With Ontario reporting a record surge of 939 new COVID-19 cases on the eve of the Thanksgiving weekend, the Ontario government is urging everyone to limit trips outside of home and to avoid non-essential travel.

The government is asking Ontarians to only leave home for essential purposes such as work (where it is not possible to work from home), school, grocery shopping, medical appointments, and outdoor healthy physical activity, and to only travel to other regions in the province — especially from higher transmission to lower transmission areas — when essential.

The province also announced additional public health restrictions in Toronto, Peel, and Ottawa — the three regions of the province with 612 of the new cases — including no indoor food or drink service at bars and restaurants and the closure of gyms, casinos, movie theatres, performance venues, and more for at least the next 28 days.

Premier Doug Ford made the announcement at a media conference at Queen’s Park on Friday (October 9), along with health minister Christine Elliott, finance minister Rod Phillips, Ontario’s chief medical officer of health Dr. David Williams, and Adalsteinn Brown, dean of the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto.

“In the last week, the pandemic has picked up speed at an alarming rate,” Ford said. “The situation today is extremely serious. On September 1st, we had just over 110 new cases. Five weeks later, today, we’re at 939 new cases.”

“As we post record testing numbers, the percentage of people testing positive is rising too quickly, with some communities showing as high as a 10 per cent positivity. The virus is starting to spread to older people. The number of contacts for every confirmed case has exploded, sometimes in the thousands. All trends are going in the wrong direction. Left unchecked, we risk worst-case scenarios first seen in Italy and New York City.”

Ford warned of the potential of the virus to spread again in long-term care homes, “something we must avoid at all costs”. He said there has been already been a 250 per cent increase in the number of hospitalizations and the number of people in intensive care units, and that the number of admissions to ICUs will more than triple in less than 30 days if current trends continue — overwhelming Ontario’s hospitals.

“We have to do everything possible to prevent widespread lockdowns, and we cannot go back to Stage 1,” Ford said. “We need to keep our schools open and protect our long-term care homes — that’s our top priority, nothing matters more.”

Ford said his cabinet reviewed the recommendations of Ontario’s top public health officials during an emergency meeting this morning, and accepted all of them.

Effective at 12:01 a.m. on Saturday (October 10), Toronto, Ottawa, and Peel will be in a “modified Stage 2” with the following measures in place:

• Reducing limits for all social gatherings and organized public events to a maximum of 10 people indoors and 25 people outdoors where physical distancing can be maintained. The two limits may not be combined for an indoor-outdoor event.
• Prohibiting indoor food and drink service in restaurants, bars and other food and drink establishments, including nightclubs and food court areas in malls.
• Closing of: indoor gyms and fitness centres (i.e., exercise classes and weight and exercise rooms); casinos, bingo halls and other gaming establishments; indoor cinemas; performing arts centres and venues; spectator areas in racing venues; interactive exhibits or exhibits with high risk of personal contact in museums, galleries, zoos, science centres, landmarks, etc.
• Prohibiting personal care services where face coverings must be removed for the service (e.g. makeup application, beard trimming).
• Reducing the capacity limits for: tour and guide services to 10 people indoors and 25 people outdoors; real estate open houses to 10 people indoors, where physical distancing can be maintained; in-person teaching and instruction (e.g. cooking class) to 10 people indoors and 25 people outdoors, with exemptions for schools, child care centres, universities, colleges of applied arts and technology, private career colleges, the Ontario Police College, etc.; and meeting and event spaces to 10 people indoors and 25 people outdoors.
• Limiting indoor team sports to training sessions (no games or scrimmages). A decision has not been made on outdoor team sports.

Schools, child care centres, and places of worship will remain open in these communities but must continue to follow the public health measures in place. Before-school and after-school programs will also be exempt from these new restrictions.

Given the extraordinary costs associated with these functions, wedding receptions scheduled for this weekend may proceed under existing public health rules. Effective Tuesday (October 13) at 12:01 a.m., updated public health measures will apply to wedding receptions, including new gathering limits of 10 people indoors and 25 people outdoors at event spaces.

The measures in Toronto, Peel, and Ottawa will remain in effect for 28 days, after which they will be reviewed by Ontario’s top public health officials.

“I can’t stress enough how difficult, how painful, it was to make this decision,” Ford said. “My heart just breaks for these folks, and I understand what this decision means to each and every one of you. I can tell you, I didn’t sleep last night. Believe me, this weighs heavy on me, making this decision. I know what this will do to businesses who are already struggling.”

Ford then addressed business owners and workers directly, saying he would do “everything in my power” to support them.

