A COVID-19 outbreak originating from social gatherings at the privately owned Severn Court Student Residence has resulted in a dramatic increase of cases in the Peterborough region, including 30 presumed cases of more transmissble COVID-19 variants of concern. (Photo: Severn Court Management Company)
A major COVID-19 outbreak at the Severn Court Student Residence in Peterborough has resulted in 23 positive cases detected as of noon on Sunday (February 28).
During a Peterborough Public Health media briefing held Sunday, medical officer of health Dr. Rosana Salvaterra said the outbreak is rooted in a “gathering” held last Saturday (February 20) at the six-building complex at 555 Wilfred Drive near Fleming College’s Sutherland Campus.
Nineteen of the 23 people who have tested positive are residents at Severn Court, while the remaining four are Trent University students who had attended the gathering. Those four are now self-isolating at Trent’s Otonabee College.
Advertisement - content continues below
Dr. Salvaterra has issued a Section 22 order that closes the student residence to visitors and requires by law that all those living at the 200-student complex self-isolate.
Fleming president Maureen Adamson, who was also at the briefing, announced that all in-person instruction at the college’s Sutherland Campus has been suspended immediately for at least the next two weeks — a move that affects some 700 students.
“What concerns me most is the index case has screened positive for a (COVID-19) variant of concern,” said Dr. Salvaterra. “We are still awaiting the results of genomic sequencing but we are presuming this to be a variant of concern. We’re not sure which one yet, but we now we are dealing with a highly contagious strain of the COVID-19 virus.”
Speaking to the timeline of the outbreak, Dr. Salvaterra said the first positive case in a student who resides at Severn Court was identified on Thursday (February 25). Several high-risk contacts were subsequently identified and a second positive case was affirmed the following day.
Severn Court Student Residence is located in a neighbourhood directly across from Fleming College in Peterborough. Approximately 200 students live in six separate buildings at the student housing complex. (Photo: Severn Court Management Company)
“It was here that we learned there had been a gathering on February 20th held at the Severn Court property, and we learned that there were students from both Fleming and Trent University in attendance. We are still gathering more information on that event.”
On Saturday (February 27), the health unit identified more high-risk contacts as positive cases, at which point an outbreak was declared. By today (Sunday) at noon, an additional 13 cases had been identified as positive.
“We’ve issued a stay-at-home order for all the (Severn Court) residents regardless of whether they are a case or contact. That means no school and no work — they can only leave the building for food or medication.”
The four Trent students that tested positive are virtual learners and “there has been no on-campus exposure”, Dr. Salvaterra said.
As for the prospect that organizers of the gathering will be ticketed, Dr. Salvaterra said “That’s a potential outcome” but noted information is still being gathered.
“At this point we don’t have enough information to take any action, but if that changes we certainly can and will.”
Advertisement - content continues below
While admitting to being “disappointed” by the holding of the event that led to the outbreak, Dr. Salvaterra said it’s not a surprise this happened.
“I realize how difficult it’s been for some people to remain distant and carry out all of the public health measures,” she said. “People are becoming more comfortable with the idea that we’re in the middle of a pandemic. COVID maybe isn’t as frightening as it once was.”
“We can’t go back to normal,” Dr. Salvaterra added. “We are not able to gather and socialize the way we did. I’m disappointed but it’s not unexpected. We just need to focus now on trying to contain this as quickly as possible.”
“My worry is we’re going to have many people become ill before they’ve had the benefit of getting the vaccine.”
Along with the outbreak associated with the Severn Court Student Residence, two other outbreaks continue — one that was reported just this past Friday (February 26) at Empress Gardens Retirement Residence at 131 Charlotte Street at Water Street)in downtown Peterborough, and the other at the Buckhorn Nursery and Day Care Centre that was reported February 16th.
The latest information is there are 17 cases associated with the Buckhorn outbreak — six involving staff members and 11 involving children.
Ontario’s police watchdog is investigating a fatal collision in Roseneath on Saturday night (February 27) that resulted in the death of a 62-year-old man.
According to a media release from the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), at around 9:40 p.m. on Saturday, an OPP officer was driving his police vehicle eastbound on County Road 18 in Roseneath responding to a call.
Just east of Roseneath Landing Road, the officer observed another vehicle coming towards him. The officer pulled over the police vehicle, and then proceeded to make a U-turn. A short time later, the officer came across that same vehicle in a ditch on the north side of County Road 18.
Advertisement - content continues below
The vehicle had struck a tree and the 62-year-old male driver was pronounced dead at the scene.
The SIU has assigned two investigators, two forensic investigators, and one collision reconstructionist to the case. To date, one officer has been designated as the subject officer.
A post-mortem is scheduled for Monday (March 1) in Kingston.
The SIU is urging anyone who may have information about this investigation to contact the lead investigator at 1-800-787-8529. The unit is also urging anyone who may have any video evidence related to this incident to upload that video through the SIU website at www.siu.on.ca.
The SIU is an independent government agency that investigates the conduct of police that may have resulted in death, serious injury, sexual assault, or the discharge of a firearm at a person. All investigations are conducted by SIU investigators who are civilians.
Severn Court Student Residence at 555 Wilfred Drive in Peterborough provides off-campus student housing primarily to Fleming College students, as well as students of Seneca College Aviation and Trent University. (Photo: Severn Court Management Company / Facebook)
Peterborough Public Health has declared a COVID-19 outbreak on Saturday (February 27) at Severn Court Student Residence in Peterborough.
Six cases have been confirmed so far at the 555 Wilfred Drive complex, which provides off-campus student housing primarily to Fleming College students, as well as students of Seneca College Aviation and Trent University. Approximately 200 students live in six separate buildings at the housing complex.
The index case has screened positive for a variant of concern, the health unit reports. Based on initial investigations, several of the exposures occurred during a private gathering that took place on Saturday, February 20th.
Advertisement - content continues below
Medical officer of health Dr. Rosana Salvaterra has issued a Section 22 Order closing the housing complex to visitors and requiring all residents to self-isolate.
“This outbreak is very concerning not only because it involves a variant of concern and could lead to many more cases and high-risk contacts, but because it was also completely preventable,” said Dr. Salvaterra. “In spite of this difficult situation, Severn Court Management Company has been incredibly responsive and are working very hard to help us contain the spread of the virus.”
The health unit is asking anyone who visited Severn Court between Saturday, February 20th and Saturday, February 27th to self-isolate and get tested if they have COVID-19 symptoms, and is asking everyone is asked to stay away from the housing complex until further notice.
