No new cases in local districts
There have been no new cases of COVID-19 in the Sudbury, Manitoulin or Algoma Districts in the last two days, but that does not mean protocols can be ignored.
Algoma Public Health has had only nine cases, which are all in self-isolation.
Public Health Sudbury has had 26 positives with 14 of them resolves and one death.
There have been 1,052 people tested so far with 773 negatives.
Two hundred and 53 are currently under investigation.
The health units stress that even though there have been no new cases, this is the time to continue maintaining physical distancing and sanitizing to fight the curve.
Testing in Ontario
Premier Doug Ford says it’s not good enough.
Fewer than four-thousand tests for the coronavirus are being done each day in Ontario, far short of the 19-thousand promised by health officials by this time.
Ford says there are no excuses now that issues with lab capacity, backlogs, and the supplies of testing agents have now been overcome.
He’s demanding there be at least 13-thousand results every day, starting today.
The premier wants every first responder, health care worker, and long-term care resident tested.
Ford’s comments come as Ontario records its highest daily count of new COVID-19 cases so far.
There were 550 new diagnoses reported, bringing the provincial total to 52-hundred and 76.
Of those, almost 21 hundred people have recovered.
There were also 21 new deaths recorded, increasing the provincial toll to 174.
Assistance for business
The federal government is easing the qualifications for wage subsidies for businesses affected by the COVID-19 outbreak.
They will now need to show a 15 percent decline in revenue for March in order to qualify for payments equalling 75 percent of their payroll.
The maximum payout will be 847-dollars per week, per employee.
Previously, they had to show a 30 percent drop from March of last year.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the change comes because most only started feeling the impact of the pandemic halfway through last month.
The Prime Minister also says small businesses creating work for students under the Canada Summer Jobs program will be able to claim 100 percent of their wage costs.
The time frame for the program is also being extended through the fall.