BREAKING NEWS & UPDATE COVID19, CITY TORONTO

Charities, groups adapt Easter programs for those in need amid COVID-19 TORONTO — For almost a decade, the Easter long weekend has brought almost 500 Haligonians in need to the Souls Harbour Rescue Mission, where they tuck into a free, three-course meal surrounded by other diners and volunteers. They still got to enjoy their hot ham, mashed potatoes and many of the other fixings this year, but one thing was off the menu: company. "It's a really nice sight, but obviously we are not doing it this year," said Michelle Porter, the chief executive of the charitable organization, which cancelled its annual Easter gathering and instead has offered takeout holiday meals Souls Harbour Rescue Mission is not alone. Many organizations serving people most in need had to call off or adjust their typical Easter plans to help stop the spread of COVID-19 and abide by demands from politicians and public authorities to limit gatherings. People recognize the need to be safe in these uncertain times, but for the community, the meal's shift was a "disappointment," said Porter. "It's even more important that we're able to serve a meal because we're the only place serving lunch (to them) right now," she said. "We got a few requests or Facebook messages from people who wouldn't normally come to Souls Harbour for a meal, but are looking for something special for Easter because they haven't been able to either go shop or are not able to afford a ham or turkey this year." Keith Hambly, the chief executive at Fred Victor, a Toronto organization that operates shelters and affordable and transitional housing, was also seeing that need first-hand. His charity's Friends Restaurant, a Queen Street East spot offering weekday brunch or dinner for free or at a low cost, is a hit around the holidays. Like Souls Harbour, it had to switch up its usual traditions. "Since the COVID-19 declaration of emergency a few weeks ago, we've had to do takeout meals as opposed to congregate dining," said Hambly. "We actually had staff and management deliver the meals on Good Friday and again ... on Easter Monday." Hambly was looking forward to his Easter Monday shift delivering some of the roughly 300 prepared meals put together by Fred Victor. Turkey, he thought, had been on the menu for Good Friday, but Easter Monday would likely see ham distributed. Over at Salvation Army, "it's a very different Easter," said spokesperson John Murray. The charity with branches throughout Canada helps over a million people through housing, food, disaster aid, and camps and church services, but the organization has had to make adjustments quickly during the crisis. Its Easter church service was hosted online this year and its community feeding programs, where members of the public in need could visit some Salvation Army sites for food or a meal, are being adjusted. "We've taken those feeding programs out into the community and we're delivering them through our emergency disaster vehicles," Murray said, rattling off a list of locations being targeted by the service, including Hamilton and London, Ont. Over in Halifax, he said the Salvation Army is focusing much of its energy on feeding people in a series of pop-up shelters erected to combat COVID-19. The work the Salvation Army is doing this year has particular importance, said Murray, because of COVID-19. The federal government has committed $100 million for organizations that help get food to Canadians who can't afford groceries or who have uncertain access to food and other basic necessities, including Indigenous Peoples and remote northern populations. That funding is being allocated to groups like Food Banks Canada, the Salvation Army, Second Harvest, Community Food Centres Canada, and Breakfast Club of Canada, who have been calling for donations and support because of an uptick in demand for their services. "We're seeing people who have never come to the Salvation Army before who never thought for a minute they would need the services of a not-for-profit organization, all of a sudden going, 'Wow, I don't have a job. I've got mortgage payments I've got car payments. I've got to pay the heating bill, and I need more food,'" Murray said. "The pandemic is just an extraordinary situation for us." News that deal to cut global oil production has been finalized is welcomed in Canada. News that a deal was finalized by OPEC and other oil producing nations to cut production by nearly 10 million barrels per day is being welcomed in Canada, where provinces have suffered drastic revenue losses due to rock-bottom crude prices. "This is good. We welcome any news that brings stability to global oil markets," Natural Resources Minister Seamus O'Regan said in an emailed statement Sunday. The agreement between the cartel, Russia and other countries came late last week and followed a supply battle that began last month when Russia refused to cut its output amid plunging demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic, prompting Saudi Arabia to increase its oil production and reduce its price. Video conference negotiations were held last week, which included representatives from the Alberta government. Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, who commented Saturday on the negotiations and the hope for their success, noted his province had not been asked to constrain production. "We've been very clear in conveying to OPEC, the United States and others around the world that Alberta has already been in curtailment of production for the past 15 months and that we cannot really affect global prices because we do not have global market access. We don't have those pipelines to the coast," Kenney told reporters during a teleconference on Alberta's pandemic response. "Even if we wanted to surge production, we would be capped out at about four million barrels per day that we could ship through existing pipelines plus crude by rail," he added. The deal that was finalized Sunday reportedly allows Mexico to cut only 100,000 barrels a month, which had been a sticking point after the talks last week. Mexico's energy minister tweeted that the group of nations agreed to cut 9.7 million barrels a day to begin May 1, and energy officials from other countries shared similar information Sunday. O'Regan, who participated in a conference call Friday with G20 energy ministers, had refused to speculate on whether Canada might consider curtailing its production as part of the broader multilateral effort, but said it's no secret that production has dropped in Newfoundland, Alberta and Saskatchewan. