For Municipal Partners

Hastings Prince Edward Public Health
Online Bulletin for Municipal Partners

June 4, 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 185 probable cases, with 33 lab-confirmed cases having recovered and 5 deceased.
  • Approximately 7,823 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 93,430 lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 resulting in 7,543 deaths. To date, over 1,787,446 individuals have been tested.

Federal

New Measures for the Use of Face Coverings in the Canadian Transportation Sector

• Yesterday, Transport Minister Garneau, announced that he is expanding the requirements for the use of face coverings by workers and others involved in the transportation system be it air, rail, marine or road.
• The measures will be implemented through a combination of mandatory orders and guidance.

Canadian Perspectives Survey: Monitoring the Effects of COVID-19

• Statistics Canada has conducted two web panel surveys, one in March and another in May, in which respondents were asked a number of COVID-19 related questions about their behaviours, mental health, labour market activities and food insecurity.
• Today they have released their findings, including a comparison of responses between the first and second surveys, the highlights of which reveal:
  • Most Canadians (9 in 10) continue to follow physical distancing guidelines.
  • The majority of Canadians have few social interactions with non-household members.
  • Almost 1 in 5 Canadians report feelings of moderate or severe anxiety.
  • Canadians have increased their consumption of junk food and alcohol.
• Statistics Canada also released an infographic detailing the mental health of Canadians during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Provincial

Pandemic Pay

• The province has updated their webpage related to temporary pandemic pay with more information on the implementation of the program and details about who may be eligible and for what type of payment.

Improving Broadband and Cell Service for Rural Communities

• In recognition of the importance of having access to reliable high speed internet, Premier Ford and Infrastructure Minister Scott announced $150M to improve broadband and cellular connectively across Ontario.
• This funding will target rural, remote and northern areas and approximately 12% or 620,000 families and businesses that lack reliable internet access.
• The province is partnering with municipalities and Indigenous communities and anticipates being able to leverage some $500M in partnership funding from the private sector.
• Education Minister Lecce announced that there will be internet access in every high school in Ontario by this September and in every elementary school by September 2021. He emphasized "that we need to embrace the digital economy and digital learning... and close the digital gap."
• The province is looking to the federal government to deliver on its commitment to broadband access and provide funding to support underserved areas.

Moving to Stage 2

• The Premier said that the state of emergency is "not going to slow us...getting the economy going and moving forward with stage 2, it's in front of the Health Table now and hopefully over the next week we'll be able to discuss that with the people of Ontario."
• Opening restaurants and patios is an area that is being looked at as part of the regional approach to reopening and is being reviewed by the Health Table; the Premier expects decisions will be made within the next week.
• Health Minister Elliott mentioned that the Health Command Table is looking at how to expand people's social bubbles gradually as part of stage 2 in a cautious and measured way.

Hot Spots, Testing, Pharmacies and New Case Projections

• The province is watching for outbreaks and hot spots and will send in mobile testing or pop-up teams where they are needed.
• The province has been talking to large pharmacies to explore whether testing centres should be set up in pharmacies as has been done in the U.S. The Premier noted this is a good model and said "stay tuned."
• Health Minster Elliott said that the province will share further modelling and case projections about the pandemic when that work is completed.

Reopening Schools

• Education Minister Lecce noted that the province is learning what other jurisdictions have been doing and consulting with a range of medical experts and stakeholders to devise a September school reopening plan which they expect to share by the end of June.
• The plan will cover the range of protocols needed to keep kids safe.

Protecting Migrant Workers

• The province has had 139 labour inspectors out at farms employing migrant workers and some 34 orders have been issued; wide-spread testing will be completed under the leadership of Ontario Health.
• Premier Ford said the province is "all over this" and noted that some $2M has been allocated to ensure farmers can provide a safe work environment for their employees and the province will continue to work with farmers to achieve this goal.

Commercial Rent Assistance

• Premier Ford noted that the province has made available some $1M to support landlords but few seem to be applying to the program in order to support their tenants. The Premier indicated that he's prepared "to play hard ball" to protect those small businesses that are struggling and he may take further action to support "the little guy."

NHL

• While the Premier has been talking to the NHL and federal officials, he sees this as an issue for the federal government to address before the expected August start-up date. He noted that the NHL has committed to self-isolating, daily testing and using its own private labs.

Local

• The County of Prince Edward is asking for ideas about reimagining public space in the downtown areas of Picton, Wellington, and Bloomfield. The  municipality has worked with the various downtown business association groups to identify several temporary measures to support physical distancing. On the municipality’s online engagement platform, Have Your Say, the public can offer its feedback on where these temporary measures would be most appropriate.

• The Quinte Business Achievement Awards (QBAA) are presented annually as a celebration of business excellence across the Bay of Quinte region. These awards recognize outstanding businesses, not-for-profit organizations and business leaders based in Quinte West, Belleville, Brighton, or Prince Edward County. To read up on past QBAA winners, and to nominate someone for 2020, click here: https://www.qbaa.ca/. Nominations run until June 30 and winners will be announced during the ceremony on Oct. 23.

• Quinte Health Care has issued a COVID-19 testing update requesting anyone who is concerned they might have COVID-19 or be exposed to the virus through contact or occupation to contact them to pre-register for a testing appointment. Effective today, the assessment centre in Trenton has moved to the Duncan McDonald Arena at 8 Couch Crescent.

Public Health

• HPEPH issued a release yesterday following the Board of Health teleconference meeting. Highlights include the gradual resumption of in-person services, public health's continued efforts to stem the spread of COVID-19, and the 2019 Annual Report and celebration of accomplishments for the past year.

• Effective Saturday, June 6, Dr. Piotr Oglaza will be on parental leave until the beginning of September. During his leave Dr. Alexa Caturay will be the acting Medical Office of Health at HPEPH, with support from Dr. Ethan Toumishey and HPEPH managers.

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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