GRAVENHURST, HUNTSVILLE HIT WITH COVID AGAIN AFTER WEEK’S BREAK
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com
SIMCOE-MUSKOKA — An explosion of 2,380 Ontario COVID cases today includes 43 regionally, says the health unit this afternoon.
The province reported 48 earlier today.
Two of them are Muskoka males from Gravenhurst and Huntsville.
The man from Gravenhurst, aged 35-44, was part of an outbreak and was first reported back on March 5 with a first episode Feb. 28.
A youth from Huntsville, under age 18, had close contact and was first reported Sunday with a first episode March 19.
Muskoka had avoided cases for a week.
The latest jump in cases — across all health units, including 17 deaths — is a third-wave wake-up call, say health officials.
Toronto, Peel and York were up again at 1,096, 294 and 244.
Sudbury saw 29 cases, Thunder Bay 34 and Peterborough and North Bay-Parry Sound had 1 case each.
Quebec, too, was up to 945 cases and 4 deaths. As was Manitoba at 111 and 1 death.
This after the province said yesterday it was investing billions in to health care and the economy.
MILLER’S BUDGET TIME:
Predictably, MPP Norman Miller praised his government’s big-spender budget.
A few hours after, the perennial backbencher and party cheerlead issued his usual bland appraisal and appeasing response to weeks of business lobbying.
“The hard work and sacrifices of people of Parry Sound-Muskoka are helping us reach the day when the pandemic is behind us. Our government will continue to be there every step of the way to protect people’s health and jobs. Working together, we will unleash the economic growth that is necessary for job creation, prosperity and a stronger province.”
He did cite the new Ontario Tourism and Hospitality Small Business Support Grant. It is to provide an estimated $100 million in one-time payments of $10,000 to $20,000 to eligible small businesses including some businesses that have not been eligible for the Small Business Support Grant like hotels and resorts and summer camps.
• The Ontario Tourism Recovery Program, a new $100 million initiative for 2021–22 to help tourism operators and attractions recover from the impacts of COVID-19.
• Increasing funding of up to $15 million for the Regional Tourism Organizations in 2021–22 to help stabilize and support the tourism sector’s efforts to attract domestic and international visitors when it is safe to do so.
• Setting aside $150 million for a tax credit to encourage residents to explore Ontario when public health experts advise that it is safe to travel.
HEALTH UNIT HIGHLIGHTS:
- 306 UK variants to date, 9 from Brazil, 1 from South Africa.
- 785 VOCs under investigation.
- Over 77,340 vaccines injected so far; 4,000+ AstraZeneca, 1,300 Moderna
- There have been 149 new cases Since Sunday.
- In March, six residents have died from COVID-19.
IN OTHER COVID NEWS …
- A self-serving report from Royal LePage this week says recreational real estate prices will be up again this season, by 15 per cent. What’s new about that, as the COVID cottage craze spreads faster than rumours about AstraZeneca? Well, it seems bidding wars are driving realtors crazy. Listings last less than a few days on water. On land it’s not that far behind. But why? It’s a game of hide and seek, according to complicit buyers, sellers and agents looking to game gains.
- Ottawa giving provinces $7-billion one-time COVID payment.
- Biden announces goal of 200 million vaccines with his first 100 days; the U.S. hit its first 100 million after 48 days.
- AstraZeneca’s report defends its earlier findings about safety and efficacy.
- Health officials say all vaccines are not 100 per cent effective at prevention.
- Health Canada orders AstraZeneca to re-label vaccine to reflect clot risk — though there have been no cases in Canada.
- Barrie boy, 14, with disability living in group home was denied access to his family for 6 months — and that’s discrimination rules a human rights body.
- German Chancellor Angela Merkel calls on EU to produce more vaccine.
- A COVID stay in hospital costs about $23,000 a day, which is 4 times higher than the average sick person’s stay. In the first 11 months of 2020 14,000 people were hospitalized with the coronavirus — 55 per cent of them men with a median age of 67.
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March 25, 2021 @ 4:36 pm
I have tried to sort through the political spin put on the money earmarked for LTC improvements in the Ontario budget. It looks like Ford and his buddies are going to give millions of taxpayer dollars to for-profit homes to update their facilities to standards they have already ignored for decades. We should, instead, only be funding NFP care homes. At the very least, any funds designated for private, for-profit homes should be reduced by the amount of profit that home generated throughout the pandemic, and on the condition that any and all funds depend upon correcting any deficiencies. It is unthinkable that Ontario taxpayers should continue to prop up the profits of LTCs that have flagrantly disregarded the well-being of their residents. Apparently, Ford and his gang have failed, again and again, to learn anything from the thousands of needless deaths among the elderly that have occurred in LTCs in the last year. Shame on them all.