Ontario reported an additional 409 cases of COVID-19 on Thursday as the province announced it would shift back toward testing only symptomatic people and those in high-risk groups to relieve pressure on publicly funded testing sites and clear a severe backlog of samples.
The news comes as Premier Doug Ford said his government will invest $1 billion to expand testing and contact-tracing capacity heading into flu season, including some $30 million to “prevent and manage outbreaks” in priority settings like long-term care facilities, retirement homes and schools.
The province’s network of labs is currently facing a backlog of 53,840 test samples, the most since cases of the respiratory infection were first detected in January.
During a media briefing Thursday morning, health officials said that publicly funded testing sites are moving away from offering tests to asymptomatic people. Instead, the province will return to a more targeted approach, as hospitals, testing sites and labs have reported being overwhelmed by public demand for tests.
“We know that over the summer when we opened up testing to anybody who wanted it, we did not find cases. Right now, we need to focus on people who are symptomatic, people who are contacts, people in outbreaks, or in very specific populations where we have designated that testing needs to occur,” said Dr. Barbara Yaffe, Ontario’s associate chief medical officer of health.
“Your average person out there who is not exposed to a case, who is not part of an outbreak, has no symptoms, should not be going for testing. There’s no value. In fact, what we found is when there’s very little COVID in that group, what we end up with is false positives, which just complicates things even more.”
WATCH | Dr. Barbara Yaffe explains Ontario’s plan to target only symptomatic people for testing:
People in Ontario who are asymptomatic for COVID-19 will now only be tested if they are part of a targeted group, such as health-care workers, according to Dr. Barbara Yaffe, Ontario’s associate chief medical officer of health. 1:24
Testing of asymptomatic people will be limited to pharmacies, an initiative announced by Ford earlier this week. The government has said that testing will be available at 60 pharmacies by week’s end, with a plan to expand the initiative in coming weeks, although representatives at some pharmacies on the list told CBC News they will not be ready by Friday.
According to Matthew Anderson, president and CEO of Ontario Health, the province hopes to have capacity for up to 50,000 tests per day some time in October.
“We continue to work toward the 50,000 goal. We’re very close to it now. We are struggling a bit with some of our supply chain challenges,” said Anderson.
“We continue to build that capacity out, and do expect that we will be in that range in the next couple of weeks.”
At his daily news conference, Ford acknowledged that the updated testing guidelines are a move away from his government’s messaging in recent months. Over the summer, he repeatedly encouraged anyone who wanted to take a test for the novel coronavirus to get one. But that has become untenable, he told reporters, as school has restarted and the province prepares for the upcoming flu season.
The focus on those showing symptoms is part of Ontario’s fall COVID-19 strategy, which Ford and Health Minister Christine Elliott have been releasing in stages this week.
Ford said the economic fallout from such a lockdown could devastate some businesses.
“That would be extremely difficult on a tremendous number of people,” he said.
He added, however, that if new daily case counts continue on an upward trend, his government would re-evaluate its plan.
“If it’s a huge spike, then everything is on the table.”
WATCH | Ontario to invest $1B to upgrade testing, tracing of COVID-19:
Health Minister Christine Elliott said the new $1-billion commitment will help ‘significantly’ expand coronavirus testing capacity and boost the number of contact tracers. 1:42
Doctors warn time to tighten restrictions is now
Meanwhile, a group of physicians and health care leaders issued an urgent call for the province to immediately tighten restrictions on non-essential businesses and activities that lend themselves to gatherings, including dine-in restaurants, bars, nightclubs, gyms, theatres and places of worship.
“Given the sharp rise in COVID-19 cases over the last two weeks, and the speed at which this virus spreads, now is the time to put public health measures in place to immediately limit opportunities for disease transmission,” the Ontario Hospital Association said in a news release Thursday.
The group is also calling for non-essential businesses to have employees work from home and for universities and colleges to hold classes online wherever possible.
They note Ontario has seen a seven-day average of about 400 cases per day, a figure last seen at the height of the pandemic in May.
“Without immediate action, we know from international experience that this extremely contagious and life-threatening virus will spread rapidly through our schools, long-term care homes, retirement homes and other congregate settings.”
