The curve of COVID-19 cases in the Peterborough area appears to be flattening as of April 15, 2020, as represented in this detail of a chart supplied by Peterborough Public Health.
The number of positive COVID-19 cases in Peterborough city and county, Curve Lake, and Hiawatha has held steady this week at 53 — an encouraging sign according to Peterborough Medical Officer of Health Dr. Rosana Salvaterra.
During her weekly media briefing held on Wednesday (April 15), Dr. Salvaterra notes there have been no new positive cases reported since Monday (April 13) and just eight reported over the last seven days.
“We’ve put our data on a curve from the first case we had — March 2nd was the onset of symptoms — to today and you can see the curve is not rising as steeply as it was a few weeks ago,” says Dr. Salvaterra, adding there are benchmarks she has to see in the weeks ahead to convince her that we are closer to the end of the COVID-19 crisis.
“We would definitely want to see this continue. We would love to see days with no new cases. We would want to see the numbers at the hospital requiring ICU care decrease. We also want to see more testing being done and we’d like to see the tests coming back negative. The more we look for it and can’t find it, the more reassuring it is that we’re not missing it in the community.”
Since the first confirmed COVID-19 case in the Peterborough area on March 2, 2020, the curve is not rising as steeply between March 23 and April 15 as it was between March 16 and 23. (Graphic: Peterborough Public Health)
To date, 1,393 COVID-19 tests have been conducted locally with results awaited on 207 of those tested. Another 1,133 tests have come back negative, while 24 cases have now been resolved.
The first COVID-19 related death in the Peterborough area was reported on Sunday (April 12) by the Peterborough Regional Health Centre. Facebook posts identified the patient as 68-year-old Peterborough photographer and retired psychologist Dr. George Dimitroff.
Dr. Salvaterra notes there is now “capacity in the system to provide timely diagnosis for anyone who needs it,” adding test results for “priority populations are usually being reported within 24 hours.”
“Peterborough Public Health has now been asked to serve as regional hub for COVID-19 testing kits. We are in the process of assessing the needs of our community partners so we can order supplies to meet their demands. Peterborough is ready. We are awaiting guidance for testing specific vulnerable groups.”
Meanwhile, concerns expressed by rural township officials and resident about cottagers coming into their communities will soon see Peterborough Public Health reinforce the stay-at-home demand via the launch of a digital advertising campaign emphasizing that message.
“We’re taking an educational approach,” notes Dr. Salvaterra. “The measures that have been taken as part of the provincial directives — the closure of marinas, the closure of provincial parks — add to the messaging by removing access and making it more challenging for people to get their water access (properties).”
The health unit has also been in contact with the Federation of Ontario Cottagers’ Association (FOCA), which is “completely on board” according to Dr. Salvaterra and is asking its members to avoid heading to their cottages.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announces expanded eligibility for the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit on April 15, 2020. (Photo: CPAC)
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Wednesday (April 15) a loosening of the eligibility criteria for the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit (CERB).
The benefit will now be available for people who are earning some income during the pandemic, as well as seasonal workers and those whose employment insurance (EI) has run out.
“Maybe you’re a volunteer firefighter, or a contractor who can pick up some shifts, or you have a part-time job in a grocery store,” Trudeau said.
“Even if you’re still working or if you want to start working again, you probably need help making ends meet.”
People who are earning up to $1,000 a month can now apply for CERB. Those expecting a seasonal job that isn’t going to be available because of COVID-19 will also be eligible, as can people who have run out of EI benefits since January 1, 2020.
“For others who still need help, including post-secondary students and businesses worried about commercial rent, we’ll have more to say to you very soon,” Trudeau added.
While its buildings are closed to the public, the Peterborough Humane Society has a small animal care team on site daily to cae for animals and provide them with love and enrichment. SPCAs and human societies across the province have cancelled fundraising events due to COVID-19, and the Ontario SPCA and Humane Society has set up an urgent animal care fund to help shelters cover the costs of caring for animals. (Photo courtesy of Peterborough Humane Society)
The Ontario SPCA and Humane Society has launched an urgent animal care fund to help animal organizations in Ontario continue to care for animals and support pet owners during the COVID-19 pandemic.
SPCAs and human societies across the province have closed their buildings to the public to help slow and stop the spread of COVID-19, and have cancelled fundraising events.
With adoptions put on hold, many SPCAs and humane societies — including the Peterborough Humane Society (PHS) — are facing growing costs as they continue to care for the animals who will now have to wait longer to be adopted.