Peterborough Public Health is also working closely with Trent University and Fleming College.
The health unit says the specific variant of concern is not yet known while the sample undergoes further testing to identify its genomic sequence.
Contract tracing continues and further updates will be issued as more details become available.
Here’s an update on COVID-19 cases in Ontario as well as in the greater Kawarthas region.
Today, Ontario is reporting 1,185 new cases, with the seven-day average of daily cases decreasing by 6 to 1,108.
Ontario is reporting 31 new cases of the B.1.1.7 UK variant, for a total of 508, as well as 11 new cases of the B.1.351 South Africa variant, for a total of 25.
In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 15 new cases to report and an additional 9 cases resolved, with the number of active cases across the region increasing by 2 to 93.
Advertisement - content continues below
Most of today’s new cases are in Toronto (331), Peel (220), and York (119).
There are double-digit increases in Ottawa (67), Hamilton (59), Thunder Bay (55), Waterloo (52), Brant (41), Durham (36), Simcoe Muskoka (35), Halton (32), Windsor-Essex (26), Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph (15), Lambton (13), Middlesex-London (13), Niagara (13), and Southwestern (11), with smaller increases in Sudbury (7), Eastern Ontario (7), Huron Perth (7), and Haldimand-Norfolk (6).
The remaining 13 health units are reporting 5 or fewer new cases, with 5 health units reporting no new cases at all.
Of today’s new cases, 60% are among people 39 and younger, with the highest number of cases (441) among people ages 20-39, followed by 297 cases among people ages 40-59 and 268 cases among people 19 and younger.
With 984 more cases resolved since yesterday, the percentage of resolved cases remains unchanged at 94.2%. The average positivity rate across Ontario has decreased by 0.2% from yesterday to 2.1%, meaning that 21 out of every 1,000 tests performed were positive for COVID-19 on February 26.
Ontario is reporting 16 new COVID-19 deaths today, with 1 new death in long-term care homes. Ontario has averaged 16 new daily deaths over the past week, a decrease of 2 from yesterday.
Hospitalizations have decreased by 3 from yesterday to 680, with the number of patients with COVID-19 in ICUs decreasing by 8 to 276, and the number of patients with COVID-19 on ventilators decreasing by 11 to 182.
A total of 59,416 tests were completed yesterday, with the backlog of tests under investigation decreasing by 7,513 to 27,989.
A total of 668,104 doses of vaccine have now been administered, an increase of 24,339 from yesterday, with 260,972 people fully vaccinated with both doses of vaccine, an increase of 2,958 from yesterday, representing 1.77% of Ontario’s population. An estimated 70-90% of the population must be immunized to achieve herd immunity.
Advertisement - content continues below
In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 16 new cases to report, including 7 in Peterborough, 5 in Hastings Prince Edward, and 3 in Northumberland. There are no new cases in Kawartha Lakes or Haliburton.
An outbreak at Severn Court student residence in Peterborough was declared on February 27. An outbreak at an unidentified workplace in Belleville was declared on February 25.
An additional 9 cases have been resolved, including 4 in Hastings Prince Edward, 3 in Peterborough, 1 in Northumberland, and 1 in Kawartha Lakes.
There are currently 93 active cases in the greater Kawarthas region, an increase of 2 from yesterday, including 41 in Peterborough, 22 in Northumberland, 16 in Hastings Prince Edward (2 in Quinte West, 9 in Belleville, 3 in Tyendinaga & Deseronto, 2 in Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory), and 14 in Kawartha Lakes. There are no active cases in Haliburton.
Since the pandemic began in the greater Kawarthas region, there have been 635 confirmed positive cases in the Peterborough area (585 resolved with 9 deaths), 537 in the City of Kawartha Lakes (481 resolved with 55 deaths), 441 in Northumberland County (408 resolved with 11 deaths), 51 in Haliburton County (51 resolved with no deaths), and 413 in Hastings and Prince Edward counties (391 resolved with 6 deaths). The most recent 2 deaths were reported in Kawartha Lakes on February 23.
The provincial data in this report is pulled from Ontario’s integrated Public Health Information System (iPHIS) at 12 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’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: 635 (increase of 7)* Variants of concern cases: 1 (no change) Active cases: 41 (increase of 4) Close contacts: 146 (decrease of 6) Deaths: 9 (no change) Resolved: 583 (increase of 3) Hospitalizations (total to date): 24 (no change)** Total tests completed: Over 43,400 (increase of 100) Outbreaks: Buckhorn Day Care and Nursery School, Empress Gardens retirement home, Severn Court student residence (increase of 1)*** Vaccine doses administered: 1,136 (no change)
*On its website, Peterborough Public Health is reporting 8 new cases in the last 24 hours. However, in the health unit’s data tracker, the total number of confirmed cases has only increased by 7, with 3 cases resolved, resulting in the number of active cases increasing by 4 to 41.
**As of February 26, Peterborough Regional Health Centre is reporting fewer than 5 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 (no change) and 17 patients transferred from other areas as a result of a provincial directive (no change).
***An outbreak at Severn Court student residence in Peterborough was declared on February 27.
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.
Confirmed positive: 1,029, including 537 in Kawartha Lakes, 441 in Northumberland, and 51 in Haliburton (increase of 3 in Northumberland)* Cases with N501Y mutation: 12, including 2 in Kawartha Lakes and 10 in Northumberland (no change)** Active cases: 36, including 14 in Kawartha Lakes and 22 in Northumberland (decrease of 2, including 1 in Kawartha Lakes and 1 in Northumberland) Probable cases: 1 in Northumberland (no change) High-risk contacts: 87, including 52 in Kawartha Lakes and 32 in Northumberland (decrease of 11, including 1 in Kawartha Lakes and 10 in Northumberland)*** Hospitalizations (total to date): 44, including 27 in Kawartha Lakes, 15 in Northumberland, and 2 in Haliburton (no change)**** Deaths (including among probable cases): 66, including 55 in Kawartha Lakes and 11 in Northumberland (no change) Resolved: 940, including 481 in Kawartha Lakes, 408 in Northumberland, 51 in Haliburton (increase of 2, including 1 in Kawartha Lakes and 1 in Northumberland) Tests completed: 142,855 (increase of 517) Outbreaks: Caressant Care McLaughlin Road long-term care home in Lindsay, Regency long-term care home in Port Hope, Warkworth Place in Warkworth (no 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.
