`EVERYTHING' ON TABLE
COVID restrictions may tighten: Ford
The provincewide shutdown won't be over at the end of January and Ontario will have to look at more extreme measures if health measures continue to be ignored, Premier Doug Ford warned Friday.
New modelling will be rolled out early next week, with Ford describing it as “a wake-up call” to anyone who has seen it.
“We're in a desperate situation, and, when you see the modelling, you know, you'll fall off your chair. Everything is on the table right now. There will be further measures because this is getting out of control and we have to do whatever it takes.”
Ontario reported a 24-hour total of 4,249 infections on Friday. The tally included about 500 cases attributed to a data upload delay by Toronto Public Health, but, even discounting those, Friday's numbers still easily surpassed the previous record high of 3,519 new cases reported on Thursday.
An escalation in response must be contemplated, said the province's associate chief medical officer of health Dr. Barbara Yaffe.
“Today's numbers are, to be frank … they are scary,” she said.
“We don't want more people dying, We don't want the ICUs overwhelmed. We don't want morgues overwhelmed. And I know we don't want to scare people, but, on the other hand, I think there's too much complacency.”
Six cases of the more contagious U.K. variant have been identified in
Ontario, according to Yaffe, adding there are likely more cases out there. All identified cases have so far been among recent travellers to the U.K. or travellers' close contacts, and they have maintained their quarantine.
“We may not be so lucky in the future,” she said.
Ford said Ontario has ramped up its rollout of COVID-19 vaccines and is quickly running out of doses. The whole province will be out of Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines by the end of next week, he said. Some hospitals, including The Ottawa Hospital, have said they'll exhaust their vaccine supply by the end of this week, he said.
“We're all hopeful the federal government will get us more vaccines,” the premier said. “Without them, hospitals will have to start cancelling appointments, and all the progress we've made getting our daily vaccine numbers up will be lost as clinics stand by waiting for vaccines from the feds.”
Ford said he spoke with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday night “about the need for more reliable vaccine supply to meet our rapidly growing capacity,” later adding that the prime minister was “working his back off. He's trying his very, very best.”
Ford noted that Ontario had a long way to go before there were enough vaccine doses to immunize everybody. Until then, the best and only defence against the virus are public health measures, including staying at home, avoiding gatherings with non-household members, and practising physical distancing, mask-wearing and handwashing.
The province announced Thursday that elementary students in southern Ontario would continue learning online until Jan. 25.
Education Minister Stephen Lecce said Friday that asymptomatic testing would be expanded for the day that schools reopen and that the province would make an additional $380 million investment mainly focused on HVAC and air ventilation improvements, additional PPE, more cleaning staff and more staffing in general.
There will also be additional enhancement to school screening protocols.
Ottawa Public Health reported 210 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, compared to a provincial total of 154 for Ottawa reported by the province.
The discrepancy comes after the health unit reported almost 100 fewer cases than the province did on Thursday. OPH said then it had yet to report “a large number of case reports received late Wednesday,” and it anticipated the discrepancy between the provincial and local case counts would be adjusted in the days to come.
One new outbreak of the virus involving one resident case was reported at an Ottawa shelter, while two new community outbreaks were added to the list of those ongoing. There are three open outbreaks linked to social events in private settings, involving 14 total cases, one active outbreak related to sports and recreation and seven at community workplaces.
Quebec has recorded 2,588 new cases of COVID-19, the provincial government announced Friday, the day before a provincewide curfew was scheduled to take effect. In the Outaouais region, 65 new cases were reported Friday.
There will be further measures because this is getting out of control and we have to do whatever it takes.