The Ontario government is proceeding with the first step of its reopening plan three days earlier than planned — on Friday, June 11th instead of Monday, June 14th.

Premier Doug Ford said the decision is based on the province-wide vaccination rate and continuing improvements in key public health and health system indicators.

“The only reason we’re able to do so is because of the enormous sacrifices made by individuals, families, and communities across Ontario,” Ford states in a media release.

The province says 72 per cent of adults 18 years or age and older have now received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, far above the 60 per cent benchmark set by the government for step one to begin.

During the last week of May, the COVID-19 case rate in Ontario decreased by 35.1 per cent. As of Sunday (June 6), the number of patients with COVID-19 in Ontario ICUs is 497 — which includes 31 patients from Manitoba — as compared to 687 two weeks ago.

Step one includes the following changes from existing public health restrictions

• Outdoor social gatherings and organized public events with up to 10 people.
• Non-essential retail permitted at 15 per cent capacity, with no restrictions on the goods that can be sold.
• Essential and other select retail permitted at 25 per cent capacity, with no restrictions on the goods that can be sold.
• Outdoor dining with up to four people per table, with exceptions for larger households.
• Concert venues, theatres and cinemas may open outdoors for the purpose of rehearsing or performing a recorded or broadcasted concert, artistic event, theatrical performance or other performance with no more than 10 performers, among other restrictions.
• Outdoor fitness classes, outdoor groups in personal training and outdoor individual/team sport training to be permitted with up to 10 people, among other restrictions.
• Day camps for children permitted to operate in a manner consistent with the safety guidelines for COVID-19 produced by the Office of the Chief Medical Officer of Health.
• Overnight camping at campgrounds and campsites, including Ontario Parks, and short-term rentals.
• Outdoor horse racing tracks and motor speedways permitted to operate without spectators; and
• Outdoor attractions such as zoos, landmarks, historic sites, botanical gardens with capacity and other restrictions.
• Outdoor religious services, rites, or ceremonies, including wedding services and funeral services, capped at the number of people that can maintain a physical distance of two metres.
• Indoor religious services, rites, or ceremonies, including wedding services and funeral services permitted at up to 15 per cent capacity of the particular room.

The provincial government says Ontario will remain in step one for at least 21 days to evaluate any impacts on key public health and health system indicators.

If at the end of the 21 days the province has vaccinated 70 per cent of adults with one dose and 20 per cent of adults with two doses, and there are continued improvements in other key public health and health system indicators, the province will move to step two.

The federal government is providing an $18.4 million low-cost loan to help construct affordable rental housing near Del Crary Park in downtown Peterborough.

The Sawmill Residence is a six-storey 64-unit residential building under construction at 191-203 Rink Street and 59-63 Olive Avenue in Peterborough.

The funding is being provided through the rental construction financing initiative of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). Ahmed Hussen, federal minister of families, children and social development and minister responsible for CMHC, announced the funding on Monday (June 7) along with Peterborough-Kawartha MP Maryam Monsef and Peterborough Mayor Diane Therrien.

Developed by Ashburnham Realty and designed by Lett Architects Inc., the 60,000-square-foot building will be located near major amenities including retail, culture, parks, and public transit.

“Breaking ground on this project has been a long time coming for us and our community,” states Ashburnham Realty owner Paul Bennett in a media release. “The location around Little Lake and Del Crary Park is a true picture of all our city has to offer.”

According to Bennett, the building’s name stems from the area’s lumber industry heritage.

“Even to this day, we found sawdust in the ground during the initial site examinations,” Bennett says.

The Sawmill Residence will include a mix of one, two, and three-bedroom suites and will feature universal design, accessibility, and sustainability upgrades. The building will include fiberglass window systems and increased insulation values that will result in lower day-to-day operating costs for the tenants.

“Affordable, accessible housing is a priority for the City of Peterborough,” Mayor Therrien says. “We are grateful to Ashburnham Realty for recognizing the importance of the private sector in providing housing to all. We thank the Government of Canada for continuing to invest in housing in our community. Housing is a human right and we will continue working to ensure that everyone has a safe place to live.”

The Sawmill Residence will include common spaces for the residents and will feature a large exterior mural by artist and Peterborough native Alex Bierk.

