COVID-19: What you need to know for April 27

Tvo.org
April 30, 2020

TVO.org reporters and editors are tracking stories about the coronavirus pandemic in all regions of the province. Here's what Ontarians need to know.

Provincewide

Per today's government report, there are 14,856 cases in Ontario, an increase of 424; 945 people are in hospital, 241 of them in intensive care and 191 on ventilators. To date, 892 people have died.

According to today's report from the Ministry of Long-Term Care, there are 150 outbreaks in long-term care facilities, 2,523 confirmed cases in residents and 1,187 confirmed cases in staff. To date, there have been 671 confirmed resident deaths and one confirmed staff death.

Barbara Yaffe, the associate chief medical officer of health, said today that, to date, 2,016 health-care workers have tested positive.

Premier Doug Ford unveiled Ontario's reopening framework today. Read analysis from John Michael McGrath -- and check out the full framework document.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said today that applications for the wage-subsidy program opened at 6 a.m. this morning and that almost 10,000 businesses have already applied. The first payments are expected by May 7.

Ontario's patient ombudsman has issued a call for complaints in the province's long-term-care sector. The ombudsman, a public investigator for the hospital and LTC system, is asking for "staff, family members, caregivers and residents to disclose situations where they feel the safety of long-term care home residents and staff may be in significant jeopardy."

A proposed class-action lawsuit has been launched alleging that the operator of several long-term-care homes in Ontario failed to “properly and adequately plan for and respond to the COVID-19 pandemic,” the Toronto Star reports. The lawsuit (whose allegations have not been proven in court) says that homes run by Responsive Group had seen 71 of its residents die as of April 23 -- more than 10 per cent of the COVID-19 related deaths in Ontario.

In a survey by the Angus Reid Institute, 50 per cent of Canadians report that their mental health has worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ontario continues to rank near the bottom in Canada when it comes to testing, the Globe and Mail reports. The province has conducted 1,412 tests per 100,000 people. Alberta leads all provinces with 2,681 tests per 100,000. The Canadian average is 1,755.

Greater Toronto Area

Per today's report, there are 4,973 cases of COVID-19 in Toronto, 308 of them in hospital and 104 in intensive care. In total, 297 people have died.

Toronto mayor John Tory today announced the launch of the CurbTO program, which will increase pedestrian space and improve parking for curbside pickup in 10 hotspots. According to a press release, "City staff have worked to identify key hot spots where there are lineups or pinch points on sidewalks that public health and transportation officials have determined need to be addressed to continue to encourage physical distancing and protect overall public health." The initiative will be expanded to more than 100 locations across the city.

Porter Airlines is extending its temporary suspension of flights until June 29.

Mirvish Productions is delaying the beginning of its theatre season until January 2021.
Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children reports that a teenage inpatient has tested positive. Other patients in the unit have tested negative -- and members of the clinical team will be off-duty until their results are in.

Vaughan mayor Maurizio Bevilacqua tweeted Sunday night that five employees at an area Costco store have tested positive.

Indigenous

On April 29, the Waakebiness-Bryce Institute for Indigenous Health will be hosting a webinar on urban Indigenous perspectives during COVID-19.

As of Sunday, Six Nations of the Grand River was reporting 11 cases.

Northern

Kasper Transportation will be suspending all operations as of Saturday as a result of reduced ridership.

Thunder Bay's Sleeping Giant Brewing Company will be partnering with a biotechnology company to make hand sanitizer.

An outbreak has been declared at Sudbury's Pioneer Manor long-term-care home after a resident tested positive.

The first person in the northwest to die from COVID-19 has been identified as a Lac Des Iles worker.

Eastern

Cornwall Police Service says it has received an "overwhelming" number of requests for birthday drive-bys. Already facing additional calls for service during the pandemic, CPS says it will no longer be able to fulfill the birthday requests.

An Ottawa councillor says that he wants the city to follow Toronto's lead and keep track of race-based COVID-19 data. "Black community members in Ottawa have long called for government-funded health and social service agencies to basically leverage disaggregated data in order to identify race-based disparities in outcomes, including health and education," Rideau-Rockcliffe councillor Rawlson King told CBC News.

The National Capital Commission will be extending its pilot project and closing Ottawa's Queen Elizabeth Driveway to traffic for another two weeks.

All staff and residents at nine long-term-care homes in Ottawa were tested for COVID-19 over the weekend, CBC News reports. There are currently 21 outbreaks at LTC homes in the city.

A Trent University professor says that the COVID-19 shutdown has led to cleaner air in Peterborough and around the world. It helps that vehicle traffic has declined 80 per cent, Shaun Watmough told the Peterborough Examiner.

Southwestern

The Stratford Festival has announced that it has decided to cancel its 2020 season.

The Region of Waterloo has announced that it will reopen waste-transfer stations in Waterloo and Cambridge to the public but will continue to restrict curbside pickup to bagged garbage.

Nearly 40 migrant workers at a Chatham-Kent greenhouse operation have tested positive for COVID-19, the London Free Press reports.

A Church of God pastor in Aylmer continues to defy provincial emergency orders banning large groups by holding a service on Sunday in the church's parking lot. People attended in about 70 cars, according to the London Free Press. Police videotaped the proceedings but didn't issue tickets.

At the beginning of COVID-19 outbreak, stores couldn't keep up with the demand for toilet paper. Now it looks as if they can add vegetable seeds to the list of hard-to-keep-in-stock items. "It's unprecedented," the manager of the Ontario Seed retail store tells the Record in the Waterloo Region.

A new business is helping to connect those who want work with labour jobs in area farms; in its first two weeks, it fielded 2,400 applications, the CBC reports.

Three major annual summer music festivals in London, including Sunfest, have announced their cancellation for this year.