Ontario reported 721 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, despite a drop in the number of tests being processed daily across the province.
Ontario’s network of community, commercial and hospital labs processed just 32,200 tests on Tuesday, notably fewer than the number of tests completed daily as the province worked to clear a backlog that peaked at around 92,000. The testing backlog currently sits at 26,558.
The number of daily tests completed also falls far short of the province’s goal of processing 50,000 tests per day by mid-October.
According to a news release issued on Oct. 2, Ontario said it was taking “longer-term actions” to increase the province’s testing capacity so people could get their results faster.
The province also set a goal of processing 68,000 tests by mid-November.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford, meanwhile, applauded the province’s testing efforts.
“We’re kicking everyone’s butt on testing,” he said. “We’re doing an incredible job.”
“We had a backlog, we were able to get through that hump.”
Associate Chief Medical Officer of Health Barbara Yaffe said the province’s seven-day positivity rate average sits at 2.2 per cent, a figure she calls “worrisome” and likely the result of fewer tests being completed.
On Wednesday, the positivity rate increased by 0.4 percent and now sits at three per cent.
“It also indicates that we see transmission in the community,” Yaffe said at a press conference Wednesday.
Ontario reports no new deaths
Health Minister Christine Elliott says Wednesday’s new cases include 270 in Toronto, 170 in Peel Region and 79 in York Region.
Tighter restrictions were imposed on Toronto and Peel Region as well as Ottawa on Friday in a bid to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Wednesday’s new cases bring Ontario’s provincial total to 61,413. Of those, 783 were marked resolved in today’s update. On Tuesday, Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. David Williams, suggested the province’s COVID-19 cases may be “plateauing,” even with the seven-day average showing a steady increase. You can see those comments in the video below:
Dr. David Williams made the comments on Oct. 14, despite the 7-day average in new daily cases showing a steady increase. 0:51
Ontario’s official death toll remains unchanged from Tuesday and sits at 3,017.
The number of patients in Ontario hospitals with confirmed cases continues to rise and currently sits at 231.
Those requiring intensive care also increased, from 60 on Tuesday to 64 today, and the number on ventilators increased by one to 35.
The average daily number of new cases of the illness continued its steep climb and is now at 781.1.
Meanwhile, other Ontario public health units with double-digit increases include:
Hamilton: 41
Ottawa: 39
Waterloo Region: 23
Durham Region: 22
Halton Region: 21
Eastern Ontario: 20
Asked Wednesday if Ontario will consider imposing stricter measures in regions with increasing COVID-19 cases — notably Hamilton and York regions — Yaffe said that is something health officials will consider this week.
“The public health measures team is meeting again later this week and they will be considering the data for all of the health units in Ontario and whether any changes need to be made for any of them,” she said.
Someone walks past an empty storefront in Toronto on Oct. 13. Ontario is reporting 721 new cases on Wednesday, the majority of which are concentrated in Toronto, Peel Region and York Region. (Evan Mitsui/CBC)
The bulk of the new cases reported Wednesday are among those under the age of 60.
All of the figures used in this story are found in the Ministry of Health’s daily update, which includes data from up until 4 p.m. the previous day. The number of cases for any particular region on a given day may differ from what is reported by the local public health unit, which often avoid lag times in the provincial system.
WATCH | Ford speaks about business closures in COVID-19 hot spots:
When asked Wednesday why certain businesses in hot spots have been forced to close, including gyms, Ford said COVID-19 has created a ‘lousy, lousy situation.’ 0:44
Outings on hold at long-term care homes in hot spots
Wednesday’s numbers come as the provincial government announces new restrictions at long-term care homes in three of the province’s hot spots.
As of Oct. 16, short-term and temporary absences for social or personal reasons will not be allowed at long-term care homes in Toronto, Ottawa and Peel Region.
On Sept. 29, Premier Doug Ford announced new changes to visiting rules that would take effect in long-term care in areas with high community spread of COVID-19. (Carlos Osorio/The Canadian Press)
This comes after new restrictions took effect on Oct. 5, limiting visitors at long-term care homes in these areas staff, essential visitors and essential caregivers only.
“We recognize these changes may be difficult for the residents and families affected,” Dr. Merrilee Fullerton, minister of long-term care, said in a statement Wednesday.
“But our priority has to be the safety and well-being of the residents and staff in Ontario’s long-term care homes.”
A full list of impacted long-term care homes can be found here.
Ontario to decide which long-term care homes will receive assistance
The province is also in the works to decide which of Ontario’s long-term care homes will receive assistance from the Canadian Red Cross amid the second wave of the pandemic.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Long-Term Care said Tuesday the province will be finalizing details of the deployment over the coming days.
On Sunday, the federal government announced it had approved a request from Ontario to send the Red Cross to seven long-term care facilities in Ottawa.
As of Tuesday evening, CBC News estimates that there were active COVID-19 outbreaks in more than 120 long-term care homes in Canada’s hardest-hit provinces alone: Ontario, Quebec, Alberta and British Columbia.
At Wednesday’s press conference, Elliott said the province continues to remain “vigilant” in testing at long-term case homes across the province.
Ontario to hire hundreds more contact tracers
Meanwhile, health officials say they are continuing to recruit new contact tracers and case managers to track the spread of COVID-19.
The province has hired 100 new contact tracers, with 500 additional recruits expected to be hired by mid-November. Those new hires should bring Ontario’s total to just under 4,000.
“With these additional hires, we will have hundreds more boots on the ground to support contact tracing throughout the province, which is an essential weapon in our fight against COVID-19,” Ford said in a statement Wednesday.
