For Municipal Partners

Hastings Prince Edward Public Health
Online Bulletin for Municipal Partners

November 24, 2020

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.

Updates

Epidemiological

• Hastings and Prince Edward Counties have 116 cumulative lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 25 active, 85 resolved and 5 deceased. There were 8 new cases reported today.
  • Current local COVID-19 Activity Level is high, with a 7 day case rate of 13.7 per 100,000. HPEPH remains in the Green-Prevent zone of the province's COVID-19 Framework.
     
  • 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
• Ontario is reporting 1,009 cases of COVID-19 and 14 deaths as nearly 27,053 tests have been completed. There are 175 new cases in Peel, 497 in Toronto and 188 in York Region.
   
• In Canada, as at November 23, there are 337,555 total cases of COVID-19 with 56,835 active cases. To date, there have been 11,521 COVID-19 related deaths and more than 10,940,659 individuals tested.

Summary of cases of COVID-19: Ontario, Jan. 15, 2020 to Nov. 23, 2020
 

Summary of Cases in Ontario Schools - Updated Nov 17, 2020.

Guidance/Directive Updates

• Nothing new to report.

HPEPH

Discouraging non-essential travel

• Last week, Dr. Oglaza issued a statement discouraging non-essential travel. Additional key messages have been provided in response to inquiries about whether travel from out of the region is prohibited.
  • While there are currently no restrictions in place that prohibit travel within the province, HPEPH is asking everyone to reconsider or postpone any discretionary travel to and from areas with higher rates of COVID-19. We continue to ask everyone in Hastings and Prince Edward Counties to practice recommended public health protocols, whether they are resident or a visitor. This includes:

    • Staying home when ill, as directed by provincial assessment tools;

    • Always physical distancing with those outside your household;

    • Wearing a mask or face covering in public spaces, as well as when physical distancing is difficult or not possible;
       
    • Washing your hands often, and
       
    • Getting tested if you have symptoms of COVID-19 or have been in close contact with someone diagnosed with COVID-19.

  • If an individual is visiting from outside the region, we encourage them to take steps to reduce their close contacts, and register on our Digital Guestbook. The purpose of this Guestbook is to collect contact information, so Hastings Prince Edward Public Health can contact them if required for contact tracing, or to share local health information updates.

School cases in the region

• Two positive cases of COVID-19 have been identified in local schools over the past week. Every case is investigated by public health and contacts are identified. All contacts are reviewed by public health staff and determined whether they are at a high risk or low risk of COVID-19 transmission.

High risk and low risk contacts

• High risk contacts are considered to be individuals who have been in close contact with the positive case during their contagious period.
  • Their contagious period is considered to be 48 hours prior to symptom onset, and up to 10 days after symptom onset.
  • High risk contacts are advised to isolate as soon as they are identified, for 14 days following their potential date of exposure. This isolation ensures they are not interacting with others during their contagious period.
• Low risk contacts are considered to be individuals who have had very brief or distanced interaction with the positive case, which results in a very low risk of COVID-19 transmission.
  • Low risk contacts are required to self monitor for symptoms, and seek testing if symptoms develop. Unless symptoms develop, they can continue to attend work or school, while practicing regular public health precautions.
  • Close contacts of high risk contacts are considered to be low risk contacts, as they are not identified as being in close contact with a positive case during the positive case's contagious period and are not required to seek testing or isolate unless symptoms develop, or if the high risk contact becomes a case.
  • When a positive case isolates as soon as symptoms develop, and all high risk contacts who interacted with them within 48 hours prior to symptom onset isolate as well, the risk of transmission beyond these individuals is very low.
  • Individuals who may have had exposure to COVID-19 are not known to transmit the virus during their incubation period, which occurs prior to their contagious period. This means that high risk contacts are very unlikely to transmit the virus to their own contacts before they have been identified as being high risk (when contacted in a timely manner), and begin isolating.
• Public health uses an abundance of caution when identifying individuals that may have been at risk of exposure to a positive case. The public can be reassured that the investigation process always errs on the side of caution to prevent further spread of the virus.

Local Updates

• Loyalist College has issued a statement requesting that students we are asking that students or employees who live in a grey or red zone do not travel to the College until otherwise notified.
   
