September 16, 2020

by | Sep 16, 2020 | COVID-19 Update

KEY UPDATES

FEDERAL

Prime Minister Trudeau began his announcement acknowledging we must rebuild the Canadian economy while keeping Canadians safe

  • These goals are not mutually exclusive
  • Through the Safe Restart Agreement provinces and territories were asked to outline how federal funding should be spent in their jurisdictions
  • The premiers have submitted proposals for how the $19 billion in federal funding will be spent in their respective provinces and territories
  • The Safe Return to Class Fund, announced last month, provides an extra $2 billion for provinces to safely re-open schools
  • As children go back to school and COVID-19 cases continue to rise, Prime Minister asked Canadians to continue being careful and follow public health guidelines by limiting interactions and taking the necessary precautions
  • The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted several inequalities in Canada and we must use this economic restart as an opportunity to rebuild a healthier and safer Canada that is fairer and more inclusive
  • The federal government has accepted Quebec’s request to extend the Red Cross mission into long-term care homes in Quebec
  • Last weekend, countries around the world reported record daily increases in new cases and we are seeing similar rising trends in Canada as well
  • The government must be well-positioned on the international stage to attract investments from around the globe, which will be crucial in economic recovery
  • Prime Minister is pleased the United States removed the unjustified 10% tariffs on Canadian aluminum
  • Together, Prime Minister Trudeau and Chancellor Angela Merkel condemn the poisoning of Russian opposition leader, Alexei Navalny

PROVINCIAL

Premier Ford began his announcement acknowledging public health units across the province have completed the hiring of over 500 additional nurses for schools and are close to completing the hiring of the full 625 public health nurses

  • Schools are focusing on hiring 1,300 cleaning staff and an additional 2,600 teachers and educational staff
  • The province has put $1.3 billion into education for critical supports such as mental health, 37 million pieces of PPE, remote learning, staffing, ventilation and cleaning supplies
  • The province has heard from parents and educators they need more support identifying symptoms and managing cases
  • Premier is happy to announce the launch of the interactive COVID-19 screening tool for students, parents and teachers; this tool is free, voluntary, easy to use and now available at ontario.ca/covid19
  • Premier asks for parents to use the tool to screen children before sending them to school and for school staff to screen themselves
  • The province has launched a new online case tracker for students and childcare centres; the web page is updated every weekday so parents will know if there is a case at their child’s school
  • Premier asks employers to show patience and understanding for parents trying to juggle work and family; he wants parents to have the option to pull their children out of school if they are showing symptoms, without having to worry about work

YORK REGION

  • For Wednesday, September 16, 2020, York Region recorded no new fatalities and no changes to current or resolved outbreaks
  • The Government of Ontario today launched a voluntary interactive COVID-19 screening tool to assist parents, students and staff with daily COVID-19 assessments
  • Public health units across the country report COVID-19 case numbers at different times daily

o The federal government reports country-wide numbers at 7 p.m.

o The provincial government reports province-wide numbers at 10:30 a.m.

o York Region reports local case numbers at 5 p.m.

o As a result, provincial and federal numbers are generally a day old, while York Region numbers are current as of about 3 p.m. the same day

o York Region’s interactive dashboard at york.ca/covid19data is the trusted and most up-to-date information on COVID-19 in York Region

  • York Region Public Health has developed a How to Download and Filter York Region COVID-19 Data document (attached)
  • As of Monday, September 15, 2020, York Region has added suspect and confirmed COVID-19 case information in schools on the dashboard at york.ca/covid19data

o Outbreaks are declared in a school setting when two or more cases of COVID-19 are confirmed within a 14-day period, with at least one case which could have been infected in the school

o Surveillance refers to schools with a confirmed case of COVID-19 among staff, students or visitors where there is currently no evidence of transmission within the school

COVID-19 IN YORK REGION:

Below is a summary of the detailed information contained in the Interactive Dashboard – Cases at york.ca/covid19. As of September 16, 2020 at 5 p.m. there are:

3,751 total confirmed cases 35 new cases* since yesterday, 13 confirmed cases in hospital, 2 of which are in Intensive Care393 cases among health care workers, of which 391 cases have resolved*No new fatalities253 total confirmed fatalities 3,267 resolved cases5 institutional outbreaks under COVID-19 protocols 4 Long-Term Care/Retirement Homes 1 Community Care Settings 0 Hospital 0 Child Care Centre0 Schools; 5 Schools under surveillance (see above for definition) 0 Emergency Housing 75 institutional outbreaks declared over

*Data quality is an ongoing process and may result in the more/less cases reported on a day-over-day basis or other changes to how cases are classified (e.g., municipality, acquisition, etc.). These data quality activities have also resulted in the re-categorization of individuals. Data quality activities do not increase or decrease total case counts.

COMBINED CASE NUMBERS:

As of this morning, there are:

More than 29.4 million total cases worldwide (252,680 new) with cases in 216 countries, area or territories; 931,321 related fatalities reported by the World Health Organization (WHO)138,803 total cases (793 new); with 9,171 related fatalities in Canada (9 new); 121,840 resolved in Canada (as of September 15, 7 p.m.)

  • 45,383total cases (315 new); with 2,822 related fatalities; 40,245 resolved in Ontario

KING TOWNSHIP

2 new cases which means we now have 5 active COVID-19 cases when only a week ago we had none.