For Municipal Partners

Hastings Prince Edward Public Health
Online Bulletin for Municipal Partners

January 26, 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.

Updates

Epidemiological

• Hastings and Prince Edward Counties have 365 cumulative lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 13 active, 347 resolved and 5 deceased. There were 0 new cases reported today.
  • There is 1 local long-term care facility experiencing COVID-19 outbreak; additional outbreak details can be found online.
  • More information is available on our website hpePublicHealth.ca
• Vaccines administered to date:  393
• Ontario is reporting 1,740 cases of COVID-19 and 63 deaths as more than 30,700 tests have been completed. There are 677 new cases in Toronto, 320 in Peel, and 144 in York Region.
• In Canada, as at January 25, 2021, there are 753,011 total cases of COVID-19 with 62,447 active cases and 671,326 recovered. To date, there have been 19,238 COVID-19 related deaths and more than 17,086,340 individuals tested.

Summary of cases of COVID-19: Ontario, January 15, 2020 to January 25, 2021

Summary of Cases in Ontario Schools - Updated January 26, 2021.

Local Updates

• Belleville Council has given HPEPH permission to use the Quinte Sports and Wellness Centre as a site for a COVID-19 vaccination clinic.

• Prince Edward County:
  • PEC Community Care for Seniors provides free grocery pick up and delivery by calling       613-476-7493 and leaving a message, Meals on Wheels, Take-out meals for seniors and more.  Click the link for more information about all the services provided.

Provincial

Vaccinations for LTC Residents to be Accelerated:

• Ontario announced plans to accelerate the vaccination of residents in long-term care (LTC), high-risk retirement homes, and First Nations elder care homes by an earlier target date of February 5 rather than the February 15.
• General Hillier indicated the province has completed its first vaccinations of residents and staff in approximately 550 out 775 retirement homes.
• Health Minister Elliott indicated a small percentage of seniors in LTC have refused to be vaccinated. She noted there could be several reasons why, including perhaps the absence of an attorney but many residents do want to be vaccinated.
• Second doses will continue to be administered based on availability of supply provided by the federal government.
• Ontario will maintain the maximum interval of 21-27 days for long-term care, retirement and First Nations elder care home resident groups and up to 42 days between the two doses for all other groups.
• Doses of the Moderna vaccine will be reallocated to 14 public health units to ensure vaccines are administered at each long-term care home in the province.

Overview of Cases:

• Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Williams noted the number of cases appeared to be “levelling off” and “going in the right direction” but this trend should be taken with “a grain of salt” due to the risks posed by the U.K variant.
• Since Thursday, Ontario has reported an additional 9,396 daily new cases of COVID-19; sadly, another 232 people have lost their lives. During the same time last week, 12,054 cases were reported and 14,975 the week prior to that.
• Ontario’s seven-day average is currently at 2,371 (January 19 to 25), which is down from 3,056 last week and 3,555 the week prior to that. Today, the number of new cases of people infected with COVID-19 is reported as being 1,958, the first time the number has dropped below 2,000 since mid-December.
• Dr. Williams indicated that health experts are "reviewing" whether those who for essential reasons cannot maintain distancing requirements (e.g. long-term care staff and caregivers) should be wearing surgical/medical masks rather than cloth ones due to the dangers posed by the new COVID-19 variants.

Ontario Expanding Eligibility for Emergency Child Care:

The Ontario government made additions to the list of those eligible for emergency child care:

• Individuals working in fuel distribution and oil refineries;
• Education staff who are required to report to work in person while their children continue with remote learning;
• Grocery store and pharmacy workers;
• Truck drivers;
• Farmers and those who support food or agricultural product supply chains;
• Individuals involved in the collecting, transporting, storing, processing, disposing or recycling of any type of waste; and
• Individuals working in the manufacturing and distribution of disinfectants and sanitizers.

January 25 Marks the One Year Anniversary of the First COVID-19 Case in Ontario:

• On January 25, Premier Doug Ford and Christine Elliott, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health, issued the following statement to mark significant milestones since the first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in Ontario on January 25, 2020.
• A year ago, we were presented with one of the most difficult challenges in our history with the confirmation of the first case of COVID-19 in Ontario. The rapid spread of the virus through the province, the country and around the world would lead the World Health Organization to declare COVID-19 a global pandemic in March 2020.

Mobile Health Units Coming to Ontario:

• Public Safety Minister Blair announced the government of Canada will deploy two federal mobile health units to the Greater Toronto Area in response to a request for assistance from the Province of Ontario.
• Each mobile unit is expected to be staffed by the province and have facilities for up to 100 beds to help relieve ongoing pressures on Ontario's strained hospital capacity.
• The units will also facilitate the transfer of non-critical care patients out of critical care to ensure those specialized resources are available for those who need them the most.

Federal

Government Launches Budget Consultations to Hear from Canadians:

• Finance Minister Freeland launched pre-budget consultations to ask Canadians and experts across the country about how Budget 2021 can support Canadians through the pandemic and help us build back better. Canadians are invited to share their ideas through an online questionnaire at LetsTalkBudget2021.ca, which will be available until February 19.
• She also said the federal government is "looking seriously" at stricter travel measures, including possible mandatory hotel quarantines for those returning from non-essential trips abroad.

Ongoing Travel Advisory and Quarantine Requirements:

• Prime Minister Trudeau urged Canadians, once again, not to travel outside of Canada cautioning that new control measures at the border may be introduced "without warning."
• The Prime Minister said his government is considering a measure that would require travellers to Canada to quarantine in a designated hotel when they arrive and ensure they pay out of pocket for their stay.
• He also recommended against travel within Canada and between provinces warning that he and his provincial counterparts are ready to take stricter measures and are not ruling anything out.
• He noted that local police continue to enforce the federal quarantine measures in place and there are strict penalties for those who violate them.

Other News

• Ontario has extended the state of emergency and a stay-at-home order for an additional two weeks until February 9.
• Webinar Alert: The National Collaborating Centre for Environmental Health is hosting "Psychosocial Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic: A frame of reference from lessons learned through disasters in Canada"
  • Date: Jan 27, 2021 - 3pm EST
• Ottawa-based Spartan Bioscience has received Health Canada approval for its made-in-Canada rapid COVID-19 test, authorizing the sale of the device.
  • This rapid test offers hope because it is one of only a handful of approved quick-result tests that uses the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing method — widely considered the gold standard for accurate COVID-19 diagnostics — at the point-of-care, without the need to send anything to a lab.
• New Variant of COVID-19 found in the KFL&A Region.
• HPEPH Media Release: Young adults reminded to monitor for symptoms, seek testing for COVID-19 in #GetTestedHPE campaign

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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