May 6, 2020 Tele Town Hall Transcript

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May 6, 2020 Tele Town Hall – Transcript

Chief Bill Boyes:

Good evening, and welcome. Thank you for joining our weekly Telephone Town Hall. I'm Bill Boyes, fire chief here at the City of Brampton, and I'll be your moderator for this evening. If you'd like to ask a question during the town hall, please press star-three on your phone now.

Chief Bill Boyes:

Tonight, we'll be hearing from Alain Normand, our community emergency management coordinator; our mayor, Patrick Brown. We're also going to hear from Councillor Medeiros to provide you an update on the mayor's working group of reopening City Hall and city services. We also have chairs and

Councillors from our four task forces: Social Support Task Force with Councillor Santos and Councillor Bowman, Senior Support Task Force with Councillor Fortini and Councillor Dhillon, our Economic Support Task Force with Councillor Vicente and Councillor Palleschi, along with our Youth Support Task Force with Councillor Williams and Councillor Singh.

Chief Bill Boyes:

We also have joining us again this week, Dr. Lawrence Loh, our medical officer health with Peel Public Health; Dr. Naveed Mohammad, the new president and CEO... Not that new now. He's been here for a few weeks... of William Osler Health System; Peel Regional Police Chief Nishan Duraiappah; myself, Bill Boyes, fire chief here with the City of Brampton; Chief Peter Dundas from Peel Regional Paramedic Services, and again, our chairs from the four task forces.

Chief Bill Boyes:

Before we get started, if you'd like to ask a question, please press star-three. First, I'd like to turn it over to Alain Normand, our manager of emergency management. Alain?

Alain Normand:

Thank you, chief. Good evening, everybody. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. We're happy to be here today again to help inform our citizens. I want to highlight this week that it is Emergency Preparedness Week in Canada, a very important week, particularly this year. Normally, we will do events of all sorts outdoors. Today, of course, with the situation, we are going to be doing everything virtually, but we want to remind you that even though we're in a pandemic, a medical emergency, other things can still happen. Alain Normand:

We're getting close to the storm season, basically wind storms, tornadoes, thunderstorms. This is unfortunately a season that comes every year, so we need to be ready for it. We're hoping that we don't have to do anything, but we need to be prepared. Please go on our website, brampton.ca/prepared, and find out how you can prepare yourself and your family for other things beyond just the pandemic. Participate with us. Go online and check all of our information as this is the best week to do it,

Emergency Preparedness Week in Canada. Thank you, and hope we have a good evening. Pass it onto the chief.

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Great, thank you very much, Alain. I'm going to turn it over now to Mayor Brown. Mayor Brown? Mayor Patrick Brown:

Thank you at Chief Boyes. Let me say thank you once again for joining our Brampton Tele Town Hall. It's our goal throughout this pandemic to be transparent and honest with the public to keep you up to date on our progress. This is your city, and it's our goal for those of us working in public health or at the City of Brampton or for the Region of Peel or in the first responders that serve you to report to you because you're our residents. You are our bosses in the City of Brampton.

Mayor Patrick Brown:

We're unchartered territory with the pandemic, and I know there's been a lot of pain so far, a lot of sacrifice. Being away from loved ones is difficult as seen. Businesses hurt. This just isn't a health pandemic. We certainly saw the pain of losing loved ones, that is, with fatalities in our community, but it's been an economic firestorm.

The good news though is we're making progress. You're going to hear later from Dr. Lawrence Loh, and he's said this at our press conferences that the measures we're taking on physical distancing are flattening the curve. We have now tested 27 of 28 long-term care facilities, and obviously, with those testings come some new positive IDs, but if you'll notice, we're not seeing the same spread in the community.

The good news is this means our healthcare capacity will be able to handle people getting sick. The worry before was that if there was a surge, we wouldn't have the healthcare capacity to handle it. Because we recognize we're all in this together, we are handling this pandemic well. If you look at other parts of the world, comparatively, we're doing very well in Canada and in Brampton. I just want to say thank you Brampton for taking this seriously. I know I've talked about people who we've had to find for failure to abide by physical distancing, but by and large, 99% of the city is following the rules, following the guidance of public health, and you're making a difference. We're going to get through this together because of that.

