ontario reports 1,039 covid cases, lowest daily count since march 6
as of 8 p.m. monday, ontario had administered more than 8.2 million doses of vaccine.
may 25 2021
3 minute read
file: dr. nili kaplan-myrth held her second jabapalooza at immaculata high school's soccer field last week.
ashley fraser
/
postmedia
by: blair crawford
ontario reported 1,039 new covid-19 infections tuesday, the lowest daily count of new cases the province has seen in nearly 12 weeks.
the province also reported 1,446 new cases on the monday of the holiday weekend.
tuesday’s highest case counts were in toronto, with 325, peel at 231 and york with 77 new cases. an additional 33 people have died of the disease in the province.
the two-day total bring ontario’s total covid-19 case count to 524,950 and the total number of deaths 8,655.
hospital admission continue to climb, with 42 new patients bringing the total to 1,025. there are 692 patients in intensive care, with 498 people on ventilators.
ottawa public health reported 43 new cases sunday afternoon and is expected to update its case counts later tuesday.
tuesday’s case count was the lowest since the province recorded 990 cases on march 6.
there were 16,900 covid tests completed monday and 20,200 on sunday, according to health minister christine elliott.
as of 8 p.m. monday, ontario had administered more than 8.2 million doses of vaccine.
on sunday, ontario extended eligibility to those aged 12 and older and to received the pfizer-biontech vaccine. the city of ottawa tweeted tuesday morning that appointments were still available and could be booked by phone or through the province’s website.
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a group of mental health experts are warning the pandemic and the shutdown of schools has placed ontario “on the cusp of a generational catastrophe.”
in an open letter to the government, the group, led by university of ottawa professor tracy vaillaincourt , says the school shutdowns have had effects far beyond the classroom, impacting children’s mental health, food security and therapy for the disabled. in addition, schools also provide detection of maltreatment and abuse and are often the first point of contact for youth mental health services.
“the extended school closures in ontario have disconnected children and youth from these essential resources for far too long, at a great cost born to the most promising, yet vulnerable of society,” says the letter, which is addressed to premier doug ford, health minister christine elliott and education minister stephen lecce.
“we call on the ontario government to re-open all schools safely, and without delay, and work toward ensuring schools stay open for the foreseeable future.”
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the letter is signed by 15 academics including vaillaincourt who holds the canada research chair in school-based mental health and violence prevention at uottawa.
meanwhile, quebecers will soon be able to change their appointments online for their second covid-19 dose to an earlier date as the province’s vaccination rollout has exceeded the government’s own expectations, the montreal gazette has learned.
quebec is poised to vaccinate at least 80 per cent of the adult population with one dose by june 24, which would mean going beyond the initial goal by more than five per cent. and with nearly 48,000 pfizer-biontech doses expected early this week , the provincial government has decided to modify the clic santé online portal to permit quebecers to move up appointments for a second dose, a high-ranking source confirmed.
while the pfizer-biontech vaccine is the only vaccine approved in canada for use in children, moderna says it will ask canada to authorize its vaccine for kids between 12 and 17 years old after a study of its mrna vaccine in teenagers shows it to be both safe and effective.
the massachusetts-based vaccine maker says it will submit the study results to international regulators in early june.
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the company says the study of 3,700 kids in that age group found no cases of covid-19 among the kids who got two doses of the vaccine. the youth got the same size doses as adults, four weeks apart.
the company says there were no serious safety issues, and the side-effects mirrored those seen in adults, with headache, fatigue, pain and chills the most commonly reported issues after the second dose.
more than two dozen countries, including canada, have greenlighted the vaccine for use in adults, but thus far pfizer-biontech is the only vaccine available in canada for youth.
nationally, canada had recorded 1,361,564 covid-19 cases of monday and 25,625 deaths.
— with files from the montreal gazette and the canadian press
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