Morning News – March 17th

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Weather:

Cloudy. Wind becoming southwest 20 km/h this afternoon. High plus 1. Wind chill minus 11 this morning. UV index 2 or low.
Tonight – Partly cloudy. Fog patches dissipating near midnight. Wind up to 15 km/h. Low minus 10. Wind chill minus 13 overnight.

Status of COVID-19 cases in Algoma

(2) Algoma residents who have confirmed COVID-19 infection.

*The number in brackets are active cases in non-Algoma residents who are temporarily in Algoma. These cases are not counted as part of Algoma’s confirmed case count. APH conducts contact tracing and monitoring of self-isolation for all cases within Algoma. Editor’s Note: These may be referring to the cases at the Valard Camp in White River)

(3) Patient tested positive but is resolved according to current public health criteria. This number includes any persons who are deceased.

• These data sets are preliminary and subject to change, pending further review.
• Confirmed positives will be reported as soon as publicly available.

 

Immunization Tracker for the Algoma District:

News Tidbits:

Looking at the image of the first mass immunization clinic at the MMCC yesterday, I was reminded of the Rubella immunization I received in Detroit as a youth in the gymnasium. I remember the little metal button that we clipped to our school uniforms (picture at left from National Museum of American History).

From the CDC “the rubella vaccination program started in 1969, rubella was a common and widespread infection in the United States. During the last major rubella epidemic in the United States from 1964 to 1965, an estimated 12.5 million people got rubella, 11,000 pregnant women lost their babies, 2,100 newborns died, and 20,000 babies were born with congenital rubella syndrome (CRS). Once the vaccine became widely used, the number of people infected with rubella in the United States dropped dramatically.”

 

The Ontario government has established the Staffing Supply Accelerator Group to help implement one of the largest health care recruitment and training programs in Ontario history.

The group will help to increase long-term care staffing supply by expanding and accelerating education and training for personal support workers, registered practical nurses and registered nurses. Task teams will be established to focus on four priorities beginning in 2021-22:

 

• building an “Earn-as-you-Learn” personal support worker learning pathway that will include on-the-job education onsite training and micro-credentialing;
• bridging opportunities for personal support workers to become accredited registered practical nurses and registered practical nurses to become registered nurses, to provide career progression pathways and accelerate the supply of registered practical nurses and registered nurses;
• increasing enrolment and accelerate completion of existing training programs in support of the long-term care workforce; and
• removing barriers to enable more internationally-trained professionals to become qualified to practice in Ontario.

 

Lisa MacLeod, Minister of Heritage, Sport, Tourism and Culture Industries, will make an announcement about investing in Ontario’s sport and recreation sector at 11:30 a.m.

Monte McNaughton, Minister of Labour, Training and Skills Development, to make an announcement at 1 p.m.

Don’t Forget! Order and pick up your Corned Beef Sandwiches and Chips from the Legion today! Happy St. Patrick’s Day!