A few notes this week. The Backyard Garden Program is now full. We've now oversubscribed. We had set a limit of a thousand. We changed it to 5,000. Then we changed it to 10,000. Then we found that we had 14,000 people signed up, so we're definitely can't do any more than 14,000; otherwise, the folks running that program, Counselor Doug Whillans who... by the way, it's his birthday today, happy

birthday, Doug Whillans, if you're listening... and Rob Gasper, I worry that I'll give them a heart attack. If you haven't signed up to the Backyard Garden Program, unfortunately, it's too late, but to the 14,000 people that signed up, we're going to make a big difference with food security and the environment, and boy, it's going to be a special year in the flower city with backyard gardens. We've turned a lemon into lemonade with a beautiful environmental story.

We had Frankie Flowers actually, who did an Instagram live with us early this week to give people tips on gardening. Today also marks the hundredth day, the hundredth days since we began emergency

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meetings on this pandemic, and we talked about that earlier today. Thank you to [Alain Normand 00:06:08] and his team [Razmin Said who have all been working really hard on this. We've got great emergency management leaders in the City of Brampton.

I'd also note that we've tweaked some of our transit services to meet the changing needs of our community. There are some new changes to the Brampton Transit service effective this past Monday, May 4th. The additional service and the increased frequency on specific routes will be reintroduced to help support access to healthcare facilities and critical employment areas in Brampton, so always keep an eye on our brands and transit website for those changes.

The province of Ontario announced some new changes in terms of stores, retail stores that can open for curbside pickup, so you may want to look at the province of Ontario site for those changes. I also know we are getting pretty close to Victoria Day. I know Victoria Day's normally a time when you gather with friends, you have fireworks. It's not going to be that type of Victoria Day this year, but we're still hoping to be able to give people reasons to celebrate Queen Victoria's birthday, so we're going to be having a virtual fireworks display in the City of Brampton. If you go to brampton.ca/victoriaday, you can learn all about it. There's going to be a countdown at 7:50 on Monday, May 18th. This is part of a partnership with cities across Ontario.

As always, I'm looking forward to your questions today, looking forward to have the residents of Brampton get briefed by Dr. Naveed Mohammad and Dr. Lawrence Loh, who are two of the finest medical minds in Peel Region. I feel it's important that you have access to the same type of briefings that we have from medical professionals. It gives you... Knowing all the details, I think, gives everyone a sense of calm and realization that we can get through this. On that note, thank you, Chief Boyes. Chief Bill Boyes:

Perfect. Thank you very much, Mayor. Now I'm going to ask Councillor Medeiros to update us on the mayor's working group on reopening City Hall and city services. I know that's a big job, and Councillor Medeiros is on it. Councillor Medeiros, are you on the line?

Councillor Medeiros:

Yes, chief, thank you very much. Exactly what you had suggested, I'll be working with the various task forces and working with senior staff, and more importantly, consulting with the public in terms of understanding what user groups and opportunities or type of services and programs that they depend on the city. I'll be working with my colleagues, who are doing a great job working on the respect of task forces, with the business community, with social services, with youth groups, and so on.

More importantly, or just as importantly, nothing, again, nothing's going to be open prematurely. It's all going to be measured and systematic approach, and it's going to be informed. We will consider data trends and guidance from Peel Public Health and the provincial federal government, and as people probably on a daily basis hear from the province, things are always changing, so announcement about a

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golf course, that we started working on the golf course and when that opens, so certainly, this week, I'll have the opportunity to be engaging with sports and user groups.

I know a lot of them are looking towards to get back to you some of our facilities. It's not just simply turning the lights on and opening up the golf course. We have to see in terms of first understanding what are some of the user groups. I've heard from seniors who want to have specific times or continue to have a specific times at the golf course. I've heard other considerations in terms of how we do that. Councillor Medeiros:

Right now, the webpage has been launched. There's an email, contact details. Look forward to listening from the public and listening from everyone out there who can provide their input in terms of what are some of those services that they look out forward to reopening and giving us some suggestions on how we can reopen and what type of sort of supports that we need. Again, just lastly, for anyone who wants to provide public input, they can email City Hall at [email protected]. Back to you, chief, and thank you very much, everybody.

