April 25, 2020

FEDERAL

The Prime Minister announced $62.5 million in funding to support fish and seafood processors

· We are taking a coordinated, national approach to opening the economy to avoid confusing Canadians; it will be based on science, data and expert advice

· The Prime Minister encouraged young people to think about what they can do to use their “energy to make the world a better place”

· There will be no Federal press conferences tomorrow

PROVINCIAL

The Premier announced a temporary $4 per hour pandemic pay premium (on top of the existing hourly wages) for front-line staff

· In addition, employees working over 100 hours per month would receive lump sum payments of $250 per month for each of the next four months

· This means eligible employees working an average of 40 hours per week would receive $3,560 in additional compensation

· Eligible staff include those working in long-term care homes, retirement homes, emergency shelters, supportive housing, social services congregate care settings, corrections institutions and youth justice facilities, nurses, personal support workers, attendant care workers, auxiliary staff (porters, cooks, custodians) as well as those providing home and community care and some staff in hospitals

· The Premier acknowledged and thanked the federal government for structuring the front-line support program, allowing Ontario to then be able to allocate funding to the program

Effective immediately, the Ontario government is allowing the use of allotment and community gardens across Ontario, provided that people practice physical distancing and do not gather in groups of more than 5.

YORK REGION

Positive news around our region

· Eric Tappenden, owner of Chapel Ridge Funeral Home in Markham, donated over $7000 worth of PPE to York Region, which in turn benefited four local long-term care centres, three seniors homes and Participation House

· #spiritofyr campaign continues with random acts of kindness from our local members of our business community

· A convoy of Canada Post vehicles took to the streets of Newmarket to show support for the community during COVID-19 pandemic

· The Canadians Care Collective Fund are helping feed health care workers by buying food from local Markham restaurants

· Local Newmarket businesses launched a thank-you campaign to show support for all front-line and essential services workers; all proceeds will be donated to the Southlake foundation

COVID-19 IN YORK REGION

· Below is a summary of the detailed information contained in the Interactive Dashboard –

In York Region, as of April 25, at 5 p.m. there are:

1,387 confirmed cases 45 new cases since yesterday

· 5 new fatalities

39 confirmed cases are currently hospitalized; 18 of which are in Intensive Care 74 cases among health care workers

· 81 total confirmed deaths

467 resolved cases, which equals about 34% One new group home (Meta Centre Group Home in Markham) is experiencing an outbreak; 36 institutional outbreaks under COVID-19 protocols, with 1 resolved: 13 Long-Term Care/Retirement Homes 23 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:

· 13,995 total cases (7,509 resolved); with 811 related deaths in Ontario

· 44,364 (476 increase) total cases; with 2,350 related deaths in Canada

· Over 2.7 million total cases worldwide with cases in 213 countries, areas or territories; 187,847 related deaths