For Municipal Partners

Hastings Prince Edward Public Health
Online Bulletin for Municipal Partners

May 8, 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 43 lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 186 probable cases, with 20 lab-confirmed cases having recovered and 5 deceased.
  • Approximately 4,148 COVID-19 tests have been conducted, with a 1.1% positivity rate.
  • Facilities experiencing COVID-19 outbreak can be found online.
  • More details are available on our website hpePublicHealth.ca.

• In Canada, there are 65,399 lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 resulting in 4,471 deaths. To date, over 1,032,088 individuals have been tested.

Summary of cases of COVID-19: Ontario, January 15, 2020 to May 7, 2020

Note: 163 cases did not specify male or female. 12 cases had an unknown age.

• There are 19,598 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ontario reported to date. This represents an increase of 477 confirmed cases from the previous report.
  • 41.9% of cases are male, 57.3% are female.
  • 43.4% of cases are 60 years of age and older.
  • Greater Toronto Area public health units account for 61.3% of cases.
  • 12.4% of cases were hospitalized.
• 1,540 deaths have been reported (please note there may be a reporting delay for deaths). This is an increase of 63 deaths from the previous report.
• 234 outbreaks have been reported in long-term care homes. This is an increase of 9 outbreaks from the previous report.

Federal

Wage Top-Up for Essential Workers

• While emphasizing that Canada needs to reflect on how it treats front-line and marginalized workers, the Prime Minister announced today that the federal government has reached a deal with the provinces and territories to boost essential workers' pay.
• While the final details of the $4B plan are still being worked out with the provinces and territories, the federal government has agreed to cover three-quarters ($3B) of the cost of this program, with other levels of government contributing the rest.
• All the provinces and territories have confirmed, or are in the process of confirming, plans to cost-share wage top-ups but decisions about who qualifies will rest with each province and territory.
• For example, Ontario announced earlier a $4-per-hour increase for a range of front-line workers.

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

• When asked by the media about the low quality of PPE that recently came from China, the Prime Minister said that they will be receiving millions of PPE items from China and many other countries on a daily basis, ensuring that Canada will have access to high quality PPE.

Testing and Contact Tracing

• In response to media questions about having a national testing strategy, the Prime Minister said that he did not see that as an effective solution. Rather, he saw the federal government continuing "to support provinces....with resources, material, to help them develop better plans, to have more testing in order to support the reopening of the economy" and continuing "to work to bring out improvement in all provinces."
• Premier Ford indicated recently that he had spoken to Deputy Prime Minister Freeland about the value of a national contact tracing strategy; she said that it would valuable to have a united approach. The Premier said he would be working with his provincial colleagues to build support.

Provincial

Ontario Releases Plan to Resume Scheduled Surgeries and Procedures

• Recognizing and appreciating that Ontario's healthcare system did not "crumble" during the pandemic, the Premier announced that the province is now looking at getting non-COVID-19 related care in hospitals back on track. He asked hospitals and those awaiting these services to "get ready".
• The Ministry of Health has developed a comprehensive framework to help hospitals assess their readiness and begin planning for the gradual resumption of scheduled surgeries and procedures, while maintaining capacity to respond to COVID-19.
• This framework, entitled A Measured Approach to Planning for Surgeries and Procedures During the COVID-19 Pandemic, contains criteria that must be met before hospitals can resume scheduled surgeries as well as criteria for prioritizing surgeries.
• As a first step, hospitals will need to assess adequate staffing, equipment and other resources to resume scheduled care. This assessment will be revisited on a weekly basis to reflect changing needs and requirements, including responding to any COVID-19 surges that may occur locally.
• Hospitals are also encouraged to look for opportunities to improve care delivery for scheduled surgical and procedural care. This could include using services that reduce patient time spent in acute care settings, the use of virtual care, care in the community, post-op remote monitoring programs, outpatient care, and the use of e-consults services, virtual medical assessments and triaging.
• The timelines for resuming surgeries and procedures will vary from hospital to hospital and be conditional on approval by regional oversight tables involved with planning and coordinating Ontario's response to COVID-19.

Travelling to Cottages

• Premier Ford modified his stance on Ontarians heading to their cottages for the May 24 long weekend. He said, "if you have to go to the cottage and check on things, bring your own supplies and just follow the rules... there is going to be many more weekends that you can go up there and have a good time but right now please just respect the rule. Right now, we need to focus on doing everything we can to protect the health and safety of all Ontarians". He has asked that cottagers not bring a "whole whack of people" to their cottages.

Local

• The Quinte Economic Development Commission has compiled a list of resources available to business during the COVID-19 pandemic. The list will be updated on their website as needed over the coming days and weeks.

• Today the City of Quinte West celebrates national military spouse appreciation day, sharing "Our military spouses are the heroes that don't wear uniforms. We see you, and we thank you".

• The Trenton Military Family Resource Centre (MFRC) is hosting virtual get-together every Tuesday (English) & Friday (French). Pour yourself a cup of coffee & meet Korena on Zoom for a weekly EarlyON kids activity & parent chat! Email korena.fc@trentonmfrc.ca to register.

• The MFRC will not be placing an order for Good Food Box for the month of May. Upon reopening, they hope to submit  previous orders from the month of March. For questions or enquiries about refunds, email kameel.s@trentonmfrc.ca.

• The Town of Bancroft is holding a virtual Council meeting on Tuesday May 12 at 3 pm followed by a Committee of the Whole meeting.

• The Municipality of Tweed boat launches are now open and the municipal boat launches in Centre Hastings are open as of noon today. Please be patient while others are loading and unloading, practice physical distancing at all times and take all necessary precautions to keep yourself, your family and our community safe. Access to park amenities such as washrooms, picnic areas etc. will remain closed. Gatherings of more than 5 people are strictly prohibited under the Provincial Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act.

• Prince Edward County issued a reminder today that Wellington Beach is currently closed and public gatherings are not permitted. Walking along the waterfront at Wellington Beach is allowed, but congregations are not and fines will be issued. 

• Quinte Health Care is reminding residents to not ignore signs of stroke. Precautions are in place to keep everyone safe from COVID-19 while in the hospital. In case of a stroke, please call 911.

• Youth Belleville is reminding residents that Canada's National Ballet School has put together some FREE online classes for all ages! From Adult Ballet to Choreography there is something for everyone. This is a great way to keep the body and mind active at home. Visit http://ow.ly/LBQB50zrOaW to learn more.

Public Health

• HPEPH reminds everyone that #MothersDay will be different this year. It's not yet time for family gatherings. Remember to practise #PhysicalDistancing (stay 2 metres apart from others outside of your household), wash hands, #StayAtHome and connect through phone or internet instead. It is difficult, but it’s the right thing to do.

• HPEPH has updated our COVID-19 Employer Information Package with the most current information regarding symptoms and recommendations.

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 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.