**The N501Y mutation has been identified in variants of concern including the B.1.1.7 UK variant, the B.1.351 South Africa variant, and the P.1 Brazilian variant.
***This total includes an additional 3 high-risk contacts directly followed up through the Public Health Ontario contact tracing process that are missing the contacts’ county.
****As of February 26, Ross Memorial Hospital in Lindsay reports 1 patient hospitalized with COVID-19 (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 daily reports, including on weekends, excluding statutory holidays.
Confirmed positive: 413 (increase of 5) Active cases: 16 (no net change) Deaths: 6 (no change) Currently hospitalized: 0 (no change) Currently hospitalized and in ICU: 0 (no change) Currently hospitalized and in ICU on ventilator (total to date): 0 (no change) Resolved: 391 (increase of 4) Tests completed: 60,867 (no change) Vaccines administered: 2,186 (no change) Outbreaks: Unidentified workplace in Central Hastings, unidentified workplace in Belleville (increase of 1)*
*An outbreak at an unidentified workplace in Belleville was declared on February 25.
Advertisement - content continues below
Province of Ontario
Confirmed positive: 299,754 (increase of 1,185) Total COVID-19 variant cases: 508 of B.1.1.7 UK variant (increase of 31); 25 of B.1.351 South Africa variant (increase of 11); 2 of P.1 Brazilian variant (no change) 7-day average of daily new cases: 1,108 (decrease of 6) Resolved: 282,315 (increase of 984, 94.2% of all cases) Positivity rate: 2.1% (decrease of 0.2%) Hospitalizations: 680 (decrease of 3) Hospitalizations in ICU: 276 (decrease of 8) Hospitalizations in ICU on ventilator: 182 (decrease of 11) Deaths: 6,960 (increase of 16) 7-day average of daily new deaths: 16 (decrease of 2) Deaths of residents in long-term care homes: 3,865 (increase of 1) Total tests completed: 10,995,968 (increase of 59,416) Tests under investigation: 27,989 (decrease of 7,513) Vaccination doses administered: 668,104 (increase of 24,339) People fully vaccinated (two doses): 260,972 (increase of 2,958), 1.77% of Ontario’s population (est. 70-90% required for herd immunity)
COVID-19 cases in Ontario from January 27 – February 26, 2021. The red line is the number of new cases reported daily, and the dotted green line is a five-day moving average of new cases. (Graphic: kawarthaNOW.com)COVID-19 tests completed in Ontario from January 27 – February 26, 2021. The red line is the number of tests completed daily, and the dotted green line is a five-day moving average of tests completed. (Graphic: kawarthaNOW.com)COVID-19 hospitalizations and ICU admissions in Ontario from January 27 – February 26, 2021. The red line is the daily number of COVID-19 hospitalizations, the dotted green line is a five-day moving average of hospitalizations, the purple line is the daily number of patients with COVID-19 in ICUs, and the dotted orange line is a five-day moving average of is a five-day moving average of patients with COVID-19 in ICUs. (Graphic: kawarthaNOW.com)COVID-19 deaths in Ontario from January 27 – February 26, 2021. The red line is the cumulative number of daily deaths, and the dotted green line is a five-day moving average of daily deaths. (Graphic: kawarthaNOW.com)COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in Ontario from January 27 – February 26, 2021. The red line is the cumulative number of daily doses administered, and the dotted green line is a five-day moving average of daily doses. (Graphic: kawarthaNOW.com)
Watson & Lou co-owners Erin Watson and Anna Eidt literally jump for joy after recently reopening the doors of their downtown Peterborough shop to in-person shoppers. Their creative hub, which helps local artists and makers reach a wider audience year-round, continues to also offer online shopping, curbside pickup, and free local delivery. (Photo courtesy of Watson & Lou)
The pandemic has been a devastating hit for many local business owners, artists, and makers. Lockdowns and restrictions have put those working in an already fragile industry in an increasingly precarious position.
This story is one of an ongoing series by kawarthaNOW in support of locally owned businesses.
Keeping local businesses, artists, and makers afloat during a tough time means stimulating the local economy and ensuring they are around post-pandemic to offer unique and sustainable products. Plus, by spending money locally, you support the livelihood of workers right within your community.
Watson & Lou at 383 Water Street in Peterborough is a one-stop shop where you can do exactly that. According to Anna Eidt, who co-owns the downtown creative hub with her business partner Erin Watson, over 75 per cent of their local creative goods are made in Peterborough and the Kawarthas.
Advertisement - content continues below
“We need people to invest in us so we can keep investing in all the local artists and makers that work with us,” Eidt tells kawarthaNOW. “I think it’s becoming more mainstream for people to think about where their stuff is made, where the materials are coming from, who is making it, and what they’re getting paid.”
Eidt and Watson’s business has been dealing with the same challenges most are facing throughout the pandemic. Lockdowns and physical distancing have meant less walk-in traffic and thus less revenue. Eidt says the most recent lockdown, which closed their doors to in-person shopping, was particularly challenging even though Watson & Lou has a robust online shop.
“Running an online shop and running an in-person shop are very different jobs,” Eidt notes. “Often with one-of-a-kind handmade goods, people want to see them and touch them and experience them before making a purchase. That experimental aspect of the shop had been missing from the customer experience.”
More than 75 per cent of the creative goods at Watson & Lou are made in Peterborough and the Kawarthas by local artists and makers. (Photo courtesy of Watson & Lou)
The lockdown was also difficult, Eidt says, since she and Watson missed having face-to-face interactions with their customers.
Eidt and Watson are thrilled in-person shopping is again available now that the province-wide lockdown is over, but they are also continuing to offer curbside pickup and free local delivery for orders over $20.
“I would argue our online ordering system is just as easy as the larger companies,” Eidt points out. “We are keeping our curbside pickup and free local delivery going because we’ve learned that the best scenario is to diversify how people can obtain Watson & Lou goods.”
Advertisement - content continues below
You can order Watson & Lou merchandise — including everything from prints and ceramics to all-natural body products and small furniture pieces — for curbside pickup or delivery through their website at www.watsonandlou.com. Online orders can be shipped anywhere in Canada for a flat rate of $12, or for free if your order is above $100.
For those who prefer to visit the Water Street store, Eidt assures Watson & Lou is going above and beyond with their COVID-19 safety measures to make sure in-person shopping is a safe experience for everyone involved.
