Confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the jurisdiction of the Eastern Ontario Health Unit on Saturday, June 6, 2020. Map: Eastern Ontario Health Unit
As of Saturday, confirmed cases of COVID-19 within the jurisdiction of the Eastern Ontario Health Unit (EOHU) remained at 150 for the second day. The number of resolved cases remained at 118, leaving 32 active cases of COVID-19 within its jurisdiction. Of them, 27 were in the United Counties of Prescott and Russell, four were residents of the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas, and Glengarry (SD & G), and one the City of Cornwall. Within EOHU territory, three patients were in hospital, and one patient was in intensive care.
Institutional outbreak
The only institutional outbreak of COVID-19 under EOHU jurisdiction was at the St-Viateur Nursing Home in Limoges, just east of Ottawa. As a precaution, all St-Viateur residents and staff were tested for COVID-19 on Tuesday, June 2 and by June 5, all test results came back negative. One case of COVID-19 in an employee or resident of a long-term care facility qualifies as an outbreak.
Testing
COVID-19 testing is open to all residents of the EOHU territory whether they have symptoms of the disease or not. There are five testing and assessment centres throughout the EOHU`s jurisdiction, located in Hawkesbury, Casselman, Rockland, Cornwall, and Winchester. As of June 6, 10,131 people had been tested for COVID-19 at the five centres, and by paramedics making home visits. The total includes long-term care patients but does not include patients tested at hospital emergency rooms.
The EOHU is testing retirement home residents and staff based on the assessed risk of each facility. Retirement residences are listed as green, yellow, or red according to the severity of risk. There are no red level retirement homes within the EOHU`s jurisdiction.
Across Ontario
Throughout the province of Ontario as of Saturday, there had been 30,202 confirmed cases of COVID-19, a 1.5 percent increase from 29,747 on June 4. Out of the total number of confirmed cases, 23,947, or 79.3 percent were listed by the Ministry of Health as resolved, leaving 6,255 active cases.
Throughout Ontario on June 6, 832,158 people had been tested so far for COVID-19. 673 COVID-19 patients were in hospital, 117 patients in intensive care and 97 were on ventilators.
Ontario has reported 2,407 deaths due to COVID-19, which was an increase of 35 deaths ftom Friday. 64.4 percent of Ontario fatalities have been in residents of long-term care facilities.
Keep your distance, for now
On Friday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said that the second stage of opening more businesses, services, and relaxing public health measures due to COVID-19 could be announced in the week ahead. EOHU Medical Officer of Health Dr. Paul Roumeliotis stated that a regional approach could be used where the EOHU territory, Leeds, Grenville, and Lanark, and possibly the City of Ottawa could be treated as a single region due to the decline of cases throughout those health unit jurisdictions.
Separation from family and friends since March has become difficult for many residents. Roumeliotis said that social gatherings from different households should still be avoided and physical distancing of two metres should still be maintained. He said that an easing of those restrictions is likely to come when the second phase of reopening begins.
Condemning racism
Roumeliotis acknowledged that there is a dichotomy when social and family gatherings are being discouraged but others are taking to the streets in protest against racism following the death of George Floyd following an altercation with a police officer in Minneapolis, the riots that have followed in many cities, and inflammatory statements by some in leadership positions. In the EOHU territory, a peaceful demonstration took place in Russell Township on June 4, and a demonstration was planned for Cornwall on June 6.
On Friday, June 5, a major, peaceful demonstration was held on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attended the event unannounced and took a knee at one point in solidarity with the demonstrators.
Roumeliotis suggested that anyone planning to take part in demonstrations should wear a mask, use hand sanitizer, do not share water with others, and carry signs or noisemakers instead of shouting in order to reduce the spread of COVID-19.
On June 5, Roumeliotis issued a statement condemning racism and called it a public health concern as victims of racism and those in other marginalized groups are often at greater risk of diseases, including COVID-19.
