New COVID-19 cases in the province ranged between a low of 1,670 and a high of 2,417.
On Monday, Premier Doug Ford announced the province is extending the state of emergency and stay-at-home order another 14 days. The stay-at-home order is part of the declared provincial emergency, which will now expire on Feb. 9, unless it is extended further.
Algoma Public Health reports second COVID-19 death in the region
On Monday, APH reported the second COVID-19 death within its district. The North Shore Health Network, which offers services in Blind River, Thessalon, and Richards Landing, confirmed the death was a patient within its network.
The health unit reported a total of six new cases this week. Of the new cases, four are from central and east Algoma and two are from the Sault and area.
Here are the latest COVID-19 numbers from Algoma Public Health, updated today at 1:30 p.m.:
- 84,529 tested
- 155 confirmed
- 8 active case
- 1 currently hospitalized
- 147 resolved
- 2 deceased
There are currently no active cases in non-Algoma residents temporarily in the region. There also have not been any new cases reported in area schools or child-care centres, according to provincial data.
According to data on howsmyflattening.ca, a University of Toronto-led website which collects and analyzes data from Ontario's COVID-19 cases, 69 per cent of ICU beds in Algoma Public Health's jurisdiction are currently occupied. There are currently no COVID-19 ICU patients in the Algoma region. The site has also deemed the Algoma area's community risk level as very low.
Total confirmed cases by area of residence:
- 129 in Sault Ste. Marie and area, with evidence of community spread
- 23 in central and east Algoma
- 3 in Elliot Lake and area
- 0 in north Algoma
Comparatively, in Chippewa County, which covers Sault Ste. Marie Mi. and surrounding area, the COVID-19 data as of today states:
- 1,690 cumulative positives
- 1,365 cumulative recovered
- 22 cumulative deaths
- 5 cases currently hospitalized
Algoma Public Health has reminded residents that despite an improvement in Ontario's new COVID-19 cases, the rate of new cases in Chippewa County has resulted in an extension of its travel advisory, until at least Feb. 24.
Non-essential travellers will soon need a negative COVID test to cross the border into Michigan
Mandatory COVID-19 screening for non-essential travellers will apply at Canada-U.S. land borders too, even though non-essential travel is currently prohibited.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said this morning that non-essential travellers will have to show a negative test at the land border with the U.S. He also said his government is "working to stand up additional testing requirements for land travel."
Trudeau also announced that Canada's major airlines will suspend flights to sun destinations. Air Canada, WestJet, Sunwing and Air Transat are cancelling service to all Caribbean destinations and Mexico starting Jan. 31 and up until April 30. Those airlines are making arrangements with customers currently in those regions to organize their return flights.
Here's the latest on vaccine procurement in the Sault and area as well as in Northeastern Ontario
At a Sault Area Hospital (SAH) board meeting this week, Dr. Lucas Castellani said we will see a vaccine "sooner than later" here in the Sault. He said APH is hoping to have the vaccine in the city within the next week or so.
Only a couple days later, the local health unit announced it received the area's first doses of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine. The health unit said long-term care residents in the region will be vaccinated over the next two weeks.
The first person to receive the vaccine in the Algoma district was Larry Grekula at the Ontario Finnish Resthome. He said it "feels good to be a part of making history."
Medical Officer of Health and CEO Dr. Jennifer Loo stated that getting majority of Algoma's residents immunized will be a slow process.
Following long-term care home residents, as additional doses become available, the vaccine will be made available to long-term care home staff, residents and staff of retirement homes, people designated as essential caregivers and all other healthcare workers.
Meanwhile, vaccines arrived this week in the Timmins area as well as within the jurisdiction of the Temiskaming Health Unit and the North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit. Public Health Sudbury & Districts said on Monday it is expecting to receive vaccines in the coming weeks.
Northern Ontario bubble can't be practically enforced, Mayor Christian Provenzano says
OPP or city police roadblocks, designed to stop southern Ontarians or people outside the province from entering the Sault and Northern Ontario in an effort to stop the spread of COVID-19, aren’t likely to appear any time soon without a drastic change in provincial legislation.
“I don’t want there to be any confusion about this because people have emailed me about closing the highways,” said Sault Mayor Christian Provenzano, speaking to SooToday Friday.
“Mayors have absolutely no authority to close a highway...so we wouldn’t be able to close Highway 17 at any point, even points that run throughout the city.”
