For Municipal Partners

Hastings Prince Edward Public Health
Online Bulletin for Municipal Partners

October 13, 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.

Updates

Epidemiological

• Hastings and Prince Edward Counties has 63 cumulative lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19. Today there were 2 new cases identified, for a current total of 3 active cases, with 55 having recovered and 5 deceased. Over 42,300 COVID-19 tests have been completed to date.
  • 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
• In Canada, there are 182,839 lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 18,954 active cases. To date, there have been 9,627 COVID-19 related deaths and more than 8,191,592 individuals tested.

Summary of cases of COVID-19: Ontario, Jan. 15, 2020 to Oct. 12, 2020

Summary of Cases in Ontario Schools - Updated Oct. 13, 2020.

Federal

Additional Support for Food Banks

• On Friday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced an additional investment of $100 million through the Emergency Food Security Fund to improve access to food and increase food supply for vulnerable Canadians across the country facing the impacts of the global COVID-19 pandemic.
• The Government of Canada will provide this funding to national and regional organizations, who will then support food banks and local food organizations across Canada.
• The funds will also be used to hire workers, where volunteers are unavailable, and buy personal protective equipment to help protect workers, volunteers, and visitors at food banks and local food organizations.

Provincial

Ontario Implementing Additional Public Health Measures in Toronto, Ottawa and Peel

• Effective Saturday, October 10, 2020 at 12:01 am, the Ontario government introduced additional targeted public health measures in the Ottawa, Peel, and Toronto public health unit regions. These modified Stage 2 restrictions will be for a minimum of 28 days and reviewed on an ongoing basis.
• Measures under a modified Stage 2 include:
  • Reducing limits for all social gatherings and organized public events to a maximum of 10 people indoors and 25 people outdoors where physical distancing can be maintained (the two limits may not be combined for an indooroutdoor event).
  • Prohibiting indoor food and drink service in restaurants, bars and other food and drink establishments, including nightclubs and food court areas in malls.
  • Closing of certain indoor businesses, including gyms, casinos, cinemas, theatres, interactive exhibits in museums, galleries, zoos, etc.
  • Prohibiting personal care services where face coverings must be removed for the service (e.g. makeup application, beard trimming).
  • Reducing the capacity limits for tour and guide services, Real estate open houses, Inperson teaching and instruction, meeting and event spaces, and limiting team sports to training sessions (no games or scrimmages).
• In addition, Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. David Williams, is urging all Ontarians to:
  • Limit trips outside of home, except for essential purposes only, such as work (where it is not possible to work from home), school, grocery shopping, medical appointments, and outdoor healthy physical activity.
  • Travel to other regions in the province, especially from higher transmission to lower transmission areas, should only be for essential purposes.
  • Practise physical distancing of at least two metres with those outside your household.
  • Wear a face covering when physical distancing is a challenge or where it is mandatory to do so.
  • Wash your hands frequently and thoroughly; and following gathering limits and rules.

Ontario Building a Modern and Connected Mental Health and Addictions System

• The Ontario government is providing an additional $176 million this year to help expand access for critical mental health and addictions supports during COVID-19.
• The increased funding will help address urgent gaps in care, enhance access to mental health and addictions services, create new supports and expand programs in several priority areas.

Ontario Supports Small Businesses with $60M PPE Grant

• Last week, Prabmeet Sarkaria, Associate Minister of Small Business and Red Tape Reduction, announced Ontario's Main Street Recovery Plan and intends to introduce the Main Street Recovery Act, 2020, proposed legislation that would support small businesses and modernize rules to allow them to innovate and meet the challenges of today.
• The plan includes a one-time grant of up to $1,000 for eligible main street small businesses to help offset the unexpected costs of personal protective equipment (PPE), along with several enhanced digital business and mental health supports.

Ontario Surpasses 4 Million COVID-19 Tests

• Ontario has completed over four million COVID-19 tests since the beginning of the pandemic and continues to lead the country in both the number of tests completed and daily testing capacity.
• At the start of the outbreak, Ontario was conducting 4,000 tests per day. The province is now well on its way to building the capacity to process 50,000 daily tests by mid-October and 68,000 daily tests by mid-November.

Local

• In Prince Edward County, the Countylicious culinary events scheduled from October 10 to 26 have been postponed. The fixed-price promotion is still slated to run from October 30 to November 22. Stay up to date on all Countylicious news by signing up to the enewsletter or following @Countylicious on Instagram.

• The Quinte Trash Bash event will take place on Saturday, Oct. 24, with increased health and safety procedures. After discussions with HPEPH, the committee feels it is possible to safely resume the community-driven event under current restrictions, as it is an entirely outdoor event consisting of small, immediate household groups. Details on where to pick up supply kits and drop off collected garbage is available at quintetrashbash.ca.

• Last week, ALCDSB announced a new Multi-Year Strategic Plan. ALCDSB's new Multi-Year Strategic plan will focus on four main priorities over the next five years: Faith, Equity and Well-Being, Achievement and Innovation, and Resource Management. More details are available in the release.

• Last week, HPEDSB reminded families to check the Return to School Updates section of their website for current information about COVID-19 responsibilities, resources and reporting.

• The PEC Community Care for Seniors issued a release last week about the organization’s response to requests for more fitness classes. Virtual classes and socials are now available 5 days a week, mornings at 10:30am and afternoons at 2pm, with a sprinkling of other events added in at different times. They are offered online and require participants to have a computer with internet availability.

Public Health

• HPEPH issued a release this morning encouraging all residents to get their flu vaccination early this year. Plans are in place to offer flu vaccinations through dedicated HPEPH clinics at the end of October into November. Specific dates and locations are still being determined. Residents are also encouraged to contact their health care provider or a participating pharmacy to get their flu vaccination as soon as possible.

• Last Wednesday, HPEPH issued a Board of Health Update that included response to the 2^nd wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, encouragement for families to celebrate Thanksgiving in safer ways this year to slow the spread of COVID-19, updates on fall flu vaccinations, and a highlight of Social Determinants of Health.

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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