Health officials also continue to urge residents of Ontario to download the COVID Alert contact notification that can tell them whether they have been near someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 over the previous two weeks.
Elliott said more than four million Canadians have downloaded the app.
Nearly 1,000 Ontarians with confirmed COVID-19 cases have used the app to send anonymous alerts to their close contacts, Elliott added.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A linebacker at Division II West Virginia State was fatally shot during what the university said Thursday is being investigated by police as a home invasion.
The body of Jyilek Zyiare Harrington, 21, of Charlotte, North Carolina, was found inside an apartment Wednesday night in Charleston, police Lt. Tony Hazelett said in a statement.
Hazelett said several gunshots were fired during a disturbance in a hallway and inside the apartment. The statement said Harrington had multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said they had no information on a possible suspect.
West Virginia State said counselors were available to students and faculty on campus.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with Jyilek’s family as they mourn the loss of this incredible young man,” West Virginia State President Ericke S. Cage said in a letter to students and faculty.
Harrington, a senior, had eight total tackles, including a sack, in a 27-24 win at Barton College last week.
“Jyilek truly embodied what it means to be a student-athlete and was a leader not only on campus but in the community,” West Virginia State Vice President of Intercollegiate Athletics Nate Burton said. “Jyilek was a young man that, during Christmas, would create a GoFundMe to help less fortunate families.”
Burton said donations to a fund established by the athletic department in Harrington’s memory will be distributed to an organization in Charlotte to continue his charity work.
West Virginia State’s home opener against Carson-Newman, originally scheduled for Thursday night, has been rescheduled to Friday, and a private vigil involving both teams was set for Thursday night. Harrington previously attended Carson-Newman, where he made seven tackles in six games last season. He began his college career at Division II Erskine College.
“Carson-Newman joins West Virginia State in mourning the untimely passing of former student-athlete Jyilek Harrington,” Carson-Newman Vice President of Athletics Matt Pope said in a statement. “The Harrington family and the Yellow Jackets’ campus community is in our prayers. News like this is sad to hear anytime, but today it feels worse with two teams who knew him coming together to play.”
DETROIT (AP) — Joe Schmidt, the Hall of Fame linebacker who helped the Detroit Lions win NFL championships in 1953 and 1957 and later coached the team, has died. He was 92.
The Lions said family informed the team Schmidt died Wednesday. A cause of death was not provided.
One of pro football’s first great middle linebackers, Schmidt played his entire NFL career with the Lions from 1953-65. An eight-time All-Pro, he was enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1973 and the college football version in 2000.
“Joe likes to say that at one point in his career, he was 6-3, but he had tackled so many fullbacks that it drove his neck into his shoulders and now he is 6-foot,” said the late Lions owner William Clay Ford, Schmidt’s presenter at his Hall of Fame induction in 1973. “At any rate, he was listed at 6-feet and as I say was marginal for that position. There are, however, qualities that certainly scouts or anybody who is drafting a ballplayer cannot measure.”
Born in Pittsburgh, Schmidt played college football in his hometown at Pitt, beginning his stint there as a fullback and guard before coach Len Casanova switched him to linebacker.
“Pitt provided me with the opportunity to do what I’ve wanted to do, and further myself through my athletic abilities,” Schmidt said. “Everything I have stemmed from that opportunity.”
Schmidt dealt with injuries throughout his college career and was drafted by the Lions in the seventh round in 1953. As defenses evolved in that era, Schmidt’s speed, savvy and tackling ability made him a valuable part of some of the franchise’s greatest teams.
Schmidt was elected to the Pro Bowl 10 straight years from 1955-64, and after his arrival, the Lions won the last two of their three NFL titles in the 1950s.
In a 1957 playoff game at San Francisco, the Lions trailed 27-7 in the third quarter before rallying to win 31-27. That was the NFL’s largest comeback in postseason history until Buffalo rallied from a 32-point deficit to beat Houston in 1993.
“We just decided to go after them, blitz them almost every down,” Schmidt recalled. “We had nothing to lose. When you’re up against it, you let both barrels fly.”
Schmidt became an assistant coach after wrapping up his career as a player. He was Detroit’s head coach from 1967-72, going 43-35-7.
Schmidt was part of the NFL’s All-Time Team revealed in 2019 to celebrate the league’s centennial season. Of course, he’d gone into the Hall of Fame 46 years earlier.
Not bad for an undersized seventh-round draft pick.
“It was a dream of mine to play football,” Schmidt told the Detroit Free Press in 2017. “I had so many people tell me that I was too small. That I couldn’t play. I had so many negative people say negative things about me … that it makes you feel good inside. I said, ‘OK, I’ll prove it to you.’”
VICTORIA – British Columbia’s Environment Assessment Office has fined Coastal GasLink Pipeline Ltd. $590,000 for “deficiencies” in the construction of its pipeline crossing the province.
The office says in a statement that 10 administrative penalties have been levied against the company for non-compliance with requirements of its environmental assessment certificate.
It says the fines come after problems with erosion and sediment control measures were identified by enforcement officers along the pipeline route across northern B.C. in April and May 2023.
The office says that the latest financial penalties reflect its escalation of enforcement due to repeated non-compliance of its requirements.
Four previous penalties have been issued for failing to control erosion and sediment valued at almost $800,000, while a fifth fine of $6,000 was handed out for providing false or misleading information.
The office says it prioritized its inspections along the 670-kilometre route by air and ground as a result of the continued concerns, leading to 59 warnings and 13 stop-work orders along the pipeline that has now been completed.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
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