For Municipal Partners

Hastings Prince Edward Public Health
Online Bulletin for Municipal Partners

March 24, 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 now has 17 lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 271 probable cases (one probable case became a confirmed case today). Two long-term care homes are in COVID-19 outbreak as of yesterday.
  • More details are available on our website hpePublicHealth.ca.

Summary of cases of COVID-19: Ontario, January 15, 2020 to April 2, 2020

  Number     Percentage
Number of cases 3,255 N/A
Change from previous report 462 16.5% increase
Resolved 1,023 31.4
Deceased 67 2.1
Demographics    
Male 1,579 48.5
Female 1,657 50.9
19 and under 82 2.5
20-39 945 29.0
40-59 1,178 36.2
60-79 821 25.2
80 and over 226 6.9
Testing    
Total Tested 66,753 N/A
Currently Under Investigation 1,245 N/A
Hospitalizations    
Number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 462 N/A
Number of patients in ICU with COVID-19 194 N/A
Number of patients in ICU on a ventilator with COVID-19   140 N/A

 

Note: 19 cases did not specify male or female. The age of three cases were unknown.

  • There are 3,255 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ontario reported to date in iPHIS. This represents an increase of 462 confirmed cases from the previous report.
    • 48.5% of cases are male, 50.9% are female.
    • 32.1% of cases are 60 years of age and older.
    • Greater Toronto Area public health units account for 53.0% of cases.
  • Of all cases, 21.7% had travelled in the 14 days prior to becoming ill, 11.7% had close contact with a confirmed case, 16.8% had neither and 49.7% have exposure information pending.
  • 405 people or 11.7% of cases were hospitalized, of which 167 are in intensive care; of those, 112 are on ventilators; and 67 deaths have been reported (please note there may be a reporting delay for deaths in iPHIS).
  • Thirty-two outbreaks have been reported in long-term care homes.
  • As of yesterday, 4,859 people had been tested over the past 24 hours; an increase in testing capacity has brought down the backlog to 2,052.
  • In Canada, there are currently 11,747 confirmed cases, with 152 resulting in death.
  • As of yesterday, 268,154 Canadians have been tested for COVID-19, with 10,446 testing positive and 243,437 have tested negative.

Federal

  • In his address yesterday, Prime Minister Trudeau highlighted the following points:
    • Canada has received a shipment of over 1 million masks which will soon be distributed to the provinces.
    • Over 10 million masks have already been received and distributed.
    • A hockey equipment company has stepped up to make face shields for Canadian healthcare workers.
    • The Prime Minister spoke with Canada's premiers and territorial leaders last night about what further actions are needed.
  • Canadian passengers aboard two cruise ships, MS Zaandam and the MS Rotterdam, that have now docked in Florida after weeks at sea and days of negotiations, will be repatriated in the coming days and ordered into isolation when back in Canada. No word has been offered from the Federal government if repatriated Canadians will be returning to CFB Trenton as with previous repatriation initiatives.

Provincial

Strengthening Victim Services

  • Attorney General Downey announced $4 million to support victims of crime, front-line staff and Ontario's court system. This funding includes:
    • $2.7 millin to support services for victims of domestic violence and other violent crimes. The funds will allow more than 50 community agencies across Ontario, including victim crisis assistance organizations, Indigenous organizations and those based in rural areas, to stay operational and accessible to victims during the public health crisis.
    • $1.3 millin in technology to help courts and tribunals continue the transition to remote operations through funding laptops, conference lines and digital recording devices.

Mental Health Supports

  • The province is providing emergency funding of up to $12 million to immediately expand online and virtual mental health supports. This funding will help mental health agencies:
    • Hire and train more staff and purchase equipment, technology and licenses.
    • Expand services, based on evidence-informed cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) on a range of platforms including:
    • BounceBack: A guided self-help program for adults and youth aged 15 and over through online videos and phone coaching support.
    • Kids Help Phone: 24/7 virtual professional counselling, information and referrals to young people in both English and French at 1-800-668-6868.
    • Internet-based Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (iCBT): Online CBT, supported by therapists in English and French.
    • Online CBT for frontline health care workers experiencing anxiety, burnout or PTSD. Those requiring intensive levels of care would be referred to virtual face-to-face care.
    • Training for brief CBT-based interventions for frontline workers in organizations such as Telehealth and emergency departments so they can better support those individuals experiencing acute anxiety due to the pandemic.
  • $2.6 million to hire new psychologists and other mental health workers to support Ontario Provincial Police personnel.

