Published Tuesday, February 9, 2021 4:42PM EST Simcoe Muskoka’s top doctor says the provincewide stay-at-home order should be extended as variants of concerns have emerged across the province. Dr. Charles Gardner, who is the medical officer of health for the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit (SMDHU), said Premier Doug Ford should have waited to lift the order that is set to expire as early as tomorrow for some areas of the province. “I think there s definitely a risk being taken by the province in moving into the framework at this time as opposed to continuing with the stay-at-home order and the shutdown,” Gardner said during a virtual news conference Tuesday afternoon.
In an effort to curb the spread of COVID-19 at their facilities, a home operator has suspended essential visits at all 14 of their long-term care homes in Ontario.
BARRIE, ONT. Ontario s education minister said he s considering cancelling March Break as students and educators prepare to head back to the classroom following weeks of online learning. Stephen Lecce said cancelling the week-long break would help curb the spread of COVID-19 but noted he would follow the province s top doctor s advice before making the final call. Lecce added that families shouldn t travel given the emergence of these new variants. On Thursday, a Public Health Ontario report showed Simcoe Muskoka has the most cases of the coronavirus variant than anywhere in the province. It revealed that of 1,880 positive COVID-19 test samples, 103 were confirmed or highly likely to be either the UK B.1.1.7 or South African B.1.353 variants of concern.
Ontario s top doctor and ministers to appear before commission investigating COVID-19 spread in LTC homes
by News Staff
A long-term care home. (Photo by Jonas Güttler/picture alliance via Getty Images)
The province’s top doctor and ministers of health and long-term care will appear before a commission examining how COVID-19 spread through long-term care homes.
The offices for both Health Minister Christine Elliott and Minister of Long-Term Care Merrilee Fullerton say they’ll be interviewed by the commission in the coming weeks.
A spokesperson for the Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. David Williams, says he too, will appear before the commission, but a date has not yet been set.