Staff at the Peterborough Humane Society wear personal protective equipment while attending to a kitten. SPCAs and human societies across the province have cancelled fundraising events due to COVID-19, and the Ontario SPCA and Humane Society has set up an urgent animal care fund to help shelters cover the costs of caring for animals. (Photo courtesy of Peterborough Humane Society)
While adoptions are on pause, animals in shelters still need to be fed and receive veterinary care and daily attention to keep them healthy and happy.
“As Peterborough and the Kawarthas only open-admission shelter, the team at PHS continues to take in and provide care for stray, abandoned and emergency care animals,” says PHS executive director Shawn Morey.
In addition to closing its adoption centre, the PHS also suspended its volunteer programs and reduced the number of staff on site.
“We have a small animal care team on site daily to provide our animals with the love and enrichment they need and have amplified our enrichment programs to ensure that our animals remain healthy and happy during their extended stay with us,” Morey adds.
“With so many owned pets entering the shelter on a day-to-day basis, it is not feasible to place all animals into temporary foster homes.”
The urgent animal care fund will help SPCAs and humane societies across the province cover the costs of caring for animals in shelters. To donate, visit urgentanimalcarefund.ca.
A virtual interfaith service is taking place on April 18, 2020 as the 17th annual Abraham Festival in Peterborough has been postponed due to COVID-19. (Graphic: Abraham Festival)
Although the 17th annual Abraham Festival in Peterborough — originally scheduled for Friday, April 17th to Sunday, April 19th — has been postponed because of COVID-19, local religious leaders are hosting a special virtual interfaith service on Saturday afternoon (April 18).
It’s the first service of its kind in Ontario, according to organizers.
The Abraham Festival is a coalition of Muslims, Jews, and Christians in the Peterborough area who consider themselves all to be descendants of Abraham, the common patriarch of Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. The group has been hosting the annual festival since 2003.
The special online service called “Our Faiths Teach Us to Look After Each Other” will take place on the Zoom video conferencing platform at 2:15 p.m. on Saturday, April 18th. It will feature readings from The Quran, The Torah, and The New Testament.
“Each of the three faith leaders will share a reading from their own scripture, and will discuss how each other’s readings give them comfort and wisdom in looking after family, friends and those in need in our communities,” organizers state in a media release.
The service co-leaders will be Imam Habeeb Alli, Dr. Daniel Houpt from Beth Israel Synagogue, and United Church Ministers Julie Haaften and Jessica Beecham Stockton.
After you register, organizers will email you instructions by Friday April 17th on how to join the virtual service. The service is limited to 100 people.
A six-year-old girl is in critical condition in Toronto after an attack by two dogs in Dysart Et Al Township south of Haliburton on Easter Sunday (April 12).
Shortly before 4 p.m., officers with Haliburton Highlands OPP and emergency crews were called to an address on Gainforth Road to assist with a serious dog bite complaint.
A six-year-old girl and her mother were walking near their home when they were attacked by two Saint Bernard dogs.
The child’s bites were extensive and she was flown by Ornge air ambulance to a Toronto area trauma centre with critical injuries.
The mother’s injuries were listed as non-life threatening and she has been released from hospital.
Pending the outcome of this ongoing police investigation, the animals have been placed in quarantine outside of the community by order of the health unit.
Five-year-old Neil Young in August 1950, fishing from a wooden bridge over the Pigeon River in Omemee. In August 1951, Young contracted polio and almost lost his life. (Photo: Harold Whyte)
It was 65 years ago this week when a vaccine was approved to prevent polio, the most feared disease of the 20th century and one that almost took the life of the Kawarthas’ most famous native son — Neil Young.
For many of us, the COVID-19 pandemic is the first time we’ve faced widespread closures of public facilities and experienced the stress and anxiety of catching a virus that causes a potentially deadly disease, and for which we have no vaccine.
But for Canadians who grew up in the first half of the last century, COVID-19 is a reminder of the ravages of polio, which was also called “infantile paralysis” and “the crippler” because the virus can permanently damage nerve cells that control muscles and result in paralysis.
A nurse cares for children with polio at the University Hospital in Edmonton in this undated photo. (Photo: Library and Archives Canada)
Polio was also called the “summer plague”, because epidemics happened again and again during the warmest months, and the “middle class plague”, because it was most prevalent in countries with higher standards of living.
Famous Canadians who contracted polio include Neil Young and Joni Mitchell, who were both infected in 1951 during the a major outbreak of the disease in Canada — an epidemic with 2,568 cases nationwide, including 1,701 in Ontario.
