Police report the capture of what is called a knife robbery suspect on lower Bathurst St between King and Front Sts. Sunday at the supper hour. Video posted to Twitter shows a brief, dramatic chase that ends when a police cruiser knocks over the suspect and police pounce on him. He is said to be wielding a large kitchen knife. The accused and a police officer are reported to have minor injuries. Twitter
A transport truck carrying industrial rolls of paper has crashed into a so-called “collision cushion” on Highway 401 near Winston Churchill Blvd Sunday. The vehicle caught fire and the spectacular events are captured on several Twitter videos seen at the OPP Highway Safety Division account. The driver apparently escaped. Firefighters. Flames and narration by Sergeant Schmidt
Fortunately no serious injuries. Transport truck driver collided into crash cushion and rolled over in a construction zone on #Hwy401/Winston Churchill Blvd.
OPP beginning to clear the backlog of traffic. Expect delays pic.twitter.com/kMhzPVbVPG— OPP Highway Safety Division (@OPP_HSD) April 12, 2020
Sasha Glegg wrote to the British Columbia chief health officer Bonnie Henry asking what to do about her carefully planned 9th birthday in the face of social distancing and isolation. She was sad that her Harry Potter-themed event had to be cancelled. It’s a heart-warming story in the midst of the national anguish over nursing home deaths and personal financial crises. Dr. Henry found time to reply to Sasha.
The Ministry of Health reported an increase of 401 new cases of COVID-19 infection Sunday morning, the lowest such number since April 7 when 379 cases were reported. As recently as last Wednesday the daily count was 550, the highest daily number since measurement began. The number of new cases each day is a critical measure of whether the crisis enforcement of personal distancing and isolation is bringing the infection under control. Government website
The Ministry of Health has reported 411 new COVID-19 infections Saturday along with 31 more deaths, taking the province’s total case count including recoveries to 6,648. Recent daily totals of new infections are Saturday (today) 411, Friday 478, Thursday 483 and 550 Wednesday. Website
Toronto Police have issued an alert about an email phishing scam that tries to extort money out of the owners of Hotmail accounts. The extortion demand comes in the mail containing the user’s password and a demand for $1900 in bitcoin. It threatens to release alleged compromising or explicit photos and/or videos of the recipient. If, after receiving this email, you believe such photos/videos may really exist, please contact the police at 416-808-2222.
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
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.”
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.
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.