“We are sanitizing ourselves, the front door, and all commonly touched surfaces,” Eidt explains. “We make sure that we are wearing masks at all times in the building. We have four customers maximum at a time. Even though our space is fairly big, we decided to air on the side of caution.”
Watson & Lou in downtown Peterborough offers unique creative items, many hand-made by local artists and makers, that you just can’t find anywhere else. (Photo courtesy of Watson & Lou)
Watson & Lou is an excellent example of a locally owned business that gives back to the greater Peterborough community, not only by stocking local suppliers but by promoting charitable initiatives.
For a week last March, after the onset of the pandemic, Watson & Lou donated five per cent of their online sales to The Theatre on King, an intimate black-box theatre in downtown Peterborough that has been unable to operate since the pandemic began.
“From a personal and business perspective, all facets of the arts and our downtown are important to us for personal enrichment, but also if we want businesses to do well, we have to have all kinds of offerings available to downtown,” Eidt explains.
“Performance arts spaces which simply cannot operate safely right now are even more precarious than under normal circumstances. We thought that we should do our best to channel at least something to some performance venues.”
Advertisement - content continues below
In addition, if you order online from Watson & Lou, there’s a tip option during checkout that goes directly to YES Shelter for Youth and Families. In January, customers donated $150 for the shelter.
“It’s just an easy way to channel money to them while you’re getting a gift,” says Eidt.
Another pivot for Watson & Lou throughout the pandemic has been transforming their workshop space into a vintage room. Here, five different vendors are set up to sell quality handmade vintage items.
“We feel like it’s a natural extension of what we do because it’s eco-friendly, and there’s a lot of quality handmade goods back there,” Eidt notes. “We’re really excited to have that sort of extended retail space to help a few vintage collectors in town.”
Watson & Lou has temporarily converted its workshop space, idle during the pandemic, into additional retail space for vintage vendors. For those missing the crafting workshops, Watson & Lou sells a collection of crafting kits, such as a D.I.Y. embroidered doll starter kit pictured on the shelf. (Photo courtesy of Watson & Lou)
The vintage room takes place in a space that has been empty since the onset of COVID-19. Pre-pandemic, Watson & Lou held craft-related workshops in this space — an offering they hope to bring back, but only when it is completely safe to do so.
“We don’t want to put people at risk by having even small workshops,” Eidt explains.
“Luckily, we have a really beautiful collection of crafting kits, and people have been making use of those. We’ve heard many customers have been doing video chats with each other while trying out their kits. It seems like the spirit of the workshops is being kept alive, and that warms our hearts.”
Advertisement - content continues below
Eidt says both she and Watson have felt the community’s support throughout COVID-19 and appreciate the concerted effort by many people to purchase locally instead of at the online giants.
“That’s why we are still here throughout January and February, because people made that effort,” Eidt says.
She encourages the community to continue making this effort, and to choose local when you have the option.
COVID-safe in-person shopping is available again at Watson & Lou, or you can shop online if you prefer. Curbside pickup and free local delivery available, and oline orders can be shipped anywhere in Canada for a flat rate of $12, or for free if your order is above $100. (Photo courtesy of Watson & Lou)
“Before clicking to buy something that you need that’s coming from overseas, just spend an extra couple of minutes to see if you can get that thing locally,” she urges, adding that you’re more likely to find something unique at Watson & Lou.
“Think about gifts that are going to be special and longer-lasting instead of disposable,” Eidt says. “Hopefully, we can provide those options.”
Watson & Lou is located at 383 Water Street in downtown Peterborough and is open Monday to Saturday from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. You can visit www.watsonandlou.com to shop online and to place orders for pickup or delivery. You can also follow Watson & Lou on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.
Before a teleconference with Ontario municipal leaders and mayors on February 26, 2021, Ontario Premier Doug Ford comments on Health Canada's approval of AstraZeneca's two COVID-19 vaccines. Later in the day, the province announced changes to the colour-coded levels for nine public health unit regions, including placing Thunder Bay and Simcoe-Muskoka into lockdown status. (CPAC screenshot)
For the time being, the three health units in the greater Kawarthas region are remaining in their existing colour-coded levels under Ontario’s COVID-19 response framework.
Two weeks after lifting the provincial lockdown, the Ontario government has reevaluated public health measures for each of the province’s 34 health units and is moving nine regions to new levels.
However, the three health units in the greater Kawarthas region are staying where they are. Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit remains in ‘Orange-Restrict’, Peterborough Public Health in ‘Yellow-Protect’, and Hastings Prince Edward in ‘Green-Prevent’.
Advertisement - content continues below
Under the changes announced on Friday (February 26), Ontario is activating its “emergency brake” response in Thunder Bay District Health Unit and Simcoe-Muskoka District Health Unit, moving the two regions to ‘Grey-Lockdown’ to immediately interrupt transmission and contain community spread.
The announcement came hours after Premier Doug Ford commented on Health Canada’s approval of AstraZeneca’s two COVID-19 vaccines, prior to a teleconference with Ontario municipal leaders and mayors on the province’s vaccine distribution plan.
“While we continue to see the number of cases and other public health indicators lowering in many regions across the province, the recent modelling shows us that we must be nimble and put in place additional measures to protect Ontarians and stop the spread of COVID-19,” said health minister Christine Elliott.
The decision to apply the “emergency brake” in Thunder Bay and Simcoe-Muskoka, made in consultation with the local medical officers of health, is due to a rapid worsening in key public health indicators, including a spike in new cases over the past few days in Thunder Bay as well as a high presence of variants in Simcoe-Muskoka that continue to increase. As of February 23, there has been a total of 170 confirmed cases of a variant of concern in Simcoe-Muskoka.
“With COVID-19 variants continuing to spread in our communities, it is critically important that everyone continues strictly adhering to all public health and workplace safety measures to help contain the virus and maintain the progress we have made to date,” Elliott said.
Advertisement - content continues below
Based on the latest data, the following public health regions will move from their current level in the framework to the following levels effective Monday, March 1st at 12:01 a.m.:
Grey-Lockdown
Simcoe-Muskoka District Health Unit
Thunder Bay District Health Unit
Red-Control
Niagara Region Public Health
Orange-Restrict
Chatham-Kent Public Health
Middlesex-London Health Unit
Southwestern Public Health
Yellow-Protect
Haldimand-Norfolk Health Unit
Huron Perth Public Health
Green-Prevent
Grey Bruce Health Unit
In Peel Public Health, Toronto Public Health, and North Bay Parry Sound District, the shutdown measures and the stay-at-home order will continue to apply until at least Monday, March 8th, with final decisions to be based on key public health indicators and consultation with the local medical officers of health.
