For Municipal Partners

Hastings Prince Edward Public Health
Online Bulletin for Municipal Partners

April 15, 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 has 27 lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 261 probable cases.
  • Two area long-term care homes continue to be in COVID-19 outbreak.
  • More details are available on our website hpePublicHealth.ca.
• In Canada, there are currently 27,046 lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 resulting in 903 deaths. To date, over 454,983 individuals have been tested.

Summary of cases of COVID-19: Ontario, January 15, 2020 to April 14, 2020

Note: 48 cases did not specify male or female. Five cases had an unknown age.

• There are 8,447 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ontario reported to date in iPHIS. This represents an increase of 494 confirmed cases from the previous report.
  • 43.6% of cases are male, 55.9% are female.
  • 40.9% of cases are 60 years of age and older.
  • Greater Toronto Area public health units account for 55.0% of cases.
• 12.7% of cases were hospitalized.
• 385 deaths have been reported (please note there may be a reporting delay for deaths in iPHIS). This is an increase of 51 deaths from the previous report.
• Ninety-eight outbreaks have been reported in long-term care homes.

Federal

• Prime Minister Trudeau indicated yesterday that he is discussing plans with his provincial colleagues for a phased re-opening of the economy, noting that protective measures would need to stay in place for weeks to come.

New Quarantine Measures for Returning Travellers

• To prevent the spread of COVID-19, PM Trudeau announced that all travellers coming into Canada would be required to outline their quarantine plan and "if asymptomatic travelers cannot explain their quarantine plan, they will be required to quarantine in a hotel."

Personal Protective Equipment and Testing Kits

• The federal government is preparing to ship 1.1 million N95 masks to provincial governments across Canada. Millions of gloves and protective gowns, delivered by domestic suppliers, are expected to arrive and be distributed starting next Monday.
• Spartan Bioscience of Ottawa will provide thousands of rapid same day testing kits.

Increased Funding for Northern Communities and Food Inspection

• $130 million will be available to help the Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut during the coronavirus pandemic to cover the costs of healthcare and community preparedness, Nutrition North Canada, and northern air carriers so that food, basic necessities, medical equipment can continue to reach these communities.
• $20 million will support the strengthening of food inspection and food safety by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency through the hiring of more staff and increasing the number of shifts and hours worked.

Fraudulent N95 Mask Alert

• Health Canada has issued a release warning Canadians about the risks of using fraudulent and unauthorized N95 respirator masks after receiving reports that fraudulent and uncertified N95 respirators that falsely claim to protect consumers against COVID-19 are being illegally sold to consumers online and in some stores. Fraudulent or unauthorized N95 masks may not meet the same performance measures required by the NIOSH N95 standard and, as a result, may not properly protect consumers from COVID-19. Consumers are directed to ensure their product has been certified by NIOSH by entering the approval number, which can be found on the respirator, in the NIOSH database and to report information on the potential false or misleading advertising or sale of unauthorized products to Health Canada.

Provincial

• Ontario's Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. David Williams, shared good news yesterday that, instead of seeing the daily number of cases doubling over 4 to 5 days (as assumed in the worst case scenario) or 7 to 8 days (in a reasonable model), we are seeing a "plateauing of our numbers at [the] 400s".
• Premier Ford said that it was too soon to relax public health measures as Ontario continues to fight the pandemic. "During these unprecedented times, we cannot let our guard down. The actions being taken by everyone to stay home and practice physical distancing are making a difference, but we are not out of the woods yet."

Extension of the Declaration of Emergency

• Ontario's Declaration of an Emergency has been extended until May 12^th. This extension allows Ontario to enforce emergency orders passed earlier (e.g. closure of all non-essential workplaces, parks and recreational areas, bars and restaurants; restrictions on social gatherings; and prohibitions against price-gouging).
• A full list of emergency orders can be found on the e-Laws website under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act.

