For the first time in over a week there is some good news on the COVID front. Ontario is reporting 335 cases of #COVID19 as more than 35,400 tests were completed. That is way down from the 478 cases reported Tuesday. Locally, there are 102 new cases in Toronto with 79 in Peel and 65 in Ottawa. 69% of today’s cases are in people under the age of 40.
Yesterday Premier Doug Ford and Health Minister Christine Elliott announced that the first of six new “pillars “aimed at fighting off a second wave of COVID is a familiar one—get a conventional flu shot. “This is a massive, massive plan, it is jammed with items and if we laid it all down at once the message isn’t going to get out to the people,” he said in explaining his government’s decision to release the plan on a piecemeal basis. “If we just rolled it all out it wouldn’t be absorbed by the people out there.” Elliott explained that regular flu shots are critical to keep the province’s hospital beds free for those who may get COVID.
Both Ford and Elliott said the new COVID plan which has been in the works since this summer, is comprehensive and has multiple elements; thus they will roll out one essential aspect each day over the next week. The premier said additional supplies of high-dose flu shots will be available. These shots are aimed at seniors who require extra immunity. For the first time these shots can be administered at pharmacies in order to reduce the run on doctors’ offices.
In a news conference last week Ford had alluded to a delay in Health Canada approving a range of high speed tests that would allow people to know within hours or even immediately, in some cases, whether they were testing positive. He returned to that theme yesterday calling on Health Canada to approve the tests as quickly as possible.:
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