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

Hastings Prince Edward Public Health has confirmed its first new case of COVID-19 since May 18. A resident of Quinte West, who tested positive for the virus after returning from travel, is in self-isolation at home and all close contacts have been identified and assessed. The health unit states there is no evidence of community transmission and this case is not associated with Canadian Forces Base Trenton.

This news comes after one day after Peterborough Public Health reported 2 new cases, the first since June 20, and then an additional case on Friday (July 31).

There is also one new case to report in Kawartha Lakes, with two additional cases resolved. There are no new cases in Haliburton or Northumberland, with all 25 cases in Northumberland now resolved.

After two consecutive days of new cases under 100, the Ontario government is reporting a spike in new cases with 134. Of today’s new cases, 26 are in Ottawa and 24 are in Windsor-Essex.

Since the pandemic began, there have been 97 confirmed positive cases in the Peterborough area (95 resolved with 2 deaths), 176 in the City of Kawartha Lakes (156 resolved with 32 deaths), 25 in Northumberland County (25 resolved with no deaths), 13 in Haliburton County (12 resolved with no deaths), and 43 in Hastings County and Prince Edward County (38 resolved with 5 deaths). The most recent death was reported on May 7 by Hastings Prince Edward Public Health.

Province-wide, there have been 39,209 confirmed cases, an increase of 134 from yesterday’s report, with 35,074 cases (89.5% of all cases) resolved, an increase of 168. There have been 2,775 deaths, an increase of 3, with 1,795 deaths reported in long-term care homes, an increase of 2. A total of 2,171,972 tests have been completed, an increase of 30,033 from yesterday, with 29,215 tests under investigation, an increase of 948.

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

Peterborough Public Health

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

Confirmed positive: 98 (increase of 3, with 2 new cases on July 30 and 1 new case on July 31)
Active cases: 3 (increase of 3)
Deaths: 2 (no change)
Resolved: 93 (no change)
Total tests completed: Over 21,250 (increase of 200)
Institutional outbreaks: None (no change)

Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit

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

The health unit provides reports on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, excluding statutory holidays.

Confirmed positive: 214, including 176 in Kawartha Lakes, 25 in Northumberland, 13 in Haliburton (increase of 1, in Kawartha Lakes)
Probable cases: 0 (decrease of 1)
Hospitalizations: 14 (no change)
Deaths: 32 (no change)
Resolved: 193, including 156 in Kawartha Lakes, 25 in Northumberland, 12 in Haliburton (increase of 3, 2 in Kawartha Lakes and 1 in Northumberland)
Institutional outbreaks: None (no change)

Hastings Prince Edward Public Health

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

The health unit provides reports on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, excluding statutory holidays.

Confirmed positive: 44 (increase of 1)
Deaths: 5 (no change)
Hospitalized: 0 (no change)
Hospitalized and in ICU: 0 (no change)
Hospitalized and in ICU on ventilator: 0 (no change)
Recovered: 38 (no change)
Total tests completed: 17,575 (increase of 122)
Institutional outbreaks: None (no change)

Province of Ontario

Confirmed positive: 39,209 (increase of 134)
Resolved: 35,074 (increase of 168, 89.5% of all cases are resolved)
Hospitalized: 78 (decrease of 6)
Hospitalized and in ICU: 29 (increase of 2)
Hospitalized and in ICU on ventilator: 15 (decrease of 1)
Deaths: 2,775 (increase of 3)
Deaths of residents in long-term care homes: 1,795 (increase of 2, 64.7% of all deaths)
Total tests completed 2,171,972 (increase of 30,033)
Tests under investigation: 29,215 (increase of 948)

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

The COVID Alert app — which lets you know if you may have been exposed to someone with the virus — is available for download for Ontario residents with Android and iOS devices beginning Friday (July 31).

The Ontario government is encouraging as many as people to download the app from Google Play or the Apple App Store. The more people who download the free app, the more effective it will be in stopping the spread of COVID-19.

The app was originally going to be available at the beginning of July, but was delayed for three weeks. It then went through a week of testing with thousands of volunteers who downloaded the beta version of the app and provided feedback to the developers.

Work on COVID Alert was initiated in Ontario by the Ontario Digital Service and volunteers at Shopify, and was the foundation of the work by the Government of Canada.

