About 22 000 tests COVID-19 have been carried out over the past 24 hours in Ontario.
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June 16, 2020 13h21
Updated at 18: 10
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Doug Ford does not require the wearing of the mask
Émilie Pelletier
Initiative of journalism-local — Law
Even if several shops are not spacious enough to allow for the distance physical between each client, the prime minister of ontario Doug Ford doesn’t want to make compulsory the wearing of the mask. It encourages, however ardently for Ontarians to cover her face when they leave their homes.
Questioned at a press conference about recent outbreaks of the COVID-19 in the shops of the province, the premier, Doug Ford argued that even if the port of the mask is ” highly, highly recommended “, it doesn’t require it in the places where the separation physical is not possible.
“We don’t have the manpower to go after those who do not wear the mask,” concluded the prime minister.
The question was posed in response to an outbreak in a hardware store in the province, where dozens of employees have tested positive to the virus.
Several companies, such as the grocery store chain, Longo’s, impose the wearing of the mask to the interior for all customers.
A new guide for businesses
The government, Ford has announced a new guide, a kind of toolbox, with instructions and health and safety to businesses and workers in order to prepare for the reopening.
“Most of the regions are entering phase 2 of the déconfinement, and we want to give businesses the tools and resources they need to adapt and to be successful in this new environment,” noted the prime minister.
The latter also wished to encourage the population to consume and to travel locally, this summer, to support businesses and the economy of the province.
COVID-19: screening in increase, the positive cases on the decline in Ontario
While the province of Ontario continues to exceed its target of screening daily, the tests carried out that prove to be positive, continue to be less numerous.
On Tuesday, the province has recorded 184 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of cases with 32 554.
This is the third day in a row that the number of new cases remains below 200.
As for the screening, 21 724 tests were performed in the last 24 hours in the province.
The number of daily tests up to and beyond the 20,000 mark for the past week.
In addition, more than 84% of people with the virus are now regarded as being cured.
In contrast, 2 538 (+11) people lost their lives as a result of the COVID-19, 1 632 residents and six employees of nursing homes long-term.
The Ontario public health were 413 hospitalizations, Monday, 98 of which are in intensive care and 70 under a respirator.
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The song is not welcome in the restaurants reopened Ontario
The canadian Press
You can whistle while you work to help Ontario recover from the pandemic COVID-19, but of grace, don’t sing.
This is the essential message of the provincial government, which included an expressed prohibition of singing – and even dancing – in some parts of its plan for the reopening of the businesses temporarily closed because of the epidemic.
Stage 2 of the plan of economic recovery of Ontario contains many guidance documents for the sectors allowed to resume or expand their activities.
The guidelines prepared for the restaurants and the bars indicate that the singing and dancing are not permitted in the outdoor areas where customers are currently permitted to meet in a limited number.
Documents indicate that the song is also prohibited in child care centres and discouraged in the places of worship that have received the green light to reopen their doors across Ontario in the last week.
The provincial Health department, said that the directives anti-song are supported by science, and doctors with expertise in the field are in agreement.
“It is disgusting to think about, but every time we talk, we spit on the world that surrounds us,” said Dr. Isaac Bogoch, a physician-scientist specializing in infectious diseases at Toronto general Hospital.
“And if we sing, cry, or breathe heavily, we expulsons probably more in saliva and nasal secretions, ( … ), and if someone is infected, then secretions will spread more virus.”
Dr. Bogoch said that the rules may seem extreme, but that they likely arise from a tragedy that took place in the United States at the beginning of the confinement in this country.
According to a report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the new coronavirus has affected a choir in Washington State who had gathered for rehearsals in early march. The report revealed that two members of the Skagit Valley Chorale died of COVID-19, and up to 87 % of the members of the choir have been confirmed cases or probable.
“The transmission has probably been facilitated by the proximity (…) during the rehearsal and helped by the act of singing,” says the report.
The spokesman for the ministry of Health in ontario, Hayley Chazan, has declared that similar ideas had been expressed in the directives of the province.
“The evidence indicates that the song may present a higher risk than normal speech, in particular the singing in a loud voice”, she argued.
The guidelines of the Ontario varies slightly depending on the sector, the advice to restaurants stating that”no dancing or singing may not be permitted in the outdoor areas”, which are the only ones allowed to be used during step 2.
The guidelines on places of worship, currently authorized to operate at 30 % capacity throughout the province, are even more accurate.
The government has stipulated that the faithful should abstain from singing and leave the task to a solo singer placed at least four meters of the people gathered in the church. The wind instruments are also not recommended, according to the same guidelines.
Neil MacCarthy, spokesman for the archdiocese of Toronto, said that the catholic churches have already begun to observe the new rules. He stated that the parishioners are also encouraged to wear masks, a measure which, according to him, makes people even more hesitant to start singing.
James Rilett, vice-president of Restaurants Canada for the central region, has not questioned the government’s instructions.
“The “live” music and the dance could be revisited once that Ontario will go further and ease the emergency measures in the field of health and safety, but for the moment, this restriction does not hinder the plans of re-opening,” noted Mr Rilett.
The recommendations for the sector of child care discourage the activities of singing performed inside. The directives of the ministry of Health for day camps discourages also the song inside and encourage the protocols of distancing physical standard for singing outside.
