Ontario surpasses 200 new cases: Your COVID-19 roundup

COVID-19 cases

New COVID-19 cases in Ontario surpassed the 200-mark for the first time in nearly eight weeks. The province reported 213 new cases on Friday, culminating an uptick in cases during recent weeks. The last time Ontario reported more than 200 cases was on July 21 — 203 cases were reported at the time — but there have mostly been fewer than 200 daily cases since mid-June. The total number of cases in Ontario since the beginning of the pandemic stands at 44,068, with 1,657 active cases — up from 1,567 active cases one day prior.

Toronto saw the biggest increase with 71 new cases. Ottawa saw 37 new cases, Peel 38, York Region 14 and the Region of Waterloo 15.

New COVID-19 tracking website

The high COVID-19 case count in Ontario comes as schools across the province reopen. While some boards have yet to welcome students back to the classroom, the provincial government launched a new website detailing COVID-19 cases in schools and child-care centres.

On Friday morning, there were 13 schools with reported cases — four students and nine staff. This is out of a total of 4,828 schools. The government said the site would be updated each weekday morning.

These are the school boards with reported cases:

• Five cases in the Conseil des écoles catholiques du Centre-Est (CECCE) in Ottawa
• One case in the Conseil des écoles publiques de l’Est de l’Ontario in Ottawa
• One case in the Conseil Scolaire Viamonde in Pickering
• One case in the Halton Catholic District School Board in Oakville
• One case in the Halton District School Board in Oakville
• Three cases in the Peel District School Board — two in Brampton and one in Mississauga
• One case in the Waterloo Region District School Board in Waterloo

The data also indicated that so far there have been 56 child-care centres and home daycares with cases — 30 cases in children and 26 in staff. Eighteen child-care centres currently have a reported case and five are currently closed — this is of a total of 4,375 open child-care centres.

The NDP has been calling for the government to set up such a website. But after its launch, the party's critic for early learning and child care raised concerns about the numbers.

"The return of little ones to child care without proper funding and guidelines have been a cause of huge anxiety for many families," Doly Begum said in a statement. "The launch of the list this morning reveals that licensed child-care settings have seen 56 cases of COVID-19, and before-and-after school-based child care is about to ramp up."

The party said it was looking for further support for child-care centres to enable smaller cohorts along with more staffing and cleaning.

"The NDP wants the Ford government to step up with financial help for struggling non-profit child care centres, many of which have been on the brink of closing forever," said Begum. "This is a necessary step to save our already strained child care sector and help families get through this crisis."

Asked during a press conference whether his government would consider legislating any job or wage protections for parents who might have to care for their children showing signs of COVID-19, Premier Doug Ford didn't directly answer the question.

But he did say "we’ll do whatever it takes to support parents, it’s not their fault that they have to stay at home and take care of a sick child."

New gold mine gets gold-star approval

Attendees at a groundbreaking ceremony of a new gold mine described the occasion as a "beautiful," "fantastic" and "happy" day, and according to Chief Murray Ray of Flying Post First Nation, it was the "best day."

"I’ve been doing this for 25 years and I was thinking ... this is the best day that I’ve had, and I’ve had a few," said Ray in Gogama, a community that sits between Sudbury and Timmins. "This is great, it’s great for our First Nations, our kids, when we tell them go to school, they've got a place to come to go to work, our elders are going to be taken care of now."

He was joined by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Premier Ford and several provincial and federal politicians to officially kick-start the construction of IAMGOLD's new Côté Gold Mine.

The construction phase is expected to produce 1,000 jobs, with another 450 full-time positions to come once the mine is operational. The mine itself is projected to have an 18-year life span and contribute $10 billion to the province's gross domestic product during that time.

"Those people are going to be able to put a paycheck in their pocket and pay the bills and support the economy, it’s absolutely incredible how one project can change so many lives in a community," said Ford.

"This is not just big news for the people of Gogama, but also for folks from Sudbury, Timmins and right across northern Ontario," Trudeau said, adding that the federal government conducted an environmental assessment of the project, while the province said it had several ministries working together to coordinate its environmental assessment process and "move the permitting process forward."

Trudeau said the project shows how the economy is "getting back on its feet" after being hit hard in recent months because of COVID-19, also including in his remarks the importance of fighting climate change.

"As anyone in the mining industry already knows we can’t solve climate change without strong leadership from the natural resources sector," he said, adding that innovations within the sector will be critical in the global fight.

Ford also labelled the groundbreaking ceremony as a "glimmer of hope" towards economic recovery.

"We can accomplish anything … when we work together," he said. "After months of seeing COVID-19 hit our economy hard ... we see new opportunities right across our country and our province and we take another step forward on the road to economic recovery."

Safe Restart Agreement

Trudeau said his government and the provinces and territories have worked out details of the $19 billion Safe Restart Agreement and that "the money should be flowing within the coming weeks."

The federal funding announced in July is meant to help provinces and territories reopen their economies by providing support to municipalities and transit operations, health care systems, essential workers through personal protective equipment, the child care sector and workers through paid sick leave.

The prime minister also recently announced another $2 billion to help with the reopening of schools.

"These were things that are important to all Canadians and something I was very very pleased to work with the premiers on, particularly Premier Ford who was very strong on both of those measures as we move forward," said Trudeau.

Trudeau and Ford have consistently praised each other in recent months, a stark contrast to last year when the federal Liberals regularly hurled criticisms at the Progressive Conservative premier in the lead up to the federal election.

"Every time we get together we seem to be having great announcements, so this is great when everyone’s pulling in the same direction and working together," said Ford on Friday morning at the gold mine event. Trudeau and Ford previously announced joint funding to help 3M expand its manufacturing plant in Brockville so it could make N95 respirators.