The Windsor Essex County Health Unit has confirmed 53 new cases of COVID-19 as of Friday, bringing the local total to 2,124. They say 1,365 people locally have recovered.
Cases increased from 2,071 on Thursday July 23rd to 2,124 on Friday July 24th.
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The Health Unit says 43 of the 53 cases are agri-farm workers, 5 cases are from the community, and 5 cases are under investigation.
There have been no additional deaths due to COVID-19 as of Friday and the local death toll stands at 69.
As of Friday, 15 people are hospitalized with COVID-19 in Windsor Essex, according to the Health Unit, and 9 hospitalizations are listed at Windsor Regional Hospital.
The Health Unit says Chartwell Leamington, a retirement home on Henry Avenue, is now under outbreak after two staff members tested positive. They say Village of Aspen Lake and Augustine Villas remain under outbreak.
A total of 10 workplaces are under outbreak in Essex County. The Health Unit’s website lists two manufacturing facilities, one in Windsor and one in Leamington under outbreak, and eight agri-farms, six in Kingsville and two in Leamington under outbreak.
A workplace outbreak is declared when two or more employees test positive for COVID-19 within a reasonable timeline to suspect transmission in the workplace, according to the Health Unit. Officials with the Health Unit have said a workplace will only be named if a threat to the public exists.
Possible Walmart Outbreak
Responding to reports about a possible outbreak at two local Walmart stores, Dr. Wajid Ahmed, Medical Officer of Health says four workers who tested positive for COVID-19 are actually household contacts of each other. He says the four workers are students and the acquisition primarily happened at their home.
The stores are not considered under outbreak at this time, based on the Health Unit’s outbreak criteria, but Dr. Ahmed says the Health Unit is investigating the situation closely. “We are still trying to figure out if any of them worked while they were infectious at the Walmarts,” he said.
Dr. Ahmed says shopping at stores can still be safe if proper precautions are taken.
“My message has always been if you’re going to any of these commercial establishments, by default you should assume that anyone you are interacting with or anyone you’re coming in contact with could potentially have COVID so you always do everything that you need to do,” he said.
He says shoppers should clean their hands when entering stores, limit what they touch, and when leaving the establishment, shoppers should clean their hands again. He says taking all those measures “eliminates any risk that you could potentially have in any of those commercial establishments.”
Weekly Epidemiological Summary
Dr. Ahmed says Windsor-Essex is seeing more cases outside of the agri-farm sector; the primary source of exposure is through close contact with confirmed cases; hospitalizations and ICU visits have increased in the last 7 days; and the current rate of transmission (R0) is 0.83 indicating a decrease in transmission in Windsor-Essex.
Confirmed cases by reported date (agri-farm vs non-agri-farm)
Regional and provincial case rates per 100,000 population.
This chart shows the rate of confirmed cases per 100,000 population, by municipality.
This graph shows an age breakdown in cases by municipality.
Distribution of cases by municipality since the start of the pandemic.
Distribution of cases by municipality in the last 30 days.
Distribution of cases by municipality in the past week. Dr. Ahmed says Windsor’s cases were going down but are now going up “probably because of the Stage 2 reopening and people not following public health measures.”
Exposure history by reported date (travel, close contact, community transmission).
This graph shows where agri-farm workers acquired COVID-19, by date.
This graph shows where the Windsor Essex community (excluding agri-farm workers) acquired COVID-19, by date.
Hospitalizations including intensive care since May 1st, 2020.
HALIFAX – Ottawa is negotiating a $500-million bailout for Nova Scotia’s privately owned electric utility, saying the money will be used to prevent a big spike in electricity rates.
Federal Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson made the announcement today in Halifax, saying Nova Scotia Power Inc. needs the money to cover higher costs resulting from the delayed delivery of electricity from the Muskrat Falls hydroelectric plant in Labrador.
Wilkinson says that without the money, the subsidiary of Emera Inc. would have had to increase rates by 19 per cent over “the short term.”
Nova Scotia Power CEO Peter Gregg says the deal, once approved by the province’s energy regulator, will keep rate increases limited “to be around the rate of inflation,” as costs are spread over a number of years.
The utility helped pay for construction of an underwater transmission link between Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, but the Muskrat Falls project has not been consistent in delivering electricity over the past five years.
Those delays forced Nova Scotia Power to spend more on generating its own electricity.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
TORONTO – Roots Corp. may have built its brand on all things comfy and cosy, but its CEO says activewear is now “really becoming a core part” of the brand.
The category, which at Roots spans leggings, tracksuits, sports bras and bike shorts, has seen such sustained double-digit growth that Meghan Roach plans to make it a key part of the business’ future.
“It’s an area … you will see us continue to expand upon,” she told analysts on a Friday call.
The Toronto-based retailer’s push into activewear has taken shape over many years and included several turns as the official designer and supplier of Team Canada’s Olympic uniform.
But consumers have had plenty of choice when it comes to workout gear and other apparel suited to their sporting needs. On top of the slew of athletic brands like Nike and Adidas, shoppers have also gravitated toward Lululemon Athletica Inc., Alo and Vuori, ramping up competition in the activewear category.
Roach feels Roots’ toehold in the category stems from the fit, feel and following its merchandise has cultivated.
“Our product really resonates with (shoppers) because you can wear it through multiple different use cases and occasions,” she said.
“We’ve been seeing customers come back again and again for some of these core products in our activewear collection.”
Her remarks came the same day as Roots revealed it lost $5.2 million in its latest quarter compared with a loss of $5.3 million in the same quarter last year.
The company said the second-quarter loss amounted to 13 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended Aug. 3, the same as a year earlier.
In presenting the results, Roach reminded analysts that the first half of the year is usually “seasonally small,” representing just 30 per cent of the company’s annual sales.
Sales for the second quarter totalled $47.7 million, down from $49.4 million in the same quarter last year.
The move lower came as direct-to-consumer sales amounted to $36.4 million, down from $37.1 million a year earlier, as comparable sales edged down 0.2 per cent.
The numbers reflect the fact that Roots continued to grapple with inventory challenges in the company’s Cooper fleece line that first cropped up in its previous quarter.
Roots recently began to use artificial intelligence to assist with daily inventory replenishments and said more tools helping with allocation will go live in the next quarter.
Beyond that time period, the company intends to keep exploring AI and renovate more of its stores.
It will also re-evaluate its design ranks.
Roots announced Friday that chief product officer Karuna Scheinfeld has stepped down.
Rather than fill the role, the company plans to hire senior level design talent with international experience in the outdoor and activewear sectors who will take on tasks previously done by the chief product officer.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
VANCOUVER – Mediated talks between the union representing HandyDART workers in Metro Vancouver and its employer, Transdev, are set to resume today as a strike that has stopped most services drags into a second week.
No timeline has been set for the length of the negotiations, but Joe McCann, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1724, says they are willing to stay there as long as it takes, even if talks drag on all night.
About 600 employees of the door-to-door transit service for people unable to navigate the conventional transit system have been on strike since last Tuesday, pausing service for all but essential medical trips.
Hundreds of drivers rallied outside TransLink’s head office earlier this week, calling for the transportation provider to intervene in the dispute with Transdev, which was contracted to oversee HandyDART service.
Transdev said earlier this week that it will provide a reply to the union’s latest proposal on Thursday.
A statement from the company said it “strongly believes” that their employees deserve fair wages, and that a fair contract “must balance the needs of their employees, clients and taxpayers.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