Passage of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Support and Protection Act

• Yesterday, the legislature passed the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Support and Protection Act to amend the Education Act, Planning Act, Development Charges Act, Police Services Act and the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities Act.

• The amendments to the Education Act will:
  • Allow school boards to continue charging fees on new construction in order to retain revenue for new school projects.
  • Provide a fair and consistent province-wide approach to addressing school suspensions and expulsions as part of the government's commitment to the safety of students and staff upon the reopening of schools.
• The changes to the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities Act will:
  • Temporarily suspend student loan payments for OSAP borrowers.
  • Initiate a six-month interest-free moratorium on OSAP loans.
• The changes to the Development Charges Act will:
  • Ensure municipalities can receive revenue to pay for local growth-related infrastructure (e.g. roads, water and sewers as well as fire and police services).
• The amendments to the Police Services Act will:
  • Allow the Solicitor General to give municipalities an extension beyond January 1, 2021 to prepare and adopt a community safety and well-being plan.

Extension of School Closures

• Education Minister Lecce noted that while schools will remain closed into May, it does not necessarily mean that the school year has been cancelled, the Minister will provide more information in the coming days.

Plans to Protect Residents in Long-Term Care

• Premier Doug Ford recognized that "despite our best efforts, we're dealing with a wildfire in long-term care homes. I will do whatever it takes, I will spare no expense, I will leave nothing on the table, when it comes to protecting our seniors and the most vulnerable." As a starting point, Premier Ford announced the following measures to limit the spread and protect elderly residents in long term care:
  • Effective last night, caregivers can only work in one long-term care home at a time.
  • Specialized "hospital-based teams" will be sent to long-term care homes.
  • More funding will be immediately directed for staffing to make this possible.

Local

• AMHS-HPE has extended the hours of their Pandemic Helpline for residents of Hastings and Prince Edward Counties struggling with mental health or substance use issues during the pandemic. The helpline, at 613-967-4737, is now open from 9 am to 6 pm, seven days a week, including statutory holidays. Current clients of AMHS-HPE are encouraged to connect directly with their worker.

• Municipalities are asked to remind residents that all public and catholic board school yards, playgrounds, play equipment and sports fields are closed to the public until further notice to avoid the transmission of COVID-19.

• The County of Prince Edward has closed all municipal boat launches, effective 11:59 pm on Tuesday, April 14, to discourage unnecessary recreational travel to the municipality during the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. The launches will remain closed until Tuesday, May 12, as aligned with the 28-day extension of the provincial emergency declaration passed yesterday. The municipality will consider whether to lift the boat launch closure at that time. County by-law enforcement will be monitoring the boat launches to ensure compliance with the closure. First responders will continue to have access to launch their vessels.

• The municipality of Prince Edward County and local volunteers are working to expand access to food for County residents during the pandemic. A temporary food distribution depot is being established in the Picton Town Hall. Anyone requiring support now or in the future, is asked to call the County’s COVID-19 help line at 1-833-676-2148. Municipal staff will provide information about the various food programs and supports that are available.

• The Hastings County Plowmen’s Association announced yesterday that the 2020 Hastings County Plowing Match & Farm Show, scheduled for August 19 and 20, has been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Due to the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak, the Quinte Trash Bash Planning Committee has decided to postpone the annual event, scheduled for May 9, until further notice to help ensure the safety of residents and volunteers.

Public Health

• Dr. Oglaza will be hosting his next Facebook Live COVID-19 update tomorrow (April 16) at 1 pm on the HPEPH facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/hpepublichealth/. This broadcast is also being streamed live on Cogeco’s YourTV Belleville station and on Bancroft’s Moose FM radio.

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

You have received this email at kkhani@hpeph.ca from Hastings Prince Edward Public Health as a result of a request you have made or due to a service/subscription that you are registered for. While you may discontinue your subscription to this mailing at any time by pressing the unsubscribe button below, this bulletin will be used to provide important updates about COVID-19 in our community.