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Premier says he hopes to ease restrictions in hotspots as early as next weekend – 680 News

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Premier Ford says he hopes to begin easing restrictions in COVID-19 hotspots as early as next weekend.

The 28 day step back for Toronto, Peel Region, and Ottawa into a modified stage 2 expires at 12:01 a.m. next Saturday and one week later in York Region.

In his daily COVID-19 update, Ford says the latest modelling supports the move.

“Based on what I’m seeing in the modelling, I’ve asked our public health experts to come back next week with a plan to begin to ease restrictions in a way that safely allows businesses to open up when the 28 days is over.”

Ford says the restrictions that closed indoor dining rooms, gyms, and other businesses were never intended to be long-term solutions but were necessary to avoid reaching a point where more drastic measures would be needed.

The province released modelling on Thursday that revealed the growth of the second wave has slowed.

When the Ford government introduced the modified Stage 2 restrictions back on Oct. 10, cases were doubling every 10 to 12 days.

While growth has slowed, cases are still on the rise, with Ontario’s seven-day average surpassing 900 for the first time on Friday.

Ontario restaurants ask province to explain restrictions, show COVID-19 data

A group from Ontario’s restaurant industry is calling on the provincial government to explain its decision to impose tighter COVID-19 restrictions on the sector.

A coalition that includes the industry association Restaurants Canada and a number of food service businesses has issued an open letter to Premier Doug Ford, asking to see what data the province relied on in setting its health measures.

The letter says no data have been provided so far that would suggest restaurants are a major point of transmission for the virus.

It notes restaurants have had to make significant investments in safety procedures and training, personal protective equipment and other measures, yet those in some regions are nonetheless being forced to stop serving customers indoors.

The document released yesterday by the province showed that in four COVID-19 hot spots — where indoor dining is currently banned — the proportion of outbreaks linked to restaurants and bars between Aug. 1 and Oct. 24 ranged between 3.2 and 27.14 per cent.

Ontario’s chief medical officer of health, Dr. David Williams, said the provincial health table recommended targeting any “risk sites” where transmission could potentially be higher

Hospital association says more funding is needed

Ontario’s hospitals are facing “unprecedented” financial pressures because of the pandemic, the head of the association representing them said Friday, asking the government to speed up funding promised to address COVID-19 costs.

Anthony Dale, president of the Ontario Hospital Association, said many hospitals are using lines of credit or funding previously earmarked for capital projects to pay for pandemic-response measures.

Hospital resources are stretched thin, and many facilities remain at or above capacity, Dale said.

“For the hospital sector, we are spending a king’s ransom to fight this pandemic,” Dale said. “The hospital sector is facing unprecedented, truly unprecedented, financial pressures.”

In August, the province set aside billions in new funding to address COVID-19 costs in the health-care system.

Dale said, however, that while the government is aware of the fiscal pressure hospitals are facing, only COVID-19 costs from March and April have been covered so far.

If the additional funding promised by the province doesn’t begin to flow soon, the facilities may eventually not be able make payroll, he said.

“We hope that would never seriously happen in a hospital, but the reality is, at a certain point in time you hit a wall,” he said. “You really lose your ability to pay for your daily operating costs … because you don’t have cash on hand.”

Dale said slowing community spread of the virus is also an important part of relieving the stress on hospital resources and, in turn, cutting costs.

Ford responded to a question about the letter Friday’s news conference, saying he looks forward to speaking with Dale, but wishes the OHA would call him before releasing open letters.

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Netflix’s subscriber growth slows as gains from password-sharing crackdown subside

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Netflix on Thursday reported that its subscriber growth slowed dramatically during the summer, a sign the huge gains from the video-streaming service’s crackdown on freeloading viewers is tapering off.

The 5.1 million subscribers that Netflix added during the July-September period represented a 42% decline from the total gained during the same time last year. Even so, the company’s revenue and profit rose at a faster pace than analysts had projected, according to FactSet Research.

Netflix ended September with 282.7 million worldwide subscribers — far more than any other streaming service.

The Los Gatos, California, company earned $2.36 billion, or $5.40 per share, a 41% increase from the same time last year. Revenue climbed 15% from a year ago to $9.82 billion. Netflix management predicted the company’s revenue will rise at the same 15% year-over-year pace during the October-December period, slightly than better than analysts have been expecting.

The strong financial performance in the past quarter coupled with the upbeat forecast eclipsed any worries about slowing subscriber growth. Netflix’s stock price surged nearly 4% in extended trading after the numbers came out, building upon a more than 40% increase in the company’s shares so far this year.

The past quarter’s subscriber gains were the lowest posted in any three-month period since the beginning of last year. That drop-off indicates Netflix is shifting to a new phase after reaping the benefits from a ban on the once-rampant practice of sharing account passwords that enabled an estimated 100 million people watch its popular service without paying for it.

The crackdown, triggered by a rare loss of subscribers coming out of the pandemic in 2022, helped Netflix add 57 million subscribers from June 2022 through this June — an average of more than 7 million per quarter, while many of its industry rivals have been struggling as households curbed their discretionary spending.

Netflix’s gains also were propelled by a low-priced version of its service that included commercials for the first time in its history. The company still is only getting a small fraction of its revenue from the 2-year-old advertising push, but Netflix is intensifying its focus on that segment of its business to help boost its profits.

In a letter to shareholder, Netflix reiterated previous cautionary notes about its expansion into advertising, though the low-priced option including commercials has become its fastest growing segment.

“We have much more work to do improving our offering for advertisers, which will be a priority over the next few years,” Netflix management wrote in the letter.

As part of its evolution, Netflix has been increasingly supplementing its lineup of scripted TV series and movies with live programming, such as a Labor Day spectacle featuring renowned glutton Joey Chestnut setting a world record for gorging on hot dogs in a showdown with his longtime nemesis Takeru Kobayashi.

Netflix will be trying to attract more viewer during the current quarter with a Nov. 15 fight pitting former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson against Jake Paul, a YouTube sensation turned boxer, and two National Football League games on Christmas Day.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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