Here’s an update on COVID-19 cases in Ontario as well as in the greater Kawarthas region.
Today, Ontario is reporting 1,258 new cases, the highest single day increase since February 13 when 1,300 cases were reported. The seven-day average of daily cases has increased by 15 to 1,114.
Ontario is reporting 28 new cases of the B.1.1.7 UK variant, for a total of 477, as well as 3 new cases of the B.1.351 South Africa variant, for a total of 14.
In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 22 new cases to report with an additional 8 cases resolved, with the number of active cases across the region increasing by 11 to 91.
Advertisement - content continues below
Most of today’s new cases are in Toronto (362), Peel (274), and York (104).
There are double-digit increases in Waterloo (69), Hamilton (64), Ottawa (52), Thunder Bay (42), Durham (42), Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph (35), Halton (32), Windsor-Essex (31), Simcoe Muskoka (25), Niagara (19), Brant (17), Eastern Ontario (11), Renfrew (10), and Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge (10), with smaller increases in Southwestern (9) and Lambton (6).
The remaining 15 health units are reporting 5 or fewer new cases, with only 1 health unit (Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington) reporting no new cases at all.
Of today’s new cases, 56% are among people 39 and younger, with the highest number of cases (477) among people ages 20-39, followed by 355 cases among people ages 40-59.
With 1,007 more cases resolved since yesterday, the percentage of resolved cases has decreased by 0.1% at 94.2%. The average positivity rate across Ontario has increased by 0.3% from yesterday to 2.3%, meaning that 23 out of every 1,000 tests performed were positive for COVID-19 on February 25.
Ontario is reporting 28 new COVID-19 deaths today, with no new deaths in long-term care homes. Ontario has averaged 18 new daily deaths over the past week, a decrease of 2 from yesterday.
Hospitalizations have decreased by 4 from yesterday to 683, with the number of patients with COVID-19 in ICUs increasing by 1 to 284, and the number of patients with COVID-19 on ventilators increasing by 11 to 193.
A total of 64,049 tests were completed yesterday, with the backlog of tests under investigation decreasing by 5,137 to 35,502.
A total of 643,765 doses of vaccine have now been administered, an increase of 21,805 from yesterday, with 258,014 people fully vaccinated with both doses of vaccine, an increase of 2,565 from yesterday, representing 1.75% of Ontario’s population. An estimated 70-90% of the population must be immunized to achieve herd immunity.
There are 101 new cases in Ontario schools, an increase of 18 from yesterday, including 89 student cases and 12 staff cases. There are 29 new cases in licensed child care settings in Ontario, an increase of 4 from yesterday, with 20 cases among children and 9 cases among staff.
Advertisement - content continues below
In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 22 new cases to report, including 9 in Peterborough (a net increase of 7 new cases, as two previously reported cases have been removed from the total case count), 5 in Kawartha Lakes, 5 in Northumberland, and 3 in Hastings Prince Edward. There are no new cases to report in Haliburton.
An outbreak at Empress Gardens retirement home in Peterborough was declared on February 26.
An additional 8 cases have been resolved, including 3 in Northumberland, 2 in Kawartha Lakes, 2 in Hastings Prince Edward, and 1 in Peterborough.
There are currently 91 active cases in the greater Kawarthas region, an increase of 11 from yesterday, including 37 in Peterborough, 23 in Northumberland, 16 in Hastings Prince Edward (2 in Quinte West, 6 in Belleville, 5 in Tyendinaga & Deseronto, 2 in Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, 1 in Central Hastings), and 15 in Kawartha Lakes. There are no active cases in Haliburton.
Since the pandemic began in the greater Kawarthas region, there have been 628 confirmed positive cases in the Peterborough area (582 resolved with 9 deaths), 537 in the City of Kawartha Lakes (480 resolved with 55 deaths), 441 in Northumberland County (407 resolved with 11 deaths), 51 in Haliburton County (51 resolved with no deaths), and 409 in Hastings and Prince Edward counties (387 resolved with 6 deaths). The most recent 2 deaths were reported in Kawartha Lakes on February 23.
The provincial data in this report is pulled from Ontario’s integrated Public Health Information System (iPHIS) at 12 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’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: 628 (increase of 7)* Variants of concern cases: 1 (no change) Active cases: 37 (increase of 6) Close contacts: 152 (increase of 13) Deaths: 9 (no change) Resolved: 582 (increase of 1) Hospitalizations (total to date): 24 (no change)** Total tests completed: Over 43,300 (no change) Outbreaks: Buckhorn Day Care and Nursery School, Empress Gardens retirement home (increase of 1)*** Variants of concern cases: 1 (no change) Vaccine doses administered: 1,136 (no change)
*A total of 9 new cases have been reported, with 2 previously reported cases removed from the total, resulting in a net increase of 7 cases.
**As of February 26, Peterborough Regional Health Centre is reporting fewer than 5 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 (no change) and 17 patients transferred from other areas as a result of a provincial directive (no change).
***An outbreak at Empress Gardens retirement home in Peterborough was declared on February 26.
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.
Confirmed positive: 1,029, including 537 in Kawartha Lakes, 441 in Northumberland, and 51 in Haliburton (increase of 10, including 5 in Kawartha Lakes and 5 in Northumberland)* Cases with N501Y mutation: 12, including 2 in Kawartha Lakes and 10 in Northumberland** Active cases: 38, including 15 in Kawartha Lakes and 23 in Northumberland (increase of 4, including 2 in Kawartha Lakes and 2 in Northumberland) Probable cases: 1 in Northumberland (no net change) High-risk contacts: 98, including 53 in Kawartha Lakes and 42 in Northumberland (net decrease of 41)*** Hospitalizations (total to date): 44, including 27 in Kawartha Lakes, 15 in Northumberland, and 2 in Haliburton (no change)**** Deaths (including among probable cases): 66, including 55 in Kawartha Lakes and 11 in Northumberland (no change) Resolved: 938, including 480 in Kawartha Lakes, 407 in Northumberland, 51 in Haliburton (increase of 5, including 2 in Kawartha Lakes and 3 in Northumberland) Tests completed: 142,338 (increase of 756) Outbreaks: Caressant Care McLaughlin Road long-term care home in Lindsay, Regency long-term care home in Port Hope, Warkworth Place in Warkworth (no 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.