409 new COVID-19 cases
Consistent with recent weeks, a majority of new cases were concentrated in three public health units:
Toronto: 151
Ottawa: 82
Peel Region: 46
Several other areas also registered double-digit increases:
York Region: 34
Waterloo Region: 26
Durham Region: 12
Middlesex-London: 12
Halton Region: 11
Elliott noted in a series of tweets that about 63 per cent of the newly confirmed infections in today’s update involve people under 40 years old.
Thirty-one are classified as school-related, including 24 students, three staff and four categorized as “individuals not identified.”
The province’s website tracking outbreaks in school and child care centres — which lags behind information parents would get directly from their school — shows there have been at least 210 school-related cases, including 101 students who have been infected.
Ontario has now seen a total of 48,496 confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the outbreak began in late January. Of those, about 86.4 per cent are considered resolved. Another 286 were marked resolved in today’s report.
There are currently some 3,774 confirmed, active infections provincewide, the most since June 9.
The province also reported two new outbreaks in long-term care facilities, bringing the current total to 33.
Ontario’s official COVID-19 death toll increased by one, and now sits at 2,836. A CBC News count based on information provided directly from public health units puts the real toll at 2,876.
Further, the province’s network of labs processed more than 30,600 tests for the novel coronavirus yesterday; however the Ministry of Health notes that that figure provides an incomplete picture because of a temporary outage at Public Health Ontario.
There is no indication that the outage affected the number of new cases in today’s report.
Tour team staffer tests positive
Meanwhile, Ford’s office said he did not have “close contact or prolonged exposure” to a staff member of his tour team who tested positive for COVID-19.
“All staff that had contact with their teammate will self-isolate and monitor for symptoms,” wrote Ivana Yelich, spokesperson for the premier’s office, in an email to media.
“The premier will closely monitor for symptoms and take appropriate next steps if necessary,” she continued.
In a tweet, Ford wished the staffer a speedy recovery.
EDMONTON – The legendary k.d. lang got the band back together at the Canadian Country Music Association awards show.
Lang teamed up with the Reclines for the first time in 35 years to belt out “Big Boned Gal” from their last album together in 1989.
Clad in a blue and green western-style dress, lang strut across the stage in Edmonton to embody the “big boned gal from southern Alberta.”
The awards show saw Alberta’s MacKenzie Porter and Ontario’s Josh Ross take home hardware for being best female and male artists of the year.
Ross also won entertainer of the year and single of the year for “Trouble.”
Ontario artist Jade Eagleson won album of the year for “Do It Anyway.”
The James Barker Band from Woodville, Ont., won fans’ choice and group of the year.
During their acceptance speech, frontman Barker hinted at new music and a possible tour in 2025.
Ross says he and his band play roughly 150 shows every year and are never home, but says taking home entertainer of the year made the hard work worth it.
Porter won for female artist of the year and top video for “Chasing Tornadoes.”
The female artist win ends the five-year streak of Tenille Townes being awarded the coveted hardware.
Porter had been nominated seven times previously for the award in the past decade but hadn’t won until now.
The artist from Medicine Hat, Alta., says it takes a lot of hard work and hustle to succeed as a female in the country music industry and gave a shout out to her fellow singers and her newborn daughter.
Joining the two artists in the winners’ circle was Ontario singer-songwriter Owen Riegling, who won for breakthrough artist of the year.
The show began with American artist and co-host Thomas Rhett being dubbed an honorary Canadian by Edmonton Oilers players Corey Perry and Leon Draisaitl.
Rhett donned an Oilers jersey that was gifted to him by the pair.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 14, 2024.
EDMONTON – Ontario country artist Jade Eagleson has won album of the year at the 2024 Canadian Country Music Association Awards in Edmonton.
The singer from Bailieboro, Ont., was up for six awards alongside Alberta’s MacKenzie Porter.
Eagleson took home album of the year for “Do It Anyway” and says he’s thankful to his wife and management team for helping him reach the level he’s at.
The James Barker Band from Woodville, Ont., also won fans’ choice and group of the year at the award show, held in Edmonton.
During their acceptance speech, frontman Barker hinted at new music and a possible tour in 2025.