In addition to the federal government’s package of economic supports announced earlier today (including rent subsidies directed to business owners, the extension of the wage subsidy program, and additional funds for business loans), Ford announced $300 million in provincial funding to support small businesses in the affected regions with their fixed costs over the next 28 days, including waiving provincial and municipal property tax bills and hydro and natural gas bills.

AUDIO: Ontario Premier Doug Ford announces additional financial support for businesses

Ford’s media conference followed a media briefing earlier in the afternoon where Adalsteinn Brown, Dr. Williams, and Dr. Dirk Huyer (Ontario’s chief coroner and executive lead of COVID-19 teting) provided details on the rationale behind the new restrictions.

At that briefing, Brown said the positivity rate in older populations is now at 1.4 per cent, more than three times the rate in early August. He said hospitalizations have gone up by 250 per cent over the past three weeks and Ontario ICU occupancy is predicted to exceed the threshold where the health care system can maintain scheduled surgeries and other acute care services, even in best-case scenarios.

Williams said that the positivity rate in Toronto, Peel, and Ottawa is significantly higher than in other areas of the province. With community transmission now reaching 25 per cent, testing and contact tracing is no longer sufficient to identify and control the spread. The latest reports from public health units show the number of contacts for confirmed cases has reached as high as 100 people, which makes it very difficult to trace and isolate these cases.

Huyer said the intention of the new measures in Toronto, Peel, and Ottawa is to prevent the potential spread of the virus in long-term care homes and schools. He said the virus is primarily spreading where people gather inside, in close proximity and without wearing masks, such as a group of friends getting together inside a restaurant — despite restaurant owners and employees following proper protocols.

Brown and Williams said there is not much evidence of transmission within schools among staff and students, that most of the cases in schools are a result of infected people from the community coming into the schools.

Williams said there are no travel restrictions in place between other regions of the province and Toronto, Peel, and Ottawa and other regions of the province, but travel to and from the “hot zones” is discouraged. He said public health officials will be closely monitoring the situation in regions adjacent to Toronto, Peel, and Ottawa, and that measures could be extended to these other regions if required.

Finally, Williams said he is waiting for recommendations from the Public Health Measures Table on public health guidance on how to safely celebrate Halloween.

On Friday (October 9), Peterborough Public Health announced the launch of a new online COVID-19 data tracker tool at localcovidtracker.ca.

The interactive graphical tool provides current COVID-19 information for the Peterborough area, as well as some historical data. The tool will be updated with the most recent data by 5 p.m. each day.

“This COVID-19 tracker allows residents to sort local data by different filters, such as time frame and type of outbreak,” says Jane Hoffmeyer, the health unit’s manager of foundational standards whose team developed the tool. “It also uses charts and other graphics to visualize the data, making it easier to understand how the pandemic is affecting us locally.”

Neighbouring health units are also offering similar interactive graphical tools for COVID-19 data.

The Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit recently launched a COVID-19 Dashboard — replacing its previous static reports.

Hastings Prince Edward Public Health has offered a similar interactive graphical tool for some time.

The Peterborough tool includes local data on cases (new, active, and resolved), sources of exposure, hospitalizations, and outbreak information for long-term care, retirement homes, and schools.

Here’s an update on COVID-19 cases in Ontario as well as in the greater Kawarthas region.

Today, Ontario is reporting another record increase of 939 new COVID-19 cases today — an increase of 142 over the previous record of 797 set yesterday.

As has been the case for weeks, most of the new cases are in Toronto (336), and Peel (150), and Ottawa (126), with smaller increases in York (68), Halton (59), Hamilton (40), Durham (32), Simcoe-Muskoka (28), Middlesex-London (24), Windsor-Essex (18), Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph (16), Waterloo (13), and Niagara (10). The remaining 21 public health units are reporting 5 or fewer cases, with 9 reporting no cases at all.

Of today’s cases, 53% are among people under the age of 40. The positivity rate has decreased by 0.1% to 2% (this means that 2% of the tests that were performed on October 8 were positive for COVID-19). With 724 more cases resolved, the percentage of resolved cases has decreased by 0.1% to 85%.

There are 5 new deaths, with an additional 19 people hospitalized since yesterday, for a total of 225, but with no change in patients admitted to ICUs or on ventilators. A total of 44,914 tests were completed yesterday, and the backlog of tests under investigation has increased by 55 to 58,173.

The number of new cases in Ontario schools today is 52, a decrease of 48 from yesterday, with 32 student cases, 9 staff cases, and 15 cases among unidentified individuals. There are 20 new cases in licensed child care settings, an increase of 14 from yesterday, with 9 cases among children and 11 cases among staff.