**The N501Y mutation has been identified in variants of concern including the B.1.1.7 UK variant, the B.1.351 South Africa variant, and the P.1 Brazilian variant.
***This total includes an additional 3 high-risk contacts directly followed up through the Public Health Ontario contact tracing process that are missing the contacts’ county.
****As of February 26, Ross Memorial Hospital in Lindsay reports 1 patient hospitalized with COVID-19 (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 daily reports, including on weekends, excluding statutory holidays.
Confirmed positive: 409 (increase of 3) Active cases: 16 (increase of 1) Deaths: 6 (no change) Currently hospitalized: 0 (no change) Currently hospitalized and in ICU: 0 (no change) Currently hospitalized and in ICU on ventilator (total to date): 0 (no change) Resolved: 387 (increase of 2) Tests completed: 60,867 (increase of 1) Vaccines administered: 2,186 (increase of 160) Outbreaks: Unidentified workplace in Central Hastings (no change)
Advertisement - content continues below
Province of Ontario
Confirmed positive: 298,569 (increase of 1,258) 7-day average of daily new cases: 1,114 (increase of 15) Resolved: 281,331 (increase of 1,007, 94.2% of all cases) Positivity rate: 2.3% (increase of 0.3%) Hospitalizations: 683 (decrease of 4) Hospitalizations in ICU: 284 (increase of 1) Hospitalizations in ICU on ventilator: 193 (increase of 11) Deaths: 6,944 (increase of 28) 7-day average of daily new deaths: 18 (decrease of 2) Deaths of residents in long-term care homes: 3,864 (no change) Total tests completed: 10,936,552 (increase of 64,049) Tests under investigation: 35,502 (decrease of 5,137) Vaccination doses administered: 643,765 (increase of 21,805) People fully vaccinated (two doses): 258,014 (increase of 2,565), 1.75% of Ontario’s population (est. 70-90% required for herd immunity) Total COVID-19 variant cases: 477 of B.1.1.7 UK variant (increase of 28); 14 of B.1.351 South Africa variant (increase of 3); 2 of P.1 Brazilian variant (no change)
COVID-19 cases in Ontario from January 26 – February 25, 2021. The red line is the number of new cases reported daily, and the dotted green line is a five-day moving average of new cases. (Graphic: kawarthaNOW.com)COVID-19 tests completed in Ontario from January 26 – February 25, 2021. The red line is the number of tests completed daily, and the dotted green line is a five-day moving average of tests completed. (Graphic: kawarthaNOW.com)COVID-19 hospitalizations and ICU admissions in Ontario from January 26 – February 25, 2021. The red line is the daily number of COVID-19 hospitalizations, the dotted green line is a five-day moving average of hospitalizations, the purple line is the daily number of patients with COVID-19 in ICUs, and the dotted orange line is a five-day moving average of is a five-day moving average of patients with COVID-19 in ICUs. (Graphic: kawarthaNOW.comCOVID-19 deaths in Ontario from January 26 – February 25, 2021. The red line is the cumulative number of daily deaths, and the dotted green line is a five-day moving average of daily deaths. (Graphic: kawarthaNOW.com)COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in Ontario from January 26 – February 25, 2021. The red line is the cumulative number of daily doses administered, and the dotted green line is a five-day moving average of daily doses. (Graphic: kawarthaNOW.com)
The new docuseries "For Heaven's Sake" blends true crime and comedy as it explores what happened to 31-year-old Harold Heaven, who mysteriously disappeared from his Minden cabin in 1934 and was never heard from again. The series was written by and features amateur investigators, comedians, and best friends Mike Milden (who is Heaven's great-great nephew) and Jackson Rowe. (Supplied photo)
An 86-year-old mystery in Haliburton County is about to be solved — or not — in front of an international audience.
On Thursday, March 4th, the new docuseries For Heaven’s Sake comes to CBC Gem in Canada and Paramount+ (previously CBS All Access) in the U.S.
The eight-part series follows the search for Harold Heaven, a 31-year-old land prospector who disappeared without a trace from his cabin in Minden on October 29, 1934 and was never heard from again.
Advertisement - content continues below
The door to his cabin was found ajar, the keys still inside the lock, his laundry still soaking, and his oil lamp burnt out. The only items missing from the cabin were Heaven’s blue serge suit, black oxfords, a sweater, his fedora, and his new .22 rifle.
Local police and residents searched the bush and dredged the adjacent lake for Heaven, but found no clues. The OPP carried out investigations throughout the remainder of 1934, but the case went unsolved. While Heaven’s brothers continued the search for the rest of their lives, the case was closed as a likely suicide.
Until a few years ago, that is, when Heaven’s great-great nephew Mike Milden and his best friend Jackson Rowe became determined to solve the mystery of what happened.
VIDEO: “For Heaven’s Sake” Trailer
With the help of Milden’s extended family, neighbours, town locals, police reports from 1934, and old photographs, they dug deeply into why Heaven left his cabin so quickly.
And they literally dug deeply.
Heaven’s descendants have long believed his body is buried beside the property of a possible suspect mentioned in the OPP police reports from 1934. In February 2020, a ground-penetrating radar scan raised the possibility of a grave site being located in the area.
A headline story about Harold Heaven’s disappearance from the Hamilton Spectator on November 5, 1934. (Supplied photo)
But Milden and Rowe couldn’t move forward until the ground thawed — and then the COVID-19 pandemic hit and the accompanying provincial lockdowns led to a pause on their efforts.
Filmed partly in Minden, For Heaven’s Sake blends the true-crime documentary format with comedy for a unique take on uncovering the truth. As well as being amateur investigators, Milden and Rowe are both professional comedians in Toronto and cofounders of the comedy sketch troupe Trophy Husbands, whose award-winning material has been featured on Amazon Prime, Funny or Die, Just For Laughs, Huffington Post and more.
For your binging pleasure, all eight episodes of For Heaven’s Sake will premiere on CBC Gem and Paramount+ on Thursday, March 4th.
Here’s an update on COVID-19 cases in Ontario as well as in the greater Kawarthas region.
Today, Ontario is reporting 1,138 new cases, with the seven-day average of daily cases increasing by 15 to 1,099.
After no increases over the past few days, Ontario is reporting 54 new cases of the B.1.1.7 UK variant, for a total of 449, as well as 2 new cases of the B.1.351 South Africa variant (for a total of 11) and 1 new case of the P.1 Brazilian variant (for a total of 2).
