Office of the Mayor and Council Update
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Tuesday, April 28 COVID-19 emergency
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Yesterday the provincial government released the phased approach to restarting the province and beginning recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Premier was clear that these plans were a roadmap rather than a calendar and that sentiment is one that I think we all need to remember in the days and weeks ahead.
I support a phased-in approach to reopening the province and economy. We need to keep public health at the forefront of plans and can't rush anything or any efforts and sacrifices that we have made thus far may be wasted.
You will notice in the COVID case counts below that our number of positive cases is slightly up. This suggests to me that perhaps more people were out around and after Easter than we would have hoped for. As we look ahead to reopening and hopefully lifting restrictions soon, we need to remember to stay home now.
The Town of Oakville is looking at a similarly phased approach to re-opening the town. We're currently in the third phase of five, a period running form
early May to mid-June and includes planning for recovery.
At the same time, my Oakville Economic Task Force is working on economic recovery. We just launched the distantly.ca app in Oakville yesterday, which provides you with an opportunity to donate to your favourite local business to help them through this time. The app provides immediate assistance to businesses without having to wait for recovery to begin. The Task Force also wants to hear from local businesses about what they will need in the future. Businesses can complete a short survey to that effect now:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/oakville-covid
I've also joined forces with the Mayors of Burlington, Halton Hills and Milton to form the Halton Mayors Recovery Coordination Group. Together, we will help guide our cities and towns through the recovery because we, like our communities, are stronger together.
Please scroll to the end of this email to find out where
we've come from and where we are during the emergency.
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Items in this update:
- COVID case counts
- Federal Government releases updated modelling
- Community Garden Update
- Don't dump
- Oakville Museum exhibit open call
- Reaching out to seniors
- #artcares
- Accessing emergency food
- Edge Catering giving back with COVID-19 response
- Update from Halton District School Board
- Day of Mourning
- Framework for reopening the province
- Ontario Helping Businesses Overcome the Challenges of COVID-19
- Charts show Ontario is not yet ready to loosen COVID-19 restrictions
- Public Health Agency of Canada releases updated COVID models
- How COVID-19 symptoms develop, and how long they last
- What we have to do to lift restrictions
- Coronavirus could be tied to a rare but serious illness in children
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Total confirmed cases in Halton have increased by 14 cases from 429 cases yesterday to
443
with
5
more confirmed cases in Oakville, from 137 to
142
.
There were also
4
recoveries in Oakville from 113 to
117
.
As of 11 a.m. Tuesday, Ontario’s regional health units have reported a total 16,198 confirmed or probable cases of COVID-19, including 1,012 deaths. That’s 50 more fatal cases since the same time Monday, including the province’s 1,000th, reported Monday evening.
As of 11 a.m. Tuesday, Canada has 49,025 cases, with 2,766 deaths.
Updated Federal forecasting data suggests that by May 5, as many as 3,883 people could die due to COVID-19. And by the same date, there could be as many as 66,835 cases in Canada.
Dr. Theresa Tam says the initial models released on April 9 under-predicted the number of deaths in Canada. But she says with a large number of outbreaks occurring in long-term care homes, there has been a higher fatality rate.
In a sign that COVID-19 spread is slowing down, chief public health officer Dr. Tam says the number of cases in Canada is doubling every 16 days. Early in the pandemic, the number of cases was doubling about every three days.
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Community gardens were just deemed essential by the Provincial Government on Saturday.
- Kingsford Gardens – Sherwood Heights Drive and Kingsway Drive, east of Ford tDrive
- Lyons Lane – Lyons Lane and the South Service Road, east of Kerr Street
- Memorial Park - Central Park Drive, west of Trafalgar
- Shell Park – Lakeshore Road West between Great Lakes Boulevard and Chalmers Street, east of Burloak Drive
The town is working with community partners and Halton Region Public Health on setting up protocols on how to safely open and operate the gardens, including instructions around screening, physical distancing, operating hours and cleaning and disinfecting commonly used equipment and surfaces. Community Gardens normally open on May 7, but there is no guarantee that date will be met this year.
Keeping the town healthy and safe is the town’s priority and will open the gardens as soon as it is safe to do so.
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We continue to hear reports of folks littering and dumping in residential and commercial areas. Please do not illegally dump household items. The Halton Waste Management Site remains open for correct disposal of all items.
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Oakville Museum is documenting the everyday lives of residents during the COVID-19 pandemic. Share your stories and help them capture how Oakville is experiencing history in the making and to preserve this chapter of the town’s story for future generations at
https://www.oakville.ca/museum/exhibit-open-call.html
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If you or someone you know is struggling to access food during the COVID-19 pandemic, there is help. Visit the COVID-19 Emergency Food listing through the Halton Community Services Directory:
https://halton.cioc.ca/record/OAK0206
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Edge Catering giving back with COVID-19 response
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Edge Catering at Oakville Conference Centre will be launching a new Online Ordering Portal & Curbside takeaway service starting Tuesday, May 5 in conjunction with the Oakville Hospital Foundation. A percentage of sales will be donated to the foundation to the fight for Covid-19.
Edge Catering has pledged $25k to the cause.
