The world has surpassed 9 million reported cases of COVID-19.
Worldwide stats provided by worldometers put the global COVID-19 number of reported cases today at 9,072,642. (Deaths: 471,176 and Recovered: 4,854,950) I emphasize reported because there is a wide variance in testing and manner of reporting from country to country and place to place.
As of 6:00 a.m. ET on Monday June 22, 2020:
From Global News, Canada reported 101,320 confirmed cases of COVID-19.
The official Province of Ontario website is reporting 33,476 total confirmed cases and 2,606 total deaths. Currently, there are 286 people are in hospital with 86 in ICU. 28,719 cases have been resolved. There are some really cool tracking charts in this article.
++UPDATE++ 12:00 p.m.
The number of new COVID-19 cases in Ontario again dipped below 200 today following a slight uptick in cases on Saturday. The province is reporting 175 new cases today, down from the 206 confirmed yesterday. The total number of lab-confirmed cases of the virus now stands at 33,476, including deaths and recoveries.
Quebec continues to have the highest reported cases in the country with 54,776.
The Region of Durham reported 1,667 confirmed cases of COVID-19. The site also reports 2 current outbreaks at Hospitals, LTCF's and Retirement Homes with 31 outbreaks having been "concluded." Currently, Clarington remains at 94 cases, where we have sat for over a week.
In international news,
Apparently there was some kind of rally in Tulsa? I'm not really sure, because it appears nobody went to it. Bah, fake news.
From Puerto Vallarta, the city continues to be in the ‘red’ warning issued by the Federal Government for the COVID-19 pandemic, but that didn’t seem to discourage weekend beach-goers over the Father’s Day weekend as people packed the beaches and flaunted regulations for face masks and social distancing. So COVID-19 must not bother people very much, as the State of Jalisco has found itself moving to the top five states for COVID-19 infections after ranking near the bottom for the last two months. More cases have been detected in the past two weeks than the total 2 months prior. Jalisco is reporting a total of 8,383 as of yesterday, however, the Federal Government is only reporting 4,791 cases in the state, an under-reporting of 3,592 cases.
Here's the rub....the Mexican government (for a time) stopped sending migrant workers to Canada, until we increased protection(s) and conditions for the workers. So, Mexico is concerned about what Canada does, but as far as their own country, not so much?
Brazil hit a grim milestone of 50,000 COVID-19 deaths. Staggering. Brazil now has a total of 1,085,038 confirmed cases and 50,617 deaths, up from 49,976 on Saturday, the Health Ministry said. Experts say the true numbers are a lot higher because of a lack of widespread testing. Latin America's largest country has typically recorded more than 1,000 deaths a day, but usually registers fewer on the weekends. Brazil's population in 2018 was 209.5 million people. Photos of mass graves in Brazil show the stark toll of the coronavirus, as experts predict that it will surpass 125,000 deaths by August.
The Parque Taruma cemetery:
Florida is being hit hard by COVID-19. Florida reported 97,291 Covid-19 cases on Sunday, up 3,494 from a day earlier when the state registered its most new cases. Total cases rose 3.7% in the past day, compared with an average increase of 3.5% in the previous seven days. The state reported a 4,049 cases on Saturday. Deaths among Florida residents reached 3,161, an increase of 0.5%, the state health department reported.
In national news,
Quebec, Saskatchewan and Manitoba are easing into lightening their COVID-19 restrictions. Restaurants can open again in the greater Montreal and Joliette areas while indoor gatherings of up to 10 people from three households are now permitted in these regions, as they have been elsewhere in Quebec since last week. Meanwhile, Saskatchewan moves to Phase 4.1 of its reopening strategy today, which allows camping in national parks to resume, but by reservation only. Youth camps can reopen, but for day use only. Manitoba moved to relax more of its restrictions yesterday. Restaurants and bars no longer have to operate at half capacity, however, tables must be two metres apart or have a physical barrier between them. Non-smoking bingo halls and video lottery terminal lounges can also reopen at half capacity. Wait a second....Manitoba has "smoking" Bingo Halls? For real? Gross........
From the "numbers mean money" file, Alberta and B.C. have reported hundreds of 'excess deaths' that weren't linked to COVID-19. "Excess death" statistics have been used in some parts of the world to suggest the true toll of COVID-19 is much higher than what has officially been recorded, and the latest data suggests that the same trend could be playing out on a smaller scale in Western Canada. Put simply, excess deaths are the number of deaths recorded in an area during a period above and beyond what would be considered normal for that place and time.
Like it or not, COVID-19 means big money and revenue in some circles. The "news" is enjoying a surge in viewership like never seen before in modern times. Lots of viewers, mean lots of advertisers, right? So, is it in their best interests to keep COVID-19 in the forefront of the news cycle to keep us watching? I'm not sure, but the cynical side of me wonders.....
