Doug Ford to delay easing COVID-19 rules after Trinity Bellwoods gathering and a rise in cases

Thestar.com
May 26, 2020
Rob Ferguson

A rise in COVID-19 case numbers in the last week and crowds like the one in Trinity Bellwoods park on the weekend have forced Ontario to delay plans to allow more than five people to gather.

“It has been pushed back a little bit because of what we’ve seen over the last few days,” Health Minister Christine Elliott said Monday as Ontario’s cases topped 27,000, according to a Star tally.

“We will have to see the numbers come down first,” Elliott added, citing “reluctance” from chief medical officer Dr. David Williams to ease the restriction.

Williams said he is “disappointed” in the continued higher numbers of new cases in the 400s daily all weekend even as testing levels have dropped over the last week.

Premier Doug Ford hinted a change was imminent two weeks ago but said the unexpected increase in case numbers last week is making him “gun shy.”

“Some areas are lighting up like a Christmas tree,” he added, a reference to postal code tracking of cases that shows “hot spots” in Brampton, northwest Toronto and parts of Scarborough.

Elliott said the rise in infections followed Mother’s Day and the government is waiting to see how numbers fare this week to see if the openings of more businesses in the last two weeks also had an impact. It can take up to two weeks develop symptoms or a viral load of COVID-19 high enough for tests to detect.

Ford scolded young people who flocked to Trinity Bellwoods on Saturday and sat too closely together, prompting City of Toronto officials to crack down on Sunday.

“Why don’t you do us a favour and all get tested now?” the premier told his televised daily news conference.

An epidemiologist at the University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health advised holding off to allow signs of the disease to present.

“I’d say a bigger favour would be to wait until Friday,” Dr. David Fisman tweeted.

Ontario’s associate medical officer contradicted Ford’s advice, saying the Trinity Bellwoods crowd should monitor for symptoms for two weeks and try not to mix with others, particularly older parents or others at higher risk.

“We’re not recommending they all go for testing at this point,” said Dr. Barbara Yaffe.

Processing of COVID-19 tests fell again despite a push by Ford and provincial health officials to have more people get checked at assessment centres.

Ministry of Health figures released Monday show labs produced results on just 8,170 tests Sunday, down from 11,383 on Saturday and well below the capacity to process more than 20,000 daily.

Ford loosened testing criteria, allowing people without symptoms of the novel coronavirus to get checked providing they may have been exposed to the virus or run the risk of getting it on the job, such as grocery store workers. Until 10 days ago, assessment centres were turning away people with mild symptoms.

“We’ll get those daily numbers up where they need to be,” said Ford, promising a “robust public awareness campaign” and a new testing strategy that will involve going to “hot spots,” perhaps with mobile testing vans, and large industries.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said testing has been “abysmally low” for more than a week since a blitz was completed in the nursing-home sector hit hardest by the highly contagious virus.

Last Monday, just 5,813 tests were processed, barely over 25 per cent of capacity and numbers stayed below 12,000 all last week resulting in the ability to test about 75,000 people being foregone -- all while the province has been scrambling to get a better handle on where COVID-19 is spreading.

“Asking everyone to be tested isn’t a plan,” said Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca. “The responsibility isn’t on Ontarians to bail Ford out, it’s on him to have a cohesive, coherent plan that will actually stop the spread.”

Horwath called on Ford to expand testing beyond the almost 130 assessment centres across the province, particularly in workplaces where employees are vulnerable, such as the food supply, construction and automotive industries along with other manufacturing.

There were another 417 confirmed and probable cases as of 5 p.m. Monday, according to a Star compilation of data from health units in the previous 24 hours.

That increased Ontario’s tally to 27,489 since the first case was reported in January. There were 29 more deaths, for a total of 2,193, including at least 1,531 nursing home residents and six workers who cared for them.

To date, just under 20,000 people in Ontario have recovered from COVID-19 and 619,539 have been tested, the Ministry of Health said. There were 859 in hospital, including 148 in intensive care and 114 of them on ventilators to breathe. Those numbers have been declining.

Across Canada, there have been at least 85,103 confirmed cases and 6,453 deaths.