In the greater Kawarthas region, there is 1 new case to report in Hastings and Prince Edward counties; however, an additional case has been resolved so the number of active cases remains at 6. There are no new cases in Peterborough, with an additional 2 cases resolved. There are no new cases in Kawartha Lakes, Northumberland, or Haliburton, with no change in resolved cases.

None of the new cases in Ontario schools and child care settings are in the greater Kawarthas region.

There are currently 13 active cases in the greater Kawarthas region, including 4 in Peterborough, 6 in Hastings and Prince Edward counties, 1 in Kawartha Lakes, 1 in Northumberland, and 1 in Haliburton.

Since the pandemic began in the greater Kawarthas region, there have been 131 confirmed positive cases in the Peterborough area (125 resolved with 2 deaths), 183 in the City of Kawartha Lakes (163 resolved with 32 deaths), 45 in Northumberland County (43 resolved with 1 death), 18 in Haliburton County (17 resolved with no deaths), and 61 in Hastings and Prince Edward counties (49 resolved with 5 deaths). The most recent death was reported in Northumberland on September 8.

Province-wide, there have been 56,742 confirmed cases, an increase of 797 from yesterday, with 49,032 (85% of all cases) resolved, an increase of 724. There have been 2,997 deaths, an increase of 5 from yesterday, with 1,956 deaths in long-term care homes, a increase of 2 from yesterday. An additional 19 people have been hospitalized, with no change in ICU or ventilated patients. A total of 4,306,025 tests have been completed, an increase of 44,914 from yesterday, with 58,173 tests under investigation, an increase of 55 from yesterday.

This report is based on data supplied by the province’s integrated Public Health Information System (iPHIS), as well as any additional information supplied by health units. This information is at least 24 hours old, so it is not real-time data. Note that each health unit reports the information in a different way.

Peterborough Public Health

Peterborough Public Health’s service area is the City and County of Peterborough and the Hiawatha and Curve Lake First Nations.

The health unit provides daily reports, including on weekends.

Confirmed positive: 131 (no change)
Active cases: 4 (decrease of 2)
Deaths: 2 (no change)
Resolved: 125 (increase of 2)
Total tests completed: Over 31,700 (increase of 200)
Institutional outbreaks: Fairhaven (no change)

Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit

The Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit’s service area is the City of Kawartha Lakes, Northumberland County, and Haliburton County.

The health unit provides reports from Monday to Friday, excluding statutory holidays.

Confirmed positive: 246, including 183 in Kawartha Lakes, 45 in Northumberland, 18 in Haliburton (no change)
Probable cases: 0 (no change)
Hospitalizations (total to date): 15 (no change)
Deaths: 33 (no change)
Resolved: 223, including 163 in Kawartha Lakes, 43 in Northumberland, 17 in Haliburton (no change)
Active cases: 3, including 1 in Kawartha Lakes, 1 in Northumberland, 1 in Haliburton (no change)
Institutional outbreaks: None (no change)

Hastings Prince Edward Public Health

Hastings Prince Edward Public Health’s service area is Hastings County (including Bancroft) and Prince Edward County.

The health unit provides reports from Monday to Friday, excluding statutory holidays.

Confirmed positive: 61 (increase of 1)
Active cases: 6 (no change)
Deaths: 5 (no change)
Hospitalized: 0 (no change)
Hospitalized and in ICU: 0 (no change)
Hospitalized and in ICU on ventilator: 0 (no change)
Recovered: 50 (increase of 1)
Total tests completed: 41,342 (no change)
Institutional outbreaks: None (no change)

Province of Ontario

Confirmed positive: 57,681 (increase of 939)
Resolved: 49,032 (increase of 724, 85% of all cases)
Hospitalized: 225 (increase of 19)
Hospitalized and in ICU: 47 (no change)
Hospitalized and in ICU on ventilator: 29 (no change)
Deaths: 2,997 (increase of 5)
Deaths of residents in long-term care homes: 1,956 (increase of 2)
Total tests completed: 4,306,025 (increase of 44,914)
Tests under investigation: 58,173 (increase of 55)

For more information about COVID-19 in Ontario, visit covid-19.ontario.ca.

This story has been updated with daily numbers from the Peterborough Public Health and Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit.

Two of Peterborough’s cultural treasures — Showplace Performance Centre and Peterborough Museum & Archives — have each received almost $100,000 in government grants.