Construction on the project has begun, with occupancy expected in early 2022.

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

Ontario is reporting 663 new cases today, the seventh straight day of increases under 1,000. For the eighth day in a row, only Toronto and Peel are reporting triple-digit increases, and half of Ontario’s 34 health units are reporting 5 or fewer cases. The seven-day average of daily cases has decreased to 791, and the proportion of active cases has declined for the 48th straight day.

There has been a double-digit decrease in hospitalizations, although this number excludes more than 10% of hospitals so actual hospitalizations may be higher. There’s been a small decrease of ICU patients and a larger decrease in ventilated patients. Ontario is reporting 10 new deaths, with no new deaths in long-term care homes.

With almost 10 million vaccine doses administered, around 68% of Ontario’s total population has received at least a single dose. There has also been a record increase of second doses administered for the fifth day in a row, with over 1 million people (7% of the total population) now fully vaccinated.

In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 2 new cases to report (in Peterborough) and an additional 8 cases resolved. Numbers for Kawartha Lakes, Northumberland, and Haliburton are not available as the health unit does not issue updates on Sundays. Active cases have decreased by 5 to 96, with Hastings Prince Edward now having no active cases. See below for details from each individual health unit in the region.

Most of the new cases reported today are in Toronto (115) and Peel (112).

There are double-digit increases reported today in Niagara (59), York (47), Ottawa (40), Waterloo (34), Durham (33), Hamilton (33), Porcupine (32), Halton (31), Simcoe Muskoka (27), Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge (18), Windsor-Essex (16), Middlesex-London (14), and Brant (12), with smaller increases in Thunder Bay (8) and Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph (6).

The remaining 17 health units are reporting 5 or fewer new cases, with 7 health units reporting no new cases at all.

Of today’s new cases, 62% are among people 39 and younger, with the highest number of cases (229) among people ages 20-39, followed by 185 cases among people 19 and under and 168 cases among people ages 40-59.

With 1,222 more cases resolved since yesterday, the percentage of resolved cases has increased by 0.1% to at 96.8% — the 48th straight day the percentage of resolved cases has increased. The average positivity rate across Ontario has decreased by 0.3% to 2.8%, meaning that 28 out of every 1,000 tests performed were positive for COVID-19 on June 5.

Ontario is reporting 10 new COVID-19 deaths today, with no new deaths in long-term care homes. The seven-day average of daily deaths has decreased by 1 to 16.

Hospitalizations have decreased by 80 from yesterday to 545, although more than 10% of hospitals did not submit data to the daily bed census so the actual number of hospitalizations may be higher. The number of patients with COVID-19 in ICUs has decreased by 6 to 510 and the number of patients with COVID-19 on ventilators has decreased by 18 to 344.

A total of 22,635 tests were completed yesterday, with the backlog of tests under investigation decreasing by 5,271 to 7,049.

A total of 9,992,575 doses of vaccine have now been administered, an increase of 158,393 from yesterday, and 1,031,520 people have been fully vaccinated with both doses of vaccine, a record increase of 68,263 from yesterday.

The number of fully vaccinated people represents 7% of Ontario’s population, an increase of 0.46% from yesterday, with fully and partially vaccinated people representing 67.82% of the total population, an increase of 1.08% from yesterday. An estimated 70-90% of the population must be immunized to achieve herd immunity.

In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 2 new cases to report in Peterborough. Hastings Prince Edward, which saw active cases in the triple digits in April, has reported no new cases since May 31 and has resolved its last two active cases.

Numbers for Kawartha Lakes, Northumberland, and Haliburton are not available as the health unit does not issue updates on Sundays. Numbers for June 6 will be included in the June 7 update.

There are 6 new regional cases of variants of concern in Peterborough.

There has been 1 new COVID-related hospitalization in Peterborough.

An additional 8 cases have been resolved, including 6 in Peterborough and 2 in Hastings Prince Edward.

There are currently 96 active cases in the greater Kawarthas region, a decrease of 5 since yesterday, including 56 in Kawartha Lakes, 29 in Peterborough, 10 in Northumberland, and 1 in Haliburton. There are no active cases in Hastings Prince Edward.

