Hastings Prince Edward Public Health
Online Bulletin for Municipal Partners February 23, 2021 | To ensure everyone has current information, 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 have 398 cumulative lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 13 active, 379 resolved and 6 deceased. There were 3 new cases reported today.
- There are no local long-term care facilities experiencing COVID-19 outbreak; additional outbreak details can be found online.
- More information is available on our website hpePublicHealth.ca
- Vaccines administered to date: 1,946
- Fully vaccinated individuals to date: 562
- Long-term care home residents that have had second doses:
- Hastings Manor - February 17 (Pfizer-BioNTech)
- Hallowell House - February 18 (Pfizer-BioNTech)
- EJ McQuigge Lodge - February 22 (Moderna)
- West Lake Terrace - February 22 (Moderna)
- Ontario is reporting 975 cases of COVID-19 and 12 deaths as more than 26,000 tests have been completed. There are 343 new cases in Toronto, 186 in Peel, and 89 in York Region.
- In Canada, as at February 22, 2021, there are 849,517 total cases of COVID-19 with 31,164 active cases and 796,630 recovered. To date, there have been 21,723 COVID-19 related deaths and more than 23,799,411 individuals tested.
Summary of cases of COVID-19: Ontario, January 15, 2020 to February 22, 2021 | Report | Number | Percentage | | Number of Cases | 295,119 | N/A | | Change from previous day’s report (new cases) | 975 | 0.3 increase | | Resolved | 277,939 | 94.2 | | Change from previous day’s report | 1,002 | 0.4 increase | | Total number of deaths | 6,884 | 2.3 | | Total tests completed | 10,751,300 | N/A | | Total test completed in the previous day | 25,979 | N/A | | Currently under investigation | 28,802 | N/A | Summary of Cases in Ontario Schools - Updated February 23, 2021. | Report | Number of New Cases | Cumulative Cases | | School-related cases | 175 | 8,169 | | School-related student cases | 149 | 5,706 | | School-related staff cases | 22 | 1,333 | | Individual(s) not identified (other staff) | 4 | 1,130 | | Current number of schools with a reported case | 352 | N/A | | Current number of schools closed | 11 | N/A | | - Algonquin & Lakeshore Catholic District School Board: Director of Education provided an update on new Public Health protocols initiated in response to variants of concern being detected in Ontario.
- Hastings and Prince Edward District School Board: Summary of yesterday's board meeting is now available online.
- Dr. Oglaza's presentation focused on school-based surveillance of COVID-19. This included sharing caution for asymptomatic screening in schools and next steps. Dr. Oglaza explained factors that impact test performance, such as swab collection, processing the samples and an individual’s viral load and the manner in which COVID-19 is transmitted, which is through droplets containing the virus being expelled during coughing, sneezing and regular activities. Dr. Oglaza shared that the evidence suggests that schools are not the driving force of transmission in communities and provided data for local schools. With regard to the variants of concern, it is important to continue with the public health measures, including frequent handwashing, physical distancing and wearing masks. To balance the benefits and harms of increased screening in schools, HPE Public Health has proposed offering weekly testing at two schools which may have higher baseline vulnerability to outbreaks, or have decreased access to testing. Public Health Nurses will be available to do the testing for students who volunteer to be tested.
| Increase in Cases and Emergence of COVID-19 Variants: - Ontario’s seven-day case average is currently at 1,045 cases per day; this number has decreased from 1,051 last week. With 31,163 tests completed yesterday, the percent positivity is 3.3%; the average percent positivity over the last seven-days is 2.7%, which is slightly higher than the 2.6% for the same time period last week.
- So far, 390 cases of the B.1.1.17 (United Kingdom) virus variant have been reported, nine cases of the B.1.3.5.1 (South Africa) virus variant and one case of the P.1 (Brazilian) virus variant.
- To date, 80 percent of variants of concerns are either outbreak associated or are close contacts of a confirmed case; just over 12 percent have no known epidemiologic link and seven percent are related to travel. Dr. Yaffe noted these statistics have remained relatively unchanged since the reporting on variants began.
- In addition to officially confirmed cases, health officials will now publicly report on samples that screen positive for the N.501Y mutation, which is a first step of a two-part confirmation process. If a sample is screened as positive, it will undergo whole genome sequencing to confirm the presence of a designated variant of concern.
