'I don't want any finger-pointing': Your daily COVID-19 roundup

Reopening

More of the province will enter stage two of reopening on Friday — but not Toronto, Peel or Windsor-Essex. Read more here.

Ontario to make race-based data collection mandatory

The Ford government will mandate the collection of race-based data after weeks of public health experts and community advocates calling on them to do so.

Data will be collected on race, income, language and household size for people who have tested positive for COVID-19, according to a ministry of health release. People can choose not to answer those questions if they wish.

"As has been requested by community leaders, we are taking action to support and expand the work needed to help protect our communities all across the province," Health Minister Christine Elliott said.

The pandemic has hit marginalized populations the hardest, which Elliott acknowledged in the decision.

"We recognize that some Ontarians may be at greater risk of COVID-19 infection. This includes racialized Ontarians and individuals with lower incomes," she said. "Collecting these data will help guide decisions as work continues to stop the spread of the virus and protect some of our most vulnerable people."

Testing for migrant workers

As farms staffed by migrant workers continue to see outbreaks across the province, Premier Doug Ford said he's focused on increasing testing among those employees on a voluntary basis, rejecting calls to make it mandatory, as the province did with the long-term care sector.

"Anyone with an outbreak with migrant workers, we're going right into those areas," he said, calling it "so important" to test farms with outbreaks.

He said both the worker and the farmer they work for have to agree to the tests. "Most of them are cooperating," he said — though he added that some are concerned that if their workers test positive they will not be allowed to work for them anymore. Ford said if a worker tests positive but is asymptomatic, they can still work.

Ford stressed that the outbreaks were not the fault of the farm workers, who self-isolated for the required two weeks upon arriving in Ontario. Experts point to the cramped living quarters of many migrant workers as kindling for the virus's spread, which Ford also acknowledged. New Brunswick banned temporary foreign workers in late April in an attempt to lower the spread of COVID-19.

"I don't want any finger-pointing at these hard-working migrant workers. They're good people, they mean well and they're hard workers, too," he said.

Long-term care visits

Health Minister Christine Elliott defended the government's plan to restart visits to long-term care homes, which has been criticized as overly restrictive by some gerontologists and families of those in the facilities.

The plan requires visitors to test negative for the virus, and for homes to have no active cases.

Family caregivers have been vocal in their pleas for the government to open up access to long-term care, stressing that they are not simply "visitors" but critical providers of care for their loved ones.

As I told @StaffordShow & @supriyadwivedi on @am640, Ontario's "reopening" of nursing and retirement homes is misinformed: https://t.co/5uAdt6nqqz

Many "visitors" are skilled family caregivers who could be easily trained in IPAC and PPE@SolidFooting @DrVivianS @MaggieKeresteci

— Nathan Stall (@NathanStall) June 15, 2020

The ministry of long-term care, along with the province's COVID-19 command table, has designed the plan to be "as safe as it possibly can be," Elliott said.

"Not everybody's going to agree on exactly everything that's going to be done during this pandemic, but this has been done by public health experts that are knowledgeable about the transmission of the disease and they want to make sure that family members can see each other in the safest way possible."

Government looking to loosen building regulations

The first thing to deal with to kick-start Ontario's economy: regulations, Ford said. "Regulations and red tape kills companies."

The premier said the United States' building permit process takes a number of months, while in Ontario it can take years.

“Why can’t we get a building permit in six months nowadays?” Ford said, promising to work with municipalities to speed up the procedure.

Fedeli added that the government has been in talks with pharmaceutical companies, asking them what it would take to move production of more drugs to the province.

Medical equipment testing

Ontario will invest more than $526,000 into medical standards testing and certification, Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade Minister Vic Fedeli announced.

The money will go toward testing equipment like gowns, masks and gloves in the province — part of the government's push for more made-in-Ontario manufacturing.

"This means we can be more self-sufficient as a province, and better prepared for the future," Fedeli said.

Class action suit commenced against Woodbridge nursing home

A $15-million class action suit has been launched against Woodbridge Vista Care Community, where 23 residents have died from COVID-19. The nursing home is owned by Sienna Senior Living, one of the top for-profit long-term care companies in Canada, which has seen two high-profile departures in recent weeks.

Law firm Thomson Rogers has launched the suit, claiming damages on behalf of residents of Woodbridge Vista and their families, who say the home neglected their duties to provide safe care. The firm has also launched a class action against Altamont Care Community, another for-profit home owned by Sienna. Altamont was named in the armed forces report exposing the conditions in Ontario long-term care homes.

“The reported conditions at Woodbridge Vista and the Altamont Care facilities are appalling,” said Stephen Birman, a partner involved in both class actions, in a release. “As a community we trust these facilities to take care of our loved ones with an expectation that the needs of our most vulnerable are looked after.”

Thomson Rogers has contacted the offices of Ford and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to insist that Sienna — not taxpayers — bear the cost of the Canadian Armed Forces deployment and provincial nursing home management takeovers.