Covid-19: Federal And Provincial Briefings - Operational Impacts and Strategy

A summary of the day's activities of Tuesday, September 22, follows.

(Note: Tomorrow's briefing will feature the Federal Speech from the Throne.)

Federal Government Relief Measures

Yesterday, in a press release issued by the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), Minister of Families, Children and Social Development and Minister Responsible for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) Ahmed Hussen announced the Government of Canada will provide $236.7 million through Reaching Home: Canada's Homelessness Strategy to help extend and expand the emergency response to the COVID-19 outbreak. This funding is in addition to the $157.5 million announced in April 2020 to help communities address the immediate impacts of the pandemic.

In addition, Minister Hussen announced a $1billion Rapid Housing Initiative (RHI) to help address urgent housing needs of vulnerable Canadians by rapidly creating modular housing as well as the acquisition of land, and the conversion of existing buildings to affordable housing. The RHI is the newest initiative of the National Housing Strategy (NHS). It is expected to enable the rapid creation of up to 3,000 new affordable housing units across the country and will help stimulate the economy.

Statement of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

The Prime Minister did not hold a press conference today.

Federal Government Briefings

The Hon. Patty Hajdu, Minister of Health
The Hon. Anita Anand, Minister of Public Services and Procurement Canada
Theresa Tam, Chief Public Health Officer of Canada
Howard Njoo, Deputy Chief Public Health Officer of Canada

Minister of Public Services and Procurement Anita Anand announced that the Government of Canada has signed agreements with Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) to secure up to 72 million doses of their COVID-19 adjuvanted recombinant protein-based vaccine candidate.

The Government of Canada has now signed agreements with the following companies to obtain vaccines:

Sanofi and GSK, which will supply up to 72 million of doses of their COVID-19 adjuvanted recombinant protein-based vaccine candidate.
Johnson & Johnson, which will supply up to 38 million doses of its vaccine candidate, Ad26.COV2.S.
Novavax, which will supply up to 76 million doses of its vaccine candidate, NVX-CoV2373.
Pfizer, which will supply a minimum of 20 million doses of its mRNA-based vaccine candidate, BNT162. The government is negotiating with the company to have the agreement include options for obtaining additional doses.
Moderna, which will supply up to 56 million doses of its vaccine candidate, mRNA-1273.

To date, the Government of Canada has allocated $1 billion for the five agreements that are in place. This includes some upfront payments that the pharmaceutical companies require to support vaccine development, testing and at-risk manufacturing. The government is continuing negotiations for access to other leading vaccine candidates.

Minister Anand also announced that the Government of Canada has signed an agreement with Gilead Sciences and McKesson Canada to secure a supply of up to 150,000 vials of remdesivir, with deliveries beginning this month and continuing into early 2021. Currently, remdesivir is the only known anti-viral drug that has been shown to be effective in treating COVID-19 patients.

The Government of Canada has also signed two contracts with SiO2 International Inc. to purchase syringes and vials for use in filling up to 80 million doses of vaccine, with deliveries beginning this month.

Dr. Tam and Dr. Njoo then provided the latest COVID-19 data in Canada. They reported 145,415 cases in Canada, including 9,228 deaths. They emphasized, “due to increasing daily case counts and higher proportion of number of active cases, the cumulative number of cases of people that have recovered has decreased 86 per cent.” To date, 6.7million Canadians have been tested for COVID-19, including over 70,000 daily during the past week with 1.4 per cent testing positive. This increase in testing is due to ramped up testing in Ontario.

Based on updated COVID-19 epidemiology and modelling data, an average 1,058 of new cases have been reported daily during the most recent seven days. Compared to the 380 daily cases reported when the modelling data was released in mid-August, the growth of new cases is accelerating.

The reproduction rate (Rt) of the virus, another indicator of acceleration, is trending above 1 nationally and in highly impacted areas. The Rt is at 1.4, which means that 100 cases of the virus are passed on to 140 people with each new generation of spread getting larger. In addition, the incidence of COVID-19 remains high among young adults aged 20 to 39 since late June

On the current trajectory, Canada could have 150 780 to 155 795 cases by October 2, including 9 220 to 9 300 deaths.

Dr. Tam cautioned Canada is at a crossroads and individual action to scale back the rate of contacts is of critical importance. Dr. Tam also said, “Public health authorities can't do this alone. The actions of individual Canadians are key to keeping COVID-19 to manageable levels to protect our health, social and economic wellbeing.” She reiterated that individual Canadians must comply with public health measures while public health authorities must continue to detect cases and trace contacts, monitor case/contact isolation and quarantine, manage risk of importation and detect and respond to outbreaks.

