Remembering 123 lives lost, Markham marks 1-year anniversary of state of emergency

Solemn milestone comes amid race to vaccinate people against COVID-19

Yorkregion.com
March 18, 2021
Heidi Riedner

This week, flags were lowered to half mast at the Markham Civic Centre, and at all of the city's fire stations, to mark the one-year anniversary of the provincial state of emergency.

"We remember the 123 Markham lives lost and offer our heartfelt condolences to the families," Mayor Frank Scarpitti said in a tweet March 16.

The solemn milestone comes amid York Region's continued rollout of the vaccine, with eligible front-line health-care workers being added to the list, including chiropractors, massage therapists and naturopaths.

Premier Doug Ford, however, said in a news conference Wednesday he would prefer York's public health unit would focus on completing vaccinations of residents aged 80 and over before offering appointments to additional healthcare providers included in phase 1 of the province's roll out plan.

"I am encouraging every single public health unit take care of the most vulnerable ... and then we will get to the massage therapists and everyone else."

The Ministry of Health also increased the interval, between all Health Canada-approved COVID-19 vaccinations, to up to 16 weeks to allow Ontario to maximize the number of people receiving first doses while there is limited supply.

As a result, any pre-booked second-dose appointments in York Region will be rescheduled to about 16 weeks after the first appointment.

The hope is to vaccinate most of the region's population before variants of the virus, which account for about 40 per cent of cases, become the dominant form, according to the region's medical officer of health, Dr. Karim Kurji.

A total of 88,631 vaccines have been administered, including 33,553 doses administered to people 80 years of age or older, as of March 14, according to York Region Public Health.

Among those who are 80 years old or older in the region, 62.8 per cent have received at least one dose.

The province has prioritized who gets the vaccine in a three phase rollout:

Phase 1 (December 2020 to March 2021): Residents, staff, essential caregivers and other employees in congregate living settings for seniors; health-care workers, including hospital employees, staff who work or study in hospitals and health-care personnel; adults in First Nations, Métis and Inuit populations and adult recipients of chronic home health care.

Phase 2 (March to July 2021, depending on availability of vaccines): Roughly 8.5 million people in groups such as seniors, those living and working in high-risk congregate settings like shelters, front-line workers, individuals with high-risk chronic conditions and their caregivers, and others facing barriers related to the determinants of health across Ontario who are at greater risk of getting  COVID-19.

Phase 3 (August 2021 and beyond, depending on availability of vaccines): Remaining Ontarians in the general population who wish to be vaccinated will receive it.