Other celebrities who contracted polio in the 20th century include pianist Carl Perkins, folk singers Judy Collins and Donovan, jazz saxophonist David Sanborn, and rock musicians Ian Dury and Gene Simmons.
Five-year-old Neil Young in August 1950, fishing from a wooden bridge over the Pigeon River in Omemee. Some people believe that Young’s 1970 song “Helpless” partially refers to his experience with polio — both in the song’s title and with the line “The chains are locked and tied across the door” being a reference to a polio isolation ward. (Photo: Harold Whyte)
Neil Young developed symptoms on the morning of August 31, 1951, when he almost six years old and living in Omemee.
The previous day, he and his father Scott had gone swimming in Pigeon River and Neil woke up the next morning with a fever and a sharp pain in his shoulder. By the next day, the fever had intensified and the pain had worsened so much the Youngs’ family doctor suspected polio.
“I was real young and I had no idea what the fuck was goin’ on,” Neil says in Shakey, a biography by James McDonough. “I just remember lying there, partially paralyzed.”
Neil’s parents drove him to Toronto’s SickKids Hospital, where he underwent an excruciating extraction of spinal fluid to confirm he had polio. While Neil remained isolated in the hospital’s polio ward, the Young family returned to Omemee where they were quarantined in their home.
A physiotherapist with a young polio patient in at the walking bars in the polio clinic at Sudbury General Hospital in March 1953. (Photo: Canadian Public Health Association)
After six days in hospital, Neil returned home to Omemee to undergo several months of painful recovery. In December, the Young family moved to Florida, where they remained until the spring of 1952 so Neil could continue his recovery.
It’s believed that Young’s 1970 song “Helpless” refers to his experience with polio — both in the song’s title and with the line “The chains are locked and tied across the door” being a reference to a polio isolation ward.
Polio (poliomyelitis) is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. It enters the body through the mouth, multiplying along the way to the digestive tract, where it multiplies even more.
Highly contagious, poliovirus spreads through person-to-person contact, primarily through exposure to contaminated feces and sometimes through saliva.
In about 98 per cent of cases, polio is a mild illness, with no symptoms or with viral-like symptoms. In paralytic polio, the virus leaves the digestive tract, enters the bloodstream, and then attacks nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord.
Around one per cent of people who contract polio become paralyzed. In severe cases, the throat and chest may be paralyzed, resulting in death if the patient does not receive artificial breathing support.
The virus is believed to be thousands of years old, but reached epidemic proportions in the early 20th century. The first polio outbreaks appeared in Europe in the early 1800s and, in 1894, the first major documented polio outbreak in the United States occurred in Vermont, resulting in 18 deaths and 132 cases of permanent paralysis. In 1916, a major outbreak in New York City killed more than 2,000 people, and paralyzed thousands more.
VIDEO: “The Shot Felt ‘Round the World” Trailer
At the time, nobody knew how poliovirus spread or why outbreaks occurred without warning during the summer and early fall. Similar to wild theories about COVID-19, some believed polio was spread from imported bananas or stray cats. There was no cure or vaccine, creating fear and anxiety in families around the world.
The first known outbreak in Canada occurred in 1910 in Hamilton, Ontario. Despite various experimental treatments and efforts by public health authorities to contain the virus, including quarantining infected people, nothing worked. Later, it was theorized the virus spread in developed countries because improved sanitary conditions meant that mothers no longer had antibodies against the virus to pass on to their children.
Swimming pools and movie theatres were regularly closed during epidemics, and parents stopped sending their children to playgrounds or birthday parties for fear they would catch polio. During the polio epidemic in 1937, public schools in Ontario were closed until Thanksgiving.
Between 1949 and 1954, around 11,000 Canadians were left paralyzed by polio, with the disease peaking in 1953 with nearly 9,000 cases and 500 deaths — the most serious epidemic in Canada since the 1918 influenza pandemic.
A polio patient in the “iron lung”, an artificial respirator for patients suffering from paralytic polio developed by Philip Drinker and Louis Agassiz Shaw Jr. in 1929. (Photo: National Library of Medicine)
In 1929, Philip Drinker and Harvard University’s Louis Agassiz Shaw Jr. invented what became known as “the iron lung” — an artificial respirator for patients suffering from paralytic polio.
In 1930, Canada’s first iron lung was brought to The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto from Boston. After a severe outbreak in 1937, there was a rush to assemble more iron lungs, with the Ontario government paying to have 27 iron lungs assembled in a six-week period.