The app was developed in consultation with the Privacy Commissioners of Canada and Ontario to ensure the highest level of privacy for everyone using it.

COVID Alert does not collect any personal information, health information, or location data. Here’s how the app works:

• The COVID Alert app incorporates exposure notification software developed in a first-of-its-kind partnership between Apple and Google, and relies on Bluetooth wireless technology to communicate information while protecting a user’s security and privacy.
• Once enabled, the software sends out a beacon via Bluetooth that includes a random Bluetooth identifier — basically a string of random numbers that isn’t tied to a user’s identity and that changes every 10 to 20 minutes for additional protection.
• Other phones will be listening for these beacons and broadcasting their own as well. When each phone receives a beacon from another phone, it will record and securely store that beacon on the device.
• At least once per day, the system will download a list of keys for beacons that have been verified as belonging to people confirmed as having tested positive for COVID-19. Each device will check the downloaded list against the beacons it has already recorded.
• If the device finds a match, the user will be notified and advised on what steps to take next.
• The software does not collect location data from your device, and does not share the identities of other users to each other, Google, or Apple. The user controls all data they want to share, and the decision to share it.

If an app user receives a message from COVID Alert that they may have been exposed to the virus, they should follow the public health advice given on the app and get tested.

To notify other people if an app user has tested positive for COVID-19, they can enter their one-time key from Ontario’s test results website ontario.ca/covidresults into the app.

A message will then be sent to other app users who have been within two metres of them for at least 15 minutes within the past 14 days, without sending any information that identifies the user, or the time and place of exposure.

All aspects of COVID Alert are completely voluntary. Ontarians can choose whether to download the app, whether to use the app after downloading it, and whether (if they test positive for COVID-19) to use the app so that other people using the app get a notification they were in close proximity to someone who tested positive for the virus.

The made-in-Ontario app has been made available for download in Ontario first. The Government of Canada is also working with the other provinces and territories to get their jurisdictions on board with the app in the coming weeks and months.

The Ontario government has amended its orders under the Reopening Ontario (A Flexible Response to COVID-19) Act to require bars and restaurants, effective on July 31st, to collect the names and contact information of patrons. The amendment also specifies the exceptions to the existing rule that patrons must remain seated at all times when eating or drinking.

“Protecting the health and well-being of all Ontarians has always been our top priority,” states health minister Christine Elliott in a media release issued on Friday (July 31). “These additional measures will help reduce close contact between individuals in these settings, and support case and contact tracing, thereby limiting the spread of COVID-19.”

Under the new rules, the operator of a bar and restaurant must record the name and contact information of every customer who enters an indoor or outdoor dining area — except for those who are entering just to place, pick up, or pay for a takeout order.

Operators also have to keep the information for at least one month, and they can only disclose it to public health officials upon request for case or contact tracing.

The same requirement to collect and maintain customer information also now applies to tour and guide services.

The government has also clarified the existing rule that requires customers to remain seated while eating or drinking at a bar or restaurant.

The rule has now been modified to list the following exceptions: when entering the establishment to be seated or when leaving the establishment, when placing or picking up an order, when paying for an order, when going to or returning from a washroom, or when lining up to do any of these things.

Customers can also leave a seated area when necessary for health and safety reasons.

Peterborough Public Health announced on Thursday (July 30) that two new cases of COVID-19 have been identified in the Peterborough area — the first new cases reported since June 20.

Both of the infected people are in their 20s and currently live in the City of Peterborough. The health unit says the two cases are linked, with the first case having been exposed to a positive case outside the area.

“Confirming more new cases isn’t unexpected and serves as a strong reminder that even when weeks pass without a positive case, we all must remain vigilant in following public health measures, especially as people travel more and the economy reopens,” says Peterborough medical officer of health Dr. Rosana Salvaterra.

Both infected individuals are self-isolating and all close contacts have been identified and are being followed up by public health nurses.

Peterborough Public Health has conducted a risk assessment and has determined there is no further risk to the public from these two cases, as long as the two infected people continue to self-isolate.

Dr. Salvaterra is urging local residents to continue adhering to public health measures, including physical distancing of two metres, frequent hand washing, minimizing travel, staying home when sick, and self-monitoring for symptoms.

