Good morning, Greater Sudbury.
Here are some stories to start your day.
Staggered start to school for most Sudbury students:
All four school boards in the Greater Sudbury area have confirmed they are staggering back-to-school dates for at least some of their students amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The province said Tuesday that Ontario school boards have the option for a staggered start to the new school year. “Boards can stagger their reopening over the first two weeks of school where this approach would enhance the health and safety preparedness,” Education Minister Stephen Lecce said in a memo to school boards. Lecce said the approach will help students adapt to new health and safety practices due to the coronavirus pandemic. Find the staggered back-to-school start time schedules here.
Research shows Ontario for-profit LTC homes had more COVID-19 outbreaks:
Research published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) has suggested that for-profit ownership of long-term care (LTC) homes is related to lower staffing and more COVID-19 outbreaks, when compared to non-profit and municipal facilities. The article, published on Aug. 17, further suggested that the for-profit status of LTC homes may be linked to the higher incidence of COVID-19 deaths in those homes, when compared to the non-profits and municipal homes. "For-profit status is associated with the extent of an outbreak of COVID-19 in LTC homes and the number of resident deaths, but not the likelihood of outbreaks, said the research paper, authored by Nathan M. Stall, Aaron Jones, Kevin A. Brown, Paula A. Rochon and Andrew P. Costa. “Differences between for-profit and nonprofit homes are largely explained by older design standards and chain ownership, which should be a focus of infection control efforts and future policy.” Their study was approved by the Research Ethics Board of the University of Toronto, as well as the Hamilton Integrated Research Ethics Board, said the CMAJ. The study took results from all LTC homes in Ontario from the period of March 29 to May 20, 2020, a period of seven and a half weeks. It measured the number of COVID-19 outbreaks, the number of residents infected and the number of deaths. Get the full story here.
Six dead, hundreds of homes destroyed: Today's the anniversary of the deadly 1970 tornado:
When Sudburians awoke on the morning of Aug. 20, 1970, the weather for the day was projected to be cloudy with a chance of showers. By 8:30 a.m., however, that forecast couldn’t have been further from reality. Around that time, parts of Sudbury and Lively were devastated when a violent storm struck without warning. As the sky darkened, the clouds unleashed a torrent of rain and hail, and winds as strong as 100 miles an hour battered the Nickel Belt. Within 10 minutes, it was over, but the destruction was significant. Six people were dead, 200 injured, hundreds were homeless and more than $17 million worth of damage was caused. In 2020 dollars, that is more than $111 million. The only notice residents received that morning was from the ominous voice of a woman who called into a local Sudbury radio station. Once on the airwaves, she reportedly exclaimed, “my house is blowing away, my house is blowing away,” before the line was disconnected. While her desperate plea may have alerted some to the approaching storm, by the time it would have registered with listeners, it was already too late. More on this story here.
Take an interactive journey through the tornado that tore through Sudbury 50 years ago:
Thursday, Aug. 20, 2020, marked the 50th anniversary of the tornado that devastated parts of Sudbury and Lively, and the City of Greater Sudbury has commemorating the tragedy in a new online feature. An interactive storymap takes users on a historical journey through the events of Aug. 20, 1970. Created using Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping, the application follows the route of the tornado and shares archival photos and media coverage. It was created by Poppy Pelletier, a city staffer. The city has also launched a new GIS application that showcases its extensive historical aerial photography collection. More than 11,000 air photos from 1946 to 1999 are now available. The interactive Aerial Photo App allows viewers to search by address and filter their searches by year using the time slider at the bottom of the page. The photos mainly cover the City of Greater Sudbury area, but older photos go as far west as Webbwood and as far east as Markstay. Check out the storymap here.