Chief Bill Boyes:

Thank you very much, Council Medeiros. I'm going to go now to Dr. Lawrence Loh, the Peel medical officer health of the Region of Peel. Dr. Loh, can you give us an update?

Dr. Lawrence Loh:

Thanks very much, chief. It's a pleasure to provide an update for Brampton, and thank you to Mayor, Councillor Medeiros, and rest of the guests and all the public that are listening tonight. As of today, there were 1,233 confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 in the City of Brampton, and of those, 117 have recovered under our current definitions, so I'm happy to talk about our ongoing work on the number of recoveries that we have in the region as a whole.

Dr. Lawrence Loh:

We have had, unfortunately, 44 deaths amongst our Brampton residents. Certainly, our hearts go out to the families that have been impacted by this disease and those who have passed away. Certainly, we're thinking of them. But the more important thing that I wanted to say is that we are also with the rest of you in Brampton. I know that it hasn't been easy either in terms of some of the sacrifices that have been made in terms of the steps that have been taken to flatten the curve, but very much so our curve is flattening in the City of Brampton. We are seeing both a slowing of new cases in the community and similarly with some of the long-term care outbreaks that we were observing in the middle of April. Those are now starting to also come to a plateau.

Dr. Lawrence Loh:

Our hospitals, while they do still see a certain amount of severity, are also starting to see at least a stabilization in terms of the number of cases that are being seen. Overall, I think the picture is starting to look quite positive in the Region of Peel. We are certainly recognizing as well that the sacrifices that we have made as Bramptonians coming together to fight this has actually started to make a difference. Dr. Lawrence Loh:

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I do want to say, though, that as the weather gets warmer, our advice hasn't really changed. I want to make very clear that our clear advice has always been to really stay at home and only leave for essential reasons, meaning groceries, gas, prescriptions, seeking medical attention, and exercise. The most fundamental thing, if you actually go beyond to the reason why we ask people to stay at home, is really, we have been trying to promote the concept of physical distancing. I really think everyone who has actually stepped up and complied with this recommendation to really make sure that you're staying home as much as possible, and then also staying two meters apart from people when you are out and about.

Dr. Lawrence Loh:

Really, physical distancing is the key thing that we must get into in order to tackle this pandemic in our community. We know that this virus will not disperse if we do not come together. If we maintain a safe distance apart, and certainly, if we consider wearing a nonmedical mask in instances where we cannot, such as in a grocery store, a drug store with small isles, we will continue to help to limit the spread and continue to flatten the curve.

Dr. Lawrence Loh:

I think the one thing that I've been trying to explain to many people and I've been asked this numerous times is, "Is it safe to go outside? Is it safe to exercise?" Our advice on exercise and going out has been pretty much the same since March, which is, absolutely, you can go outside on your own with a pet or with members of your household, ideally with one other member of your household, but really, you should be going out, and you should be getting your exercise. It helps with your mental health and wellbeing, especially recognizing that this week is Mental Health Week, and it also helps with your overall physical wellbeing as well.

Dr. Lawrence Loh:

As the weather gets nicer, I do encourage you to go out with your pet, with your household members, certainly make use of the spaces that you can go out to, but ideally, could you please try to make sure that you're staying close to home as much as possible. What we don't want to see is crowding. If you go back to what I said at the very beginning, the goal is distancing, and we can still continue to live and we will probably have to continue to live with COVID-19 for some time, but the aim is really to make sure that that critical two meters of distancing is ensured.

Dr. Lawrence Loh:

If you're in the midst of being out on your exercise, making sure you're keeping that two meters of distancing for people who may be passing by or chatting with. That is critical. Then certainly, if you're going to popular places or attractions, making sure that you're deciding, "Well, you know what? I actually don't want to go in there because it looks like physical distancing is not possible, I'm heading home," and to the extent possible trying to avoid hotspots like that because scenic hotspots may very well become viral hotspots if we're not careful.

