For Municipal Partners

Hastings Prince Edward Public Health
Online Bulletin for Municipal Partners

April 29, 2020

To ensure everyone has current information during this quickly evolving outbreak, Hastings Prince Edward Public Health will be providing regular COVID-19 updates over the next several weeks.

For more information please review our website or call 613-966-5500.

Updates

Epidemiological

• Hastings and Prince Edward Counties have 39 lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 215 probable cases, with 19 lab-confirmed cases having recovered and three deceased.
  • Approximately 2,340 COVID-19 tests have been conducted, with a 1.9% positivity rate.
  • Long-term care homes Hastings Manor and Moira Place continue to be in COVID-19 outbreak.
  • More details are available on our website hpePublicHealth.ca.

• In Canada, there are 50,363 lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 resulting in 2,904 deaths. To date, over 758,412 individuals have been tested.

Summary of cases of COVID-19: Ontario, January 15, 2020 to April 28, 2020

Note: 141 cases did not specify male or female. Seven cases had an unknown age.

• There are 15,728 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ontario reported to date in iPHIS. This represents an increase of 347 confirmed cases from the previous report.
  • 41.6% of cases are male, 57.5% are female.
  • 44.8% of cases are 60 years of age and older.
  • Greater Toronto Area public health units account for 59.2% of cases.
  • 11.4% of cases were hospitalized.
• 996 deaths have been reported (please note there may be a reporting delay for deaths in iPHIS). This is an increase of 45 deaths from the previous report.
• 181 outbreaks have been reported in long-term care homes. This is an increase of 5 outbreaks from the previous report.
• 521 deaths have been reported among residents/patients in long-term care homes. This is an increase of 45 deaths from the previous report.

Federal

Canada COVID-19 Modelling Numbers

• Canada's Chief Public Health Officer, Dr. Tam, provided updated data and projections on the number of potential cases and deaths in Canada from COVID-19. She referred to some positive trends in the new modelling data while also saying that Canada is nearing the best-case scenario.
• Federal health officials expect to see between 3,227 and 3,883 deaths and 53,191 and 66,835 cases by May 5.
• While the number of new cases was doubling every three days previously, it is now doubling every 16 days.
• Caseload growth is slowing across the country and Canada has experienced slower growth than many other countries.
• One reason is that infected individuals are not infecting as many others as they did earlier; previously each infected person had spread the coronavirus to 2.19 other individuals, while the current transmission rate sees the virus spread to just over one other person.
• For the virus to die out, the average number of people to whom an infected individual passes the virus has to drop below one.
• While the COVID-19 fatality rate was initially calculated as roughly 2.2%, the rate has now been revised to 5.5%, in light of a spike in deaths in long-term care homes.
• Overall, deaths in long-term care and seniors' homes account for 79% of the total deaths in the country;
• Individuals over the age of 60 account for 95% of total deaths.
• There are also regional differences:
  • While the number of cases has levelled off in several provinces, the caseload in Quebec, Ontario and Alberta is "driving" the epidemic's growth in Canada.
  • Ontario and Quebec represent more than 80% of all confirmed cases; B.C. and Alberta are the next most effected provinces, accounting for 14% of cases.
  • There are no cases in Nunavut and no community spread in Prince Edward Island, Northwest Territories or the Yukon.