They will also be implementing a 50% off promotion for all Hospital Workers, Long Term Care Givers and First Responders as a sign of gratitude for their work on the front lines. There will be an option to “Purchase a Meal” as well, so you can provide free meals to those less fortunate throughout this disaster.
Visit the following websites for more information and stay up-to-date on the promotion via social media.
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On this Day of Mourning I remind you to participate in the virtual candlelight vigil by sharing messages online using the following hashtags:
#StopthePandemicAtWork
#WorkersDayofMourning
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Update from the Halton District School Board
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With the announcement that schools will remain closed until at least May 31, 2020 as part of an effort to keep students, staff and families safe from COVID-19, all HDSB schools will remain closed until this time. The decision to extend the closure is based on the advice of the Chief Medical Officer of Health.
The Minister of Education also shared the following information:
- The Ministry of Education will move forward to replace the remainder of Professional Activity (PA) days and examination days with instructional time.
- There are no plans to extend the school year into the summer.
- The Ministry is exploring expanded summer learning programming focusing on credit recovery, support for vulnerable students and course upgrading. We will share further information as it becomes available.
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Framework for reopening the province
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As announced yesterday, the Province has created a phased approach to reopening the province, as pictured below.
Read the full report.
Today at Queen's Park, Premier Doug Ford said that his government will be releasing “clear, sector-specific labour guidelines” later this week for how businesses will be able to operate once the economy eventually reopens.
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The Ontario government is launching the
COVID-19: Tackling the Barriers
website to help businesses overcome the unique challenges created by the global pandemic. Businesses working to retool their operations to produce health-related products, or those that want to continue their operations in this new environment of physical distancing, can submit any potential roadblocks to the website. The province is prepared to allow temporary changes to provincial rules and regulations in order to remove any barriers that are hindering business and negatively impacting Ontario's supply chain.
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Charts show Ontario is not ready to loosen COVID-19 restrictions
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Public Health Agency of Canada releases updated COVID models
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The Public Health Agency of Canada released updated modelling on Tuesday that shows a continued decline in the rate of new infections, largely due to social distancing measures and economic restrictions aimed at curbing the spread of the coronavirus.
Health Canada officials on Tuesday said Canada’s epidemic growth is slowing, with new cases doubling every 16 days, compared with a doubling every three days early in the pandemic.
Total cases of COVID-19 across Canada could reach 66,835 by May 5 according to the worst-case projections, or as low as 53,196 in the best-case scenario, according to government data. The number of deaths could reach 3,883 by May 5 under the worst-case scenario, or 3,277 under the best-case.
The tragic paradox of the epidemic is that as the epidemic comes under control, deaths continue to increase as COVID-19 takes a toll on highly susceptible populations.
By achieving epidemic control we can expect only a small amount of the population will be immune. Until the population has developed a high immunity or a vaccine has been developed we have to plan to live with a manageable level of COVID-19 activity. Dr. Tam says we should anticipate some public health measures will need to remain in place to prevent sparking and growth of future epidemic curves.
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How COVID-19 symptoms develop, and how long they last
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How COVID-19 progresses from incubation to recovery has implications for everything from how long people may spread it before showing symptoms, to how long people can be expected to
occupy resources such as ICU beds and ventilators
in hospitals.
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What we have to do to lift restrictions
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Ottawa and provinces have agreed to guidelines that must be met before COVID-19 restrictions are lifted.
These include the need to bring the spread of COVID-19 “under control”; increase capacity to “test, trace and isolate all cases”; expand the ability of health-care systems to deal with future outbreaks; and support vulnerable people like seniors who are at greater risk of being killed by the virus.
The guidelines also stress that “strong measures” to contain the virus will be needed until an effective treatment or vaccine is available, and that the provinces and Ottawa share the common goal of minimizing the risk of a second wave of infections that would trigger the return of strict health restrictions.
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Coronavirus could be tied to a rare but serious illness in children: U.K. doctors
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A small but rising number of children are becoming ill with a rare syndrome that could be linked to
coronavirus
, with reported cases showing symptoms of abdominal pain, gastrointestinal symptoms and cardiac inflammation, U.K. health care bosses and pediatrics specialists have warned.
Read the full findings
behind the Paediatric Intensive Care Society U.K.'s (PICS) "urgent alert" from the National Health Service England about a small rise in the number of cases of critically ill children presenting "overlapping features of toxic shock syndrome and atypical Kawasaki disease with blood parameters" -- with some of the children testing positive for Covid-19.
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United Way virtual campaign
Friday, May 8, 2020
12:00-12:30 P.M.
Attire is comfortable, sneakers and track pants welcomed!
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ALS walk
The virtual edition of the Walk to End ALS event will take place on June 21st.
ALS partner, Brain Canada, is offering a dollar for dollar match of up to $1 million to invest in promising ALS research.
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Food Banks experiencing record demand
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Oakville's food banks are in record-breaking demand. If you can donate anything, please do. Your help is needed.
Kerr Street Mission:
905-845-7485 or donate online at kerrstreet.com
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Call the COVID-19 hotline
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For the duration of the pandemic, if a member of the public wishes to report an incident of non-compliance with the emergency orders, they may contact the Halton Regional Police Service COVID-19 Hotline: 905-825-4722
It is critical that our residents use 911 for emergencies only.
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