The Ministry of Health has reported 478 new COVID-19 infections on Friday. It also confirms 22 more deaths. Ontario’s total case count including recoveries stands at 6,237. The Friday increase in cases is down very slightly from 483 on Thursday and a peak daily count of 550 new cases on Wednesday. The number of cases pending investigation continues to creep up, however, with a total of 1598 cases reported Friday against 1208 on Thursday. Website

Park

W.S. Gilbert surely never foresaw the thankless task of ordering members of the public to stay away from each other when he wrote A Policeman’s Lot Is Not A Happy One. But happy or not, Toronto cops will be patrolling City parks this Easter weekend enforcing COVID-19 social distancing. Fines can top out at $1,000. A TPS release Friday says officers will be on the lookout for failure to do so in “parks and park amenities such as off-leash dog parks, playgrounds, fitness stations, skateboard facilities, and congregating in groups and parking in closed lots.”

Sherwood, Sunnybrook Parks given special attention

Two hundred bylaw officers and 160 members of the police service will visit parks across the city. The release says that based on complaints from the public and feedback from previous enforcement efforts, the following areas will be given special attention:

Bluffer’s Park
Rosetta McClain Gardens
High Park
Humber Bay East
Christie Pits
Trinity Bellwoods
Woodbine Beach
Allan Gardens
Sunnybrook Park
Sherwood Park

The widely-reported belief that Ontario testing for COVID-19 has fallen far behind the efficiency of other provinces remained a cloudy puzzle to most people Thursday as the head of Ontario’s public health agency temporarily stepped away from his job. The move by Dr. Peter Donnelly, the president and chief executive of Public Health Ontario, came a day after the premier called the province’s low rate of COVID-19 testing “unacceptable.” Colleen Geiger, who currently serves as the agency’s chief of strategy, stakeholder relations, information and knowledge will take over as acting president and CEO, while the rest of the senior leadership team remains in place.

Why such a staggering shortfall?

So far, the nature of just where the mechanics of testing are falling short is unexplained. Thursday the Premier was careful to remain vague. He talked of “the system.”  The province is said to have the lowest rate of testing of all provinces per capita. It is also said to have the capacity to conduct more than 13,000 tests per day but is, in fact, completing merely 4,000. It’s a seemingly staggering shortfall. Mr. Ford said his “patience has run thin” and there can be “no more excuses” for the province’s low testing numbers. “We could sit here and I could give you a list all day long of what we hear from our team,” he said. “But we have to move forward and learn from our mistakes in the past.”

• Ontario’s public health chief steps aside as COVID-19 fight intensifies
• Even with strict containment measures, COVID-19 could claim 22,000 lives, federal officials project

Customers line up Thursday on Bayview Ave. to enter COBS, De La Mer

Shoppers lined up across South Bayview Thursday in advance of the Easter closure of food stores Friday and Sunday. It’s all because of COVID-19 of course. The open spaces of Redway Dr. seem to have inspired large margins of social distancing in the picture below. A happy and safe Easter to all.

Long line outside at Loblaws on Redway Rd.

In next-door New York State there have been 6,268 deaths from COVID-19 and 149,316 confirmed cases since the start of the outbreak. Governor Cuomo recently made a desperate appeal to doctors and nurses in less seriously affected parts of the country. That has resulted in many professionals trekking hundreds of miles to New York to help.

The Ministry of Health report for Thursday says there are 483 additional COVID-19 infections and 26 more deaths confirmed in the province. Total patients now number 5,759. Deaths confirmed number 200, almost half of them in badly hit nursing homes and residences for the elderly. Cases under investigation crept up slightly to 1208. Website

Here are a few glimpses into the lifestyle chaos we’re all trying to survive. Kate and William are seen chatting by teleconference with kids in a charming video from ITV. Then, a couple of stories on the unprecedented government spending underway to help people who are sick and/or unemployed. Finally, CBC reporter Ali Chiasson in Toronto reviews the complicated new process of grocery shopping. No mention here of the recent Loblaws rule banning your own bags from stores. We don’t really get that one.

Premier Ford has said that grocery stores will be closed Friday and Sunday over the Easter weekend in order to give both employees and their employers a chance to rest and regroup during the ongoing demands of the COVID-19 crisis. “We’ve been listening to business owners and employees – the truth is that everyone working in our grocery stores and pharmacies, our truck drivers and those working the line, they have been working day and night for weeks to keep the food and medicine we need on the shelves,” Ford said at his daily news conference on Wednesday afternoon at Queen’s Park. CTV

This unforeseen moment in history.

The Ministry of Health has reported 550 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 infection in the province Wednesday. Website

The figure of 550 appears to be the highest daily increase since reporting began in March. Previous

The Ministry of Health has confirmed another 379 new cases of COVID-19 Tuesday with 21 new deaths attributed to the virus. The number of tests pending is set at 691, a resurgence of suspected cases over Sunday when pending cases stood at 329. Confirmed new cases bring the total number provincewide to 4,726, including recoveries and deaths. In recent days confirmed new cases numbered 309 on Monday, 408 Sunday, 375 Sunday, 462 Friday, 401 Thursday and 426 Wednesday. That’s a wobbling average of 394 per day over seven days. The daily seven-day average of new cases beginning Wednesday, March 25 was 175. Website

Messy truck rollover on Highway 401 near Ritson Road

OPP at the Highway Safety Division have published these pictures of a big grocery rig that rolled Tuesday on Highway 401 at Simcoe St. in Oshawa near Ritson Rd. Sergeant Kerry Schmidt said a passenger car coming off Ritson got in the way of the transport then hit it causing the truck to roll. No one was injured.

Double transport was carrying groceries