Federal Criteria and Measures to Restart the Economy

• Prime Minister Trudeau announced that the federal, provincial, and territorial governments have come together and agreed to a set of common principles for restarting the Canadian economy.
• They issued a joint statement yesterday that acknowledges the importance of:
  • Restarting the economy through a gradual approach that protects the health of Canadians, including high-risk groups.
  • Ensuring public health capacity to address future waves of the virus.
  • Supporting a range of economic sectors and Canadian workers.
• Their agreement supports four main principles:
  1. Taking a science and evidence-based approach
  2. Promoting decision-making, coordination and collaboration between all jurisdictions.
  3. Continued accountability and transparency of all governments.
  4. Flexibility and proportionality as information changes over time.
• The following criteria and measures to which the federal, provincial and territorial governments agreed must be in place in order to restart the economy:
  • COVID-19 transmission is controlled, new cases are contained at a level that the health care system can manage.
  • Sufficient public health capacity is in place to test, trace, isolate, and control the spread of the virus.
  • Expanded health care capacity exists to support all needs, including COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients.
  • Supprts are in place for vulnerable groups, communities, and key populations.
  • Support and monitoring of workplace protocols are in place.
  • Restrictions on non-essential travel are eased and managed in a coordinated manner.
  • Communities are supported in managing local disease activity.

Free Online Crisis Training for Essential Workers

• The Mental Health Commission of Canada has developed three crisis response training programs for essential workers: Caring for Yourself, Caring for your Team, and Caring for Others. Registration for these courses will be on a first-come, first-served basis and will be available at no cost for essential workers as defined by the Government of Canada.

Provincial

Ontario Helping Businesses Overcome the Unique Challenges Created by COVID-19

• Yesterday, Premier Ford announced the launch of a new website, COVID-19: Tackling the Barriers, that would provide the private sector with a vehicle to put forward proposals for temporarily changing rules and regulations that could help assist with the recovery of the economy.
• The province is prepared to allow temporary changes to provincial rules and regulations in order to remove any barriers that are hindering businesses, for example, for those who are retooling their operations to produce health-related products or to make it easier for businesses trying to operate remotely.
  • Interested businesses can submit proposals for temporarily removing any potential roadblocks.
• Minister Sarkaria, Associate Minister of Small Business and Red Tape Reduction said, “we need to do everything we can to support businesses as they struggle to operate as an essential business, or wait for the outbreak to subside...it is not business as usual...our government is prepared to temporarily adjust our processes, rules, and regulations to accommodate unforeseen circumstances."

Elementary Teacher’s Federation of Ontario Central Agreements Now Ratified

• The central agreements with the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario (ETFO) have been ratified by school boards and the union, and agreed to by the Government of Ontario. ETFO represents approximately 2,724 education workers in the English-language public and English-language Catholic K-12 education sector, and more than 83,000 elementary teachers in the English-language public K-12 education sector.
• Collective agreements between school boards and ETFO include both central and local terms. The central terms are now resolved. To complete the collective bargaining process, local terms need to be reached between each school board and its ETFO Teacher and Education Worker bargaining units.

Local

• At the request of the Quinte Health Care (QHC) Board of Directors, President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mary Clare Egberts has delayed her retirement until the end of 2020 in order to provide consistent leadership through the COVID-19 pandemic. Ms. Egberts had previously notified the Board of her intention to retire in August.

• Until further notice, the Crisis Intervention Centre, a free community mental health program sponsored by Quinte Health Care, will not be providing in-person services. The Centre continues to be available 24/7 by phone at 613-969-7400 or 1-888-757-7766, ext. 2753. Assistance is available to any adult 16+ experiencing a psychological, emotional or situational crisis requiring immediate, short-term assistance. The Centre can also be contacted by family members, health care providers, or social service agencies. No referral is necessary. Those experiencing a mental health emergency should proceed to their local Emergency Department.

Public Health

• Correction - Dr. Ethan Toumishey will be hosting the Facebook live COVID-19 update at 2 pm tomorrow, April 30 (not at 1 pm as previously indicated). Tune in on our Facebook page to participate, or watch the broadcast live on Cogeco's YourTV station. If you are not able to watch live, the video remains available for viewing after the live broadcast has been completed.

• HPEPH issued a release this morning regarding the opening of community gardens and the regulations for their safe operation during the COVID-19 pandemic. To ensure public safety in local community gardens during the pandemic, HPEPH has created COVID-19 Safe Operating Requirements for Community Gardens and is committed to advising and supporting municipalities with its implementation.

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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