Showplace Performance Centre, a non-profit performance venue in downtown Peterborough that remains closed due to the pandemic, has received a $99,620 grant under the Ontario government’s Rural Economic Development program. Peterborough-Kawartha MPP Dave Smith announced the grant on Thursday (October 8).

“Our unique stores, shops and entertainment venues are struggling to make ends meet,” Smith said, referring to the impact of the pandemic. “These investments will support our downtown core at such a difficult time and improve accessibility for our residents.”

The $99,620 grant will help Showplace’s capital campaign to replace the theatre’s aging seats, which are 24 years old this week.

Peterborough Museum & Archives has received a $97,330 grant under the federal government’s COVID-19 Emergency Support Fund for cultural, heritage, and sport organizations.

The museum, which is managed by the City of Peterborough but also relies on donations, will use the grant to help maintain its operations during the pandemic.

“The city is extremely grateful for the federal support of the Peterborough Museum and Archives during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said museum director Susan Neale.

“The Museum and Archives is dedicated to ensuring the preservation of Peterborough’s movable heritage, including national cultural property. The Museum is able to continue the highest standard of care and conservation.”

Beginning this Friday (October 9), you must now book an appointment online to get a test at the COVID-19 drive-through testing site at Eastgate Memorial Park in Peterborough’s East City — but only if you meet the eligibility criteria.

The eligibility criteria for testing is one or more of the following:

• You are showing mild symptoms of COVID-19.
• Peterborough Public Health has informed you that you have been exposed to a confirmed case of COVID-19.
• You have received a notification through the COVID Alert app (available from the Apple App Store or Google Play).
• You are part of an outbreak investigation as informed by Peterborough Public Health.
• You are required to be tested routinely, such as staff at long-term care and retirement homes.
• You are planning an indoor visit with a loved one at a long-term care home.
• You are a traveller without symptoms and require a test to confirm you do not have COVID-19 before travelling internationally.
• You have been advised by a medical professional that testing is required prior to a procedure.

To book online, visit s-ca.chkmkt.com/?e=210138&h=71305F7BD7FC4D6&l=en. This link is also available on the websites for Peterborough Regional Health Centre and Peterborough Public Health.

You can only book an appointment online, so if you don’t have internet access you’ll have to ask a friend or family member who does to help.

When you book online, you will first be asked to complete a brief survey to confirm your eligibility before being redirected to an appointment scheduling form. You will then be asked to select one of the available dates and time slots for your test and provide your name, address, and contact information, and indicate which of the eligibility crieria you meet in the “Reason for Appointment” text box.

After clicking the “Book Now” button, you will receive an email confirmation that your appointment has been booked successfully.

A separate appointment must be booked for each person being tested, and only one test will be administered per email confirmation. If there are multiple people in one car travelling to the testing centre, each person requires their own email confirmation to be tested.

Booking dates will be opened two days in advance, and a limited number of appointments will be available from 10 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. for each day. If there are no appointments displayed in the calendar, this means all available slots are booked and you will need to try again the following day.

On the day of your appointment, arrive five minutes before your scheduled appointment time, bring your health card and driver’s licence (if you have one), and present your confirmation email (printed or electronically) when you arrive.

When you have your email confirmation, you can only get a test on the date and time of your appointment. If you don’t have your email confirmation, you can’t get a test.

You may also be screened when you arrive at the testing site. If you don’t meet one or more of the screening criteria listed above, you won’t be tested for COVID-19.

The testing centre at Eastgate Memorial Park is located at 2150 Ashburnham Drive in Peterborough. On Thanksgiving Monday, it will be open (by appointment only).

This story has been updated to fix a broken link to the online booking form.

Stella the cat was dying when her unknown owner abandoned her at Sherbrooke Heights Animal Hospital in Peterborough. But the veterinary clinic saved her and she now gets a lot of love from staff, clients, and visitors — including from a young girl who visits her every day.

When a man walked into the vet clinic with a cat in a box many months ago, he left the box on the counter and just walked out without saying a word. While it was obvious to the clinic’s vet and staff that Stella was in extreme distress, they had no idea why.

After taking an x-ray, they discovered Stella was pregnant — but her kittens had died in her womb and she was suffering from a life-threatening infection as a result. With Stella literally dying in front of them, they rushed her into surgery and saved her life.

Although with much treatment Stella eventually recovered, she was left with neurological damage that affects her balance. She also has a rare genetic abnormality where she was born with an extra pair of small ear flaps behind her normal ears.

But that only makes her even more special to the clinic’s staff, clients, and visitors, because Stella is also a very affectionate cat who constantly approaches them looking for belly rubs and head scratches.