Dr. Lawrence Loh:

We are flattening the curve. That doesn't mean we're out of the woods yet. It means that we have got fire under control, but what we can do now and the choices that we make as to how we control and fight that fire will really tell the tale here in Brampton and throughout the Region of Peel in the days and weeks to come. With that, I thank you all very much for doing your part to stay home as much as

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possible, and if you are going out for whatever reason, keeping your distance and staying close to home as much as you can. With that, I'll thank you and pass it back to Chief Boyes.

Chief Bill Boyes:

Thank you very much, Dr. Loh. Just a reminder to everybody listening, if you'd like to ask a question, please press-star three on your phone so you have that ability to ask that question. Now we're going to go to Dr. Naveed Mohammed, the president and CEO of William Osler Health System. Dr. Mohammed? Dr. Naveed Mohammed:

Hello, and good evening, everybody. Thank you very much for continuing to include Osler in this important program. We really do appreciate being on this call every week to provide updates and answer questions about the hospital's COVID-19 response.

Dr. Naveed Mohammed:

Now, despite what we are seeing in the media about flattening the curve in Ontario and across the country, we had also have continued to work diligently to ensure we support and protect our patients as well as our staff, physicians, and volunteers while also ensuring that we have capacity to care for

patients experiencing complications from COVID-19. We want to assure the community that Osler has the capacity to care for an increased number of COVID-19 patients that need it, including patients who may require ventilation. We do have a multistage surge plan that will expand our capacity in critical care at our hospitals, and we've taken a number of efforts to date, including moving noncritical patients to different areas of the hospital.

We are continuing to monitor the environment, however, and also working towards ensuring that we will be able to ramp up operations when it's safe to do so. What we mean by that is that with the direction of the ministry and the guidance from the ministry, we have shut down some elective

operations, such as some outpatient clinics and non-urgent and scheduled surgery. In the meantime, our emergency surgeries and urgent procedures have been continuing over the past number of weeks, and our inpatient services continue to operate.

Many of our outpatient services that still need to happen have moved to what we call virtual platforms, which means teleconferencing and video conferencing so patients can still access care that they need. We've also seen that many of our community members have relied on Osler's Assessment Centers at our Peel Memorial and Etobicoke General site, and judging by our numbers, we've been seeing lately that record numbers have been occurring, especially at the Etobicoke Drive-Through Assessment Centre, and we know that our community appreciates being able to be tested from the safety and comfort of their car.

Our Assessment Centre of Peel is still open and swabbing people who meet the screening criteria. Though our urgent care center at Peel Memorial is closed at this time, our Assessment Centre is open from 10:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. seven days a week. We have advised our staff at the Assessment Centers to be a bit more liberal in providing testing to our community members who may arrive there for a test.

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Now with the temporary closure of the urgent care center, we know that people may be accessing our emergency departments at Brampton Civic and Etobicoke General. We want the community to rest assure that Osler hospitals, including our emergency departments, remain a safe place to receive care. We've taken every precaution to ensure the health and safety of our patients, our staff, our physicians, and volunteers. This includes us implementing enhanced cleaning practices and safety measures after screening and implementing a no-visitors policy. We also provide masks to everyone who comes to our hospital, whether they are staff, patients, or visitors.

Anyone who is in medical distress and needs emergency care should come to our emergency

department. They still remain the most appropriate place for those who require emergency or urgent care related to an injury, illness, or condition. This is especially important for those of our patients experiencing symptoms from existing conditions, such as heart disease, kidney disease, or diabetes. Dr. Naveed Mohammed:

I just want to say how incredibly grateful we are for the support from the community during this challenging time. It really lifts our spirits of the staff and physicians and volunteers. Thank you once again for the opportunity to participate in this conversation. I look forward to answering any questions you may have. Thank you.

