Catégorie : Reflet-News (Russell-Embrun-Casselman)

The first phase of the Ontario government’s reopening, which was due to begin next Monday, has instead been pushed forward to 12:01 a.m. on Friday. But interprovincial travel restrictions will remain in place until at least June 16, while in-person learning at the province’s schools will not return until fall. 

The changes to be introduced on Friday include a relaxation of outdoor gathering numbers to 10 people outdoors, outdoor dining with up to four people per table, and the reopening of non-essential retail at 15 percent capacity. Religious services, outdoor exercise classes, day camps and overnight camping will also be permitted to resume, though at reduced capacity. 

The announcement came after the Eastern Ontario Health Unit (EOHU) recorded only two new COVID-19 cases over the weekend. The number of active cases in the region also dropped to double-digits for the first time this year. There were 95 active cases in the EOHU on Monday, 55 of which were in Prescott-Russell. 

EOHU Medical Officer of Health Dr. Paul Roumeliotis said the low numbers were encouraging ahead of the reopening. He recommended a slow and steady approach to reopening in order to avoid the spread of variants. 

“The variant can throw a kink in this as well,” he said. “I really think with our vaccination rate and… slowly reopening, we’ll bypass any potential negative effect of that variant.” 

Schools remain remote 

The reopening plan does not include schools, which will continue to conduct remote learning for the rest of the school year. Premier Doug Ford announced last Wednesday that school would not return to in-class learning until fall. He said an increased risk of COVID-19 spread, including more contagious variants, was behind the decision. 

Some health professionals, including Dr. Roumeliotis, had called for schools to return to in-person learning before the end of the school year, while some teachers’ unions had opposed such a move. 

Students have been learning remotely since April 19, at the beginning of Ontario’s third wave. 

Vaccines 

About 74 percent of the adult population in the EOHU has received at least one dose. Dr. Roumeliotis expected that number to increase to about 80 percent in the coming days. About 110 clinics are planned between now and mid-August, providing between 1000 and 1200 doses each. 

The region 

The 55 active cases in Prescott-Russell on Monday included 14 in Clarence-Rockland, 14 in Russell, 12 in Hawkesbury, 8 in Alfred-Plantagenet, 3 in Casselman, 2 in The Nation, and 1 each in Champlain and East Hawkesbury. 

La célébration de la Saint-Jean-Baptiste à Prescott-Russell alterne chaque année en juin entre les communautés hôtes. L’année dernière, la fête à Casselman a été une affaire tranquille, sans évènements spéciaux en plein air, en raison des restrictions de la pandémie sur les voyages et les rassemblements. Le maire Stéphane Sarrazin, du canton d’Alfred-Plantagenet, affirme que l’évènement de cette année dans le village hôte d’Alfred sera différent, à commencer par le changement de date de la célébration, qui passera de juin à mi-septembre. 

«Nous allions avoir un grand évènement», a-t-il déclaré lors d’une entrevue téléphonique, ajoutant que le fait de déplacer l’évènement au début de l’automne signifiait une meilleure chance que les restrictions liées à la pandémie se soient suffisamment assouplies pour permettre la tenue de grands festivals en plein air. 

Désormais, la Saint-Jean-Baptiste sera une célébration de trois jours à Alfred, du 17 au 19 septembre, et fera partie de l’évènement du 150e anniversaire du village. Les activités proposées comprennent un défilé le long de la rue Principale, de la rue Station vers l’est jusqu’à l’intersection du chemin comté 15. Des spectacles et d’autres activités, comme un tournoi de balle molle, figurent également sur la liste de planification, sous réserve d’une consultation avec le bureau régional de la santé sur les directives de sécurité en matière de santé publique. 

Le maire Sarrazin a souligné que le comité organisateur de la Saint-Jean-Baptiste est «très optimiste» quant à la possibilité d’avoir une célébration adéquate de la fête franco-ontarienne cette année. Le comité a reçu une «bonne réponse» de la part des entreprises et d’autres commanditaires pour soutenir les festivités. 

Plus de détails sur l’évènement seront annoncés plus tard dans la saison. 

The restrictions, which limit travel between the two provinces for non-essential purposes, were due to expire in Ontario on Wednesday. But the Ontario government announced over the weekend that the border closures would be extended until at least June 16. Quebec is enforcing similar restrictions for those attempting to visit from Ontario. 

Police have been set up at checkpoints along the border, including Long Sault Bridge between Hawkesbury and Grenville and the Highway 417-Autoroute 40 intersection, since mid-April. In recent weeks, more officers from the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) have patrolled the Hawkesbury side than Sûreté du Québec officers on the Grenville side, but restrictions have not changed. 

The Ontario side of the border remains under a stay at home order until June 2, while patios and non-essential retail are not expected to open until at least the week of June 14. In Quebec, meanwhile, a curfew ended after four months on the weekend, and patios were allowed to reopen. 

On Monday, the Eastern Ontario Health Unit (EOHU) marked its lowest active case count since February. Just 114 cases were active in the region on Monday, compared to a third-wave high of 510 on April 19. The lowest active case count in the region this year was 101 on February 23, during a slight lull between the second and third waves. 

Seven new cases were reported in the EOHU over the weekend, five of which were in Prescott-Russell. No institutional outbreaks were recorded in the region as of Monday, but an additional death was reported. 

EOHU Medical Officer of Health Dr. Paul Roumeliotis said it had been a strong weekend in the area. “Great work our community has done to get the numbers down,” he said. “We need to continue so we can go into [reopening] and not look back.” 