That includs a young girl who, before the pandemic, would drop in to the clinic every day to pet Stella. Although COVID-19 restrictions mean she can no longer enter the clinic to see Stella, she still stops by every day to give Stella some virtual love through the glass of the door or window.

Stella’s story is documented in a video posted on Rumble.

Have you ever heard cottonwoods rustle in the wind? Like many trees in the poplar family, their leaves amplify even the slightest breeze. I drank in this sound during a visit to Five Counties Children’s Centre in Peterborough’s north end this summer and felt a sense of calm that has been all too rare in recent months.

My visit was part of an ongoing project between Five Counties and GreenUP. Together we’re transforming the centre’s outdoor space into an accessible Blue-Green Therapy Garden. The “green” in the name represents sustainability, while “blue” reminds us of our connections and obligations to the Otonabee Region watershed.

This space will be used to enhance Five Counties’ services and educate the community about the health benefits of nature.

Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital in Toronto has offered a similar garden and play program at their two-acre Spiral Garden since the 1980s.

“We see children open up to being outdoors and responding to what they see, hear, smell, taste, feel, think and do, in a natural setting that they may not experience in their daily lives,” says Shannon Crossman, program coordinator at Holland Bloorview. “We see them learning to relax into getting wet, messy, and dirty and joyously experiencing these states.”

A 2018 study that compiled global data involving over 280 million people demonstrated that spending time in nature benefits your health. This adds to growing scientific evidence suggesting that by engaging with nature you can improve both your physical and mental health.

“Having activities that are nature-based and site-specific, supported by caring, nature-loving adults, goes a long way to opening up the kids’ minds to what it can mean to be in nature in a connective, meaningful, safe and creative way,” Crossman adds.

A collaborative co-design process guides the project at Five Counties. Everyone in the community has been invited to participate in the design of the garden. The result is a vision that reflects the needs, priorities, and creativity of the staff, children, and families at Five Counties.

“We are very excited about our partnership with GreenUP to create a special place for our clients and staff,” says Scott Pepin, chief executive officer at Five Counties. “I know the kids and the therapists working with them will enjoy investigating and discovering while exploring the various areas.”

“And these activities will in turn help develop their speech, fine and gross motor skills in a relaxing, positive environment. Additionally, staff, including myself, will welcome a natural space where we can go to refresh and recharge during the workday.”

The garden at Five Counties will feature a series of zones. Each zone will offer a different opportunity for sensory engagement, therapeutic programming, and unstructured play.

A calming prairie zone will allow staff and visitors of all abilities to immerse themselves among plants that move in the wind and are soft to touch. A nature zone will encourage children to explore and interact with plants and wildlife.

By crouching, reaching, and navigating uneven surfaces, children will develop their gross and fine motor skills in a less clinical setting than they are used to.

The project also has environmental benefits and will help increase local biodiversity by adding nearly 1,000 plants to the property. This helps Peterborough’s urban forest grow and protects our watershed by improving the ground’s ability to absorb and filter rain water.

VIDEO: Future location of the therapy garden at Five Counties Children’s Centre

Work on the garden begins this fall and will continue into 2021. This month, GreenUP staff and volunteers will layer compost and woodchips over cardboard and newspaper to establish the garden beds. This technique is called “no-dig” or “lasagna” gardening. It reduces the work of removing sod, adds organic matter to the soil, and minimizes the amount of waste generated during construction.

Volunteers are also invited to join us next spring when we will plant trees, shrubs, grasses, and flowers into the decomposing layers.

Of course, you don’t need a fancy garden to enjoy the health benefits of being in nature. It can be as simple as taking time to notice the living environment around you. Give these suggestions a try:

• See how many different colours of fall leaves you can find. How do they feel in your hands?
• Pick an apple from a tree and enjoy the crisp fall taste. (Don’t forget to ask permission if the tree is on someone else’s property.)
• Look for late-blooming flowers you can smell, such as asters and goldenrod. Are they attracting pollinators?
• Find a safe spot near the river to sit and listen to the water. Talk to the river and tell the water why you are thankful for it.

The Blue-Green Therapy Garden Project has been made possible by a generous donation to the Five Counties Children’s Centre.

For more information about the project, or to inquire about volunteering on with its instillation this October, email Hayley Goodchild, Sustainability and Landscaping Project Coordinator, at hayley.goodchild@greenup.on.ca. Volunteers are required to register in advance.

To learn more about the physical and mental health benefits of nature, visit treehugger.com/huge-study-confirms-significant-health-benefits-nature-4858628.