A look at the local numbers …
Public Health Sudbury & Districts is reporting six new cases of COVID-19 in Greater Sudbury.
Considering resolved cases, there are 48 active cases in the agency’s jurisdiction.
Health Sciences North has 12 admitted patients, seven positives and the other five waiting for test results.
The hospital has four people in intensive care.
Algoma Public Health is reporting four new cases, all from Sault Ste. Marie.
Considering resolved cases, there are 31 active cases with one individual in hospital.
Reopening Ontario
As COVID-19 numbers continue to fall in Ontario, we could hear more details today about the government’s reopening plan.
The current stay-at-home order is to expire on June 2nd, but we won’t be returning to the colour-coded system that was first introduced last November.
Solicitor-General Sylvia Jones says, instead, they’ll take a sector-by-sector approach….setting a schedule for which activities and businesses will be allowed to resume, and when.
Jones says easing of the rules will be the same across the province, to avoid the threat of people travelling from one region to another.
The Ontario Hospital Association is urging the government to set a cautious course during the reopening, noting that the number of hospitalizations remains high, and the more-contagious variants of concern still pose a threat.
Vaccine storage improved
A major change in the storage requirements for the Pfizer vaccine is expected to help speed up inoculation programs even more.
Health Canada is now advising that the vaccine can be kept at refrigerator temperatures, two to eight degrees, for as long as a month.
The previous recommendation had been five days.
The decision comes after research found the vaccine’s effectiveness could be maintained during the extended storage period.
The airlines
Canada’s major airlines are renewing their call for a travel reopening plan from the federal government.
The European Union has decided to allow fully-vaccinated people to visit the 27-nation bloc next month….and relax restrictions on visitors from countries where COVID-19 levels are low.
The National Airlines Council says there should be a similar plan put together by Ottawa.