Since the pandemic began in the greater Kawarthas region, there have been 1,525 confirmed positive cases in the Peterborough area (1,476 resolved with 21 deaths), 1,049 in the City of Kawartha Lakes (949 resolved with 57 deaths), 926 in Northumberland County (899 resolved with 17 deaths), 119 in Haliburton County (117 resolved with 1 death), and 1,121 in Hastings and Prince Edward counties (1,110 resolved with 11 deaths). The most recent death was reported in Kawartha Lakes on June 5.

The provincial data in this report is pulled from Ontario’s integrated Public Health Information System (iPHIS) at 4 p.m. the previous day, as well as from systems in Toronto, Ottawa, and Middlesex-London at 2 p.m. the previous day. Data from local health units is more current and is usually reflected in the provincial data the following day. There may be discrepancies between the Ontario data reported today (which is from yesterday) and the local health unit data reported today (which is from today).

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, excluding statutory holidays.

Confirmed positive: 1,525 (increase of 3)*
Total variants of concern cases: 703 (increase of 6)
Active cases: 29 (decrease of 3)
Close contacts: 80 (decrease of 12)
Deaths: 21 (no change)
Resolved: 1,475 (increase of 6)
Hospitalizations (total to date): 70 (increase of 1)**
ICU admissions (total to date): 15 (no change)
Total tests completed: Over 52,950 (increase of 50)
Total vaccine doses administered (residents and non-residents): 90,716 (increase of 11,566 as of June 3)
Number of residents who have received first dose: 81,390 (increase of 9,270 as of June 3)
Number of residents fully vaccinated: 9,388 (increase of 2,729 as of June 3)
Outbreaks: Fairhaven long-term care home in Peterborough, Unidentified workplace #11 in Peterborough, Riverview Manor long-term care home in Peterborough (no change)

*The health unit is reporting 2 new cases in the last 24 hours. The total case count has increased by 3 because 1 case has been added to a previous day.

**As of June 4, Peterborough Regional Health Centre is reporting 3 patients currently hospitalized with COVID-19 (decrease of 1) and a total of 76 patients transferred from other areas as a result of a provincial directive (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 Saturday, excluding Sundays and statutory holidays. These numbers are from June 5; numbers for June 6 will be included in the June 7 report.

Confirmed positive: 2,094, including 1,049 in Kawartha Lakes, 926 in Northumberland, and 119 in Haliburton (increase of 8, including 6 in Kawartha Lakes and 2 in Northumberland)*
Total variants of concern cases: 750, including 389 in Kawartha Lakes, 327 in Northumberland, and 34 in Haliburton (increase of 16, including 14 in Kawartha Lakes, 1 in Northumberland, and 1 in Haliburton)
Active cases: 67, including 56 in Kawartha Lakes, 10 in Northumberland, and 1 in Haliburton (net decrease of 11, including a decrease of 12 in Kawartha Lakes and an increase of 1 in Northumberland)
Probable cases: 1, in Kawartha Lakes (decrease of 1 in Kawartha Lakes)
Hospitalizations (total to date): 76, including 42 in Kawartha Lakes, 31 in Northumberland, and 3 in Haliburton (no change)**
Deaths (including among probable cases): 75, including 57 in Kawartha Lakes, 17 in Northumberland, and 1 in Haliburton (increase of 1 in Kawartha Lakes)
Resolved: 1,965, including 949 in Kawartha Lakes, 899 in Northumberland, and 117 in Haliburton (increase of 34, including 32 in Kawartha Lakes and 2 in Northumberland)
Tests completed: 196,484 (increase of 972)
Vaccine doses administered to residents: 104,784 (increase of 8,863 as of May 31)
Number of residents fully vaccinated: 11,108 (increase of 3,773 as of May 31)
Outbreaks: Central East Correctional Centre in Lindsay, LCBO Port Hope (no net change)***

*The health unit states that total counts and counts for individual counties may fluctuate from previously reported counts as cases are transferred to or from the health unit based on case investigation details and routine data cleaning.

**As of June 4, Ross Memorial Hospital in Lindsay reports no patients hospitalized with COVID-19 (no change).

***An outbreak at Medi-Share Inc. in Lindsay has been declared resolved. An outbreak at LCBO Port Hope was declared on June 4.

