COVID-19 Update for April 16, 2020 – 2:30pm
Province is Expanding Hospital Capacity to Prepare for COVID-19 Outbreak
Premier Doug Ford was joined by Health Minister Christine Elliott and Long-Term Care Minister Dr. Merrilee Fullerton to provide his daily COVID-19 Update.
In his opening remarks, the Premier noted that this “virus is a ruthless killer and preys on the most vulnerable.” As a result, his government will be further enhancing protective measures and expanding its testing capacity to protect the most vulnerable sectors. This will include expanding testing for many priority groups such as folks in long-term care, retirement home and developmental charities and shelters including special testing for pregnant women and homeless populations.
To date, more than 9,000 COVID-19 tests have been administered in Ontario per day, and the government hopes to expand it to 14,000 a day.
Province is Expanding Bed Capacity
The Minister of Health noted that the government is working directly with hospitals across the province to make more beds available and is expanding both the health human resources and medical care capacity as part of its plan to prepare for a possible surge. The province has added 1,035 acute care beds and 1,492 critical care beds and has taken special steps to ensure hospitals have the staff available to care for a sudden surge in patients.
You can read the full release here.
Economic Update
The Financial Accountability Office released a new report this morning detailing the economic impact of COVID-19. According to the report, 1.2 million Ontarians have had their job status impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak, meaning one in six jobs have been touched by the pandemic.
Statistics Canada had already indicated that 403,000 people lost their jobs in Ontario in March as a result of government measures to contain the spread of COVID-19.
We hope you are finding these COVID-19 updates useful. In addition to trying to keep on top of the fast-changing situation, Enterprise is also working to support local charities during these challenging times. If you are able, your contributions to this effort would be deeply appreciated.
To donate, please click on the link.
- Toronto – https://www.foodbankscanada.ca/
- Hamilton/Niagara – https://www.hamiltonfoodshare.org
- Alberta – https://hopemission.com/
Many thanks.
Stay safe. Stay healthy.
The Enterprise Team