Chief Bill Boyes:

Thank you very much, Dr. Mohammed. This week, we're going to have a chance to hear from our emergency services chief, and we'll start with Chief Nish from Peel Regional Police. Nish, go ahead. Chief Nishan Duraiappah:

Thank you, Chief Boyes, and thank you, Mayor Brown. Good evening, everyone. On behalf of Peel Regional Police, we just want to provide a brief update on how things have been from our police perspective during this pandemic. As you know, early on, we had a fulsome role with the municipalities to ensure that people were remaining [inaudible 00:21:11] and adhering to emergency protocols. Chief Nishan Duraiappah:

One of the key themes that continues to be presented to us is a concern from residents, and regardless of the pandemic, is road safety. We just wanted to assure the public that despite the pandemic, our officers have been out and present, as we have always been, to ensure that road safety remains number one, whether it be pedestrians, impaired driving, and in recent cases, because of the reduced volume of traffic on the roads, the concern for increased speed.

Chief Nishan Duraiappah:

I do need to advise that despite the pandemic, we have seen an increase in road racing incidents, which has resulted in some enforcement that's appropriate for that; however, we do continue to monitor this as we do other trends. One of the key messages we've also been ensuring from a public safety and a community safety standpoint with our partners from the school boards, regional health, the City of Brampton, and other non-for-profit agencies is that individuals are finding themselves in isolation and in

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need of support, whether it be mental health, intimate partner violence, or if there are young people that need support and connection to services, we encourage the public to still call.

Chief Nishan Duraiappah:

All these agencies that have always provided support are available, and help is there. For the public to find additional information as it relates to the crime prevention and any trends, we encourage them to follow peelpolice.ca, or of course, through social media, through Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for any updates. Thank you, Chief Boyes. Back to you.

Chief Bill Boyes:

Thank you very much, Chief Nish. Just like to give an update now from a Brampton Fire. Throughout this emergency, we've been able to maintain our staffing levels, and we're able and ready to respond should you have a fire or emergency in Brampton. Our staff have been doing a great job through this

emergency. We meet as a team regularly. Our staff are continuously updated. We make sure that we're adapting our policies and procedures to make sure that we can deal with and navigate this COVID emergency.

Chief Bill Boyes:

But there is some important information I'd like to pass along. Unfortunately, we've seen an increase in fires in the city. We typically see more fires happening in residential homes. We want to remind

everybody that it's so critical that you be careful when you're cooking, that you pay attention and you don't leave it unintended. We see too many fires happening when there's unattended cooking. We have to make sure that that doesn't happen. We need to ensure, while you're at home, you have more time now, you have the ability to make sure you have working smoke alarms and working carbon monoxide alarms and make sure you have a home escape plan. In case of fire ever did happen, you could get outside and meet our crews, and it makes our job a lot easier-

PART 1 OF 4 ENDS [00:24:04] Chief Boyce:

... you could get outside and meet our crews and it makes our job a lot easier. And then everybody has a greater chance of being safe. And I also want to remind everybody, we talked a little bit about fireworks early on, as we come into the May long weekend on Victoria Day, it's one of the four days a year in the city of Brampton, where you're allowed to set off short range fireworks. So those are the fireworks that travel less than 10 feet. And you can only do so on private property. You can't do so in a public park, on a street, in a school yard.

Chief Boyce:

So if you're doing that, we encourage you to do so safely. Make sure you properly dispose of those fireworks after use. We don't want to see any fires starting in garages from improperly discard fireworks. There's some great information, if you log on to the City of Brampton website and look up fireworks, if you check out our fire prevention page. If you have any questions, our phone number is (905) 874-2700, or connect with us on social media. So we want everybody to be safe. We know it's difficult. We want you to enjoy the holiday and we will get through this COVID emergency. I'm going to pass it now over to Chief Peter Dundas with Peel Regional Paramedic Service. Chief Dundas?

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Peter Dundas:

Thank you boys and Mayor Brown. And thank you Brampton for helping us all flatten the curve as Dr. Loh has.... It takes all of us to be able to put up a line of defense against this virus. And we appreciate all your efforts. Peel Paramedics are always ready to respond. And three key pieces that I'd like to note tonight, and that going Doctor Mohammad's comments is if you're having an emergency at home, chest pain, shortness of breath, stroke-like symptoms, please do not hesitate to call 911.