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 daily reports, including on weekends, excluding statutory holidays.

Confirmed positive: 1,121 (no change)
Confirmed variants of concern cases: 490 (no change)
Active cases: 0 (decrease of 2)
Deaths: 11 (no change)
Currently hospitalized: 4 (decrease of 1)
Currently hospitalized and in ICU: 2 (no change)
Currently hospitalized and in ICU on ventilator: 1 (no change)
Resolved: 1,110 (increase of 2)
Tests completed: 147,692 (increase of 2,202)
Vaccine doses administered: 109,319 (increase of 1,997)
Number of people fully vaccinated: 11,633 (increase of 922)
Outbreaks: None (no change)

Province of Ontario

Confirmed positive: 536,082 (increase of 663)
COVID-19 variants of concern (VOC) cases: 131,991 of B.1.1.7 Alpha variant (increase of 868); 1,076 of B.1.351 Beta variant (increase of 41); 3,740 of P.1 Gamma variant (increase of 477)
VOC R(t): 0.75 (increase of 0.03 as of June 3)*
7-day average of daily new cases: 791 (decrease of 53)
Positivity rate: 2.8% (decrease of 0.3%)
Resolved: 518,860 (increase of 1,222), 96.8% of all cases (increase of 0.1%)
Hospitalizations: 545 (decrease of 80)**
Hospitalizations in ICU: 510 (decrease of 6)
Hospitalizations in ICU on ventilator: 344 (decrease of 18)
Deaths: 8,854 (increase of 10)
7-day average of daily new deaths: 16 (decrease of 1)
Deaths of residents in long-term care homes: 3,956 (no change)
Total tests completed: 15,391,672 (increase of 22,635)
Tests under investigation: 7,049 (decrease of 5,271)
Vaccination doses administered: 9,992,575 (increase of 158,393), 67.82% of Ontario’s total population (increase of 1.08%)***
People fully vaccinated (two doses): 1,031,520 (increase of 68,263), 7.00% of Ontario’s total population (increase of 0.46%)***

*R(t) is a virus’s effective reproduction number, which is the average number of new infections caused by a single infected individual at a specific time (t) in a partially immunized population. To successfully eliminate a disease from a population, R(t) needs to be less than 1.

**More than 10% of hospitals did not submit data to the daily bed census so the actual number of hospitalizations may be higher.

***An estimated 70-90% of the population must be immunized to achieve herd immunity.

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

Another person has drowned in a lake in the northern Kawarthas.

On Saturday evening (June 5), Bancroft OPP responded to reports that a 22-year-old Scarborough woman had gone missing in the water of Papineau Lake, located around 30 kilometres north of Bancroft in Hastings Highlands.

Witnesses told police the woman had fallen off a floating device while in the water around 8 p.m. on Saturday and did not make it back to shore.

On Saturday evening, police conducted an unsuccessful search of the area with the assistance of the OPP Emergency Response Team.

Police continued the search on Sunday (June 6) with the assistance of the Underwater Search and Recovery Unit, who recovered the woman’s body just before 2 p.m.

The Office of the Chief Coroner is directing the ongoing investigation, with a post-mortem examination scheduled. Police say foul play is not suspected in the woman’s death.

This is the fifth apparently accidental death in the past three weeks in the northern Kawarthas region.

On May 12, Haliburton Highlands OPP found a 63-year-old woman without vital signs in Loon Lake southeast of Haliburton. On May 20, Bancroft OPP recovered the body of a 68-year-old Ajax man from Mink Lake north of Bancroft. On June 1, Bancroft OPP recovered the body of a 60-year-old Combermere man from Bells Rapids Lake north of Bancroft. On June 3, police recovered the body of a 60-year-old man from Dark Lake in Wilberforce east of Haliburton.

This story has been updated with the news that police recovered the missing woman’s body.

Environment Canada has issued a special air quality statement for the southern Kawarthas region, including Peterborough and southern Peterborough County, Lindsay and the southern Kawartha Lakes, and Northumberland County.

High levels of air pollution are expected Sunday (June 6), leading to the possibility of deteriorating air quality. Hot and sunny conditions are expected to cause increasing ground-level ozone concentrations in the area.

