COVID-19: Latest developments in the Greater Toronto Area on March 26

Here are the latest developments on the COVID-19 pandemic in the Greater Toronto Area for Friday.

Toronto announced that it will start to take vaccine appointments for seniors aged 70 and older beginning Saturday at 8 a.m. at City-run clinics.

Mayor John Tory made the announcement early Friday, urging those who can get vaccinated to do so. The mayor also emphasized that those aged 60 and older can still keep booking for an AstraZeneca shot at participating pharmacies.

“We are at a crucial time for our fight,” Tory said.

The City has opened six mass immunization clinics at locations around Toronto.

Durham Region’s health unit is warning anyone who attended Supercuts in Pickering from March 18 to 21 to self-isolate and get tested for COVID-19 as soon as possible.

An outbreak was declared at the salon at 570 Kingston Rd., with officials calling it a “potential high-risk exposure to COVID-19.”

“All patrons who attended Supercuts during this time-period must self-isolate for 14 days from the last day they were at this location and seek COVID-19 testing as soon as possible,” the local public health unit said in its notice.

A 61-year-old Brampton Transit driver has died after testing positive for coronavirus.

A City of Brampton spokesperson told Global News the operator tested positive for the virus on Feb. 19 and was hospitalized a short time later.

The Amalgamated Transit Union Canada identified the operator as Dael Muttly Jaecques.

John Di Nino, the president of ATU Canada, said Muttly Jaecques was an 18-year Brampton Transit operator. He said Muttly Jaecques served as a vice-president of the local union and was a strong advocate for workers’ health and safety.

“I want Dael to be remembered as an advocate for safety. If the shoe was on the other foot, he would be here advocating for workers’ rights and how we can best protect workers on the job so that things like this didn’t happen,” Di Nino said, pushing for vaccines to be offered to transit workers.

“Our contact rates with the riding public and those that may have COVID-19 are putting our people at the greatest of exposure, and we need to inoculate our people.”

A new poll shows Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives would win the most votes if the election were held today, despite some criticism of their handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The online survey, conducted by polling firm Leger, found that 38 per cent of decided voters would vote for Premier Doug Ford’s Tories – slightly less than the 40.5 per cent they got in the 2018 election when they won a majority government.

The province has also faced criticism from the opposition parties, unions and parents over its refusal to legislate paid sick days for workers, reduce class sizes in schools and for its often-confusing messaging on pandemic and vaccination protocols.

The group that represents Ontario’s English public school boards is calling on the province to vaccinate education workers against COVID-19 over the upcoming spring break.

The Ontario Public School Board Association says the measure would help keep kids in classrooms, as fewer teachers would have to miss work due to COVID-19 exposure.

As it stands, teachers are set to be vaccinated towards the end of Phase 2 of the province’s immunization rollout, which is not expected until school is out for the summer.

A panel of provincial experts who belong to the Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table is forecasting a dramatic increase in the number of hospital admissions and deaths because of virus variants.

“A 60 per cent higher risk of hospitalization, a doubling of the risk of admission,” said Dr. Peter Juni, a panel member and professor of medicine and epidemiology at the University of Toronto.

“We have two pandemics: we have the pandemic with the variants completely under control and the pandemic with the new variants absolutely out of control,” Juni said in an interview.

Ontario reported a total of 2,169 new coronavirus cases on Friday.

Of those:

• 682 were in Toronto
• 397 were in Peel Region
• 254 were in York Region
• 123 were in Durham Region
• 40 were in Halton Region

Ontario is reporting 2,169 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, bringing the provincial total to 338,239.

The death toll in the province has risen to 7,292 as 12 more deaths were recorded.

Resolved cases increased by 1,675 from the previous day. The government said 53,436 tests were processed in the last 24 hours.

As of 8 p.m. on Thursday, the provincial government reported administering 1,838,592 COVID-19 vaccine doses, representing an increase of 82,996 in the last day. There are 306,373 people fully vaccinated with two doses.

According to the Ministry of Long-Term Care, there have been 3,753 deaths reported among residents and patients in long-term care homes across Ontario which did not increase from yesterday. Eleven virus-related deaths in total have been reported among staff.

There are 45 current outbreaks in homes, which is a decrease of one from the previous day.

The ministry also indicated there are currently eight active cases among long-term care residents and 101 active cases among staff — unchanged and up by six, respectively, in the last day.

Meanwhile, government figures show there have been a total of 12,017 school-related COVID-19 cases in Ontario to date. This is an increase of 167more cases in the day — 138 student cases and 29 staff cases.

The COVID-19 cases are currently from 1,053 out of 4,828 schools in the province. Forty-four schools in Ontario are currently closed as a result of positive cases, the government indicated.

There have been a total of 3,458 confirmed cases within child care centres and homes — an increase of 50 (37 new child cases and 13 staff cases). Out of 5,279 child care centres in Ontario, 272 currently have cases and 65 centres are closed.

— With files from Sean O’Shea and The Canadian Press.