Peter Dundas:

We're seeing too many people holding off symptoms, and it could be out of fear. You don't need to be fearful. Please call us. We will take great care of you. You'll be protected. And the emergency

departments, the doctors, nurses, and everyone else working in there, will make sure that you remain safe and well, please don't put off any serious illness that may be occurring.

Peter Dundas:

The other point is that the paramedics, because our call volumes are lower with everybody staying home, have been actively involved working with a region Peel staff, primarily public health and long-term care and our human services staff. And since April 12th, paramedics and other partners from these areas that have been redeployed, have done swab and testing in 27 to 28 long-term care homes, for pretty close to a total of 7,000 tests. And this is in addition to all the testing that is going on through our partners at William Osler. So swabbing and testing is occurring in our communities, and we are

continuing commit to that. Peter Dundas:

The third piece is that we have paramedics deployed to deal with our most vulnerable population, in our shelters, in our isolation programs, to give them the care and support they need as they address COVID, or are on a 14-day isolation period. So once again, thank you, residents of Brampton. Stay safe, stay well back to you, Chief Boyce.

Chief Boyce:

Thank you very much Chief Dundas. I just want to remind everybody once again, that if you'd like to ask a question that you please press *3 on your phone. Again, we do have the chairs of our task forces on the line today, and I know Councillor Bowman, as part of the Social Support Task Force would like to give an update. Councillor Bowman, are you on the line?

Councillor Bowman:

I certainly am. Thank you very much. This week, we launched a new ticketing system for managing submissions from the Social Support online form that we introduced a few weeks ago. And that form helps our distribution to the residents a lot more. We couldn't do this type of work without some amazing volunteers. Last week, we had 44 volunteers who traveled almost 700 kilometers total, to deliver to 204 residents. So thank you so much.

Councillor Bowman:

We continue to support our Anchor Food distributions with extended weekly donations, as well as bulk donations. This week, for example, we had a thousand croissants delivered and 50,000 biodegradable

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bags that will be used. And things never seem to end surprising us. We had [inaudible 00:28:48] make a delivery today to [inaudible 00:28:50] generations, so that was a well accepted.

Councillor Bowman:

Lastly, this week we engaged with total of nine people experiencing homelessness at encampment sites around the city. And I know people don't like to see these encampment sites. However, during this time of emergency, this is a critical place where the homeless are going. Our job is to make sure that they're safe and that they have food. If you're in need of any groceries, or an emergency meal, please visit our web page. And if you don't have access to a computer or mobile device. Then simply call 311 and they'll connect you. If you're looking to help as a resident, or a corporation with a donation, email us at [email protected]. we have all sorts of opportunities, including volunteering opportunities. Councillor Bowman:

If you're looking to do your part during the pandemic, please visit the website to see which items are needed for donation. And we're working with our Anchor Food banks to plan for future food security. And as a matter of fact, tomorrow, we're starting with Global Medic. They will be setting up at Williams Parkway Operations Yard with Razmin, and going to be training a few members of the team there in order to allow Global Medic to distribute food force as well.

Councillor Bowman:

So we are making sure that there's not a shortage of food. We just want to make sure that everybody gets it. So thank you all very much.

Chief Boyce:

Thank you very much, Councillor Bowman. I know the task forces are doing some great work. So at this time we're going to go to our first question. We are going to be on the line to eight o'clock tonight. And our first question is from Cody. Cody, are you on the line?

Cody:

Hi. Yeah, I'm here. Hi Mayor Brown, member of the council, people in the emergency management office. Thank you everyone for all the work that you've been doing. Earlier today, I had been reading a couple of news articles online and through the press conference that the mayor did, that there is going to be definite charges for those who improperly dispose of their PPE. So I was just wondering if the mayor, or any of the members of council could elaborate on what that means.

Patrick Brown:

Thank you, Cody, for the question. So two things here, one, we're glad that people are taking Dr. Loh's advice. And when they go on transit, they're using masks and gloves. And when they're in the grocery store, they're wearing masks and gloves. But with that, we need to be collegial. And you can't walk out the grocery store and throw it on the ground. You can't throw it at the transit stop. And we've seen examples of where we've seen personal protective equipment like that, that is littering our community. Patrick Brown:

And so Councillor Palleschi brought this up at a council meeting recently, saying that we have fines for littering that fall under a normal fine, but we also have a more significant fine that would be under the

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hazardous materials' bylaw. And so counsel has instructed staff to come back and to give our bylaw officers that option.