As previously announced, a mandatory face covering directive comes into effect in the Peterborough area on Saturday, August 1st to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Ontario students are going to be back in classrooms in September.

Premier Doug Ford made the announcement at a media conference at Father Leo J. Austin Catholic Secondary School in Whitby on Thursday (July 30), along with deputy premier and health minister Christine Elliott, education minister Stephen Lecce, associate chief medical officer of health Dr. Barbara Yaffe, along other politicians.

Publicly funded schools in Ontario were closed on March 14th due to the COVID-19 pandemic, three days before Ontario declared a state of emergency and closed all non-essential workplaces.

“We’re going to get our kids back to school in a way that looks and feels as much as it used to,” Ford said. “Five days a week, five hours of instruction a day, with lunch and breaks in-between. Parents, we want you to know, that on September 8th, you can drop your child off at school, knowing that every possible measure is being taken to keep our children safe.”

Ford said that the government’s plan has been informed by guidance from public health experts and emerging health data.

Public health measures that will be put into place include:

• Mandatory masks for staff and cloth masks for students from grade 4 to 12, with exceptions for those with medical conditions. For the youngest students, masks will be optional.
• Cohorting of students in both elementary and secondary schools to limit contact with other students and staff.
• Expanding testing in schools.
• Frequent cleaning of school buses.
• Additional health and safety training for all educators, including vocational and supply teachers.
• Personal personal equipment (PPE) for all educators and staff.

Ford also announced $309 million in funding would be made available immediately to hire 500 new public health nurses to be embedded in schools and 900 custodians to enhance cleaning, and to purchase required PPE and cleaning supplies to keep students and staff safe.

Ford said every school will have to follow provincial guidance in the event of a breakout.

Education minister Stephen Lecce said all publicly funded elementary schools will reopen province-wide in September five days a week.

Lecce also said that most secondary schools will reopen under a adapted model that limits the size and the interaction of “cohorts” — groups of 15 students who will alternate between attending class in-person and online. Secondary schools with “lower risk profiles” will be able to reopen with a full return to in-person classroom instruction five days a week, Lecce said.

“We will continue to respect the choice and authority of parents,” Lecce added. “The choice of whether to enrol their children for in-school instruction, the choice of determining when and if they feel comfortable with their child’s re-entry to school during the year, and the expectation and delivery of live online teacher-led synchronous learning for their child when they’re not in school.”

Teachers will also be able to decide whether or not they wish to go back to class.

Lecce said that medical and pediatric experts have advised the government the pandemic has had “profound mental health impacts” on the province’s children.

“Now, more than ever, reopening schools is crucial to the social and emotional development of Ontario’s students,” Lecce said. “It’s also crucial to allowing parents to return to work and to support Ontario’s economic recovery.”

The government will be implementing enhancing screening and contact tracing, Lecce said, including a targeted surveillance testing program for secondary students that will be supported by the embedded public health nurses.

For special education, the government is asking school boards to ensure that students with exceptionalities are in class five days a week, and will be investing an additional $10 million to support hiring more educational assistants and equipment.

The government is also adding another $10 million in mental health supports for students, on top of $10 million already announced in June.

Lecce also said any students who displays any symptoms of COVID-19, even if they are mild, will not be allowed to be in class.

A one-metre physical distancing rule will be in place for both elementary and secondary schools, in conjunction with the mandatory mask policy.

Students in the earliest grades are not required to wear a face mask because evidence shows that children in that age range may not be able to wear a mask properly, Lecce said, rendering them ineffective.

Associate chief medical officer of health Dr. Barbara Yaffe said that mandatory masking for students in Grade 4 and up is being required in the school setting because two metres of physical distancing can’t be maintained. She said that the embedded public health nurses will need to train staff and children on how to properly wear and remove a mask.

Dr. Yaffe said it’s up to parents whether they want younger children to wear a mask.

As for mandatory testing for all teachers, Dr. Yaffe said that it is not be an effective use of resources. She pointed out that testing is only one component of a COVID-19 management strategy.

“If you test somebody today, you only know if they are infected today,” she explains. “In fact, if you’re testing in a population that doesn’t have much COVID, you’ll get false positives almost half the time. That is, the person actually doesn’t have COVID, they have something else, they may have nothing. It will just complicate the picture.”

