For Municipal Partners

Hastings Prince Edward Public Health
Online Bulletin for Municipal Partners

March 30, 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 482 cumulative lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 39 active, 437 resolved and 6 deceased. There were 3 new cases reported today.
    • 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
  • VOCs: 15
  • Vaccines administered to date:  26,795
  • Fully vaccinated individuals to date:  1,920
  • Ontario is reporting 2,336 cases of COVID-19 and 14 deaths as more than 36,100 tests have been completed. There are 727 new cases in Toronto, 434 in Peel, 229 in York Region, 194 in Durham, 144 in Ottawa and 123 in Hamilton.
  • In Canada, as at March 30, 2021, there are 976,598 total cases of COVID-19 with 46,395 active cases and 907,277 recovered. To date, there have been 22,926 COVID-19 related deaths and more than 27,550,308 individuals tested.

Summary of cases of COVID-19: Ontario, January 15, 2020 to March 29, 2021

 

Report

Number

Percentage

Number of Cases

 347,570

N/A

Change from previous day’s report (new cases)

 2,336

0.7 increase

Resolved

 320,409

92.2

Change from previous day’s report

 1,477 0.5 increase

Total number of deaths

7,351

2.1

Total tests completed

12,498,641

N/A

Total test completed in the previous day

36,071

N/A

Currently under investigation

35,066

N/A

Summary of Cases in Ontario Schools - Updated March 30, 2021.

 

Report

Number of New Cases

 Cumulative Cases

School-related cases 

518

 12,750

School-related student cases

440

 9,486

School-related staff cases

 77 2,100

Individual(s) not identified (other staff)

1

 1,164

Current number of schools with a reported case

 1,168 N/A

Current number of schools closed

58

 N/A

 


Local Updates

Upcoming Vaccincation Clinics

Loyalist College - Belleville - 9 am to 4 pm - 75+ age group

  • Wednesday, March 31 - FULL
  • Thursday, April 1
  • Saturday, April 3
  • Monday, April 5
  • Tuesday, April 6 - 12 to 7 pm

Prince Edward Community Centre - Picton - 9:30 am to 3:30 pm - 75+ age group

  • Wednesday, March 31 - 12 to 7 pm - FUL
  • Thursday, April 1

Madoc Township Hall - Eldorado - 9:30 am to 3:30 pm - 75+ age group

  • Monday, April 5 - 12 to 7 pm

Duncan McDonald Memorial Community Centre - Trenton - 9 am to 4 pm - 75+ age group

  • Wednesday, March 31 - FULL
  • Thursday, April 1
  • Monday, April 5

Bancroft Legion - Bancroft - 10 am - 3 pm - 75+ age group

  • Thursday, April 1
  • Tuesday, April 6


Provincial

Quick Summary of Provincial Developments:

  • Ontario is providing an estimated $100M for a new one-time Ontario Tourism and Hospitality Small Business Support Grant and $100M for a new one-time recovery program
  • Effective March 29, Ontario is Adjusting Public Health Measures for Activities in Grey-Lockdown Level permitting outdoor fitness classes to allow 10 persons and marinas/boat clubs to open for outdoor dining. Personal care services can resume at 25% capacity on April 12.
  • The provincial government has released Recommendations on Exceptions to Extended Dose Intervals for COVID-19 vaccines from the province’s Vaccine Clinical Advisory Group (VCAG).
  • Ontario is pausing the use of AstraZeneca vaccine for people under the age of 55, based on the National Advisory Committee on Immunization’s (NACI) recommendations. Ontario has only administered this vaccine to people 60 years and older to date.
  • Ontario has administered over two million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. Eleven public health regions opened up the provincial booking system to people born in 1951 and earlier (70+) yesterday.

Ontario Expands COVID-19 Vaccination Booking to Individuals Aged 70 and over in Additional Regions

The Ontario government is extending booking for COVID-19 vaccination appointments to individuals aged 70 and over through its online booking system and call centre in 11 additional public health units on March 29, 2021, following its expansion in Toronto that began on March 27, 2021.

