January 18, 2021

FEDERAL

The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed over 2 million lives have been lost to COVID-19.

Prime Minister Trudeau did not address the media today.

PROVINCIAL

Premier Doug Ford announced from Mackenzie Health’s new Cortellucci Vaughan Hospital the province will provide up to $125 million to add over 500 critical care and high intensity medicine beds to hospitals in areas with high rates of COVID-19 transmission. A portion of the funding will be used to temporarily transition Mackenzie Health’s Cortellucci Vaughan Hospital to support the province’s COVID-19 response when the new hospital opens on February 7, 2021. The hospital will provide a total of 185 beds, including over 35 critical care beds and 150 general medicine beds to support patients from other hospitals and alleviate hospital capacity pressures. The Ontario government announced starting January 25, francophone non-profit organizations can begin applying for financial assistance from the $1 million COVID-19 Relief Fund.

The Ontario government is investing $1 million from the Ontario Together Fund to help Peterborough’s Merit Precision manufacture bottles for hand sanitizers and disinfectants.

YORK REGION

City of Toronto Mayor John Tory issued a statement on behalf of the Mayors and Chairs expressing their concerns with vaccine supply and the implications it could have on vaccine rollout; they also discussed the need for paid sick days for those isolating after a positive test result;

Dr. Kurji discusses the importance of monitoring mental health, the slight decline in case numbers, community transmission of the U.K. variant and vaccinations in long-term care and retirement homes. A voluntary COVID-19 Isolation Centre will open in York Region on Monday, January 25; the centre will provide a space for eligible York Region residents to safely self-isolate from other members of their households for up to 14 days.

COVID-19 IN YORK REGION:

Below is a summary of the detailed information contained in the Interactive Dashboard – Cases at york.ca/covid19data. As of January 18, 2021 at 5 p.m. there are:

23,146 total confirmed cases 174 new cases* since yesterday 242.2 average daily cases over past 7 days 141.1 total cases per 100K population** (explanation below)6 new hospitalizations 177 confirmed cases in hospital, 22 of which are in Intensive Care 392 cases among health care workers, of which 390 cases have resolved*1 new fatality 417 total confirmed fatalities 20,986 resolved cases 7.57% positivity rate** 92 open outbreaks under COVID-19 protocols 59 institutional (Long-Term Care/Retirement Homes/Community Care/Hospitals) 5 Child Care Centre1 School; 6 Schools under surveillance 0 Emergency Housing 27 Workplaces 540 closed outbreaks

*Data quality is an on-going 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.

**The daily COVID-19 Council Update includes the 7-day average daily case numbers, cases per 100K population, new hospitalizations and positivity rate (positivity rate refers to the percentage of positive COVID-19 tests among all individuals being tested for COVID-19).

COMBINED CASE NUMBERS:

As of this morning, there are:

More than 93.6 million total cases worldwide (415,8884 new) with cases in 216 countries, area or territories; more than 2 million related fatalities reported by the World Health Organization (WHO) 708, 619 total cases (6,436 new); with 16,324 related fatalities in Canada (149 new); 615,324 resolved in Canada (as of January 17 at 7 p.m.) 240,364 total cases (2,578 new); with 5,433 related fatalities; 206,310 resolved in Ontario.

KING TOWNSHIP

2 new cases reported today and our active cases drop to 32.