Thursday’s overnight total of new COVID-19 infections is 399. The painfully slow process of lowering new cases thus continues with the daily count in recent days ranging between 450 and 370. CP24 (CTV) quotes Toronto General epidemiologist Dr. Isaac Bogoch as saying that data suggests that it’s time to unwind certain emergency measures, as the Ford government plans to do this week. “By and large testing capacity has increased – everyone is aware of physical distancing measures, there’s no excuse to not adhere to them,” Dr. Bogoch is quoted. “Cases are starting to come down so I think it’s the right time.”

Shops may re-open for curb service — i.e. phone order, pay by card and pick up

Ontario will relax some of its coronavirus restrictions in the days ahead, moving with “cautious optimism” to allow garden centres, nurseries, hardware stores and safety supply stores to reopen so long as they adhere to the same public health measures currently in place at grocery stores, Premier Doug Ford says.

The public will be allowed to shop in these stores as long as physical distancing, contact-less payment and sanitization measures are in place, Ford said at his daily briefing Wednesday.

Select retailers can reopen according to this schedule:

• Friday: Nurseries and garden centres
• Saturday: Hardware stores and safety supply stores
• Monday: Retail stores with street entrances will be permitted to reopen for curbside pickup.

The province will also expand what counts as essential construction with work allowed on condominiums and apartments, Ford said — CBC

The Ministry of Health has reported 412 new cases of COVID-19 Wednesday morning. It’s the second increase in two days. But the belief continues that the overall trend in new cases is downward. A record high was 640 cases was registered on April 25. Ministry site

Emergency orders extended from May 12 to May 19

The Ontario government will extend all emergency orders put in place to slow the spread of COVID-19 until at least May 19. They had previously been set to expire. The province confirmed the extension in a news release issued on Wednesday morning.

Pharmacists being short-shipped on some drugs

The Canadian Pharmacists Association says ongoing drug shortages mean pharmacies are receiving short shipments from manufacturers, leaving them to try to adjust on the fly. The association first warned of the possibility of looming shortages in early March, when supply chains were disrupted by COVID-19 in China. While Canada has seen a spike in shortages since then, it hasn’t developed into the emergency situation some health officials had feared.

Three of five newly born fox cubs/R. Lautens Toronto Star

Kris Pangilinan

CBC Toronto

Apparently it had to happen. A family of foxes living under the Beaches Boardwalk at Woodbine Beach has become the focus of thousands of citizens, the media and now City Hall. Temporary barriers to stop people from bothering the foxes are apparently insufficient. An additional “fox fence” barrier will be placed around the fox home Wednesday. Twitter

@rlautens just sent me this clip of some kits chilling near Woodbine Beach and I might pass out due to cuteness overload. Watch at your own risk. (Yes, baby foxes are called kits) pic.twitter.com/cDxwkOgljN

— Kelsey Wilson (@kelseyleewilson) May 1, 2020

Tuesday has seen a slight increase in the number of new COVID-19 cases reported by the Ministry of Health. The number fits with statistics indicating an overall trend to a decline in the infection cross Ontario. Ontario reported 370 new cases confirmed on Sunday. Ministry site

Kay Murphy

Stories worth hearing this Tuesday include that of Kay Murphy, 100. She recently recovered from COVID-19 at a Halifax nursing home where the quick-witted woman enjoys keeping up with the news. As told by the CBC, family tears absolutely turned to joy. Then, the remarkable story of a five-year-old Utah boy who was stopped as he drove the family SUV to California where he planned to “buy a Lamborghini.” Think big, we say. Finally, a frightening incident near Dundas and Seaton Sts where a man, 43, goes berserk and starts hurling large rocks at the police.

News of a series of virus outbreaks at Toronto Western Hospital has emerged overnight with the latest total of staff members infected with COVID-19 set at 79. The numbers appear to be climbing with the hour even as it is also said that many staff have already recovered. Some 19 patients have tested positive, ten of whom remain hospitalized. Two patients have died.