- To date, 60,495 samples have been screened for the N.501Y mutation with a seven-day average positivity rate of 10%. Recent data from February 15 to February 21 showed a 14.3% positivity rate among the 5,370 samples screened for the mutation.
Administration of COVID-19 Vaccines and Vaccination Intervals: - In describing the province’s plans for the vaccine roll out, Solicitor-General Jones explained that the province’s role is one of distribution and prioritization while local public health’s role is to develop local plans, contact community residents and administer the vaccine. She pointed out that “the 34 public health units that operate across Ontario….are not new organizations. They have historic data on their community, on the individuals and the neighbourhoods within those public health units that are more at risk. So we are capitalizing on that historic data and we are empowering professionals to make decisions based on priority guidelines that have been carefully reviewed and prepared and provided to them from the province of Ontario.”
- Health Minister Elliott noted each of the PHUs “plans will vary as you can imagine because the rollout will be different for each region. So, it’s up to local medical officers of health to fashion a plan whether through mass vaccination, pharmacies or through physicians.”
- In light of recent data that shows certain vaccines are effective against COVID-19 after just one dose, Dr. Yaffe noted that provincial health officials are in discussion with their federal and regional counterparts on the potential of a policy that prioritizes maximizing the interval between the first dose and the second dose to offer protection to a larger segment of the public.
- Dr. Yaffe noted that the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) will be hearing from the experiences of British Columbia, Quebec and the United Kingdom later this week.
- She said that NACI may potentially issue different recommendations concerning the intervals between the first and second dose of the messenger RNA vaccines.
- Dr. Yaffe confirmed the province is currently “going with 35 [days] up to 42 maximum, but we’re very much open to seeing what the evidence is from other jurisdictions and looking forward to hearing what [NACI] recommends.”
Ontario Launches Education Campaign to Help Workplaces Reopen Safely: - The provincial government is launching new health and safety education campaigns, with a particular focus on helping small businesses across the province reopen safely. The on-the-ground assistance includes a comprehensive suite of resources business owners can access at no cost to ensure they are helping prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the workplace.
- The full suite of government educational supports available includes:
COVID-19 Vaccines and Phase Two of Rollout: - Ret.-Gen. Hillier, chair of the COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Task Force, confirmed that 155,000 doses of Pfizer vaccines arrived last week and more are expected this week.
- Ontario is developing an online booking system to support the next phase of vaccination roll-out. A customer service desk will be made available to those who are unable to book an appointment through the online tool.
- Ret.-Gen. Hillier also confirmed the province's plans to start vaccinating in mid-March independent seniors aged 80+ who do not live in long-term care homes. He explained that “we will be reaching out to them in the next week to two weeks to tell them when the opportunity is becoming available and where they can go to book their appointments whether on a phone line or online and where they can get their information.”
- The General noted the province is planning to work closely with Ontario’s 34 health units to support the next stage of vaccinations. He confirmed the health units have each submitted their plans to operate mass immunization clinics as soon as enough supply becomes available. He said “we’re going to have mass vaccination sites, mobile vaccination sites, and we are going to have many vaccination sites and that’s how we are going to deliver the vaccine in our public health units to the people for which we have responsibility.”
| Extension of COVID-19 Recovery Benefits: Last week, Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion Minister Qualtrough announced plans to introduce regulatory and legislative amendments to increase the number of weeks of benefits available for the Canada Recovery Benefit (CRB), the Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit (CRSB), the Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit (CRCB) and Employment Insurance (EI) regular benefits. The proposed changes would: - increase the number of weeks available under the CRB and the CRCB by 12 weeks extending the maximum duration of the benefits from 26 weeks to up to 38 weeks;
- increase the number of weeks available under the CRSB from the current two weeks to four weeks; and
- increase the number of weeks of EI regular benefits available by up to 24 weeks to a maximum of 50 weeks, for claims that are made between September 27, 2020 and September 25, 2021.
- The maximum length of the leave related to COVID-19 under the Canada Labour Code would also be extended, to ensure employees in the federally regulated private sector can access the proposed additional weeks of CRCB and CRSB without the risk of losing their jobs
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