• Mayor Mitch Panciuk made an announcement last night at Council stating that the City will be restricting access at their Recreation, Culture and Community Service facilities to individuals from the orange, red and grey regions. The timing and logistics of this (i.e. start date/enforcement, etc) are in the planning stages. To hear the full announcement, click on this link to YouTube.
   
• Municipal leaders have vocalized support of HPE Public Health’s advisory to limit travel.
   
• All municipal partners are encouraged to demonstrate compliance with requirements for mandatory face coverings in public settings. Face coverings are required in all indoor portions of the premises accessible to the members of the public, and in private areas when 2 metre distancing is not possible

Provincial

Rapid Testing to Support COVID-19 Response

The Ontario government has deployed new COVID-19 rapid tests to provide faster results in regions of high transmission and rural and remote areas. As an additional tool to help keep essential workers safe, rapid tests will also be used to screen staff in long term care homes and select workplaces. These new tests will provide Ontarians with more access to innovative testing options and will help to quickly identify and manage outbreaks to stop the spread of COVID-19.

Updated Public Health Unit Region Classifications

Based on the latest data, the following public health unit regions moved from their current level in the framework to the following levels effective Monday, November 23:

• Grey-Lockdown: Peel Public Health and Toronto Public Health.
• Red-Control: Durham Region Health Department; and Region of Waterloo Public Health and Emergency Services.
• Orange-Restrict: Huron Perth Public Health; Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit. Southwestern Public Health; and Windsor-Essex County Health Unit.
• Yellow-Protect: Chatham-Kent Public Health; Eastern Ontario Health Unit; Grey Bruce Health Unit; Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington Public Health; Peterborough Public Health; and Thunder Bay District Health Unit.

Additional Support for Public Health Regions

The Ontario government is making additional enforcement mechanisms available to local Medical Officers of Health by amending Ontario Regulation 950 under the Provincial Offences Act, allowing for a ticket to be issued for any contravention of a COVID-19 specific communicable disease class order issued by a Medical Officer of Health; and requesting the Chief Justice of the Ontario Court of Justice to establish a set fine to be attached to any ticket issued for violating a section 22 order relating to COVID-19 made by a local Medical Officer of Health.

Extended COVID-19 Orders

The provincial government, in consultation with the Chief Medical Officer of Health, has extended all orders currently in force under the Reopening Ontario (A Flexible Response to COVID-19) Act, 2020 (ROA) until December 21, 2020.

Federal

• As of today, qualifying organizations can apply directly for the new Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy (CERS) through the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). This means qualifying organizations can apply for the subsidy without the need to claim the assistance through their landlords. Applicants can claim the subsidy retroactively for the period that began on September 27 and ended on October 24, 2020.
• Health Canada is warning Canadians about the risks of using UV lights or wands that make unproven claims to disinfect against COVID-19. To date, Health Canada has not received evidence to support these claims.
• Canada's Chief Public Health Officer, Dr. Tam, shared the latest modelling data on the pandemic. 
  • National daily case counts of COVID-19 increasing significantly. Case counts have far surpassed peak levels seen during the first wave with an average of 4,776 cases reported daily over the past week; which is about a 15% increase over the last week;
  • More health regions are reporting higher rates of COVID-19 infection indicating the virus is spreading across a wider geographic area within Canada;
  • The percentage of people testing positive is increasing nationally; the average of percentage of people testing positive in Canada is currently over 6.5%;
  • Number and size of outbreaks are increasing in a variety of settings, including an increase in high-risk populations and settings such as long-term care homes, Indigenous communities and healthcare settings;
  • Hospitalizations have increased following the increase in reported cases: an average of almost 1,800 people with COVID-19 are being treated in Canadian hospitals on any given day, including over 375 people in Intensive Care Units over the past week; the increase has already begun to strain the healthcare system in some regions, pushing some facilities to capacity and leading to the postponement of other medical procedures.

Useful Links

• HPEPH COVID-19 General Information
• HPEPH COVID-19 Information for Health Care Providers
• How Ontario is responding to COVID-19
• Public Health Ontario Coronavirus Disease
• Canada Coronavirus disease

We want to ensure this bulletin is as useful as possible. Please send your questions, comments and suggestions to etubbs@hpeph.ca

Contact Information: 

To give us your comments: etubbs@hpeph.ca

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