In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 11 new cases to report with an additional 11 cases resolved. The number of active cases across the region remains unchanged at 80.
Advertisement - content continues below
Most of today’s new cases are in Toronto (388), Peel (204), and York (106).
There are double-digit increases in Ottawa (64), Waterloo (56), Thunder Bay (44), Simcoe Muskoka (44), Halton (40), Hamilton (37), Windsor-Essex (33), Durham (28), Eastern Ontario (20), Brant (19), Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph (18), Niagara (12), and Southwestern (11), with smaller increases in Northwestern (9), Lambton (8), Sudbury (7), Huron Perth (6), and Middlesex-London (6).
The remaining 13 health units are reporting 5 or fewer new cases, with 4 health units reporting no new cases at all.
Of today’s new cases, 55% are among people 39 and younger, with the highest number of cases (422) among people ages 20-39, followed by 332 cases among people ages 40-59.
With 1,094 more cases resolved since yesterday, the percentage of resolved cases remains unchanged at 94.3%. The average positivity rate across Ontario has decreased by 0.4% from yesterday to 2.0%, meaning that 20 out of every 1,000 tests performed were positive for COVID-19 on February 24.
Ontario is reporting 23 new COVID-19 deaths today, including 4 in long-term care homes. Ontario has averaged 20 new daily deaths over the past week, a decrease of 3 from yesterday.
Hospitalizations have increased by 12 from yesterday to 687, with the number of patients with COVID-19 in ICUs decreasing by 4 to 283, and the number of patients with COVID-19 on ventilators remaining unchanged at 182.
A total of 66,351 tests were completed yesterday, with the backlog of tests under investigation decreasing by 612 to 40,639.
A total of 621,960 doses of vaccine have now been administered, an increase of 19,112 from yesterday, with 255,449 people fully vaccinated with both doses of vaccine, an increase of 3,859 from yesterday, representing 1.73% of Ontario’s population. An estimated 70-90% of the population must be immunized to achieve herd immunity.
There are 83 new cases in Ontario schools, a decrease of 29 from yesterday, including 70 student cases, 12 staff cases, and 1 case among unidentified individuals. There are 25 new cases in licensed child care settings in Ontario, a decrease of 2 from yesterday, with 14 cases among children and 11 cases among staff.
Advertisement - content continues below
In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 11 new cases to report, including 4 in Hastings Prince Edward, 3 in Kawartha Lakes, 2 in Peterborough, and 2 in Northumberland. There are no new cases to report in Haliburton.
An outbreak at an unidentified workplace in Central Hastings was declared on February 24
An additional 11 cases have been resolved, including 5 in Peterborough, 3 in Hastings Prince Edward, 2 in Kawartha Lakes, and 1 in Northumberland.
There are currently 80 active cases in the greater Kawarthas region (no net change from yesterday), including 31 in Peterborough, 21 in Northumberland, 15 in Hastings Prince Edward (2 in Quinte West, 7 in Belleville, 4 in Tyendinaga & Deseronto, 1 in Prince Edward County, 1 in Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory), and 13 in Kawartha Lakes. There are no active cases in Haliburton.
Since the pandemic began in the greater Kawarthas region, there have been 621 confirmed positive cases in the Peterborough area (581 resolved with 9 deaths), 533 in the City of Kawartha Lakes (478 resolved with 55 deaths), 436 in Northumberland County (404 resolved with 11 deaths), 51 in Haliburton County (51 resolved with no deaths), and 406 in Hastings and Prince Edward counties (385 resolved with 6 deaths). The most recent 2 deaths were reported in Kawartha Lakes on February 23.
The provincial data in this report is pulled from Ontario’s integrated Public Health Information System (iPHIS) at 12 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’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: 621 (increase of 2) Active cases: 31 (decrease of 3) Close contacts: 139 (decrease of 17) Deaths: 9 (no change) Resolved: 581 (increase of 5) Hospitalizations (total to date): 24 (no change)* Total tests completed: Over 43,300 (increase of 100) Outbreaks: Buckhorn Day Care and Nursery School (no change) Variants of concern cases: 1 (no change) Vaccine doses administered: 1,136 (increase of 160)
*As of February 25, Peterborough Regional Health Centre is reporting fewer than 5 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 (no change) and 17 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.
Confirmed positive: 1,020, including 533 in Kawartha Lakes, 436 in Northumberland, and 51 in Haliburton (increase of 5, including 3 in Kawartha Lakes and 2 in Northumberland)* Active cases: 34, including 13 in Kawartha Lakes and 21 in Northumberland (increase of 2, including 1 in Kawartha Lakes and 1 in Northumberland) Probable cases: 1 in Northumberland (no net change) High-risk contacts: 139, including 65 in Kawartha Lakes, 68 in Northumberland, and 1 in Haliburton (net decrease of 18)** Hospitalizations (total to date): 44, including 27 in Kawartha Lakes, 15 in Northumberland, and 2 in Haliburton (no change)*** Deaths (including among probable cases): 66, including 55 in Kawartha Lakes and 11 in Northumberland (no change) Resolved: 933, including 478 in Kawartha Lakes, 404 in Northumberland, 51 in Haliburton (increase of 3, including 2 in Kawartha Lakes and 1 in Northumberland) Tests completed: 141,582 (increase of 867) Outbreaks: Caressant Care McLaughlin Road long-term care home in Lindsay, Regency long-term care home in Port Hope, Warkworth Place in Warkworth (no 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.
**This total includes an additional 5 high-risk contacts directly followed up through the Public Health Ontario contact tracing process that are missing the contacts’ county.