“If you’re going to set up some type of entry system, that takes a lot of manpower and a lot of resources because you’ve got to check every car coming into it. I think it’s a much more reasonable proposal for the province to consider requiring people to stay in their own public health unit regions,” Provenzano said.
Read the full story by SooToday's Darren Taylor here.
Health unit says surveillance will increase as photo of youth parking lot gathering circulates
The local health unit is warning young people in the Algoma district to observe COVID-19 restrictions, or else risk having their gatherings broken up by police.
A photo posted to social media Monday shows a large number of young people grouped outside what appears to be a Sault convenience store disregarding masks, social distancing and provincial state of emergency laws prohibiting gatherings of more than five people.
In response, APH told SooToday that it is working closely with local police to have "increased surveillance" in areas where there had been concerns for gatherings.
Sault College plans to administer COVID tests on campus in February
Sault College will soon perform rapid COVID-19 screening tests on students. It is done by nasopharyngeal swab and the results are available in apprximately 15 minutes. This comes as part of a pilot program of 'point of care' testing, which can be performed on campus, outside of a licensed lab.
The trial will start with a group of volunteers.
Read more about the rapid tests here.
Province bumps up target date to get vaccines into all long-term care homes
The Ontario government has bumped up its target date to get COVID-19 vaccines into all of the province's long-term care homes.
To date, the long-term care homes in 10 of the province's health regions have received their vaccinations and the province is aiming to have all 14 health regions receive their vaccines by Feb. 5.
Ford also announced it is his hope that by summer, all Ontario residents who wish to receive the COVID-19 vaccine will be able to do so.
During a technical briefing with Ontario's top doctors this week, media learned that the province could extend the interval between the two Pfizer BioNTech doses that are given to some less vulnerable vaccine recipients.
Pfizer revealed last week it had to shut down production for one week so it could scale ups European manufacturing capacity.
Error causes over-reporting in province's vaccination update
The province has been carrying over an error in its COVID-19 vaccination reporting to date.
Prior to Thursday, the total indicating what was supposed to be the number of people who received the second dose of the vaccine was actually double what it should have been.
According to the ministry of health, officials misinterpreted the category.
Trudeau urges Canadians to cancel vacations and stay home
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said while the number of new cases linked to travel remains low, a single case imported from abroad is a case too many and the federal government is actively looking at ways to tighten the border.
He also said that new restrictions are on the way, and that "nothing is off the table."
What you need to know about skating during COVID-19
Sault Ste. Marie City Hall announced that outdoor ice skating facilities will remain open throughout the season but with strict measures due to the COVID-19 lockdown.
The Sault is home to three skating rinks; Esposito, Merrifield and Anna McCrea; the Art Jennings Speed Skating Oval and the Clergue Park Skating Trail.
Users are advised to follow social distancing guidelines, and stay two meters away from anyone outside of their household. Users are also reminded that hockey and other organized sports are prohibited.
You can read more about the specific guidelines here.
Province extends off-peak electricity rates to Feb. 9
With COVID-19 emergency measures extended, the Ontario government has also opted to lengthen its electricity relief measures.
On Wednesday, the Ontario government announced it is extending electricity rate relief instituted earlier in the pandemic so hydro customers can continue to pay the off-peak rate of 8.5 cents per kilowatt-hour until at least Feb. 9, 2021.
The lower rate applies 24 hours per day, seven days a week for both time-of-use and tiered rate customers.
Bon Soo goes virtual this year
The province-wide stay-at-home order has caused the 58th edition of Bon Soo to go entirely virtual in a pandemic-inspired makeover.
Bum slides, fireworks and the polar bear swim are out, online contests and games are in, and this year’s souvenir button features a masked-up Mr. Bon Soo with outstretched arms in a nod to ongoing social distancing measures.
This year's winter carnival is scheduled to take place Feb. 5-15.
Read more about the event's makeover here.
Businesses hard hit by pandemic able to apply for up to $1M from feds
Starting Feb. 1, Canadian businesses that have been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic will be able to apply for low-interest loans of up to $1 million.
The money can be used for such expenses as rent, utilities or payroll, said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in his livestream COVID-19 update Tuesday morning.
Health Canada data suggests holiday season vacation coincide with rise in COVID-19 travel-related cases
As the federal government prepares to slap new restrictions on international travel, Health Canada data suggest a worrying uptick of infections directly connected to foreign arrivals.
While travel exposures account for less than two per cent of all Canada's COVID-19 cases, the number of cases in recent travellers, and people they came into close contact with after arriving, shows continual growth in recent months.
Read more from Health Canada here.
