If you’ve seen one of the six needle drop boxes located in downtown Peterborough, you’d probably agree they aren’t particularly attractive. Intended for the secure and safe disposal of used needles (“sharps”), the mailbox-like drop boxes are painted bright yellow.

Now, thanks to a joint initiative by PARN-Your Community AIDS Resource Network and Artspace, the sharps boxes are getting a makeover. This past spring, the two organizations put out a call for proposals for local artists to submit creative designs to turn the boxes into works of public art, while supporting harm reduction.

Local artist Bethany LeBlonc recently completed her design on the sharps box located beside the trail at the King Street entrance to Millennium Park, near the Silver Bean Cafe.

“This has been a really fun project, and also very close to my heart,” LeBlonc writes on Instagram. “Many people struggle with mental illness & addiction due to trauma and/or socio economic status. This can lead to homelessness, and further distress.”

LeBlonc’s design is not only colourful, but practical. She painted a map onto the sharps box to highlight social support resources available in downtown Peterborough such as Brock Mission and the YES Shelter for Youth and Families.

She says she did it “as a thank you to those who work to help our community, to know where to seek help if you need it, and hopefully encourage you to share with friends and strangers where they can go to seek help.”

View this post on Instagram

Over this past week I've been painting this sharps box at Millenium park, I'm so excited to be finishing up tomorrow And sharing more about the artwork. * Thank you @parn4counties and @artspaceptbo for helping keep our community safe, and for the opportunity to be part of such a great project. * Photo by ????@emmascottdesign

A post shared by Beth (@bethany.leblonc) on Aug 12, 2020 at 2:23pm PDT

To help raise awareness of available support services, LeBlonc also includes a link to a Google Map on her Instagram. The map lists resources and locations for those who may the services.

“We are all just people,” LeBlonc writes. “Please be kind and help one another.”

This isn’t the first time LeBlonc has created art in the context of social issues. In January, her paintings of local social issues such homelessness were on exhibit at Simply Delicious in downtown Peterborough. To see other samples of LeBlonc’s art, visit her Instagram account at @bethany.leblonc.

Peterborough’s needle drop box program was expanded in November 2018 in a partnership between PARN, Peterborough Public Health, the Canadian Mental Health Association – Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge (CMHA-HKPR), and the City of Peterborough.

Four boxes were installed, with one behind the Peterborough Library, one along the Millennium Trail, one on the eastern side of the Otonabee River near the train bridge, and one in front the One Roof program at 99 Brock Street.

The four new boxes were in addition to the needle drop boxes in front of the CMHA-HKPR office at 466 George Street and the fire station at 210 Sherbrooke Street.

“Our experience tells us that people who use injection drugs want to dispose of their supplies safely,” said former PARN executive director Kim Dolan when the program was expanded. “Hundreds of people come through the doors of our agency every year to return used syringes.”

“By placing these boxes at various points in the city, we will provide more options for people to return their used equipment and further reduce the instances when needles are found in public spaces.”

Ontario education minister Stephen Lecce says he would support school boards that wish to stagger the beginning of the school year on September 8th.

Lecce’s comment at a media conference on Thursday afternoon (August 13) came hours after the Ontario Principals’ Council released a statement recommending all class sizes be limited and that the Ontario government delay the reopening of schools by an additional week, as well as stagger the first week of school.

The council, a voluntary professional association with 5,400 members, has four recommendations it believes will help ensure schools can reopen safely during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“There are additional concerns that we believe the government needs to address immediately, to ensure that students, parents, staff and administrators feel comfortable returning to school,” the statement reads.

The council is recommending that:

• All elementary and secondary schools classes be limited to a size that ensures a minimum of two metres of physical distancing between students and staff, and that all kindergarten classes be limited to 15 students.
• The start of the 2020 school year be delayed for all students until September 14, to allow schools more time to prepare for reopening.
• Students be staggered back into schools over the course of the week of September 14-18, so that not all students return to schools at once. The council states this will allow both staff and students to adjust to the new situation.
• Resources be put in place to ensure any student or staff member who may have developed the virus be tested and receive their results back on an expedited basis.

The council’s complete statement is provided at the end of this story.

During his Thursday afternoon media conference at Queen’s Park, Lecce provided an update on Ontario’s back-to-school plan.

“Effective immediately I’m directing that boards will be able to invest nearly half a billion dollars in funding to support local priorities, with a focus on greater social distancing in class,” Lecce announced. “While many boards are already looking at utilizing other school community spaces, this funding will also support them further to do that if it is required.”

