COVID-19 Update for October 29 2020 – 4:15pm

Ontario’s top doctors are reporting that the COVID-19 caseload in the province is levelling off, and is expected to continue on that trend in the coming weeks.

Slowing Growth Rate

Today Dr. David Williams, Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Dirk Huyer, coordinator of the provincial outbreak response, and Adalsteinn Brown, the dean of the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto, provided Ontario with updated projections for the second wave of COVID-19 cases.

While cases are still growing across the province, and more hospitalizations and deaths are incurred everyday, the overall rate of new cases has slowed. Compared to earlier projections, it is now only in the worst-case scenario that Ontario could reach capacity in the health-care sector.

The Public Health Measures Table will continue to observe key COVID-19 indicators in provincial hotspots to determine whether or not restrictions need to be extended or altered. Dr. Huyer defended the decision by stating that waiting for an outbreak to occur in the shuttered businesses would be “akin to shutting the barn down after the horse has left.”

Modeling shows that Ontario will experience between 800 and 1,200 new cases a day through November, and the location of these cases will be substantially varied across the local Public Health Units. This further reinforces the government’s decision to implement measures on a region-by-region basis.

While the slowed rate of growth is a positive, case numbers are still rising every day. At any time, this progress can be lost due to a super-spreader event.

Supporting Ontario Made

Earlier this afternoon at the Napoleon factory in Barrie, Ont., Premier Doug Ford announced Phase 2 of the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters’ Ontario Made designation, a program intended to celebrate and promote Ontario manufacturers and service providers during recovery from the COVID-19 economic shut down.

More than 4,600 products have already been designated “Ontario Made” and now the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters have launched an online consumer directory as well as a “Did You Know” campaign that will highlight Ontario Made products. This consumer directory is a way to support the local economy and encourage Ontarians to buy local products.

You can find more information about Ontario Made at supportontariomade.ca.