Council unanimous in supporting Kirwan’s call for lobbyist registry:
Greater Sudbury council has unanimously backed a motion from Ward 5 Coun. Robert Kirwan for staff to explore creating a lobbyist registry for Greater Sudbury, so the public will know who is trying to influence decisions of local elected officials. Ward 5 Coun. Robert Kirwan brought forward a members' motion during an Aug. 12 meeting of council, requesting that staff prepare a report that will be presented to council in the fourth quarter of 2020 with a draft bylaw that would establish a lobbyist registry for the City of Greater Sudbury. "I think we've been toying with the idea of a lobbyist registry for years, and as we've been looking at it in the past I think we've looked at lobbyists as people that would be employed to lobby at the provincial and federal levels," said Kirwan. "But what's been happening, what I've been noticing over the last six years, is that there's more interest in municipal government by a lot of organizations and corporations and individuals, and they're becoming more sophisticated in the way they approach councillors to try and influence [us] on certain things that they're passionate about." The councillor said he often receives emails and phone calls from citizens asking about groups that are talking to council about projects and that in some instances he's in the dark about matters that are being brought to his attention. "It's kind of embarrassing to say 'I'm not aware of anybody talking to councillors about this'," said Kirwan. "All I'm looking for is if staff can take some time and come back with a draft bylaw.” The bylaw, he said, isn’t directed at individual constituents speaking with their ward councillor. Rather, it would govern interactions between elected officials and representatives of public or private sector organizations making a concerted and organized effort to influence the decision of a councillor or council. Full story here.
Ontario confirms 76 new COVID cases today, but missing data from 11 health units:
Public Health Ontario reported at least 76 new lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 Thursday, but data from some health units was missing for the Aug. 20 summary. According to the province's public health agency, there were 11 health units not included in Thursday's report, so the new cases confirmed today could be underestimated. The province confirmed one death Thursday, an individual between the ages of 60 and 79 years old. There have now been 2,793 COVID-related deaths reported in Ontario, which is 6.8 per cent of all lab-confirmed cases. There have been 1,912 people over 80 years old who have died, which is more than 31 per cent of all lab-confirmed cases in that age group (6,069 cases). Of the health units that did report new cases for Thurdsay's provincial summary, Toronto reported the highest with 21 new cases, followed by Peel reporting 19 new cases, and Ottawa reporting 11 new cases. Find the full story here.
Most emergency orders extended until Sept. 22:
The Ontario government is extending most emergency orders until Sept. 22. This marks the second time that the government has extended most but not all emergency orders under the Reopening Ontario Act (ROA). All orders have been extended with the following exceptions: The Education Sector order will end on Aug. 31, 2020, the Limitation Periods order will end and suspended time periods will resume running on Sept. 14, 2020. The orders extended until Sept. 22 include work redeployment and limiting work for healthcare workers, retirement homes and long-term care homes, signatures of wills and powers of attorney, rules for areas in Stage 3 and patios. On July 21, the Ontario Legislature passed the ROA to ensure important measures remained in place to address the sustained threat of COVID-19 once the provincial Declaration of Emergency came to an end. More information on the extension can be found here.
Inspiring Artists: Need a good read? Try this new fantasy novel by Sudbury’s Tania Fay:
The COVID-19 pandemic has meant hard times for local artists, with summer festivals and performances cancelled. Even with Greater Sudbury now in Stage 3 of the reopening, and the province giving the green light for performance venues to reopen, it remains to be seen how the local arts scene will adapt — although artists have already been doing plenty of that during the pandemic. Given the unusual situation, we decided to put the spotlight on local creators of all kinds this summer, whether they’re musicians, actors, filmmakers, authors or fine artists. Many have been putting out new work amid the pandemic. Sudbury elementary school teacher Tania Fay released her second self-published book, ”Éile O’Neill: The Coven of Light,” this summer. She’s hoping that with many activities and outings cancelled, people might be open to spending more of their spare time reading, especially the work of local authors like herself. More on this story here.
Friday Weather:
More cloudy skies on the way as we head into the weekend. Mainly cloudy on Friday with the high sitting at 22. Despite the grey skies the forecast isn't calling for any rain. Overcast into the evening with the low dipping to 14. For current weather conditions, short-term and long-term forecasts visit Sudbury.com's weather page at www.sudbury.com/weather.
