Sudbury health unit shifts COVID-19 reporting to once-daily COVID-19 reporting
Public Health Sudbury & Districts is further scaling back the number of COVID-19 reports that they will be releasing to the public.
At the height of the pandemic, the health unit was providing updates on a nearly case-by-case basis, but in recent weeks made the change to providing updates twice daily.
Starting today, PHSD will be providing one update daily at 4:00 pm on their website.
“This consistent, daily update provides timely information about case activity in our area, and the timing is aligned with the availability of data from existing sources and reporting cycles,” said the health unit in an update on their website.
A look at the numbers over the weekend
The number of COVID-19 cases continues to climb in Ontario, with just over 17-hundred new diagnoses reported yesterday.
That’s pushed the seven-day average to 15-hundred and 48, the highest since the pandemic began.
Health officials report 586 people being treated in hospital, down slightly with 155 of them being treated in intensive care.
That’s nearly double the number of just a month ago.
There were another 24 deaths reported increasing the toll to 36-hundred and 48.
Meantime, officials in the York Region, which is now in the red zone of restrictions, reports 11 new cases have been linked to about 25 people who played indoor soccer together about two weeks ago.
They wore face masks while playing, but not in the change room.
On the vaccine front
Federal Conservative leader Erin O’Toole is criticizing the Trudeau government for putting all its eggs in one basket, with its failed involvement in a Chinese vaccine against COVID-19.
The government had licensed a Canadian biological product to a Chinese company and was supposed to receive samples of their vaccine for testing.
But the Chinese government blocked the delivery.
When the deal fell through in August, O’Toole notes that’s when the government started approaching other pharmaceutical firms to make deals for their products.
But Moderna, one of three companies producing a vaccine that’s already proven more than 90 percent effective, says the delay did not put Canada at the back of the line.
The company’s co-founder tells the CBC that Canada will receive supplies from the company’s first production batch, once federal health officials give the OK.
The federal government has ordered 20-million doses of Moderna’s vaccine, with another 36-million on the option.
Surge upon surge south of the border
The top infectious disease expert in the U-S is warning of “surge upon surge” in the number of coronavirus cases, as millions of Americans return home following the four-day Thanksgiving Day holiday.
Doctor Anthony Fauci says it’s still not too late for individuals to do their part, by wearing face masks and keeping physically distant from groups.
But he adds he does not expect an easing of current state restrictions before Christmas.
The number of new coronavirus cases in the U-S topped 200-thousand for the first time on Friday.
Federal fiscal update
Federal Finance minister Chrystia Freeland is to present the government’s latest fiscal update later today and the focus is expected to continue to be on financial assistance to cope with the COVID-19 fallout.
The last financial snapshot, in July, forecasts a deficit of 343-billion dollars this year.
With much of the country into a second wave of infections, that deficit is expected to grow even larger.