Patrick Brown:

So a message to Brampton residents, we got to keep this community safe. And this change is an

indication that we don't appreciate littering with PPE. Frankly, it allows the virus to spread easier. What happens if someone's at a store with a young child who picks it up? It's reckless behavior, and I want residents to be more careful with how they conduct themselves. We can have littering of PPE. Chief Boyce:

Great. Thank you very much. Mayor Brown. We're going to take one more question now, before we do our first poll of the evening,

Chief Boyce:

Susan, are you on the line? Susan:

I'm here. Can you hear me? Chief Boyce:

Yes. [crosstalk 00:33:02] question please. Hi Susan. Susan:

I want to thank all the taskforce, first of all, like everybody else is, I think you're doing a fantastic job. It takes an enormous amount of planning to put something like this together. And at the same time, I had some confusing messages, confusing to me, at least, that I thought I'd let you know about. And maybe you can tell me how I should be thinking.

Susan:

So I recently had a sore throat, I didn't think much of it. I did go on to the health site and it said, well, if I had a fever or a sore throat, then I should just self-isolate, which I did for a few days. And it didn't go away, so I ended up calling the doctor who said, "I think you have a throat infection, but I want you to go get tested for COVID in the meantime, because you have a sore throat and you've had a slight fever." Susan:

When I went to the evaluation center, it was almost as if they were angry with me for not showing up sooner, but I was under the impression that there was not a lot of testing being done. It was being saved for healthcare workers in serious cases. And so now, I'm confused about whether I should have gone in the first place, or shouldn't I have?

Chief Boyce:

Thank you very much for your question. I'll ask the doctors to weigh in. Maybe we can start with Dr. Loh and then go to Dr. Mohammad.

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Absolutely. Thank you very much for the question. I'm sorry to hear about your experience and certainly about your confusion. At this time, we are certainly focusing on certain priority populations, the long-term care workers, healthcare workers, et cetera. But that said in general, there is discretion on the part of clinicians to test, particularly if an individual is symptomatic. And so I think it really speaks to the idea that you should be trying to use the self-assessment tool online at ontario.ca/coronavirus as much as possible. And certainly if you have further questions arising from that assessment to call public health at (905) 799-7700.

Dr. Loh:

Depending on what's determined, even if you aren't part of those groups, testing may be warranted and it's certainly something that we would explore with you. In your situation, it's tough for me to say because I haven't done a full assessment and I haven't necessarily determined if you're a part of any of the high risk groups, or party groups, et cetera. Typically, if you aren't experiencing symptoms, then you may not necessarily be tested at an assessment center. But given that you were experiencing symptoms, and certainly a physician had considered making the referral, it is probable that, that assessment center staff may have used a certain discretion to test.

Dr. Loh:

I do want to confirm though, with Dr. Mohammad if that's his understanding as well? I do know they've been adhering to the guidelines that have been put forward to public health, but certainly this

circumstance, at least the specific circumstance is one that we get certainly comment on. Naveed, what did you think?

Chief Boyce:

Thanks Dr. Loh. Dr. Mohammad, are you able to elaborate? Dr. Naveed Mohammad:

Well, Dr. Loh and actually Mayor Brown, this is I think the second time we've been having this discussion today. And to the caller, I really do truly apologize for your experience. And there has been confusion, not only for our community members, but also for our frontline staff. Because when the COVID crisis first started, there was a significant amount of concern that we were going to run out of swabs, because the swabs were being manufactured in Italy and in China.

Dr. Naveed Mohammad:

And I think some of that messaging, even though we're not getting it out there, continues to remain with our assessment centre staff, that we have to preserve swabs and only test people have symptoms. And I'm sorry that they were upset at you. You definitely did need testing. I've been working with Dr. Loh, at least locally in Peel, to change some of the dynamic in our assessment centres. And that, as I've mentioned in my messaging, that we are going to be trying to be more liberal to allow testing for patients who show up at assessment centres.