Another Ontario crooner, Josh Ross, has taken home a trio of awards, receiving entertainer of the year, male artist of the year and single of the year.
He says he and his band play roughly 150 shows every year and are never home, but says taking home entertainer of the year makes the hard work worth it.
Porter took home female artist of the year, ending the five-year streak of Tenille Townes being awarded the coveted hardware.
Porter had been nominated seven times previously for the award in the past decade but hadn’t won until tonight.
The artist from Medicine Hat, Alta., says it takes a lot of hard work and hustle to succeed as a female in the country music industry and gave a shout out to her fellow singers and her newborn daughter.
Joining the two artists in the winners’ circle was Ontario singer-songwriter Owen Riegling, who won for breakthrough artist of the year.
The show began with American artist and co-host Thomas Rhett being dubbed an honorary Canadian by Edmonton Oilers players Corey Perry and Leon Draisaitl.
Rhett donned an Oilers jersey that was gifted to him by the pair.
The return of k.d. lang and the Reclines was expected to be a highlight of the show.
The appearance will mark the first time the Alberta songstress has teamed up with the band in 35 years and is tied to lang’s induction into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame.
The awards show is back in Alberta’s capital for the first time since 2014. It was held in Hamilton last year and in Calgary in 2022.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 14, 2024.
VANDERHOOF, B.C. – British Columbia Conservatives are promising changes they say will bring more stability to the province’s struggling forest industry.
Leader John Rustad announced his plan for the sector a week before the official launch of the provincial election campaign, saying a Conservative government would do away with stumpage fees paid when timber is harvested and instead put a tax on the final products that are produced.
Rustad said Saturday that under a provincial Conservative government, a small fee may be charged upfront, but the bulk would come at the end of the process, depending on what type of product is created.
He also promised to review how wildfires are managed, as well as streamline the permit process and review what he calls the province’s “uncompetitive cost structure.”
“British Columbia is by far the highest cost producers of any jurisdiction in North America. We need to be able to drive down those costs, so that our forest sector can actually be able to do the reinvestment, to be able to create the jobs and make sure that they’re still there to be able to support our communities,” he said.
The governing New Democrats meanwhile, say eliminating stumpage fees would inflame the softwood lumber dispute with the United States and hurt forestry workers.
In a statement issued by the NDP, Andrew Mercier, the party’s candidate in Langley-Willowbrook, said Rustad failed to support the industry when he was in government under the former BC Liberals.
“Not only will Rustad’s old thinking and recycled ideas fail to deliver, his proposal to eliminate stumpage would inflame the softwood lumber dispute — punishing forestry workers and communities,” Mercier said, accusing Rustad of ignoring the complexity of the challenges facing the industry.
The softwood lumber dispute between the U.S. and Canada stretches back decades. In August, the U.S. Department of Commerce nearly doubled duties on softwood lumber.
International Trade Minister Mary Ng has said Canada has taken steps to launch two legal challenges under the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement.
Rustad said a provincial Conservative government would push hard to get a deal with the United States over the ongoing dispute “whether it’s with the rest of Canada or by itself.”
He said his party’s proposed changes are in the name of bringing “stability” and “hope” to the industry that has seen multiple closures of mills in rural communities over the last several years.
Most recently, Canfor Corp. decided to shutter two northern British Columbia sawmills earlier this month, leaving hundreds of workers unemployed by the end of the year.
According to the United Steelworkers union, Canfor has closed 10 mills in the province since November 2011, including nine in northern B.C.
Jeff Bromley, chair of the United Steelworkers wood council, said Saturday the idea of changes in favour of taxing the final product has been floated in the past.
He said the finer details of the Conservative plan will be important, but that the system needs to be improved and “new ideas are certainly something I’d be willing to entertain.”
“Something needs to happen, or the industry is just going to bleed and wither away and be a shadow of its former self,” Bromley said.
“Politics aside, if (Rustad) can come up with a policy that enables my members to work, then I would be supportive of that. But then I’m supportive of any government that would come up with policies and fibre for our mills to run. Period.”
When Canfor announced its latest closures, Forests Minister Bruce Ralston said the sector was a “foundational part” of the province and the current NDP government would work to support both local jobs and wood manufacturing operations.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 14, 2024