Of the 114 active cases in the EOHU on Monday, 62 were in Prescott-Russell communities, including 16 in Russell, 14 in Clarence-Rockland, 14 in Hawkesbury, 11 in Alfred-Plantagenet, 3 in Casselman, 2 in The Nation, 1 in Champlain, and 1 in East Hawkesbury. 

Le premier ministre Doug Ford a annoncé vendredi matin que l’augmentation de l’offre de vaccins permettrait à la province d’accélérer le déploiement des secondes doses dans la province. L’intervalle entre la première et la deuxième dose pourrait être ramené à quatre semaines, alors qu’il est actuellement de 16 semaines au maximum, a-t-il précisé.  

Les personnes âgées de 80 ans et plus peuvent prendre un rendez-vous plus tôt pour la deuxième dose depuis le lundi 31 mai à 8h à l’adresse covid-19.ontario.ca/book-vaccine/, suivies par les personnes âgées de 70 ans et plus une semaine plus tard, le 7 juin. Les réservations anticipées ne sont pas automatiques, mais sont plutôt un choix que chaque personne doit faire. Il n’y a aucune garantie d’obtenir un rendez-vous plus tôt que celui qui a déjà été attribué.  

Environ 65 % des adultes de l’Ontario ont reçu leur première dose, en avance sur l’objectif fixé pour la première étape de la réouverture, le 14 juin. Lors d’une conférence de presse tenue vendredi matin, M. Ford n’a pas indiqué que la réouverture des terrasses des restaurants et d’autres installations seraient devancées, notant que d’autres critères tels que la capacité des soins intensifs et les taux de positivité ont également pesé dans la décision.  

Au niveau local, le Bureau de santé de l’est de l’Ontario a dépassé les 100 000 doses de vaccin la semaine dernière. En fin de semaine, 106 049 doses avaient été administrées dans toute la région dans les cliniques de vaccination de masse, les partenaires de la santé et les pharmacies. La plupart des personnes âgées de 60 ans et plus de la région avaient reçu au moins une dose.  

Le nombre de vaccins administrés aux groupes d’âge plus jeune était également en hausse. Selon le site Web du BSEO, au moins une dose avait été administrée à 31,2 % des 50-59 ans, 18 % des 40-49 ans, 15,7 % des 30-39 ans, 9,1 % des 20-29 ans et 0,9 % des moins de 20 ans. Ces pourcentages sont basés sur une estimation de la population du recensement de 2017, ce qui pourrait présenter une légère différence.  

Au moment de la publication, aucune nouvelle information n’a été présentée concernant la réouverture potentielle des écoles à l’apprentissage en personne. Ford a envoyé une lettre à 55 groupes et personnes différents la semaine dernière pour obtenir des commentaires.  Les personnes devaient répondre vendredi dernier avant 17 heures. 

“My real concern is for our small secondary schools,” said John McAllister, chairman of the Upper Canada District School Board (UCDSB) during a May 30 phone interview. “We are talking about the viability of small secondary schools.” 

A recent announcement from Education Minister Stephen Lecce declared that all Ontario school boards must offer virtual learning as an option for students at the start of the 2021-2022 school year. Distance learning has been the primary means of education for almost all students, both elementary and secondary since March 2020 when the provincial state of emergency for health took effect because of the pandemic. Attempts to reopen classrooms during the current school year have been sporadic because of renewals of provincial lockdown orders. 

School board worries 

Last month the UCDSB sent a brief to the ministry outlining its concerns about plans to make distance learning a permanent option for the provincial education program. McAllister noted that distance learning programs have worked well to ensure students continue their education during the pandemic. 

“We’re not against remote learning,” he said. “But a pandemic response is not a permanent option.” 

McAllister’s concern is that the ministry is trying to apply a one-size-fits-all idea to all school boards in the province without considering the student number differences between large urban schools and small rural schools. 

“I am standing up for small schools,” he said. “This may work well in Toronto, Hamilton, and other places. But it doesn’t work in Eastern Ontario where every student (registeredthe ) counts.” 

McAllister observed that class size and staffing for small rural schools are often different compared to large urban schools. He gave as an example a Grade 12 physics class that might have 15 students at a rural school. If five students decided to do their physics studies through virtual learning then the school could end up dropping Grade 12 physics from its curriculum because there are not enough students to justify the expense of assigning a classroom and a teacher for the course. 

He also noted that the ministry’s demand could also affect the budget revenue situation for many small rural school boards. The ministry could offer full-time online learning for high school students in either English or French through TVO/TFO. 

The worry is that school boards would end up losing some of the provincial Grants for Student Needs funding (GSN) they get as part of their annual operation budgets. Students that enrolled in full-time virtual learning through the ministry would no longer be considered as part of the total student enrolment for the school board region where they lived so there would be less GSN money from the ministry for that school board. During its own budget plan the school board would either have to find other revenue sources to make up for the GSN funding lost or consider cutting back on other expenses or eliminating some programs. 

Lobby action 

The UCDSB has asked the provincial government to form a royal commission on the future of education before making any “significant changes” to Ontario’s education setup. That includes making online learning a permanent option for students. 

McAllister noted that almost two dozen other school boards have expressed concern about the ministry’s demand. The Ontario Public School Association and the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario have also urged the provincial government to reconsider its plans. 

Meanwhile McAllister has begun lobbying for support of the UCDSB’s position from local governments and other groups. He has made presentations to the United Counties of Stormont-Dundas-Glengarry council and the regional councils for Grenville and Lanark counties. He is waiting for a response from the United Counties of Prescott-Russell (UCPR) to his request to make a presentation to UCPR council.