Community News Update - April 26, 2024
Community News Update - January 25, 2021
Dear Community,
Today, Ontario reported another 1958 cases of COVID-19, with 727 of those cases being found here in Toronto. This continues the downward trend in our case numbers across the province, and our seven-day average now stands at 2371 cases – the lowest number we’ve seen since December.
As we continue to see declining case numbers, it’s vital that we all continue to do our part to stop the spread of COVID-19 in our community. That means that we need to limit all non-essential travel from our homes, wash our hands frequently, and maintain our physical distance from anyone with whom we do not live with.
Working together will drive our case counts down even further and will save lives.
Key to ending the COVID-19 pandemic is making sure that we are able to vaccinate enough members of our community to prevent community spread of the virus. As you may have heard, Ontario’s vaccine rollout has been slowed by shipment delays of the Pfizer vaccine, and as it currently stands, we are not sure how many doses we will be receiving in the coming weeks.
However, while shipments are being delayed, simultaneously the province has still not distributed many of the vaccines that are currently in the province’s possession. In fact, over 130,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine were sitting in Ontario’s freezers as of Monday.
In response to this, Andrea Horwath has called on the government to speed up the delivery of these vaccines to ensure that all residents of long-term care in Ontario receive their first shot by Friday.
To read the release from the Ontario government about vaccine delays, click here.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, our community as experienced a sense of shared grief, the likes of which most of us have never experienced in our lifetimes. In response to this, I’ve organized with the incredible team of folks from Being Here, Human for them to put on a free Mental Health & Grief Check-In for our community.
The event will be happening on Facebook Live this Thursday from 7-8PM, and if you’re interested in attending you can RSVP here. (Note: you do not need a Facebook account to tune in – simply go the following link on Thursday – www.facebook.com/jillandrewto/live)
Finally, today, I want to share with you a story from our community that has touched many people in recent days. It is the story of Norma and Malakais Guerrero, who both recently passed away due to COVID-19. Norma and Malakais had been married for many years, and in December they died just 20 days apart. Norma and Malakais led extraordinary lives, and Jennifer Pagliaro of the Toronto Star has written an exceptional piece documenting their lives.
I want to extend my condolences to their family, and to every family that has been impacted by COVID-19.
You can read the article here (warning: paywall).
In Solidarity,
Jill Andrew
MPP for Toronto—St. Paul's