In Ontario,
Will the Premier announce today that Toronto will go to Stage 2 on friday? My guess, is "no". Ford so far has taken a "better safe than sorry" approach and the numbers look like they need to hold off for another week. But, i've been wrong before and i'll be wrong again. I'll update the blog after his daily presser.
++UPDATE++ 1:29 p.m.
I was (thankfully) wrong! Toronto goes to Stage 2 on Wednesday says Premier Ford.
It's interesting because we have been conditioned to watch the daily numbers. But, when you take those daily numbers and average 200/day over 7 days = 1400 per week. So, Ontario is still registering about 1400 confirmed/reported cases per week. Then again, does it really matter? Experts agree that the second wave of COVID-19 is just around the corner....
Ontario is planning for schools to re-open in September. Premier Doug Ford and Education Minister Stephen Lecce unveiled the three scenarios school boards are being asked to plan for to get kids back to school:
1) Normal school day routine with enhanced public health protocols – Students going to school every day, in classes that reflect standard class size regulations.
2) Modified school day routine – Based on public health advice, an adapted delivery model has been designed to allow for physical distancing and cohorts of students. Under this model, school boards are asked to maintain a limit of 15 students in a typical classroom at one time and adopt timetabling that would allow for students to remain in contact only with their classmates and a single teacher for as much of the school day as possible. This model would require an alternate day or alternate week delivery to a segment of the class at one time.
3) At home learning – Should the school closure be extended, or some parents choose not to send their child back to school, school boards need to be prepared to offer remote education. Remote education should be delivered online to the greatest extent possible, including the establishment of minimum expectations for students to have direct contact with their teacher at the same time on a regular basis, also known as synchronous learning. Synchronous learning can be used as part of whole-class instruction, in smaller groups of students, and/or in a one-on-one context.
School boards must be shuddering at the spectre of scenario 2. Can you imagine the logistics of that? The scheduling of the students and teachers; it boggles the mind how they are going to make that work. I predict that, no matter what the scenario, Ontario parents are not going to be happy.
Drive Test Centres are reopening today in Ontario with limited services. Drive Test is slowly returning services and some are based on birthdate. Ontario Parks are also allowing campers starting this week. Darlington Provincial Park in Courtice is now open, but the shower facilities won’t be open for the season. (I'm not sure about the toilets, so you may have to pee and poop in the woods.) More details on the campground reopenings can be found here.
In local happenings,
From the "Don't panic (unless you are paranoid)" file, a number of military vehicles will be hitting the streets this week, as they make their way home back to C.F.B. Borden. These troops were gathered to help deal with the outbreaks at some long-term care homes in the GTA. However, their mission has ended and God bless every one of them.
As the Region eases into reopening, Durham Region Transit will begin collecting bus fares again on Thursday, July 2 and the 2020 fare rates will come into effect, meaning riders should be prepared for cash fares to go up by $0.25 and PRESTO single ride taps by $0.05. DRT suspended bus fares on Monday, March 23 to support the physical distancing measures required by the COVID-19 pandemic. Since March, bus passengers have been entering through the rear door and the number of passengers on a bus has been limited to support physical distancing.
Musing,
Why is it that everybody that rides a Harley Davidson looks really angry? Isn't it fun? Is your big, loud, mean bike not running well? Or, is that they are going for the "I want to look like i'm a bad ass" look?
I think we are putting too many workers in the position of "COVID cops" to enforce social distancing. The retail workers, life-guards, servers...(the list goes on and on) are now in the position of having to confront COVID scofflaws. My guess is, few of them signed up for those duties, but it has now been shifted to them.
Have you ever noticed in justin's daily sunny ways briefings that it's almost always the same reporters that get chosen to ask questions of the drama king? Others in the press are quietly complaining because they are not getting chosen. It works like this, about half of the questions are asked by members of the Parliamentary Press Gallery who attend Rideau Cottage in person. The rest are chosen from reporters who call into a teleconference run by the PMO under an agreement with the Press Gallery to balance English and French questions from parliamentary reporters, with a few slots made available to regional reporters during the course of each week. Don't ask the tough questions, though. Because if you do, you may not get "chosen" again.
A very interesting perspective on Canadian air travel and what we have to look forward to, from someone that recently flew. A great read...."The dystopian experience of COVID-19 travel".
Today, is National Chocolate Eclair Day.
Clarington Tourism Businesses and Attractions Directory can be found here.
CERB abuse reporting https://apps.cra-arc.gc.ca/ebci/bscs/l3adz/internet/initial.do?target=login&lang=en&program=qa">can be done here.
To book a COVID-19 test in Durham Region, click here.
Lakeridge Health Mental Health Clinic 905-440-7534 or toll free at 1-833-392-7363 (Monday-Friday 9am-4pm)
Live coronavirus map of Canada: Tracking every case of COVID-19 in the country.
Hunting/fishing related updates in Ontario can be found here.
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