Dr. Vanessa Allen, chief of microbiology and laboratory science at Public Health Ontario Laboratory, is joining Dr. Williams at the Ontario briefing today, and she'll be speaking about COVID-19 variants. #onpoli
Williams: We're seeing the impact of the lockdown from Boxing Day and the stay at home order, says a lot of health units numbers/100K are going down. "We're going in the right direction." But says we have to be more careful/cautious now.
Allen: In case of UK variant, data that suggests it's more transmissible and might cause more severe disease. 3 variants of concern: Uk (60 countries); S. African and Brazil. In Ont, we have 34 cases of UK variant. No S.A or Brazil.
Variant screening is performed in any COVID positive traveller, those in outbreaks that are "aggressive" or super spreader, and those who have pattern on a test [simplified]. All samples on Jan. 20 are going to be tested for a "snapshot" of the variant, Allen says.
Williams says he and Premier Ford want "much more stringent" testing/quarantine for travellers
There are benefits of lockdowns but also consequences, Dr. Williams says - with the biggest convo happening right now around schools.
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Premier @fordnation says he’ll be speaking with PM @JustinTrudeau soon about vaccines, says Pfizer plant in Michigan is “pumping them out” and said he’d love to get some from US. (Pfizer has said Canada’s supply will only come from Belgium.)
Premier Ford says he implores the feds to do mandatory testing both before boarding and upon arriving. “This is simple, no politics,” Ford says, “I can’t figure out for the life of me why we aren’t testing every single person.”
(This is not a presser. It’s a photo-op where the Premier and Minister take some rapid fire questions from the pool cameraman - and we can’t follow up.)
Premier says new modelling coming out next week - "There's going to be a wake up call. A real wake up call."
Without cooperation of public, "This is going to get out of hand." #onpoli
Ford says "you'll fall off your chair" when people see the new modelling, repeats his oft-claimed "everything is on the table."
"This is the most serious situation we've ever been in." #onpoli
Dr. Yaffe says today's numbers "are scary." More people in ICU, ventilators, hospitals have to cut back on other procedures, move patients, more outbreaks in LTC. Increased positivity rates in children, "up dramatically." #onpoli
#BREAKING: Ontario to extend online learning for students in southern Ontario until Jan. 25; provincial shutdown also extended in northern Ontario for another 2 weeks #onpoli
Elementary/secondary students in the 7 N. Ontario public health unit regions will return to in-person classes on January 11 #onpoli
New data has raised “significant concerns” about kids returning to school next week, particularly in southern Ontario where community spread is highest. Announcement from Premier @fordnation expected “soon.” #onpoli
New data from province shows the positivity rate for kids aged 12-13 increased from 5.44 per cent in late Nov/early Dec to nearly 20 per cent in the early new year. #onpoli
Senior government source says schools “are not a source of transmission,” but after “weeks of kids being in their communities and with reports of concerning behaviour over the holidays, the positivity rate among school-aged children has increased at an alarming rate.” #onpoli
Premier @fordnation is giving a press conference today at Pearson airport - the government is launching a testing program at the airport starting today. #onpoli
Here are the details of the new voluntary and free testing pilot at Pearson airport: #onpoli
Premier Ford contends Ontario will run out of current shipment of vaccines by end of this week. (As of 8pm last night, Ont. has administered 60K.)