York University is recovering from a serious cyber-attack that occurred Friday evening, the university says in a news release Monday. It says that fast action by technical staff halted a much more damaging impact.

On Friday evening, York University fell victim to a serious cyber-attack that corrupted a number of University servers and workstations. Fortunately, the attack was quickly identified by UIT staff, who immediately took the necessary steps to mitigate the scope and potential severity of the attack by shutting down York’s computer systems and engaging external forensic experts to fully investigate this extremely serious situation.

As you can imagine, the investigation is complex, is still ongoing and will likely take some days to complete. However, UIT continues to work 24/7 to bring as many systems back on-line as soon as they have been inspected and cleared.

Please also be advised that most York IT Service Desk ticketing systems (e.g. askIT@yorku.ca, ITHelp@glendon.yorku.ca) have been out of service since the cyber-attack and will NOT be available on Monday morning, nor will UIT and other Faculty IT units’ phone systems. We are working to rectify the situation.

Update on Systems

Over the weekend functionality was restored to the following systems:
• Password change
• Office 365 (including email)
• York website (except for sites on Windows servers)
• The following faculty websites: Schulich, Science, LA&PS, Education, Health, Graduate Studies
• Zoom
• Moodle
• On-campus student access to the internet
We are now focusing on making the following services available as soon as possible – updates to follow:
• VPN for HR and Finance
• Mymail/Central Mail
• All remaining Faculty websites
Unfortunately, the following systems are still not available while the investigation continues:
• CRM Student email
• Most VPN
• HR, Finance SIS systems for general use
• Internal drives (including FAS)

We sincerely regret the inconvenience caused by this cyber attack and would ask for your continued patience and understanding as we work as quickly as possible to return York’s computer systems to full operational status while ensuring their integrity and security. It is already very evident that UIT’s quick response significantly reduced the potential damage this cyber attack would have caused, if not detected and dealt with so quickly.

As we bring York’s computer systems back into service, to ensure maximum security and as an important step in safely restoring systems, the entire York community will need to change their current passwords. We will advise when this needs to take place.

Updates will be provided regarding the recovery of York’s systems on an ongoing basis.

Donald Ipperciel
Chief Information Officer

The Ministry of Health reports 370 new cases of COVID-19 infection Monday. It is a further drop from earlier numbers and continues a trend of declining cases. Ministry of Health

The phishing scam in which an employee gets mail which appears to be from a boss or superior is seen again in Durham Region where police say three local charities have reported an attempt to trick the treasurer into sending money. They say the bogus emails appeared to be from the charity’s president but of course, were not. Another tipoff to a scam in progress was the direction to buy $500 in Google gift cards. Uh-huh, sure.

Truck tractor stopped with spike belt at Fruitland

OPP have stopped a stolen truck tractor and arrested two men with the use of a spike belt across the QEW at Fruitland east of Hamilton. It’s not clear where the vehicle was stolen but a chase began when OPP saw it on Highway 403 near Burlington. It turned around and headed towards Niagara but the spike belt team was waiting for and brought the truck to a stop where the men were arrested.

Stolen truck tractor stopped on QEW at Fruitland Rd./OPP

The RCAF Snowbirds have raised spirits with flyovers in Nova Scotia.

Warning COVID distraction might lead to measles epidemic

Humanitarian organizations like UNICEF are worried that the world-wide focus of resources on beating COVID-19 might lead to neglect of immunization of kids for measles and other diseases. Equally disturbing is a concern that disrupted food chains may lead to starvation in impoverished parts of Eastern Africa. Finally, a wide-ranging and informative discussion about how Canada’s economy might recover in the face of COVID debt burdens and battered oil prices.

Carrie Symonds with new son

His father’s son

British prime minister Boris Johnson and his fiance Carrie Symonds have named their tousle-haired son Wilfred after two doctors who treated Johnson for COVID-19. Pictures of Symonds and the newly-born Wilfred were posted to Instagram by Carrie. Wilfred is seen bawling and sporting a full head of unruly blond hair like his dad. The Sun (London)