Morning News Tidbits – August 19

Weather – Sunny. Increasing cloudiness near noon then 30 percent chance of showers late this afternoon. Fog patches dissipating this morning. High 19. UV index 7 or high.
Tonight – Mainly cloudy with 30 percent chance of showers. Fog patches developing overnight. Low 13.

 

Statistics from Algoma Public Health  – August 18, 2020

Algoma Public Health is in the process of transitioning to a new provincial public health case and contact management system for COVID-19 tracking and reporting. APH will now be reporting testing numbers from Monday to Friday only. Pending numbers will no longer be reported, however, we will still report any positive cases daily.

 

Tested (1)	23,656
Positive	27
Negative	23,266
Deceased	0
Resolved (2)	27
Updated: August 18, 2020

(1) That Algoma Public Health is aware of.
(2) Patient tested positive but is resolved according to current public health criteria. This number includes any persons who are deceased.

 

News Tidbits:

 

A special announcement by Minister ⁦Victor Fedeli⁩ and Lisa McLeod, Minister of Heritage, Sport, Tourism and Culture Industries announced the provincial  investment of $20,ooo for an interpretive garden sharing the lives of the Dionne Quintuplets in North Bay. She tweeted that it was an “emotional & an honour to be there with their nephew who is dedicating his time to telling their story.”

Funding of $690,000 for arts, heritage & culture was also announced by Minister Victor Fedeli at that time.

 

There are fifteen fires active across the Northeast Region, all of which are being observed. The fire hazard is low to moderate in most of the Northeast Region. Areas surrounding the communities of Wawa, Dubreuilville as well as Thessalon are showing a high hazard yesterday afternoon.

 

 

There were 19 active fires in the Northwest region. One fire was not under control, six fires were under control and 12 fires were being observed. The forest fire hazard is moderate to low across the Northwest Region.

Nipigon 45 remains unchanged in recent days at 6,678 hectares, and crews continue to work on it.

Red Lake 49 is under control at 552 hectares, and crews continue to work on it.

 

 

Algoma Steel in Sault Ste. Marie is receiving $4 million from the federal government for an environmental project to reduce greenhouse gases. This funding is from the Low Carbon Economy Fund. In total the project is valued at $16.5 million, and will modernize the gas stream. With an intricate filtering system, tars and light oil will be removed, and the carbon content from the coke oven gas will be removed.

 

At last night’s Special Council Meeting, Mayor & Council announced that the Municipality had received funding under both provincial and federal COVID restart programs. A letter from the Honourable Steve Clark, Minister of Municipal Affairs announced that as part of the safe restart agreement of the Province of Ontario, 50% of that funding allocation was provided based on a per capita basis and so the Municipality of Wawa received approximately $197,000 for First Phase Funding. The Minister of Transportation, Caroline Mulroney provided an additional $50, 190 (approx) specifically to assist in transit related costs. The Wawa Transit Bus is currently scheduled to resume operation Tuesday, September 8th, 2020.  In Phase Two, the Municipality may receive further funding if need is documented for either program.