Two more COVID-19 cases confirmed in Peterborough
Social distancing rules remain in effect as city sports fields reopen
Peterborough Public Health reported two more confirmed COVID-19 cases in Peterborough city and county and Curve Lake and Hiawatha First Nations on Wednesday afternoon.
There are now 78 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 69 of them already resolved and two earlier deaths, leaving seven active cases.
One out of every 21 residents in the health unit’s jurisdiction has now been tested for COVID-19, the health unit also announced.
That’s a testing rate of 4.7 per cent, the health unit reported. The health unit revealed last week that the region is leading the province in the rate of testing.
More than 6,900 residents have now been tested, the health unit reported, with 1,300 of them having been tested over the past week alone.
“Here in Peterborough, there should be no problem accessing testing,” medical officer of health Dr. Rosana Salvaterra said during a virtual news conference on Wednesday.
Salvaterra added that she’d like to continue seeing a high rate of testing locally.
There have been three new cases diagnosed in the last week, Salvaterra noted: she said they are all members of a family where one member returned from travel.
Salvaterra also said there have been no new institutional outbreaks of COVID-19 anywhere in the city.
Kawartha Heights Retirement Living on Denure Drive in the west end of Peterborough, where a staff member tested positive, remained as the health unit’s only institutional outbreak as of Wednesday afternoon. Seven other institutional outbreaks have been resolved, including three that were
declared and then reversed because of a lab error.
Other details released Wednesday by the health unit:
á 51.3 per cent of local cases were the result of contact with a confirmed case; 31.6 per cent were from exposure during travel and 17.1 per cent were from community spread exposure.
á 54 per cent of the local cases involved women and 46 per cent were men.
á Six cases (eight per cent of the cases) required hospitalization, with three of them needing intensive care unit admission so far during the pandemic.
á Of local cases linked to outbreaks in Ontario, 15 were at long-term-care homes, two were at retirement homes and four were from other outbreaks.
Salvaterra said Wednesday that although the infection rate is receding in Peterborough, she wants people to remember the deadly Spanish flu pandemic of 1918: “It was the second wave that proved to be deadly.”
Mayor Diane Therrien was also at the virtual news conference and said the operation of the Sport and Wellness Centre on Brealey Drive as a temporary shelter for homeless people seems to be going “smoothly.”
The city-owned Sport and Wellness Centre is closed and has been used as a temporary shelter since late March, since the gym offers room for appropriate physical distance between cots.
Eventually, the Sport and Wellness Centre will reopen as a fitness facility, Therrien noted, and although it’s unclear when that might happen city officials are having “preliminary discussions” now on a plan to relocate the homeless to the usual shelters such as the Brock Mission (and also planning how those shelters will offer appropriate physical distancing, when the time comes).
“That’s not happening in the imminent future, but we’re being proactive on making sure we have those plans in place,” she said.
Meanwhile, the Ontario government has allowed the reopening of sports fields. Therrien said the use of those fields “won’t look like it traditionally looks.”
It’s difficult to have soccer players keep two metres apart while playing, for example, so the fields are offering green space for other activities for now.
There are benefits in opening those sports fields since people may now use them for walking or running while keeping a wide physical distance with others, Salvaterra said.
Andy Mitchell, the mayor of Selwyn Township and the chairperson of the board of health, was also at the virtual news conference.
He expressed gratitude to residents — those who live here year-round, as well as seasonal residents — for practising physical distancing for weeks now: “To each of you, I send a heartfelt thank you.”
United Way support fund
The United Way Peterborough and District will be distributing $366,000 in federal government funding to local charities as they serve vulnerable people during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The United Way made the announcement in a press release issued Wednesday.
The funding is part of the federal government’s $350 million Emergency Community Support
Fund, which aims to help charities and non-profits adapt and increase front-line service to vulnerable Canadians.
The United Way is teaming up with the Canadian Red Cross and Community Foundations of Canada to ensure the funding is distributed to those who need it most, says the United Way website.
To apply for funding, visit uwpeterborough.ca
Grady’s Feet Essentials curbside pickup
Grady’s Feet Essentials, a shoe store in Lansdowne Place, is offering curbside pickup downtown from 231 King St. (at Aylmer Street, formerly the Angela Mark fashion store).
Grady’s owners Kelli and Tony Grady own the building on King Street, and are offering curbside pickup from that location for customers who’ve made arrangements to order and pay in advance.
Pickups are by appointment; customers can use the parking spot in front of the store to retrieve their purchases.
For more information on how to select items and pay, see the Grady’s website at gradys.ca