Good morning, Greater Sudbury.
Here are some stories to start your day.
Sudbury's 13th confirmed COVID-19 case is in the hospital:
Public Health Sudbury and Districts confirmed the area's 13th positive case of COVID-19 and the 11th in Greater Sudbury. A woman in her 50s was tested on March 29 and is the first case in the area that has required hospitalization. It is unknown at this time how the woman became exposed to the virus. The woman attended the Health Sciences North emergency department on March 29 and was flagged through enhanced screening measures at the emergency department entrance. She was given a mask to wear upon entering the hospital and was immediately taken to an isolation room where she was cared for and swabbed. Following testing, she was admitted to HSN's respiratory unit on 6 South. HSN’s Emergency Department remains open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to provide urgent and emergency care for patients. For additional information on changes and measures the hospital has introduced in recent weeks due to the COVID-19 pandemic, please visit www.hsnsudbury.ca/covid-19. Additionally, Public Health has confirmed that one patient who previously tested positive for COVID-19 is now considered resolved according to current public health criteria. There have now been 13 positive cases of COVID-19 in the area, 11 in Greater Sudbury and two in the Manitoulin District.
HSN transferring ALC patients to hotel to free space for COVID-19 surge:
Health Sciences North is taking added measures in order to free up as much bed space as possible at the Ramsey Lake Health Centre in preparation for a potential surge in COVID-19 cases. The hospital had its first admitted COVID-19 patient on March 29, when a woman in her 50s attended the emergency department and was flagged through enhanced screening. HSN president and CEO Dominic Giroux held a teleconference on April 1 to brief the media on measures being taken by the hospital, as well as provided an update on the woman's condition. "The patient was admitted to our respiratory unit on the sixth floor of our south tower, she is in stable condition and is not receiving critical care," said Giroux. "I want to convey how proud I am of our frontline care providers. They have prepared diligently for this over the past few weeks, they have followed all the required precautions and protocols regarding infection prevention and control, also for the assessment of the patient and the testing of the patient." Giroux explained Wednesday that the hospital has been working with the Clarion Hotel on Elm Street and secured three storeys of the hotel in order to accommodate up to 95 patients. "We have the ability to provide care for up to 95 patients on three storeys of the Clarion Hotel and we have identified the priority population that would receive care at that location. The first priority would be our ALC (Alternative Level Care) patients who are waiting for assisted living, and we would also prioritize our ALC patients who are waiting for support at home or waiting bedded rehabilitation. The last priority patient population for transfer would be our ALC patients who are waiting for long-term care." While the hospital has only had one person admitted with COVID-19, Giroux stressed they cannot be over-prepared when it comes to this pandemic. Health Sciences North has the capacity to expand its number of critical care beds up to 102, and those will be rolled out as the need presents itself. Full story can be found here.
Bigger: Stay the course and continue listening to the experts:
Greater Sudbury mayor Brian Bigger issued a statement to the city's residents on April 1, urging everyone to stay the course in listening to the advice of the experts. Highlighted in the mayor's statement was that while the city has been fielding hundreds of calls on its 311 line, only a small handful have been complaints about crowds and social distancing. "As we begin the month of April, I wanted to take a moment to commend everyone across Greater Sudbury who has been adapting, adjusting and seeing their way through this truly unprecedented time in our current history," said Bigger in his statement. "I have been speaking with our city staff, and there have been only a few minor complaints about crowds and social distancing made to our 311 line. Out of 772 calls on Tuesday, only seven of them were submitted as crowd and social distancing cases." Read the full statement here.
Local MPs donating pay hikes to charity:
"That's a fair question," Sudbury MP Paul Lefebvre said March 31 when asked how federal members of parliament could justify receiving a pay increase while hundreds of thousands of Canadians are out of work due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The automatic pay increase took effect Wednesday, as did the federal carbon tax. This year, MPs are entitled to a 2.1-per-cent hike, an increase to their base salaries of just over $3,750 to $182,656. Senators are paid $25,000 less than MPs, so their base salary rises 2.4-per-cent this year to $157,656. When asked about it on March 31 during a livestream conversation with Sudbury.com editor Mark Gentili, Lefebvre said because parliament isn't in session during the pandemic, the government couldn't push pause on the pay hike legislation. So, he's doing what many other federal elected officials are doing: donating his raise to charity. When contacted by email, staff at Nickel Belt MP Marc Serré's constituency office said he planned on donating his raise to various food banks in Nickel Belt.
With 'skyrocketing' demand for food, Vale donates $100K to Sudbury Food Bank:
Vale heeded the call of support from the Sudbury Food Bank with a $100,000 donation to its Cash for Cans campaign. The donation is intended to support skyrocketing demand for food during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Vale has a long history of support for the Sudbury Food Bank,” said Danica Pagnutti, corporate and Indigenous affairs specialist for Vale’s Sudbury Operations. “The Sudbury Food Bank is seeing new clients every day during this crisis, and we really wanted to support the growing demand for their important community service.” The Sudbury Food Bank is a central distributor of food to 44 food banks and meal providers across the City of Greater Sudbury. These agencies currently support 8,000 to 8,500 people per month, and that number is expected to grow exponentially with the COVID-19 pandemic.
COVID-19 update on Nickel Belt from MP Marc Serré:
Sudbury.com editor Mark Gentili spoke with Nickel Belt MP Marc Serré at 4 p.m. April 1. We gathered questions from you, our readers, over the last day or so. We received quite a number of responses, though many of you asked similar questions. On Friday afternoon, Mayor Brian Bigger will be back to answer more of your questions. That live chat will also be held at 4 p.m. You can watch Serré's conversation with Sudbury.com here (https://www.sudbury.com/local-news/live-were-getting-a-covid-19-update-on-nickel-belt-from-mp-marc-serr-2218511).
Snacks 4 Masks: Order yummy local snacks, donate an N95 mask to front-line health workers:
Four Sudbury entrepreneurs have teamed up to make protecting front-line workers from COVID-19 as easy as staying home and ordering snacks. Snacks 4 Masks is a delivery service of sorts that was launched on Saturday, where for each variety pack of local fresh snacks purchased, one or more N95 masks will be donated to those who need it most. It was introduced to support local business, get good food to those confined to their homes, but most of all, help front-line workers, said Shawn Scott, owner of Local Jerky Plus. The initiative was made public less than 48 hours after a partnership was established between Deke Zaher, owner of Zaher’s Small Batch and Nicole Paquin, owner of Nickel City Cheese, and Scott. More on this story here.
Thursday Weather:
A mix of sun and cloud Thursday with some fog patches this morning. Chilly start to the day, feeling like -6 with the wind chill. It will warm up as the day moves along, getting up to a high of 9. Partly cloudy this evening with the low dropping to -2. For current weather conditions, short-term and long-term forecasts visit Sudbury.com's weather page at www.sudbury.com/weather.