Building on the work of scientists between the 1930s and 1950s, Jonas Salk and his team at the University of Pittsburgh developed the first successful polio vaccine, an injected dose of dead poliovirus. On April 12, 1955, the Salk vaccine was declared “safe, effective, and potent” and was rapidly adopted around the world.
Jonas Salk and his team at the University of Pittsburgh developed the first successful polio vaccine, an injected dose of dead poliovirus, which was approved for use on April 12, 1955. The vaccine was largely funded by the March of Dimes, an organization founded as the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis in 1938 by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who himself was thought to have contracted polio in 1921, leaving his legs paralyzed. (Photo: March of Dimes Foundation)
After two years of field trials involving more than 1.8 million children, the Salk vaccine proved to be up to 90 per cent effective in preventing paralytic polio. Following mass immunizations, the annual number of polio cases in the United States was reduced from a peak of nearly 58,000 cases to 5,600 cases. Salk become a hero, and was featured on the cover of Time magazine.
Entertainer Eddie Cantor with a model in a 1946 March of Dimes publicity shot. (Photo: March of Dimes Foundation)
The vaccine was largely funded by the March of Dimes, an organization founded as the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis in 1938 by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Roosevelt himself was thought to have contracted polio in 1921, leaving his legs paralyzed for life.
Despite the condition, which he hid from the public, Roosevelt went on to become Governor of New York in 1928, and then defeated Republican President Herbert Hoover in a landslide in the 1932 presidential election.
The name “March of Dimes” was coined by entertainer Eddie Cantor, who suggested on the radio that people send dimes to President Roosevelt at the White House to help fight polio. Within a few weeks, people had mailed 2,680,000 dimes to the President.
Eight years after the Salk vaccine, Albert Sabin developed an oral polio vaccine that used live but attenuated (weakened) poliovirus. After Sabin’s vaccine was approved for use, a second wave of mass immunizations led to a further decline in the number of cases, with only 161 cases recorded in the United States by 1961.
In Canada, the last major outbreak happened in 1959 with nearly 2,000 cases. The vaccines brought polio under control by the early 1970s, and Canada was certified polio free in 1994.
Humans are the only known reservoir of poliovirus and vaccination efforts continue today in the few regions where polio continues to circulate, including countries in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia — a testament to why vaccines are the greatest public health success of all time.
Peter Salk receiving the polio vaccine from his father, Jonas Salk, in 1953. Salk injected himself, his wife, and their three sons with his experimental poliovirus vaccine. Today, Dr. Peter Salk lives in California where he is president of the Jonas Salk Legacy Foundation, as well as a visiting professor of infectious disease and microbiology at the University of Pittsburgh, where his father created the polio vaccine. (Photo: March of Dimes Foundation)
kawarthaNOW is providing a daily report of COVID-19 cases in the greater Kawarthas region.
Here’s today summary: there are 53 confirmed positive cases in the Peterborough area, 109 in the City of Kawartha Lakes, 14 in Northumberland County, 6 in Haliburton County, and 26 in Hastings County and Prince Edward County. That’s a total increase of 1 case from yesterday’s report.
There have been 34 deaths, with no increase in deaths from yesterday’s report. Province-wide, there are 7,953 confirmed cases, an increase of 483 from yesterday’s report, and 334 deaths, an increase of 43 from yesterday’s report.
This report is based on data supplied by the province’s integrated Public Health Information System (iPHIS). This information is at least 24 hours old, so it is not real-time data.
We publish the daily report, usually by late afternoon, with the most current information released by health units. Note that each health unit reports the information in a different way.
Peterborough Public Health’s service area is the City and County of Peterborough and the Hiawatha and Curve Lake First Nations.
Confirmed positive: 53 (no change from April 13) Confirmed negative: 1133 (increase of 112 from April 13) Under investigation: 207 (decrease of 61 from April 13) Deaths: 1 (no change from April 13) Resolved: 24 (no change from April 13) Institutional Outbreaks: Peterborough Regional Health Centre, St. Joseph’s at Fleming, Riverview Manor*
*Number of cases not reported.
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.
Confirmed positive: 129, including 109 in Kawartha Lakes, 14 in Northumberland, 6 in Haliburton (increase of 1 from April 13, with 1 new case in Kawartha Lakes) Hospitalizations: 7 (increase of 1 from April 13) Deaths: 33, including 29 in Pinecrest Nursing Home in Bobcaygeon (no change from April 13) Institutional Outbreaks: Pinecrest Nursing Home*
*Number of cases not reported.
