COVID-19 Update for September 25 2020 – 1:45pm
Both Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau held media availabilities today.
Ontario – Stage 3 Update
Before Premier Ford took the podium today for his daily briefing, the province announced an amendment to its Reopening Ontario (A Flexible Response to COVID-19) Act, 2020, to tighten public health measures — mostly in bars and restaurants — in response to the recent rise in cases of COVID-19.
The amended order is province-wide and takes effect tonight at midnight. The changes include:
- Moving last call to 11 p.m., and requiring all bars and restaurants to be closed by midnight, except for takeout and delivery.
- The consumption of alcohol on bar and restaurant premises is prohibited between midnight and 9 a.m.
- Closing all strip clubs across the province; and
- Requiring businesses or organizations to comply with any advice, recommendations, and instructions issued by the Office of the Chief Medical Officer of Health on screening for COVID-19.
You can read the full news release here.
Ontario – Health Care Investments
Premier Ford also announced investments to reduce surgery backlogs and increase home and community care. These measures include:
- Investing up to $283.7 million to support additional priority surgeries including cancer, cardiac, cataract and orthopedic procedures;
- Extending diagnostic imaging hours at health care facilities for MRIs, CT scans and other critical procedures;
- Adding an additional 139 critical care beds and 1,349 additional hospital beds in hospitals and alternate health facilities across the province to support more surgical procedures;
- Working to initiate a centralized waitlist and a program to optimize the use of the operating rooms;
- Expanding access to virtual emergency department services and giving patients the option of virtual pre- and post-surgery appointments;
- Investing $457.5 million to increase community capacity, including home and community care.
- Helping up to 850 alternate levels of care patients access the right level of care in a home or community setting to help add more capacity in hospitals; and
- Increasing home and community care service volumes by investing $100 million to add an additional 484,000 nursing and therapy visits and 1.4 million personal support worker hours.
In addition, the premier announced that 18 more pharmacies in Southwestern Ontario — including some in St. Catharines and Niagara Falls — will be able to do COVID-19 testing as early as Tuesday.
You can read the full news release here.
Federal Update
Prime Minister Trudeau announced an agreement with AstraZeneca to procure up to 20 million doses of its COVID‑19 vaccine candidate. With these agreements in place, the government has now secured access for Canadians to six leading vaccine candidates.
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 organization below:
- Toronto – Food Banks Canada
- Thunder Bay – Food Banks North West
- Hamilton/Niagara – Hamilton Food Share
- Alberta – Hope Mission
Many thanks.
Stay safe. Stay healthy.
The Enterprise Team