The South Bayview Bulldog

The Ministry of Health has announced 78 new cases of COVID 19 on Monday. The total number of cases in the province now stands at 489 active cases. There have been six deaths. Once again, authorities seem to be struggling to grasp all the details of each case. Of the new cases with a location listed, 15 are in Toronto, eight are in York Region, six are in Peel Region, three are in Durham Region, three are in Hamilton and two are in Halton Region. Ministry of Health

Mayor Tory has spoken on City News about Toronto’s first COVID0-19 death and what the days ahead may hold for further government action to control the virus. Monday will see another release of cases from the Ministry of Health, a closely-watched number which may provide a clue to just how successful the community has been in slowing transmission.

The Ontario Ministry of Health says Sunday’s count of new COVID-19 cases is 47. It brings the number of active cases in the province to 413. As officials carefully monitor whether each day’s numbers exceed previous days, the information released with the daily count seems to shrink. Sunday’s 47 cases have details for only seven. The remaining 40 cases are identified only by number as opposed to the patient’s age, location or manner of transmission. Cases reported in recent days are Wednesday, 23, Thursday, 43, Friday, 60 and Saturday 58. The goal of quarantine and isolation is to reduce transmission to less than 1 on average per infected patients.

The prime minister is scheduled to hold a news conference and make a statement Sunday at about 11.15 a.m. This link goes to Global News.

Actor-singer Kenny Rogers has died at 81 at his home in Sandy Springs, Georgia. Rogers was under hospice care and died of natural causes, Hagan said.

The wretched cost of dithering over whether to cancel events and demand social distancing seems to have resulted in the infection of at least eleven doctors and front line medical staff in Saskatchewan. The new cases all attended a bonspiel in Edmonton between March 11 and 14, just before a pandemic was declared. The total cases attributed to socializing at the bonspiel is 13. Saskatchewan’s chief medical health officer Dr. Shaqib Shahab said 11 of those cases are “front-line health care staff and physicians” from Regina, Saskatoon, and Prince Albert. The other two are people connected to the University of Calgary’s Cumming School of Medicine.

Michael Garron Hospital under fire from union

Michael Garron Hospital is under fire from hospital unions because it asked employees to return directly to work after travel as long as they are as asymptomatic, a position that goes against advice from Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health. The hospital says it is conducting constant testing. The province has said that the only exception should be workers who are deemed “critical” to continued operations “by all parties.” He said that those employees could report to work but should “undergo regular screening, use appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for the 14 days and undertake active self-monitoring, including taking their temperature twice daily.”

As many as 50 nurses exposed in emergency room

The Ontario Nurses Association (ONA) is urging a hospital in Kitchener to work with its leaders after as many as 50 nurses were exposed to COVID-19 in the ER of St. Mary’s Hospital. According to a statement from the union, multiple nurses were exposed at St. Mary’s while caring for someone in the emergency department who was screened for influenza, but not the coronavirus. The nurses reportedly performed medical procedures that made the virus air-borne and the patient was not isolated. Further, ONA President Vicki McKenna says the nurses were unable to access N-95 masks while they worked because “their employer strongly discourages nurses wearing them.”

Possibly it’s just a side effect of the fear and uncertainty of living through a pandemic. People have stocked on up on essentials and stopped buying non-essentials. It’s logical. But one household staple has outsold others in a way that stuns market experts like Clinton Mahlman, CEO of London Drugs. Toilet paper is made in Canada and manufacturers continue to churn it out. But says Mahlman, the demand exceeds all understanding. Perhaps there are basements full of it on the street where you live.

The Ontario government’s total of new COVID-19 cases announced Saturday is 369, an apparent increase of 58. There is a partial summary of these cases at the ministry site. The number of infections was expected to climb. Serious prevention measures of self-isolation and border controls have not been in place long enough to exhaust the cases which are now appearing following the virus incubation period. The principle of the quarantine and isolation (Q&I) measures now in place is to reduce transmission from infected parties to less than one. If Q&I is done effectively, cases will begin to decline and ultimately disappear. The Chinese started with a much bigger problem but have now begun to see cases recede.

The Ministry of Health’s daily release of COVID-19 cases has added 60 new confirmed infections on Friday. The number was released in two announcements of 50 and then an addt6ional ten. This brings the province’s total of active cases to 311. No information is given for more than half of the cases but among the 24 cases where details are available, only two are located in Toronto. Four cases involve seniors in a Durham  Region nursing home, one of whom is a woman in her 90s. Ministry chart showing new cases

Pleasant turn in the weather

Pleasant conditions Friday will give way to a chilly evening. Weather Network

The Ontario Ministry of Health has announced confirmation of 43 additional cases of COVID-19 infection across the province Thursday. The new number brings the total of active cases to 251. To see the nature of these cases and a tentative history of each go to chart at this emergency site. Some 19 of the new cases have no data as yet. At least eight cases are located in Toronto. Below is a live (ongoing at noon hour) news conference from Ottawa Thursday.