***As of February 25, Ross Memorial Hospital in Lindsay reports 1 patient hospitalized with COVID-19 (increase of 1).
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: 406 (increase of 4) Active cases: 15 (increase of 1) Deaths: 6 (no change) Currently hospitalized: 0 (no change) Currently hospitalized and in ICU: 0 (no change) Currently hospitalized and in ICU on ventilator (total to date): 0 (no change) Resolved: 385 (increase of 3) Tests completed: 60,866 (increase of 5) Vaccines administered: 2,026 (increase of 80) Outbreaks: Unidentified workplace in Central Hastings (increase of 1)
Advertisement - content continues below
Province of Ontario
Confirmed positive: 297,311 (increase of 1,138) 7-day average of daily new cases: 1,099 (increase of 15) Resolved: 280,324 (increase of 1,094, 94.3% of all cases) Positivity rate: 2.0% (decrease of 0.4%) Hospitalizations: 687 (increase of 12) Hospitalizations in ICU: 283 (decrease of 4) Hospitalizations in ICU on ventilator: 182 (no change) Deaths: 6,916 (increase of 23) 7-day average of daily new deaths: 20 (decrease of 3) Deaths of residents in long-term care homes: 3,864 (increase of 4) Total tests completed: 10,872,503 (increase of 66,351) Tests under investigation: 40,639 (decrease of 612) Vaccination doses administered: 621,960 (increase of 19,112) People fully vaccinated (two doses): 255,449 (increase of 3,859), 1.73% of Ontario’s population (est. 70-90% required for herd immunity) Total COVID-19 variant cases: 449 of B.1.1.7 UK variant (increase of 54); 11 of B.1.351 South Africa variant (increase of 2); 2 of P.1 Brazilian variant (increase of 1)
COVID-19 cases in Ontario from January 25 – February 24, 2021. The red line is the number of new cases reported daily, and the dotted green line is a five-day moving average of new cases. (Graphic: kawarthaNOW.com)COVID-19 tests completed in Ontario from January 25 – February 24, 2021. The red line is the number of tests completed daily, and the dotted green line is a five-day moving average of tests completed. (Graphic: kawarthaNOW.com)COVID-19 hospitalizations and ICU admissions in Ontario from January 25 – February 24, 2021. The red line is the daily number of COVID-19 hospitalizations, the dotted green line is a five-day moving average of hospitalizations, the purple line is the daily number of patients with COVID-19 in ICUs, and the dotted orange line is a five-day moving average of is a five-day moving average of patients with COVID-19 in ICUs. (Graphic: kawarthaNOW.com)COVID-19 deaths in Ontario from January 25 – February 24, 2021. The red line is the cumulative number of daily deaths, and the dotted green line is a five-day moving average of daily deaths. (Graphic: kawarthaNOW.comCOVID-19 vaccine doses administered in Ontario from January 25 – February 24, 2021. The red line is the cumulative number of daily doses administered, and the dotted green line is a five-day moving average of daily doses. (Graphic: kawarthaNOW.com)
Any prospect of the Peterborough region being moved any time soon to the less restrictive ‘Green-Prevent’ level of Ontario’s COVID-19 response framework has been dashed by rising positive case numbers, an ongoing outbreak in Buckhorn, and the first confirmed case of a COVID-19 variant of concern.
During a Peterborough Public Health media briefing held Thursday (February 25), medical officer of health Dr. Rosana Salvaterra said, “Green is wishful thinking right now given what we’ve seen in the last week,” adding “I’m just glad that we’re hanging onto yellow.”
“Things can change in a day,” Dr. Salvaterra noted. “When we reviewed our data with the province just a couple of days ago, Peterborough was a rainbow. We had one or two indicators that were in green, we had two or three indicators that were in yellow, and we had an orange indicator. We should stay in yellow. Yellow is a good place for us to be right now.”
Advertisement - content continues below
On the positive side, the Peterborough region currently has 34 current active COVID cases — a drop of one since last Friday — while the number of close contacts being followed has dropped considerably to 156 from 237 during the same period.
That said, February, with 74 new cases reported to date, is on track for the third highest monthly total of new cases since the pandemic began, eclipsed only by January’s 198 new cases and 137 new cases in December.
Also dimming any prospect of movement to ‘Green-Prevent’ is the number of new cases connected to an outbreak declared February 16th at the Buckhorn Day Care and Nursery School. There are now 17 cases associated with that outbreak, six involving staff members and 11 involving children.
And then there’s the region’s first positive case of a COVID-19 variant of concern, confirmed February 23rd involving a man in his 20s. According to the health unit, his exposure came as a result of his contact with a roommate identified as a high-risk contact of a variant of concern case from another region. That roommate has since left the Peterborough area.
“Where there’s smoke, there’s fire,” Dr. Salvaterra said. “We are worried that there are other people who are infected with a variant of concern in our community.”
Advertisement - content continues below
But while the Peterborough region is destined to remain at the ‘Yellow-Protect’ level for the foreseeable future, there is positive news on the vaccine front. As of Thursday morning (February 25), 1,136 doses have been administered locally.
“This morning our public health teams have returned to long-term care homes to administer the second dose to residents and yesterday (Wednesday) PRHC opened its vaccination clinic for health care workers,” said Dr. Salvaterra, noting that group includes long-term care home staff and essential caregivers as well as high-priority health care workers.
“The goal is to have 2,500 immunized (with their first dose) by next week.”
Dr. Salvaterra added that retirement home residents will begin getting vaccinated March 5th.
“Our next priority is to vaccinate adults who are 80 years of age and older. Peterborough will be relying on the provincial booking system that should be ready by March 15th. The booking system is called COVax. When it’s ready, residents will be able to book an appointment either online or by telephone. As soon as it’s ready we’ll be pushing that information out to all of our communities in a variety of ways.”
Dr. Salvaterra warned of a vaccine-related telephone scam that has surfaced locally. She said some have received a call asking them to sign up for vaccination in exchange for a $119 fee as well as financial information.
“The vaccine is absolutely free,” she stressed, noting police have been contacted and are investigating.
Advertisement - content continues below
Meanwhile, a multi-ministerial enforcement blitz conducted locally last week saw 260 businesses inspected for compliance with COVID-19 public health regulations, with seven charges laid against seven businesses. In addition, 36 formal warnings were issued as well as 17 orders under the Ontario Occupational Health and Safety Act.
“A key area where compliance was lacking was the need for workers to be actively screened before they came to work,” Dr. Salvaterra said. “That was a change implemented when the stay-at-home order was lifted. It appears that several local businesses are still not in full compliance with that.”
Also commenting during Friday’s briefing were Peterborough-Kawartha MP Maryam Monsef, Peterborough Mayor Diane Therrien, Hiawatha First Nations Chief Laurie Carr, and Peterborough Board of Health chair and Selwyn Mayor Andy Mitchell.
Chief Carr noted that Hiawatha is again open to outside residents, but only to those who live in green, yellow, or orange level zones. Identifications are being checked at Hiawatha businesses to determine the point of origin.
kawarthaNOW.com offers two enews options to help readers stay in the know. Our VIP enews is delivered weekly every Wednesday morning and includes exclusive giveaways, and our news digest is delivered daily every morning. You can subscribe to one or both.
Submit your event for FREE!
Use our event submission form to post your event on our website — for free.
To submit editorial content or ideas, please contact us.
