KEY UPDATES
FEDERAL
The Prime Minister began his remarks today acknowledging the start of Ramadan and thanked everyone for continuing to stay home
· He reiterated condolences for families grieving in Nova Scotia, as well as those in Toronto remembering the two-year anniversary of the Yonge Street van attack
· An additional $1.1 billion was announced for a national medical and research strategy to address COVID-19; this strategy has three pillars:
o Vaccine research and development (focused on how Canada can develop and mass produce a vaccine)
o Clinical trials for the production of potential treatments
o Tracking of the virus (expanded testing and modelling)
· Funding builds on the $275 million investment for coronavirus research and medical countermeasures announced on March 11 and the investment of $27 million to fund coronavirus research announced on March 6
· The Prime Minister introduced the COVID-19 Immunity Task Force that will operate under the direction of a leadership group, which includes Dr. David Naylor, Dr. Catherine Hankins, Dr. Tim Evans, Dr. Theresa Tam and Dr. Mona Nemer
o The task force will establish priorities and oversee the coordination of a series of country-wide blood test surveys to tell us how widely the virus has spread in Canada and provide reliable estimates of potential immunity and vulnerabilities in Canadian populations
· Canada is currently completing about 20,000 tests daily – this needs to increase before we can go back to normalcy
· Ontario and Quebec have requested military assistance, which Ottawa will answer that call, to help provinces get control of the situation – but this is not a long-term solution, soldiers should not look after seniors
PROVINCIAL
Premier Ford announced the Ontario Government’s Covid-19 Action Plan for Vulnerable People. The plan outlines steps to better protect vulnerable populations and people living and working in high-risk settings. The Provincial government is deploying PPE to all staff in all congregate settings and conducting risk assessments, starting with homeless shelters and group homes. The Provincial government will be limiting staff working in congregate settings to one facility during an outbreak and will further train staff so they know what to do in the event of an outbreak. The Provincial government remains committed to getting resources and support to where it is needed most.
YORK REGION
· To continue educating residents on proper physically distancing, a series of social media posts showing common examples of 2 metres distances will be posted throughout the week – the first was shared today on Facebook and Twitter
· YRMG released a story on the financial impact COVID-19 has had on York Region, referring to the preliminary figures in Memorandum on the Financial Impacts of COVID-19
· The Federation of Canadian Municipalities made a written appeal to the federal government, asking for at least $10 billion in federal emergency operating funding to support
· After voluntarily closing for two weeks, the Longos located on Weston Road in Vaughan is scheduled to reopen on Friday, April 24
· Following the tragic events that unfolded in Nova Scotia last weekend, the National Police Federation (NFP) has declared tomorrow, Friday, April 24 #WearRedFriday – a national day of mourning in support of the victims; to show solidarity during this difficult time, everyone is encouraged to participate by wearing red and observing the two minutes of silence at 1 p.m. EST tomorrow.
· #spiritofyr campaign continues with random acts of kindness from our local vendors; new heartwarming stories shared today on Facebook and Twitter
COVID-19 IN YORK REGION
· Below is a summary of the detailed information contained in the Interactive Dashboard – Cases at york.ca/covid19
In York Region, as of April 23, at 5 p.m. there are:
1,278 confirmed cases 33 new cases since yesterday
· 3 new fatalities
41 confirmed cases are currently hospitalized; 20 of which are in Intensive Care 73 cases among health care workers
· 68 total confirmed deaths
409 resolved cases, which equals about 32% 35 institutional outbreaks under COVID-19 protocols: 13 Long-Term Care/Retirement Homes 22 Community Care Settings
The comprehensive list of outbreaks including the number of resident and health care worker positive cases is available on York.ca/covid19
You can now filter institutional outbreak data by municipality.
To access this list, select the blue drop-down menu titled Interactive Dashboard – Outbreaks in Long-Term Care and Community Care Settings
As of this morning, there are:
· 12,879 total cases (6,680 resolved) in Ontario
· 713 COVID-19 related deaths in Ontario
· 40,824 (1,892 increase) total cases; with 2,028 related deaths in Canada
· Over 2.5 million total cases worldwide with cases in 213 countries, areas or territories; 175,825 related deaths