Hastings Prince Edward Public Health
Hastings Prince Edward Public Health’s service area is Hastings County (including Bancroft) and Prince Edward County.
Confirmed positive: 26 (no change from April 13) Probable cases: 260 (decrease of 4 from April 13) Deaths: 0 Institutional Outbreaks: Hallowell House (Picton), Hastings Manor (Belleville), Quinte Healthcare (Belleville)*
*Number of cases not reported.
Province of Ontario
Confirmed positive: 7,953 (increase of 483 from April 13) Under investigation:2,107 (increase of 573 from April 13) Hospitalized: 769 (increase of 9 from April 13) Hospitalized and in ICU: 255 (decrease of 8 from April 13) Hospitalized and in ICU with ventilator: 199 (decrease of 4 from April 13) Deaths: 334 (increase of 43 from April 13) Resolved: 3,568 (increase of 211 from April 13)
Confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ontario by public health unit, January 15 – April 13, 2020. (Graphic: Public Health Ontario)
Self-isolation means not leaving home at all or having any visitors except as permitted by the local health unit, such as a health care worker who must visit the home. People in self-isolation should arrange to have groceries and other necessities delivered to them.
The Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge (HKPR) District Health Unit is taking stronger steps to help slow the spread of COVID-19 in the community by issuing an order on Tuesday (April 14) requiring anyone who has been diagnosed with COVID-19, is considered a probable case, or has had contact with a confirmed case, to self-isolate in their home for 14 days.
The order, made under section 22 of Ontario’s Health Protection and Promotion Act, comes with a penalty of up to $5,000 per day for anyone who fails to self-isolate as required.
“The health unit has heard from many people that there are others who have returned from travel or been confirmed to have COVID-19 and are seen outside of their home, shopping, or visiting friends,” says Dr. Lynn Noseworthy, medical officer of health for the HKPR District Health Unit. “This order allows the health unit to ensure those people are isolating and not spreading the virus to others in the community.”
The HKRP District Health Unit serves the City of Kawartha Lakes, Northumberland County, and Haliburton County, so all residents of these areas are subject to the order. As of April 14th, there are 109 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the City of Kawartha Lakes, 14 in Northumberland County, and six in Haliburton County. There have been 33 deaths, including 29 at Pinecrest Nursing Home in Bobcaygeon.
“We are asking everyone to do their part to help stop the spread of COVID-19 through our communities,” Dr. Noseworthy says. “If we all work together, we can keep each other safe.”
Health unit staff are continuing to contact area residents who have tested positive for the virus, as well as anyone who has had contact with those individuals. Staff ensure those affected understand they are required to stay home.
Self-isolation means not leaving home at all or having any visitors except as permitted by HKPR District Health Unit, such as a health care worker who must visit the home. People in self-isolation should arrange to have groceries and other necessities delivered to them.
If a person with COVID-19 is homeless, or where their home is otherwise unsuitable or unsafe for isolation purposes, the HKRP District Health Unit will accommodate them in an isolation facility to be determined.
“It is our hope that everyone understands the importance of self-isolating and we do not need to levy any fines under this order,” Dr. Noseworthy adds.
The health unit is also encouraging anyone who is not ill or required to self-isolate to continue to heed public health guidance of staying home to stay safe:
Asking people to stay at home other than for essential reasons including obtaining groceries or medicines and going to medical appointments. Daily exercise should be done alone or with one family member or to exercise a pet.
Encouraging people over the age of 70 to stay at home, emerging only for essential needs (groceries, medications, or seeking health care). If possible, they should rely on family and social supports to minimize interaction with others. This advice also applies to people who have underlying medical conditions or compromised immune systems.
Asking people who have seasonal cottages to refrain from going to the cottage, as it could put extra strain on the already limited resources of the cottage communities.
Asking essential businesses that choose to remain open to limit access to their facilities and the number of occupants on their premises. They must also move their operations to delivery and pick-up as much as possible and maximize physical distancing, infection prevention and control practices, and cleaning.
Asking essential businesses that choose to remain open should also consider active screening of their employees and staff for signs and symptoms of COVID-19.
If residents who are not symptomatic or not required to self-isolate at home must leave their home, they are reminded to practise physical distancing, avoid crowds and physical contact, and stay a safe distance of at least two metres (six feet) from other people.