Dr. Njoo is not prepared to declare a second wave in Canada because of variations in epidemiology in different regions across Canada. He did say that he agrees with Dr. Arruda, Quebec's National Public Health Director, that the province of Quebec has entered its second COVID-19 wave. This allowed Minister Hajdu to reiterate that a tightening of public health measures requires a “surgical approach based on epidemiology.”

Statement of Ontario Premier Doug Ford

Ontario Premier Doug Ford spoke with reporters at Queen's Park regarding the government's response to COVID-19. Deputy Premier and Minister of Health Christine Elliott joined the Premier.

Premier Ford announced that the government is implementing the largest flu immunization campaign in Ontario's history. The government has invested almost $70 million to purchase flu vaccines and to deliver a robust and expanded campaign this fall. The campaign is part of the province's fall preparedness plan, Keeping Ontarians Safe: Preparing for Future Waves of COVID, to prepare the health system for a resurgence of COVID-19 cases.

The annual spread of the flu presents an additional challenge to Ontario's response to future waves of COVID-19. Premier Ford implored people to get their flu shots this fall.

Deputy Premier Elliott announced the key components of the fall preparedness plan. They include:

Maintain strong public health measures, including continued expansion of testing and case and contact management;
Quickly identify, manage and prevent COVID-19 outbreaks;
Accelerate efforts to reduce health service backlogs;
Prepare for surges in COVID-19 cases;
Recruit, retain, train and support health care workers, while also continuing to engage families and caregivers; and
Implement the largest flu immunization campaign in Ontario's history.

Given the size and complexity of the plan, Minister Elliott promised the government will release details over the coming days.

Premier Ford admitted he was “concerned” with the rapid increase of new cases in Ontario. He appealed Health Canada to approve a rapid diagnostic test shortly.

Deputy Minister Elliott reiterated that it is “vitally important for everyone to follow the public health measures.” You can expect her to repeat that message often this fall. Her counterpart, Quebec's Minster of Health and Social Services Christian Dubé, is also expected to echo the same message.

Statement of Quebec Ministers

At a news conference in Quebec City, Minister of Health and Social Services Christian Dubé provided an update on the province's response to COVID-19. Quebec's Director of Public Health Dr. Horacio Arruda joined Minister Dubé.

Minister Dubé announced that two regions in the yellow alert level have now moved up to the orange alert level: Laval and the Outaouais region. He also announced that the region of Mauricie-et-centre du Quebec had moved up from the green alert level to the yellow alert level.

Minister Dubé found it critical to highlight some important differences between the first and second waves. First, the virus is spreading principally through community-based transmission. Second, the affected population is much younger. This does not imply that the danger is at bay for older adults, they are still at risk of being infected with the virus.

The work continues to give police officers the authority to give fines when public health measures are ignored in private gatherings. Dr. Arruda said these measures were imminent as there is a need to fine those who fail to comply with public health measures.

Minister Dubé said discussions will resume with opposition parties regarding the possibility of implementing a COVID tracing app adapted to Quebec. This implies the Quebec government does not intend to use the national COVID-Alert app.

Minister Dubé warned there is a risk the second wave may be more strenuous for the healthcare system as healthcare professionals are already in the process of trying to process the backlog created by the first wave.

Elsewhere in Canada

Alberta

Yesterday, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta's Chief Medical Officer of Health, provided a COVID-19 case update for the weekend. On Friday, September 18, there were 119 new cases. On Saturday, September 19, there were 102 new cases. On Sunday, September 20, there were 137 new cases. Sadly, one death occurred over the weekend.

British Columbia

Yesterday, Dr. Bonnie Henry, British Columbia's Provincial Health Officer, and Stephen Brown, Deputy Minister of Health, provided a COVID-19 case update for the weekend. From September 18 to 19, there were 121 new cases. From September 19 to 20, there were 117 new cases. From September 20 to 21, there were 128 new cases. Unfortunately, four deaths occurred over the weekend. Currently, 60 individuals are hospitalized, 21 of whom are in intensive care. To date, there are 1,987 active cases in the province and 3,233 people under active public health monitoring for known exposures. In response to the announcement of the upcoming election in BC, Dr. Henry stated, “While a provincial election has been called today, BC's COVID-19 response plan will continue uninterrupted. As has been done since the start of the pandemic, a daily COVID-19 update will be provided to keep everyone in BC informed”.

Last Thursday, the province released two updated provincial health orders, one for gatherings and events, and one for food and liquor serving premises.

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