The Ministry of Health said Friday that four more cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Ontario, bringing the total in the province to 26.
Of those 26, four people have recovered, officials say.
The ministry says one of the cases announced Friday includes a man in his 40s who recently returned from Las Vegas.
Dr. Eileen de Villa, chief medical officer of health for Toronto, told reporters at a news conference Friday morning that the man took public transit between March 2 and March 4.
She said the man took transit from Bathurst TTC station westbound to Islington TTC station around 8:50 a.m. on all three of those days. He also travelled from the Islington TTC station to his workplace using the 108 N MiWay express bus each day.
When travelling home, the man travelled from his workplace to Yorkdale TTC station using the 27 Milton GO bus. That travel occurred at 6:10 p.m on those days. Then he travelled from Yorkdale TTC station to St. George TTC station around 6:40 p.m. The final part of his trip home involved transit from St. George TTC station to Bathurst TTC station around 6:45 p.m.
On March 4, the man also travelled from Bathurst TTC station to the 511 Bathurst streetcar. He is now at home in self-isolation, officials say.
Dr. de Villa said the times are estimates, and officials will provide more details as they become available.
“I want to remind people that with respect to public transit, this information is being provided out of an abundance of caution,” Dr. de Villa said, adding those trips are considered “low risk” for other travellers.
Two of the other new cases stem from a couple in their 60s who were aboard the Grand Princess cruise ship that travelled to Mexico last month, before they returned to Canada on Feb. 28. Both people were assessed at Trillium Health Partners-Mississauga Hospital and are both now recovering at home in self-isolation, officials say.
The other confirmed case is a man in his 50s who returned from Iran on Feb. 27 and was assessed at North York General on March 3. He is also at home in self-isloation.
Stand-alone testing centres coming to some Ontario hospitals
Some Ontario hospitals are preparing to create stand-alone testing centres for coronavirus if COVID-19 begins spreading widely within the province, CBC Toronto has learned.
According to two health sector sources familiar with the plans, Toronto-area hospitals would establish separate assessment centres in facilities such as portables. The sources confirmed that the Michael Garron Hospital is one of the facilities applying to create a stand-alone assessment centre.
The move would reduce the risk that patients with COVID-19 spread the coronavirus to uninfected people in hospital emergency rooms.
“We are working with certain hospitals and have requested that they submit applications,” said a Ministry of Health official in an email.
“This is in preparation in the event of community spread to endure our continued ability to effectively test and respond.”
The official could not say how many Ontario hospitals will create the assessment centres, but said they will be located “where we expect there to be significant testing in the event of community spread. This would likely include centres outside of Toronto.”
So far the vast majority of COVID-19 cases in Ontario have been contracted during travel to affected areas, such as China and Iran, and public health officials continue to describe the risk in the province as low.
The Ministry of Health said more details about the most recently diagnosed patient would be provided later on Friday.
Toronto Public Health is also scheduled to provide an update Friday on the city’s response.
Major tech conference moves online
Also on Friday, the Collision tech conference, which was expected to bring thousands to the city this summer, was moved online.
“Given the uncertainty facing a large number of public events around the world due to the progression of COVID-19, we have made the very difficult decision to postpone Collision from taking place physically until June 2021,” the organization said on its website.
Toronto officials said the conference was a key part of driving the city’s busiest tourism year ever in 2019. This year, expectations are already being tamped down with the spread of COVID-19 leading people to re-consider their travel plans.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans can once again order COVID-19 tests, without being charged, sent straight to their homes.
The U.S. government reopened the program on Thursday, allowing any household to order up to four at-home COVID nasal swab kits through the website, covidtests.gov. The tests will begin shipping, via the United States Postal Service, as soon as next week.
The website has been reopened on the heels of a summer COVID-19 virus wave and heading into the fall and winter respiratory virus season, with health officials urging Americans to get an updated COVID-19 booster and their yearly flu shot.
“Before you visit with your family and friends this holiday season, take a quick test and help keep them safe from COVID-19,” U.S. Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response Dawn O’Connell said in a statement.
U.S. regulators approved an updated COVID-19 vaccine that is designed to combat the recent virus strains and, they hope, forthcoming winter ones, too. Vaccine uptake is waning, however. Most Americans have some immunity from prior infections or vaccinations, but under a quarter of U.S. adults took last fall’s COVID-19 shot.
Using the swab, people can detect current virus strains ahead of the fall and winter respiratory virus season and the holidays. Over-the-counter COVID-19 at-home tests typically cost around $11, as of last year. Insurers are no longer required to cover the cost of the tests.
Before using any existing at-home COVID-19 tests, you should check the expiration date. Many of the tests have been given an extended expiration from the date listed on the box. You can check on the Food and Drug Administration’s website to see if that’s the case for any of your remaining tests at home.
Since COVID-19 first began its spread in 2020, U.S. taxpayers have poured billions of dollars into developing and purchasing COVID-19 tests as well as vaccines. The Biden administration has given out 1.8 billion COVID-19 tests, including half distributed to households by mail. It’s unclear how many tests the government still has on hand.
TORONTO – A coalition of disability rights groups says it is launching a Charter challenge against a part of Canada’s law on medical assistance in dying.
The group, which also includes two individual plaintiffs, argues that what’s known as track two of the MAID law has resulted in premature deaths.
Under the law, patients whose natural deaths are not reasonably foreseeable but whose condition leads to intolerable suffering can apply for a track-two assisted death.
The coalition says track two of the MAID law has had a direct effect on the lives of people with disabilities and argues medically assisted death should only be available to those whose natural death is reasonably foreseeable.
The executive vice-president of Inclusion Canada – which is part of the coalition – says there has been an alarming trend where people with disabilities are seeking assisted death due to social deprivation, poverty and a lack of essential supports.
Krista Carr says those individuals should instead be supported in order to live better lives.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 26, 2024.
TORONTO – The Canadian Institute for Health Information says more than 7,000 people with diabetes undergo a leg, foot or toe amputation every year — and the majority of those procedures could have been prevented.
The report issued today says people with diabetes living in the lowest-income neighbourhoods are three times more likely to have an amputation than those living in the highest-income communities.
It also says people with diabetes living in remote communities are at higher risk of leg amputations than those living in urban centres.
Erin Pichora, CIHI’s program lead for population health, says lack of access to a primary-care provider to help people manage diabetes is one likely factor behind the inequalities.
She says disparities are also likely in access to specialists who can treat diabetic wounds on people’s feet — including podiatrists and chiropodists — before they worsen.
Diabetes Canada says the report shows the importance of ensuring people with diabetes have equitable access to the care and resources they need.
“People living with diabetes who undergo amputations face significant emotional and financial distress,” Laura O’Driscoll, senior manager of policy at Diabetes Canada, said in an emailed statement to The Canadian Press.
“We need to ensure that everyone with diabetes has affordable, timely access to the medications, devices, education, and care needed to manage their condition and prevent complications like amputation.”
The CIHI researchers reviewed hospital records from across Canada for fiscal years 2020-2021 and 2022-2023 and found about 7,720 “lower limb” amputations associated with diabetes per year among people 18 and older.
Each year there were about 3,080 hospitalizations for “above-ankle” leg amputations and 4,640 hospitalizations for “ankle-and-below” amputations, including feet and toes.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 26, 2024.
Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
