Here are the latest developments on the coronavirus pandemic in the Greater Toronto Area for Thursday:
Trillium Health Partners reports 36 coronavirus cases among staff across hospitals
Trillium Health Partners, which has two hospitals in Mississauga and one in Etobicoke, has reported 36 COVID-19 cases among its staff over the last 10 days, including some associated with outbreaks leading to the closure of several units.
Credit Valley Hospital, Mississauga Hospital and Queensway Health Centre are all part of Trillium Health Partners and have outbreaks reported across all three sites.
The hospital network said transmission of the virus has occurred through multiple sources, the “biggest proportion of which has been through the community,” noting that Peel Region continues to see increasing coronavirus case numbers.
60 confirmed cases at North York furniture company
Global Wood Concepts Ltd. in North York is reporting 60 employees have tested positive for coronavirus.
The facility, located on Flint Road near Alness Street and Steeles Avenue West, has already seen a large number of employees return to work after following public health guidance, according to a statement issued Thursday evening.
“The facility was voluntarily shut down for enhanced cleaning, disinfection, and internal contact tracing for approximately two weeks in November. At this time operations are up and running, with the majority of our employees back at work,” the statement said.
“Global Furniture takes the health and safety of our team, partners and our customers very seriously and we have worked proactively with our leaders, employees, external experts, the Ministry of Labour, and Public Health Agencies on our Covid-19 response plan and prevention measures.”
The company said there are increased pre-shift screenings, enhanced cleaning and use of PPE, a more robust contact-tracing system, paid time off for employees to get tested and those who are awaiting results and voluntary temporary shutdowns.
Toronto education workers call for asymptomatic testing expansion, delay return to school
Toronto education workers are calling for the expansion of an asymptomatic COVID-19 testing program that revealed outbreaks in local schools, as well as a delayed return to in-class learning in the new year.
In an open letter to provincial ministers of health and education, as well as Toronto public health officials, a group of education union representatives said the program should be deployed to all schools in the city.
It also calls for schools to move to online learning for at least two weeks after the holidays to limit the spread of COVID-19. The writers argue that this break would offer time to set up an expanded testing program.
Status of cases in the GTA
Ontario reported a total of 1,983 new coronavirus cases on Thursday.
Of those:
- 496 were in Toronto
- 515 were in Peel Region
- 208 were in York Region
- 55 were in Durham Region
- 51 were in Halton Region
Ontario sets provincial record with nearly 2,000 new coronavirus cases
Ontario reported 1,983 new cases of coronavirus on Thursday, a new single-day high, bringing the provincial total to 134,783.
The death toll in the province has risen to 3,871 as 35 more deaths were reported.
The government said 61,809 tests were processed in the last 24 hours which also sets the record for tests within a single day.
Ontario long-term care homes
According to the Ministry of Long-Term Care, there have been 2,358 deaths reported among residents and patients in long-term care homes across Ontario which is an increase of 17 deaths.
There are 118 current outbreaks in homes, an increase of three from the previous day.
The ministry also indicated there are currently 623 active cases among long-term care residents and 617 active cases among staff — up by five cases and unchanged in cases, respectively, in the last day.
Ontario child care centres and schools
Meanwhile, government figures show there have been a total of 6,059 school-related COVID-19 cases in Ontario — 4,076 among students and 893 among staff (1,090 individuals were not identified). This is an increase of 139 more cases over a 24-hour period.
The COVID-19 cases are currently from 878 out of 4,828 schools in the province. Ten schools in Ontario are currently closed as a result of positive cases, the government indicated.
There have been a total of 1,017 confirmed cases within child care centres and homes — an increase of 31 (20 child cases and 11 staff cases.) Out of 5,246 child care centres in Ontario, 208 currently have cases and 35 centres are closed.
NOTE: This story will be updated throughout the day.
— With files from The Canadian Press.