Supports for Trucking and Moving Goods

  • To recognize the critical role played by truck drivers in keeping goods moving, the government extended its support by:
    • Calling on all business owners to support truck drivers when they stop to rest, get gas or use washrooms.
    • Keeping all 23 ONroute travel plazas open for take-out, grab and go and drive-through services, including washrooms with enhanced cleaning.
    • Providing more safe places and portable washrooms at 32 truck inspection stations so trucks have a place to stop and rest safely.

Increasing Public Health Units’ Capacity

  • Ontario is issuing a new emergency order under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act, effective immediately, to provide public health units the authority and flexibility they need to make staffing decisions that support their ongoing fight against the outbreak of COVID-19, despite any collective agreements. As a result, public health units will be able to significantly expand their capacity to implement critical public health functions, such as case and contact management, through the use of volunteers, including the thousands of retired nurses and medical students who have signed up through the province's website.
  • Ontario has launched a new user-friendly online portal for the public to easily access their COVID-19 lab test results. By offering faster and secure access to test results on their computer or mobile device, this portal will help ease pressures on public health units and frontline workers to provide this information so that they can better focus on containing COVID-19.

Burn Ban in Effect Across Ontario

  • The Ontario government is taking action to protect people and communities from the risk of preventable human-caused fires and to ensure that the province's emergency response system remains strong during the COVID-19 outbreak.
  • Starting April 3, 2020, Ontario's entire legislated fire region will be designated a Restricted Fire Zone. Residents who live in an area with a restricted fire zone cannot have an outdoor fire—this includes burning of grass, debris and campfires, even when using an outdoor fire grate, fire place or fire pit. This restriction will remain in place until Ontario's ability to respond to emergencies is no longer impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak.

Local

  • In Belleville, as aligned with the Ontario Government’s emergency order to close all outdoor recreational amenities, both Meyer’s Pier and Victoria Harbour will remain closed until further notice. This new order closes all communal or shared, public or private, outdoor recreational amenities everywhere in Ontario. The public is asked to respect these changes. City bylaw officers will be working in cooperation with Belleville Police Service to ensure the rules are being followed and may issue fines or more severe penalties to anyone not doing so.
  • Two long-term care homes, Hastings Manor in Belleville and Hallowell House in Picton declared a COVID-19 outbreak yesterday in their facilities after two staff at Hastings Manor and one staff member at Hallowell House received lab-confirmation of COVID-19. (Note: The Ministry of Health has declared that even a single case of COVID-19 in a long-term care or retirement home is considered an outbreak). All close contacts have been traced and are self-isolating for 14 days while monitoring for symptoms.

Public Health

  • Although HPEPH has always reported infectious disease outbreaks at long-term care homes within Hastings and Prince Edward Counties, in light of two recent COVID-19 outbreaks in area residences, HPEPH issued a release yesterday reminding our community that we will be posting any COVID-19 facility outbreaks on our website.
  • Dr. Oglaza is hosting his second Facebook live event this afternoon at 2:30pm on the Hastings Prince Edward Public Health facebook page. Dr. Oglaza will be offering a current COVID-19 situation report and responding to questions in real time.
  • Self-service well testing water bottle drop-off is available in Belleville, Monday to Thursday between 8:30 am and 4:30 pm and at our Bancroft office on Tuesdays and Thursdays between 8:30 am 12 pm. Next Thursday, April 9, water bottles can not be dropped off in Bancroft or Belleville due to lab closure on the Friday for the Easter long weekend. Check our service interruptions page for more information.

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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