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also wouldn't say Friday whether Canada would take measures to reduce its output, although he noted that Alberta has already curtailed production and that Canada would "continue to look to make sure that other countries are doing their part." On Sunday, O'Regan said Canada is committed to achieving price certainty and economic stability. "The federal government is deeply concerned about oil price instability and the impact on thousands of workers in Canada's energy sector, and their families," the email stated. Kenney on Saturday chastised the "reckless actions of the Saudis and Russians" which he said flooded global inventories to the point that extremely low prices would continue for at least 18 months. "There's just no sugar-coating that," he said, adding he awaits news of federal plan to help the energy industry. O'Regan said last week that the long-awaited bailout would contain measures to improve "liquidity" for Canada's energy sector and is coming soon, but he didn't say when. Refugee shelter in Toronto reports outbreak of COVID-19. A refugee shelter in downtown Toronto is reporting four cases of COVID-19, a problem the organization managing the facility said extends to other shelters in the city. Homes First Society said it was first notified about the cases at Willowdale Welcome Centre on Thursday and the organization is waiting to hear back on multiple other tests. The facility currently houses more than 200 people. "People are very frightened, these are things that don't make us comfortable," said Patricia Mueller, CEO of Homes First Society, which operates other shelters in Toronto for people who are homeless or struggling with addiction. "This is all new ground for our staff in terms of trying to educate about physical distancing." Mueller said staff have erected plexiglass shields at counters and have shuffled residents to different shelters to space out occupants, but it can be difficult to get people to take physical distancing rules seriously. She added that other shelters her organization manages have also seen COVID-19 cases. In some of the organization's shelters for people with addictions, she said staff can't leave out hand sanitizer because residents will consume it. Mueller said staff and residents have all been given personal protective equipment like surgical masks, but she said the organization will likely run out of supplies in two or three weeks. "We are, in the shelter sector, forgotten about when it comes to personal protective equipment," said Mueller. "We have had some donations and for that I'm eternally grateful, but we haven't become the cause celebre of any movie star or any famous hockey player yet." Still, Mueller said she is not aware of any staff having walked out or refused work out of fear of the coronavirus. Earlier this week, dozens of staff walked out of a group home for disabled adults in Markham, Ont., after multiple staff and residents tested positive for the coronavirus. Management said they had to pitch in to help run the home after all but four workers left their posts out of fear of COVID-19. And in the Montreal area, 31 residents at a long-term care home have died in less than a month after workers walked off the job there. Ontario Premier Doug Ford has said workers and residents at shelters and care homes will be prioritized for COVID-19 screening as the province plans to increase testing to 8,000 per day by the coming week. Ford has said the province plans to test 16,000 people per day by early May. The province reported another 401 cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, bringing the total number of cases to above 7,000. Health officials also reported 21 more deaths for a new total of 274. Meanwhile in Toronto, the municipal government said officers issued 48 tickets to people who weren't following physical distancing guidelines on Sunday The city announced on Saturday that officers would start immediately issuing tickets instead of trying to educate residents first. Toronto has been one of the hardest hit cities with over 2,225 confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 and 85 people in intensive care. Boosting PPE supply ‘not a top priority’ in years before outbreak: minister: Hannah Jackson Increasing Canada's strategic stock of personal protective equipment (PPE) was "not a top priority," in the years before the novel coronavirus outbreak, the country's minister of employment, workforce development and disability inclusion said. In an interview with The West Block's Mercedes Stephenson, Carla Qualtrough, who served as Canada's minister of Public Services and Procurement (PSPC) from 2017 to 2019, said during her tenure with PSPC, officials "didn't turn our minds as much" to updating Canada's PPE reserve despite warnings after the SARS outbreak that another pandemic could occur. "We were very focused, as you know, on defence procurement, on getting the coast guard the ships they need, on getting the navy, getting--fixing-- Phoenix," Qualtrough said. "We had a lot on our plate as PSPC and that was not a top priority, no." She said the Canadian government moved to acquire more equipment in mid-to-late January. "I would say in mid-to-late January, we knew that this was an issue in terms of getting all of our ducks in a row, working with provinces and territories, and PSPC working with Public Health Agency, working with Health Canada, working with the provinces, took a number of steps to ensure that we had a proper inventory of what was out there, that we identified gaps that we looked around the country to see who was producing what, that we looked around the world to see where we could get further material and devices from, and the collaborative effort really started to ramp up then," she said. Asked if she thinks the federal government moved too slowly in preparing for the COVID-19 pandemic, Qualtrough said officials were making the "best decisions" with the information available to them. "You always look back and say, 'what if I had done this?' Or 'could I have done that?'" she said. "But right now, as we’re living it in real-time, what we are endeavouring to do every day is keep at it, keep making the best decisions. Rely on the science, rely on the experts, deliver as quickly and reliably as we can for Canadians and I think history will tell the broader question of how and if it was enough." Now, up against a highly competitive market and global shortages, Canadian officials have been working desperately to source PPE for the country's