As of 8:00 a.m. on Monday, March 29, 2021, all individuals aged 70 and over in the following public health units will be eligible to book a COVID-19 vaccination appointment at a mass immunization clinic through the provincial online booking system and call centre:

  • City of Hamilton Public Health Services;
  • Grey Bruce Health Unit;
  • Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington Public Health;
  • Lambton Public Health;
  • Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit;
  • Niagara Region Public Health;
  • Ottawa Public Health;
  • Peel Public Health;
  • Simcoe-Muskoka District Health Unit;
  • Timiskaming Health Unit; and
  • York Region Public Health.

Ontario Strengthening Medication Safety in Long-Term Care Homes

  • The Ontario government is providing more than $77 million to help long-term care homes adopt advanced technologies to strengthen medication safety. Modernizing this process will allow for better transmission and handling of prescriptions, more accurate administration of medication and increased security of the drug supply in long-term care homes.

Ontario's Action Plan: Protecting People's Health and Our Economy

On March 24, Minister of Finance and President of the Treasury Board Peter Bethlenfalvy released Ontario's Action Plan: Protecting People's Health and Our Economy. The 2021 Budget is the next phase of Ontario's response to COVID-19 and is the second Budget the government has delivered during the pandemic.

Ontario Provincial Booking System for COVID-19 Vaccines Information:

  • Individuals who will be turning 75 or older and wish to make an appointment — or an individual trusted to make an appointment on their behalf — can visit Ontario.ca/bookvaccine.
  • For individuals who do not have internet access, they can call the Provincial Vaccine Information Line at 1-888-999-6488, open Monday to Sunday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
  • When booking an appointment, individuals will be asked for information from their green Ontario health card, birth date, postal code and email address and/or phone number. At the time of booking, eligible individuals will schedule their first and second vaccination appointments.
  • Individuals who still have a red and white health card, or who require assistance with booking, can call the Provincial Vaccine Information Line number at 1-888-999-6488.

Federal

Quick Summary of Federal Developments:

  • Health Canada has issued a label change on the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to provide information “on very rare reports of blood clots associated with low levels of blood platelets” and additional guidance for healthcare professionals and vaccine recipients on the potential symptoms to monitor.
  • The National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) recommends not using the AstraZeneca vaccine for people under the age of 55 at this time while the safety signal of Vaccine-Induced Prothrombotic Immune Thrombocytopenia (VIPIT) following vaccination with this vaccine is being investigated. Rare cases of blood clots have been reported in Europe primarily in women under 55 and some cases in men 4 to 16 days after use.
  • Health Canada now requires AstraZeneca and Verity Pharmaceuticals/Serum Institute of India to conduct a detailed assessment of the benefits and risks of the vaccine by age and sex in the Canadian context as part of the authorization of the vaccine for use. Health Canada’s guidance continues to provide healthcare practitioners with information on the signs and symptoms to monitor following vaccination.
  • Finance Minister Freeland announced an additional $7.2B in pandemic support for health care, COVID-19 vaccination programs and municipalities.
  • The Special Advisory Committee on the Epidemic of Opioid Overdoses released the latest national data on the overdose crisis that covers the period of January 1, 2016 to September 30, 2020.

COVID-19 Vaccine Procurement and Distribution:

  • Canada has now received more than six million doses of COVID-19 vaccine and is scheduled to receive another six million doses over the next 3 weeks.
  • Moderna is increasing the frequency of its deliveries from every third week to every second week. Canada is now expected to receive 855,000 doses the week of April 5 and 1.2 million doses the week of April 19. However, the second delivery will be delayed for a few days due to temporary circumstances relating to the quality assurance process.
  • 11% of Canadians have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to date.

 

Local

Section 22 Class Order Issued in Hastings and Prince Edward Counties

    • Enhanced restrictions intend to curb transmission in our region, avoid overwhelming emergency and health services, and avoid extreme restrictions locally.
    • While we recognize it is difficult for impacted businesses to limit their clientele to local residents, these efforts will help avoid the spread of VOC present in other regions, and help you keep operating as normally as possible.
    • If we are unable to keep rates under control in our region, we will likely be moved into more extreme restrictions by the province.
    • Private social gatherings must not exceed five people (exception – if more than 5 people live in one household)
      • Individuals who live alone may choose to join one, exclusive household to gather with. To protect one another, maintain 2m of distance and wear a mask.
      • Businesses may continue to facilitate organized gatherings that exceed more than 5 people, as long as all public health precautions are in place.

Useful Links

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

You have received this email at 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.