the virus, both the Prime Minister and Dr. Tam, noted such technology is unproven, would need to be carefully balanced with protecting people's privacy and guided by public health.
  • To acknowledge the efforts of Canadians, the Prime Minister said yesterday that "starting this weekend in Nova Scotia, the Canadian Forces snowbirds will head across Canada to salute Canadians doing their part to stop the spread of COVID-19. As we watch the snowbirds fly over our homes let's remember that we are in this together."

Provincial

Testing, Cases and Lifting Public Health Measures

  • In talking about the decline in cases, Premier Ford noted that "this is a positive trend [that] gives people hope that we are getting close to opening up. I can't give you dates right now, but what I can give you is hope," he said.
  • When asked about other provinces that are opening up like Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Quebec (which is in a worse stage than Ontario), the Premier replied that he isn't "willing to roll the dice yet" and asked people "to hang in there... there's going to be positive news if we continue on this trend." He also urged those in neighboring provinces as well as the United States "to stay home" and not to come to Ontario now.
  • When asked about testing, Doug Ford said that he was pleased to see that the numbers have increased to 12,500 daily tests in the past few days. He further mentioned that testing will be expanding to include child care centers and the workers there, to ensure their safety.

Expanding Child Care for Essential Workers

  • The government expanded the list of essential front line workers eligible to receive free emergency child care during the COVID-19 outbreak to include an additional ten groups (e.g. those working in grocery stores pharmacies, retirement homes).
  • The Premier said that "providing emergency child care for our essential workers gives parents one less thing to worry about when they're on the job saving lives, protecting us, or keeping shelves stocked with food and necessities."

Pandemic Pay

  • The Premier also announced some additional groups of front line essential workers would receive pandemic pay, including paramedics, respiratory therapists, public health nurses and addictions and mental health workers in congregate settings.

Local
  • The County of Prince Edward will keep all recreation facilities including the Crystal Palace, arenas, museums, and town halls closed to the public until at least Friday, July 31 in order to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the community. The closures will mean the cancellation of events such as Canada Day festivities and the Women’s Institute’s craft show.
  • PEC Mayor Steve Ferguson has called a special Council meeting for Thursday, April 30 at 11:30 am for the purpose of considering:
    • A resolution asking the provincial government to discourage travel to Prince Edward County during the COVID-19 pandemic.
    • A temporary by-law suspending garage sales and yard sales in Prince Edward County during a municipally declared state of emergency.

  • Quinte West reminds residents that the Yard Waste drop off depot in Frankford is open for free drop-offs on Wednesdays, 8am - 4pm & Saturdays, 8am - 2pm. Drop-offs don't need to be bagged. There is NO scheduled Spring leaf & yard waste curbside pick-up. For info, visit http://bit.ly/LeafDisposal

  • The City of Belleville is contracting the services of an e-commerce specialist to provide advice to Belleville businesses on the development or enhancement of their e-commerce platforms. A Request for Proposal is available at belleville.bidsandtenders.ca/Module/Tenders/en for any businesses or individuals interested in providing this service.
  • In Tweed, the Provincial Day of Action on Litter in Ontario proclaimed as May 12, 2020 remains in effect; however, a local Waste Reduction week will be planned for October 2020 due to Covid-19. More information will be posted on local plans closer to October.
  • Several municipalities are reminding residents to only flush the three Ps, poo, pee and [toilet]paper and avoid flushing wipes or other objects that could contribute to pipe blockages, sewage overflows, and costly emergency repairs.
  • North Hastings Children's Services are closed to in-person services, but are still offering many supports online and over the phone for families of North Hastings and surrounding area.
  • Quinte Waste Solutions reminds everyone to protect their employees by not placing in blue boxes any kind of medical waste like disinfectant wipes, tissues, rubber gloves, etc.

Public Health
  • Dr. Ethan Toumishey will be hosts the Facebook live COVID-19 update at 2 pm today. Tune in on our Facebook page to participate and ask questions, or watch the broadcast live on Cogeco's YourTV station. If you are not able to watch live, the video remains available for viewing after the live broadcast has been completed.

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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