Moderate risk Air Quality Health Index (AQHI) values are expected throughout the day, with the potential of short-term high risk AQHI values in the afternoon. Similar conditions may persist into Monday.

Individuals may experience symptoms such as increased coughing, throat irritation, headaches or shortness of breath. Children, seniors, and those with cardiovascular or lung disease, such as asthma, are especially at risk.

People with lung diseases, such as asthma and COPD, can be particularly sensitive to air pollution. They will generally experience more serious health effects at lower levels. Pollution can aggravate their diseases, leading to increased medication use, doctor and emergency room visits, and hospital visits.

If you are experiencing symptoms, such as coughing or throat irritation, consider reducing or rescheduling strenuous outdoor activities until the special air quality statement is lifted. Exposure to air pollution is particularly a health concern for people with heart or breathing problems, those with diabetes, children and the elderly.

A man who went swimming in Crowe River in Havelock-Belmont-Metheun Township in Peterborough County on Saturday morning (June 5) is dead.

Peterborough County OPP and emergency crews were called to assist at around 11:45 a.m. on Saturday after a man, who was swimming in the river with a friend, went into distress and slipped under the water.

Bystanders had located the man in the water and performed CPR until police and emergency crews arrived.

The man was then transported to a local hospital where he was pronounced deceased.

Police are continuing to investigate the incident and will not identify the victim until his next of kin are notified.

The village of Apsley and North Kawartha Township received a triple dose of good news on Friday afternoon (June 4), including two announcements improving local food security.

First, North Kawartha Mayor Carolyn Amyotte announced that Selwyn Township’s famous family the Leahys, who run a popular farmers’ market stand every summer beside their farm on Highway 28 near Lakefield, have opened a satellite location in Apsley.

The new location is a partnership between the Leahy family, Ball Real Estate, and Mary-Lyn and Phil Moore, owners of Calm N Ground — Apsley’s new coffee shop and eatery at 27 Burleigh Street, where the outdoor Leahy’s Farm & Market is located.

Open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. all summer long, Leahy’s Farm & Market offers fresh vegetables and fruit, baked goods, meat, and more to local residents and visitors. It’s located across the street from where Sayers Foods, the area’s only grocery store, stood before it was lost to a fire in December.

While Sayers Foods works to rebuild, the new market means Apsley and North Kawartha residents no longer have to travel to grocery stores outside of the area for some fresh food essentials during the summer. The market will also draw seasonal residents and visitors into Apsley, strengthening the local economy that has suffered from the loss of an anchor business.

The second piece of good news delivered on Friday were the results of the food drive for the North Kawartha Food Bank, held earlier in the day at Morello’s Your Independent Grocer in Peterborough.

Peterborough-Kawartha MPP Dave Smith, who helped organize the food drive with Kawartha Food Share, travelled to Apsley to announce the food drive had raised 3,000 pounds of food as well as $1,250 in cash donations and gift cards.

The final good news announcement saw Doug Leahy of the Leahy family and Greg Ball of Ball Real Estate each making donations to both Community Care Apsley and the Apsley Lions Club during the announcement.

“As your Mayor I am overjoyed to see such amazing support from within and outside North Kawartha,” Amyotte posted on Facebook following the three announcements.

“The spirit of cooperation and partnership to make our community the best it can be, just makes my heart burst.”

For the fourth time since May, a body has been recovered from a lake in the northern Kawarthas.

Haliburton Highlands OPP are investigating after a body was found on Thursday afternoon (June 3) in Dark Lake in Wilberforce, located about 25 kilometres east of Haliburton.

The deceased person has been identified as 60-year-old Steven Honderich of Highlands East Township.

A post-mortem examination is scheduled to take place in Toronto, but police do not suspect foul play.

This is the fourth apparently accidental death in the past three weeks in lakes in the northern Kawarthas region.

On May 12, Haliburton Highlands OPP found a 63-year-old woman without vital signs in Loon Lake southeast of Haliburton. On May 20, Bancroft OPP recovered the body of a 68-year-old Ajax man from Mink Lake north of Bancroft. On June 1, Bancroft OPP recovered the body of a 60-year-old Combermere man from Bells Rapids Lake north of Bancroft.