Covid 19 Update November 20

COVID-19 Update from Mayor Wade Mills

November 20, 2020

Ontario has 1,418 new cases being reported today. Province-wide, our cumulative reported totals now sit at 100,790 cases, 84,716 resolved cases, 3,451 reported deaths, and 518 current hospitalizations province-wide.

Within the Wellington Dufferin Guelph Public Health region, we continue to see daily case counts rise. There were 29 new cases reported with the past 24 hours bringing us to 145 active cases but luckily only two current hospitalizations. Within Dufferin County the increases continue to be less dramatic than in the other parts of our public health region. There were no new cases within Dufferin County in the past 24 hours and only single-digit daily increases for most of this week. There are currently 13 active cases being reported within Dufferin. Unfortunately, even though Dufferin’s numbers remain relatively low, we are part of the larger public health region and therefore the restrictions that apply to the whole region, apply equally to us (i.e. the move from Yellow to Orange this week).

Premier Ford is expected to make an announcement today at 3:30 regarding additional restrictions for certain regions within the Province. It is anticipated that Toronto and Peel could possibly be moved to the Grey “Lockdown” zone and that Durham and Waterloo Region might be added to the Red category. It is also being reported that financial assistance for businesses required to close or severely restrict their service will be doubled from $300M to $600M.  

The Prime Minister took to the podium this morning at Rideau Cottage to confirm that the Canada-US border will remain closed to non-essential travel until at least December 21^st. He also delivered some troubling updates for Canadians. Part of his address was in response to new national modelling data that shows just how bad things can get if Canadians continue to increase their gatherings as we approach the holiday season. The trends show that our caseload is increasingly rapidly and showing no signs of flattening. If this continues, there is a real threat that our hospitals and systems will become overloaded. That new data projects that Canada could reach between 366,500 and 378,600 total cases and between 11,870 and 12,120 deaths by the end of November. It also shows that we could see 60,000 new daily cases in December. Even if current rates of contact remain static through the holiday season (which is unlikely), we can expect to see 20,000 cases a day nation-wide. These are horrifying numbers to be sure and they come with warnings. Health Minister Hajdu advised Canadians to carefully consider their choices, “Lives depend on it: is my travel essential? Do I need to go out today? Can I reduce my shopping time? Do I need to have that dinner? This will be especially hard as holiday season approaches, but I know that we can be creative in the way that we stay connected more safely.”

Please heed the call and continue to do your part.

Be well and have a good weekend.

Mayor Wade Mills