Lecce says the $496 million in funding will come from school boards’ reserve funds. The government will allow boards to access up to two per cent of their unspent contingency funding, for this year only, with the government providing up to $11 million in funding for the four boards that have no reserves.

School boards can use the reserve funds to support increased physical distancing among students by leasing additional space for classrooms, hiring additional teachers and staff, or both.

Lecce also announced $50 million in new one-time support for schools to upgrade their heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems to improve air flow and quality.

“This will give peace of mind that the air our children is breathing is safe,” Lecce said. “These upgrades can commence immediately.”

For students learning remotely, from kindergarten to grade 12, Lecce says the Ontario government is mandating up to 225 minutes of the standard 300-minute day (75 per cent) for live synchronous learning (video conferencing) with a teacher. The government will provide $18 million to help school boards to hire support staff to deliver the live synchronous learning.

While Lecce did not address the statement from the Ontario Principals’ Council, in response to questions from several reporters asking how schools would be able to make any necessary improvements as a result of Lecce’s announcement before September 8th, the minister said he would support boards that wish to stagger the beginning of the school year.

“If school boards are saying to me that a bit of a more cautious restart — a staggered restart, having lower numbers of students en masse enter school — and they’d rather do it through that approach, I’m going to support any concept to de-risk the circumstance for kids, and that seems reasonable and not outside the spirit of our plan, which is to get kids back to school the beginning of September,” Lecce said.

PDF: Statement by the Ontario Principals’ Council – Reopening of Schools
Statement by the Ontario Principals' Council - Reopening of Schools

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

Ontario is reporting 78 new cases of COVID-19; however, this does not include cases from Toronto as those numbers are unavailable today. Hospitalizations have declined again and the number of ICU admissions and patients on ventilators remains the same.

In the greater Kawarthas region, Peterborough Public Health is reporting its 100th case of COVID-19. The health unit advises the infected person is in isolation and all close contacts have been traced. This is the only active case of COVID-19 in the Peterborough area.

Numbers are unavailable for Kawartha Lakes, Northumberland, Haliburton, or Prince Edward and Hastings counties, as the respective health units for those areas only issue reports on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Since the pandemic began, there have been 100 confirmed positive cases in the Peterborough area (97 resolved with 2 deaths), 177 in the City of Kawartha Lakes (156 resolved with 32 deaths), 26 in Northumberland County (26 resolved with no deaths), 15 in Haliburton County (12 resolved with no deaths), and 44 in Hastings County and Prince Edward County (38 resolved with 5 deaths). The most recent death was reported on May 7 by Hastings Prince Edward Public Health.

Province-wide, there have been 40,367 confirmed cases, an increase of 78 from yesterday’s report (this excludes Toronto cases as those numbers are unavailable today). Of confirmed cases, 36,689 (90.9% of all cases) are resolved, an increase of 99. There have been 2,787 deaths (no change from yesterday), with 1,800 deaths reported in long-term care homes (no change from yesterday). A total of 2,498,266 tests have been completed, an increase of 29,626 from yesterday, with 29,049 tests under investigation, an increase of 6,995.

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.

Confirmed positive: 100 (increase of 1)
Active cases: 1 (increase of 1)
Deaths: 2 (no change)
Resolved: 97 (no change)
Total tests completed: Over 22,900 (increase of 200)
Institutional outbreaks: None (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 on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, excluding statutory holidays. These numbers are from August 12.

Confirmed positive: 218, including 177 in Kawartha Lakes, 26 in Northumberland, 15 in Haliburton (no change)
Probable cases: 1 (no change)
Hospitalizations (total to date): 14 (no change)
Deaths: 32 (no change)
Resolved: 194, including 156 in Kawartha Lakes, 26 in Northumberland, 12 in Haliburton (increase of 1, in Northumberland)
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 on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, excluding statutory holidays. These numbers are from August 12.

Confirmed positive: 44 (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: 38 (no change)
Total tests completed: 19,479 (increase of 189)
Institutional outbreaks: None (no change)

Province of Ontario

Confirmed positive: 40,367 (increase of 78)*
Resolved: 36,689 (increase of 99, 90.9% of all cases)
Hospitalized: 43 (decrease of 7)
Hospitalized and in ICU: 20 (no change)
Hospitalized and in ICU on ventilator: 10 (no change)
Deaths: 2,787 (no change)
Deaths of residents in long-term care homes: 1,800 (no change)
Total tests completed: 2,498,266 (increase of 29,626)
Tests under investigation: 29,049 (increase of 6,995)

*As updated data from the Toronto Public Health CORES system is not available, this is an underestimation of the daily case count.

