Hastings Prince Edward Public Health
Online Bulletin for Municipal Partners September 15, 2020 | To ensure everyone has current information during this quickly evolving outbreak, 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. | - Hastings and Prince Edward Counties has 52 cumulative lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19, for a total of 5 active cases, with 42 having recovered and 5 deceased. More than 27,320 tests have been completed to date.
- There are no local facilities experiencing COVID-19 outbreak; additional outbreak details can be found online.
- More information is available on our website hpePublicHealth.ca.
- In Canada, there are 138,010 lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 7,607 active cases. To date, there have been 9,179 deaths and more than 6,235,465 individuals tested.
Summary of cases of COVID-19: Ontario, Jan. 15, 2020 to Sept. 14, 2020 | Severity | Number | Percentage | | Number of Cases | 45,068 | N/A | | Change from previous report (new cases) | 251 | 0.6 increase | | Resolved | 40,091 | 89 | | Change from previous report | 117 | 0.3 increase | | Total number of deaths | 2,820 | 6.3 | | Total tests completed | 3,369,802 | N/A | | Total test completed in the previous day | 27,664 | N/A | | Currently under investigation | 24,339 | N/A | | Changes to Federal Rent Relief Program - The Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance for small businesses is being extended for the last time by one month for September.
International Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic - Canada's Deputy Prime Minister, Chrystia Freeland, co-chaired an international gathering of finance minsters to discuss proposals for the international community's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Six discussion groups were formed to develop concrete proposals for supporting developing countries as they cope with the pandemic.
Review of the Global Public Health Intelligence Network - Health Minister Patty Hajdu ordered an independent review of the Global Public Health Intelligence Network in response to claims by some scientists that their early warnings about the threat of COVID-19 were ignored or inadequately addressed by senior staff at the Public Health Agency of Canada.
- Dr. Tam said she supports an independent review of the country's pandemic early warning system. As she noted, "it's very important to have a minimal delay, and minimal number of layers of bureaucracy, in a system which is meant to provide early alerting."
| Health Preparedness and Rebuilding the Economy - Yesterday, the Ontario government returned to the legislature, with a fall agenda focusing on job creation, skills training, attracting investment, strengthening communities, and fortifying the front lines of the province's health care system.
Four Week Pause on Further Reopenings - Based on advice from the Chief Medical Officer of Health, Health Minister Christine Elliott announced that Ontario will take a four-week pause before reopening additional businesses, facilities and organizations or considering any further loosening of public health measures such as expanded social circles, gathering sizes or the number of people allowed to attend sports events.
School Reopenings - Last week, the province released an update of its back-to-school plans, including investments in hiring 625 public health nurses, more cleaning staff and teachers and delivering more than 37 million pieces of personal protective equipment to school boards.
- Education Minister Stephen Lecce announced the launch of a webpage to report COVID-19 cases in schools and child care centers; the page will be updated every weekday and include a summary of cases in schools and licensed child care centers.
- The Premier stressed that "it's so important we report every single case as we did with long-term care."
- As of this past Friday, the website showed 13 cases at schools in Ontario, including four students and nine staff members. Dr. Barbara Yaffe indicated that some schools have reported COVID-19 cases that were acquired in the community and not in the schools themselves.
Easing Surgery Backlogs - Premier Doug Ford said he plans to address the backlog of over 180,000 surgeries across Ontario noting that "We're working with our Minister of Health and our health table to see if we can open up a lot of these surgery rooms... we have funding to ask the docs ... and the hospitals to open up surgeries, start working Saturdays and Sundays to get rid of the backlog."
Ontario-Québec Summit - At their recent summit, Ontario and Quebec Premiers agreed to:
- Collaborate on key priority areas such as health care, economic recovery and infrastructure renewal.
- Call on the federal government to increase funding for the Canada Health Transfer, infrastructure, transit, and broadband access (e.g. highspeed Internet for rural, remote, and Northern communities).
- Develop a responsible approach to reopening of the CanadaU.S. border and combat U.S. protectionism.
| - In Prince Edward County, the washrooms in Benson Park will be closed indefinitely following vandalism of the units over the weekend. A portable washroom has been installed until repairs are complete.
- In Belleville, the Quinte Sport and Wellness Centre ice is in and youth programming has resumed. Staff have created a welcome back video and created a frequently asked questions webpage to address new processes in place due to COVID-19.
- The Belleville Farmers’ Market is now open Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in George Zegouras Market Square behind City Hall.
- North Hastings Children's Services (NHCS) wants to ensure families get the support they need and has created a survey to help tailor support offered to families living with children age 17 or younger, or youth under the age of 21 living alone, who live in North Hastings year-round.
- Belleville General Hospital Foundation has partnered with McDonalds to save lives at BGH. Tomorrow, Wednesday, September 16, $1 from every hot drink, goes toward purchasing a ventilator for the ICU at the hospital. Participating stores: Belleville Bayview Mall, North Front, Walmart and Madoc McDonalds.
- Tri-Board Student Transportation reminds parents and caregivers that there will likely be more bus delays and cancellations this year due to the pandemic. Sign up to receive notifications by email, the app, or Twitter.
- ALCDSB Director of Education, David DeSantis, issued a letter to families yesterday, welcoming students back to school and offering information about COVID-19 protocols and how any positive cases will be shared on the board’s website.
- The Hastings Prince Edward District School Board issued a return to school update for students with COVID-19 information and resources.
| - HPEPH has updated school guidance to direct household members to self-monitor, rather than self-isolate, if their child is ill and awaiting test results. Currently, rates of transmission for COVID-19 continue to be low in Hastings and Prince Edward Counties. Considering this low rate of transmission, school screening procedures have been updated to allow siblings or housemates of symptomatic individuals to continue to attend school - provided the symptomatic individual is seeking testing/waiting for results, and siblings/housemates are not exhibiting any symptoms of COVID-19. Dr. Oglaza continues to monitor the local situation, and school screening/attendance protocols will be updated if appropriate.
- HPEPH municipal beach water quality testing has concluded for the 2020 season. Beach water testing will resume in the spring of 2021.
- As recommended by federal public health agencies, HPEPH would like to remind residents not to eat, use, sell or serve any red, white, yellow, and sweet yellow onions from Thomson International Inc. of Bakersfield, California, USA, or any products made with these onions. There is no evidence to suggest that onions grown in Canada are associated with this outbreak. Onions imported from the United States are under investigation. For more information, please visit Public Health Agency of Canada's web page.
- HPEPH continues to remind residents that COVID-19 testing is available. Individuals who are concerned that they may have been exposed to someone with COVID-19 or are experiencing COVID-19 related symptoms should contact their health care provider, TeleHealth Ontario at 1-866-797-0000, or their local COVID-19 Assessment Centre. Visit our Getting Tested web page for more information. Individuals who have questions about COVID-19 are encouraged to call the HPEPH COVID-19 information line at 613-966-5500 / 1-800-267-2803.
| 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 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. | | | | |
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