Good morning, Greater Sudbury.
Here are some stories to start your day.
As the pandemic turns one, we look back on a year like no other:
It was one year ago this week that the COVID-19 pandemic was officially recognized in Sudbury when Public Health Sudbury and Districts (PHSD) revealed that an employee of the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines had become the first known case of the coronavirus in the city. The employee, a man in his fifties, had gone to the emergency room at Health Sciences North (HSN) on March 7. He had a cough and shortness of breath. The man had been back home in Sudbury after attending the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada annual convention in Toronto. No one would know for a couple of days what the situation was. The hospital took all necessary precautions and followed standard operating procedures, including infection control, testing, and assessment, said PHSD. It was at the same time on March 9, 2020 that PHSD hosted a hands-on workshop to consider how different agencies and groups in the city would cope if a virus epidemic hit Sudbury. More than 60 agencies across the city took part that Monday. The event "was designed to move participants beyond their comfort zones to consider difficult, yet realistic scenarios related to COVID-19 spread," said the PHSD news release. “Today we rolled up our sleeves and acted on the World Health Organization’s end of February warning — that COVID-19 is a reality check for every government on the planet and that we have a duty to wake up and be ready,” said Dr. Penny Sutcliffe, the medical officer of health at PHSD. The wake-up call came quickly. Sudbury's first COVID case was revealed on March 10. Find the full story here.
City adding 8 career firefighters to the ranks to increase staffing at Val Therese station:
Greater Sudbury city council voted to add eight career firefighters at a cost of $1.075 million in order to allow Station 16 in Val Therese to be staffed with four career firefighters on each shift. The decision was made after some lengthy debate, with councillors Bill Leduc, Gerry Montpellier and Michael Vagnini voting in opposition. With the motion being carried, the costs associated with hiring the new career firefighters means that the city is currently looking at a tax increase of 4.1 per cent. Following the approval of the motion, Ward 3 Coun. Gerry Montpellier announced that he is resigning from his position as chair of the emergency services committee. Full story here.
Asymptomatic testing of school children not to blame for region going Red, Sutcliffe says:
An assertion that asymptomatic testing of school children is to blame for the region moving from Orange-Restrict to Red-Control is mistaken, the region’s top doctor said today. Dr. Penny Sutcliffe was responding to a question about a press release issued this week by a group saying it represents more than 120 small business owners in Greater Sudbury who are calling on Sudbury MPP Jamie West, Mayor Brian Bigger and city councillors to urge the province to move Sudbury back into the Orange-Restrict zone. In the news release, the group said the health unit was moved to the Red-Control on March 8 despite having only one patient hospitalized with COVID-19 in a district of 196,000 people. The release says this is a 0.9-per-cent positivity rate and asserted that there is “very little, if any, community spread” of COVID-19. The group claims the move to Red was precipitated by asymptomatic testing of school children, which began in area schools on Feb. 22. Full story can be found here.
Public Health Sudbury reports 10 new COVID-19 cases for March 9:
Public Health Sudbury and Districts (PHSD) has reported 10 new cases of COVID-19 in the area as of March 9. This is a significant drop from the 34 cases reported on Monday. PHSD also said there are now 211 active cases being actively monitored. This is again the highest number of active cases in Sudbury since COVID-19 tracking began a year ago. Also, since the pandemic was declared in March 2020, there have been 828 total COVID-19 cases reported to the Sudbury health unit. PHSD said 617 of those cases have been resolved locally. As to where the new cases might have occurred, the PHSD daily update page reported that 10 cases were found to have occurred within the Greater Sudbury Area. With respect to possible causes of the new cases, PHSD reported 10 cases as "under investigation”. PHSD also reports general demographics each day to provide basic information on the people who are becoming infected. This shows that the majority of cases are people in the 20 to 39 age category, with 293 total cases. The increase in the past 24 hours was six and two cases respectively. On the provincial COVID-19 roster Tuesday, the Ontario government daily website reported there were 1,185 new confirmed COVID-19 cases across the province.
City looking to sale of recyclables to cut into tax levy:
City council are banking on an uptick in the sale of recyclable materials in order to create a net levy reduction of $200,000. The city's finance and administration committee met March 4 for another night of budget discussions, and the subject of the city's recycling program was a focal point. Ward 11 Coun. Bill Leduc tabled a trio of amendments that sought to reduce the net levy by more than $300,000, but only one of those three amendments was passed as council voted in favour of bumping their net sale of recyclables to $200,000. The city generates revenue through the sale of recyclable materials after they have been processed. Greater Sudbury has a contract agreement where they split the revenue of the sale of processed recyclables with the contractor 50/50. In other words, the city will have to realize an additional $400,000 in gross sales of recyclables in order to hit the $200,000 mark. Full story here.
Opinion: The Laurentian mess stems from a major failure in leadership:
Dr. Dieter Buse, an emeritus professor of history at LU, says from his POV the university’s financial quagmire resulted from successive boards of governors, made up of wealthy and influential Sudburians, and complicit senior administrators failing to assert their authority over a powerful CEO. "In Sudbury, it may be inadvisable to question those who exercise power because they are well positioned in terms of money and influence," writes Buse. "Is that why no one seems to comment in the local media on individuals? Yet, we all know that decisions are not made by some anonymous force. They are made by people who may have also made many contributions and have reputations they do not want blemished. However, at the university, it seems someone gambled with many lives." Find the full column here.
Wednesday Weather:
Mild day with rain in the forecast. Some sunshine overhead to start the day, becoming cloudy later in the morning. Periods of rain beginning this afternoon. Daytime high will be sitting at around 7. Cloudy with more rain showers into evening. Overnight low will drop to 1. For current weather conditions, short-term and long-term forecasts visit Sudbury.com's weather page at www.sudbury.com/weather.