“On the other hand, if we have evidence of a case, even a suspect case, in a school, all the contacts of that case — be it a child or a teacher — would be tested, regardless of whether they’re symptomatic or not. That’s something we’ve learned with COVID, it’s very important to do that. That is when we might be identifying people are asymptomatic and infected, that need to stay home and wait until they’re cleared by public health.”

“Doing testing on all the teachers would be a huge amount of resources taken away from the need for quick access to testing when somebody may be symptomatic. We also need to do screening for symptoms, and everyone needs to be educated about the symptoms to look for, and not go to work if you’re sick and not go to school if you’re sick.”

The Ontario government also announced a plan to allow licensed child care centres across Ontario to open at full capacity starting on Tuesday, September 1st.

EarlyON Child and Family Centres will also be permitted to reopen with in-person programming along with before- and after-school programs for school-aged children which will be permitted to operate with standard ratios and maximum group size requirements. All of these programs will be subject to health and safety protocols to keep children safe.

Requiring all child care staff to wear masks at all times, effective September 1st. Enhanced health and safety procedures will remain in place, and in some instances will be strengthened, including:

• Requiring all child care staff to wear masks at all times, effective September 1.
• Ensuring frequent cleaning of child care centres.
• Screening of children and staff before entering a child care facility.
• Maintaining attendance records for rigorous contact tracing and coordination with local public health authorities.
• Ensuring frequent hand washing and proper hand hygiene for children and staff.
• Establishing clear and rigid case management protocols in the event a staff member or child becomes ill, or tests positive for COVID-19.

This story has been updated with additional details from the media conference.

Both Peterborough City Hall and the Provincial Offences Office will reopen to the public on Tuesday, August 4th, with public safety measures in place to reduce the spread of COVID-19.

The safety measures at City Hall include plexiglass barriers installed at customer service desks as well as public health protocols such as physical distancing and increased cleaning.

The city is asking visitors to wear a non-medical face covering while inside City Hall and to use hand sanitizer when entering and exiting the building. There will be information on self-screening, including asking visitors not to enter the building if they feel unwell or have been in contact with someone who has or is suspected of having COVID-19.

Visitors are also asked to come by themselves and not bring other people inside (except for support persons). To reduce the potential spread of the virus, electronic payment is preferred.

City Hall hours will be 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, except on statutory holidays when it will be closed.

The city is also encouraging people to continue to access city services online at www.peterborough.ca or by phone at 705-742-7777.

On Thursday (July 30), the city will be launching a new appointment scheduling tool at www.peterborough.ca/appointments so residents can book in-person services. This will help to spread out the number of residents and visitors accessing the same services at the same time.

Appointments are required for matters related to active transportation, building services, marriage licences and other Clerk’s Office services including commissioning, geomatics/mapping, housing services, human resources, mayor and members of council, planning and development services, and waste management (garbage and reycling). City staff will try to safely accommodate people who don’t know of the appointment requirement and arrive without an appointment.

The tax office will be open for in-person services for tax payments or inquiries and parking ticket payments on a drop-in basis, or by telephone 705-742-7777 ext. 1865 or by email at tax@peterborough.ca. Online payment of parking tickets is available at www.peterborough.ca/parking.

Entrance to City Hall will be through the main front foyer that is on the west side of the building facing George Street for all business — except for infrastructure and planning services, which includes building, planning, housing, geomatics and infrastructure — which will be entered though the north wing entrance off George Street. Visitors that require a barrier-free entrance are invited to use the main entrance. All other entrances will remain closed at this time.

The Provincial Offences Office at 99 Simcoe Street will also reopen to the public on Tuesday, August 4th with modified in-person service hours from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. and from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, except on statutory holidays when the office will be closed.

Only one person at a time will be allowed in lobby for in-person matters, with all others required to wait outside while maintaining two metres of physical distance. Hand sanitizer to be used before approaching the front counter, and the preferred method of in-person payment for all fines is credit or debit card.

Residents are encouraged to continue to pay fines and make inquiries using online and phone services available Monday to Friday 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. by phone at 705-742-7777 ext. 2099 and by email at poacourt@peterborough.ca. Fines can be paid online at www.peterborough.ca/poa.

The courts will remain closed for all types of trial matters and walk-in guilty pleas until at least the middle of September.