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

Municipalities in the greater Kawarthas region are receiving more than $28 million in COVID-19 emergency funding from the Ontario and Canadian governments, including over $3.9 million to support public transit.

The funding amounts were announced on Wednesday (August 12) at Queen’s Park by Premier Doug Ford along with finance minister Rod Phillips, associate transportation minister Kinga Surma, and Jim McDonnell, parliamentary assistant to the municipal affairs and housing minister.

The funding is part of the provincial and federal joint commitment to provide up to $4 billion in urgently needed one-time assistance to Ontario’s 444 municipalities.

“Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have had the backs of our municipalities, which is why we are announcing up to $1.6 billion in critical funding today to help strengthen our communities and safely restart our economy,” Ford said. “This first round of funding will address the most urgent needs of our communities, ensuring critical services like transit and shelters are there when people need them most.”

In the greater Kawarthas region, the City of Peterborough will receive the most funding at just over $8 million, which includes almost $3.6 million for public transit.

The City of Kawartha Lakes — which includes all communities in the city — will receive over $4.9 million in funding, which includes almost $109,000 for public transit.

The counties of Northumberland, Peterborough, Hastings, and Haliburton will each respectively receive over $2.4 million, $2.2 million, $1.4 million, and $1.4 million.

Through its Safe Restart Agreement with the federal government, Ontario is providing $695 million through this first round of emergency funding to help Ontario’s 444 municipalities address operating pressures related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and over $660 million to support public transit systems.

The transit funding can be used to provide immediate relief from transit pressures, such as lower ridership, as well as for new costs due to COVID-19, such as enhanced cleaning and masks for staff.

The province is also providing an additional $212 million through the Social Services Relief Fund to help vulnerable people find shelter.

The funding is allocated on a per household basis and is equally shared between upper and lower-tier municipalities. In the second round of funding, up to $695 million will be available to eligible municipalities after they have provided the province with information on their estimated COVID-19 related financial pressures.

Here’s the breakdown of the funding for municipalities in the greater Kawarthas region:

Peterborough City and County

City of Peterborough – $8,002,182 (includes $3,578,682 for transit)
Peterborough County – $2,219,037 (includes $15,437 for transit)
Township of Selwyn – $527,700
Municipality of Trent Lakes – $420,200
Township of Havelock–Belmont–Methuen – $264,500
Township of North Kawartha – $238,700
Township of Douro–Dummer – $221,600
Township of Cavan Monaghan – $217,100
Township of Otonabee–South Monaghan – $194,800
Township of Asphodel-Norwood – $119,000

City of Kawartha Lakes

City of Kawartha Lakes (includes all communities) – $4,943,793 (includes $108,793 for transit)

Northumberland County

Northumberland County – $2,472,900
Town of Cobourg – $669,580 (includes $97,780 for transit)
Municipality of Port Hope – $506,207 (includes $54,807 for transit)
Municipality of Trent Hills – $458,036 (includes $17,436 for transit)
Municipality of Brighton – $326,600
Township of Hamilton – $300,200
Township of Alnwick/Haldimand – $207,600
Township of Cramahe – $191,522 (includes $16,922 for transit)

Haliburton County

Haliburton County – $1,435,300
Municipality of Dysart et al – $489,693 (incldues $14,293 for transit)
Township of Minden Hills – $402,200
Municipality of Highlands East – $281,700
Township of Algonquin Highlands – $275,900

Hastings County

Hastings County – $1,485,400
Municipality of Hastings Highlands – $236,600
Municipality of Tweed – $195,800
Municipality of Marmora and Lake – $182,787 (incldues $17,587 for transit)
Town of Bancroft – $147,523 (incldues $22,523 for transit)
Municipality of Centre Hastings – $143,400
Township of Stirling-Rawdon – $128,000
Township of Tyendinaga – $100,500
Township of Faraday – $85,100
Township of Wollaston – $66,400
Township of Madoc – $58,700
Township of Tudor and Cashel – $51,700
Town of Deseronto – $71,353 (incldues $21,753 for transit)
Township of Carlow/Mayo – $43,000
Township of Limerick – $36,300