frontline workers. Asked by reporters earlier this week just how dire the situation is in Canada, the country's deputy chief public health officer, Dr. Howard Njoo, said it is difficult to provide specific numbers because the situation is dynamic with supplies being delivered and used each day. But, Canada's current Minister of Public Services and Procurement, Anita Anand, confirmed on Tuesday that Canada had received a shipment of eight million surgical masks, as well as other supplies ordered directly by Nova Scotia and hard-hit Quebec. Speaking at a press conference, Anand said Ottawa is expecting other deliveries from China “in the days to come.” “The reality is that we are operating in a highly competitive global environment and international logistics are challenging,” Anand told reporters. “We are working closely with our partners around the world, including embassies, as well as with on the ground logistics and coordination firms, to ensure that supplies come more from the source to where they are needed in Canada right here, right now with hundreds of millions of pieces of equipment ordered.” According to Anand, Canada has also sourced more than 230 million surgical masks, and has ordered roughly 75 million N95 masks. “Amongst other supplies, we have also ordered over 113,000 litres of hand sanitizer, most of which is expected to be delivered this month,” she said. “There is no question that a lot of work is going into sourcing all of these health supplies and many more supplies in Canada and around the world,” Anand said. “But I know that the work does not end there. "We will not rest until these supplies are in Canada, in our hands and ultimately in the hands of the many health care workers on the front lines of this crisis.” Canada has also ramped up domestic manufacturing, and is looking into whether some PPE, including masks, can be disinfected for reuse. On Saturday, Alberta’s health minister Tyler Shandro said the province would be sending N95 and procedural masks, gloves, goggles and ventilators to Ontario, Quebec and B.C., as the province has enough PPE to meet demand. He said healthcare experts are “very confident in the modelling data and in the expected need for PPE and ventilators.” What's more, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced this week that his government is working with several Canadian companies in order to manufacture 30,000 ventilators. According to Trudeau, the government has signed letters of intent with a number of partners, including Thornhill Medical, CAE, Ventilators for Canadians and a group led by Starfish Medical. “These purchases will help increase our capacity to make sure these life-saving machines are made right here at home,” he said. anada building its own supply chain of personal protective equipment in China When Cargojet flight 1392 touched down in Hamilton on Saturday it brought with it millions of badly needed N95 respirator masks to help in the fight against COVID-19. It was the third delivery of critical supplies arriving under a made-for-Canada plan set up with the help of diplomats and consultants in China, a warehouse in Shanghai, and two of Canada's airlines. The plan was born out of urgency. With the global market for medical supplies overwhelmed by chaos and acts of piracy, Canada needed to take some of the risk out of securing everything from badly needed medical masks to gowns and gloves. Federal bureaucrats and political staff handling procurement of medical supplies were frustrated by deliveries showing up late. Unreliable and profiteering brokers were driving prices through the roof. Rival countries were buying shipments out from under each other. What Canada hopes will be a partial solution got its start in the embassy in Beijing. Dominic Barton, Canada's ambassador to China, redeployed much of the staff at Canada's embassy, consulates and trade offices all over China. The diplomatic staff flipped their role from selling Canada to the Chinese, to buying Chinese medical supplies for Canada. While shipments are arriving, Canada's plan isn't foolproof. The Toronto Star reported that Canada recently got a shipment of testing swabs that were found to be contaminated with what is believed to be mould. "Cutting deals and securing quality supplies quickly is probably the biggest challenge in this entire thing," a federal official working directly on Canada’s procurement efforts told CBC News. Coronavirus in N.Y.C.: Latest Updates The governor and the mayor disagree over the school shutdown. A day after Mayor Bill de Blasio said that New York City schools would be closed for the remainder of the academic year because of the coronavirus pandemic, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo continued to insist that the final decision was his. “We won’t open schools one minute sooner than they should be opened,” the governor said Sunday, “but we won’t open schools one minute later than they should be opened either.” “I do not know what we will be doing in June,” he added, in a seeming rebuke to the mayor. “Nobody knows what we will be doing in June.” Earlier on Sunday, Mr. de Blasio said that the governor had “done a very good job in this crisis” but that it was clear that schools should be closed until September. Mr. de Blasio had informed Mr. Cuomo of his school-closing plan in a text message on Saturday. [Get the latest news and updates on the coronavirus in the New York region.] Statewide, 758 more people died, bringing the total to 9,385. Mr. Cuomo said on Sunday that 758 more people had died in New York, bringing the total number of people killed by the coronavirus in the state to 9,385 as of Sunday evening. Other indicators were on the positive side, the governor said, continuing last week’s pattern: even as hundreds of people died daily, rates of hospitalization and other data suggested that the spread of the virus had slowed. [Coronavirus in New York: A map and the case count.] New testing sites are planned for hard-hit communities. New York City last week released preliminary data showing that the coronavirus was killing black and Latino people in the city at twice the rate that it is killing white people. On Sunday, Mr. Blasio announced that the city would open testing centers to begin addressing those disparities. “We cannot accept this inequality,” he said. He said that in the coming days, the city would open the testing centers in East New York, Brooklyn; Morrisania, the Bronx; Harlem, Manhattan; Jamaica, Queens; and Clifton, Staten Island. 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