Premier Doug Ford addresses the speaker of the house during a special sitting of the Ontario legislature on April 14, 2020 to extend the the province's state of emergency for an additional 28 days until Tuesday, May 12th. (Photo: Legislative Assembly of Ontario)
As expected, the Ontario government is extending the province’s state of emergency for an additional 28 days until Tuesday, May 12th.
The extension under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act (EMCPA) was approved on Tuesday (April 14) during a special sitting of the Ontario legislature, on the advice of Ontario’s chief medical officer of health and with the full cooperation of all the parties.
“During these unprecedented times, we cannot let our guard down,” Premier Doug Ford said. “The actions being taken by everyone to stay home and practice physical distancing are making a difference, but we are not out of the woods yet. With the support of every Ontario MPP, we continue to take any and all actions necessary to support our front-line health care workers and respond rapidly and decisively to slow the spread of this deadly virus.”
VIDEO: Premier Doug Ford addresses the Ontario legislature – April 14, 2020
The provincial government first declared a 14-day state of emergency on Tuesday, March 17th. Under the provisions of the ECMPA, the state of emergency could be extended for one additional 14-day period (until April 14th) with further 28-day period extensions requiring the support of the legislature.
The extension of the provincial declaration of emergency allows Ontario to continue to enforce current emergency orders, such as the closure of all non-essential workplaces, outdoor amenities such as parks and recreational areas, public places and bars and restaurants, as well as restrictions on social gatherings of more than five people, and prohibitions against price gouging.
The legislature also passed the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Support and Protection Act to amend the Education Act, Planning Act, Development Charges Act, Police Services Act and the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities Act.
The amendments to the Education Act will allow school boards to continue charging fees on new construction to retain a source of revenue for new school projects. The bill also includes an amendment to provide consistent province-wide approach to addressing school suspensions and expulsions for the safety of students and staff upon the reopening of schools.
The changes to the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities Act will temporarily suspend student loan payments for OSAP borrowers and initiate a six-month interest-free moratorium on OSAP loans.
The government is making it possible to suspend certain municipal planning decision timelines during the state of emergency, changing the Development Charges Act to ensure municipalities can continue to count on a source of revenue that helps pay for local growth-related infrastructure, such as roads, water and sewers, as well as fire and police services.
The amendments to the Police Services Act also allow the Solicitor General to give municipalities an extension beyond January 1, 2021 to prepare and adopt a community safety and well-being plan.
The Peterborough Police Service is reminding residents that police are continuing to enforce emergency orders made under Ontario’s Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act (EMCPA).
The emergency orders include the closure of non-essential workplaces, public places, and bars and restaurants, as well as a prohibition on gatherings of five or more people — even at someone’s home (unless the people live together).
Over the course of the Easter long weekend, Peterborough police received and responded to 23 EMCPA-related complaints and issued three warnings.
While no charges were laid in the 23 incidents, police have the option to lay charges for three offences under the Provincial Offences Act:
Fail to comply with an order made during an emergency = Fine of $750
Obstruction of person exercising a power in accordance with an emergency order = Fine of $1,000
Obstruction of person performing a duty in accordance with an emergency order = Fine of $1,000
Corporations (as a Part 3 offence) Fine = $500,000
Under Ontario’s Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act, gatherings of five or more people are prohibited, even if these gatherings take place at someone’s home (unless the people live together). (Graphic: Peterborough Police Service)
People who are being charged with an offence under EMCPA are also required to identify themselves if asked by a provincial offences officer, which includes police officers, First Nations constables, special constables and municipal by-law enforcement officers. This temporary power was approved by the Ontario government on Tuesday, March 31st through an emergency order.
Failing to correctly identify oneself carries a fine of $750 for failure to comply with an order made under the EMCPA, or $1,000 for obstructing any person in exercising a power if a provincial offences officer issues a ticket.
In addition, failure to comply with an emergency order could carry punishments of up to one-year imprisonment or a fine of up to $100,000 for an individual, $500,000 for a director of a corporation, or $10,000,000 for a corporation itself if a provincial offences officer charges the individual by issuing a summons.
These penalties apply in addition to the penalties for breaching other emergency orders.
Peterborough residents who wish to report a complaint of a violation of EMCPA should call the non-emergency line at 705-876-1122. Do not call 9-1-1 to report ECMPA complaints.
On Tuesday (April 14), the Ontario legislature is expected to approve the extension of Ontario’s state of emergency by another 28 days.
The provincial government first declared a 14-day state of emergency on March 17, 2020. Under the ECMPA, a state of emergency can be extended for one additional 14-day period (until April 14th) with further 28-day period extensions requiring a vote in the legislature.
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