COVID-19 Update for April 2, 2020 – 12:00pm
The Prime Minister’s daily briefing was dominated by questions surrounding the government release of its modelling and predictions for the impact of COVID-19.
Transparency
Prime Minister Trudeau acknowledged the anxiety Canadians are feeling about the lack of analysis being released from government and promised that he will release scenarios on how COVID-19 can impact Canada in the coming days.
When asked why he hasn’t released the projections yet, he said that government continues to “crunch the numbers” and will be able to provide realistic models soon.
The Prime Minister pleaded with Canadians to follow public health guidelines, saying that these models will be heavily influenced on the behaviour of each and every Canadian.
First Ministers Meeting
The Prime Minister announced he will be chairing a First Ministers meeting with the Premiers tonight to discuss the continued shipments of much-needed supplies and ensure that there is alignment in the data being used for models and predictions.
Update on Personal Protective Equipment
Wednesday night, the government received a shipment of one million masks, which are currently being inspected in a Hamilton warehouse. This shipment complements the 10 million masks received in the last few days that are currently being distributed to the provinces and territories. The Prime Minister thanked Bauer Hockey, which has retooled production to create hundreds of thousands of face masks.
The PM was asked about the rumours of Personal Protective Equipment being diverted to the United States. He has asked his Ministers to follow up on this issue.
Additional Lockdown Measures
When asked if he would implement a mandatory stay at home policy under the Federal Emergencies Act, he said it would only be done if and when the provinces have exhausted all of their options. “We are not quite there yet” said Trudeau.
Health Canada Launches New COVID-19 App
Health Minister Patty Hajdu announced today on social media that Health Canada has released a new app to provide up-to-date news on COVID-19 including a self-assessment tool and information on financial supports that are available.
The app can be downloaded here: https://ca.thrive.health/.
If you have any questions about this update, please let us know.
The Enterprise Team