And yes, you should have done it a little bit earlier, but we don't expect every patient to know what to do. And if this occurred at one of our sites, I totally apologize for that. And I just hope that you're feeling better now and you got your test.

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Chief Boyce:

Thank you very much, Dr. Mohammad and Dr. Loh. We're going to take one more question now, before we go to our poll. Nathan, are you on the line with your question?

Nathan: Yeah. Chief Boyce:

Hi, Nathan, go ahead with your question, please. Nathan:

My question is, when are the schools going to open? Patrick Brown:

Well Nathan, great question. And I understand Nathan is in grade four and I just want to say it's

wonderful to have young residents like Nathan, who are taking an interest in a tele town hall. This is part of our democracy and so, way to go, Nathan. There's no age too young to take an interest in what's happening around you.

Patrick Brown:

In terms of when school's going to reopen, right now they haven't said that the school year is canceled completely. In Quebec, they're reopening the schools in a few weeks, where there's been other provinces who have said, "It's not going to come back until September." So I think there is a small chance. It might come back in June and there's probably a greater likelihood that it would be September.

Patrick Brown:

I will share with you one personal story though, Nathan. I grew up with a mother who was a teacher and a principal. So when I wasn't in school, she gave me homework, even during the summer. So don't give your mother any ideas, otherwise she might give you homework too, but thanks for calling in, Nathan. Chief Boyce:

Thank you very much, Nathan. I think Nathan sets the record for the youngest caller with a question. So that's fantastic. Right now, we're going to go on to our first poll of the evening. And the question is, to allow residents the option to avoid visiting city facilities in-person, the city of Brampton should make as many services as possible accessible by phone and internet. Press one if you agree, press two of you disagree, press three if you're unsure.

Chief Boyce:

And again, the question, to allow residents the option to avoid visiting city facilities in-person, the city of Brampton should make as many services as possible, accessible by phone and internet. Press one if you agree, press two if you disagree, and press three if you're unsure and in a few moments, we'll reveal the results of the poll to everyone. We're going to go forward now with our next question to Susan. Susan, are you on the line?

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Susan: I am. Hello? Chief Boyce:

Hi Susan, go ahead with your question, please. Susan:

I Want to thank Mayor Brown and everyone else for doing an incredible job in this city. Your compassion and wisdom is outstanding. I am a local pastor in one of the congregations in Brampton. And even though we are so thrilled that other families are receiving financial help, as a charitable organization, we have not been able to benefit from any of the financial relief, whether it be for a corporation because we're a charity, they say they can't process it, or relief on income for our staff. And they say we don't qualify for that. Is there any resources, or any help that is going to be considered for churches? Patrick Brown:

So great question. In terms of costs that a church would pay in Brampton, obviously faith institutions are exempt from property taxes. But in terms of whether there's provincial, or federal lease there hasn't been yet. And obviously I do worry about our faith community. There's so much social support in our community that is supported through the faith communities. And I know right now, not being able to gather on your day of worship is causing real financial challenges. That's normally when people give, so I will pass this on, Susan. I will raise this with the federal and provincial governments. I have a call each week with each level of government and I will raise this as something that I've now heard a number of times.

Patrick Brown:

Yesterday, I was on a Zoom call for the Interfaith Council Appeal. I was on a Zoom call for the Brampton Christian Association. And I've been hearing this again and again, and I will pass it on.

Chief Boyce:

Great. Thank you very much, Mayor Brown. Thank you Susan for the question. Going on to the next question is Debbie on the phone. Debbie, if you're there with your question, go ahead, please. Debbie:

Hi, thank you for taking my call. I was looking at the cases today for Brampton, which reported 2,781. But the recovered is only 281, which works out to just over 10%. But meanwhile, Ontario itself, we have over 70% recovered. Why is Brampton seems so low in the recovered?

Chief Boyce:

Thank you, Debbie, for your question. We'll ask Dr. Loh to answer that. Dr. Loh:

Thanks Debbie, for your astute observation of the recovery cases in Peel. I'm happy to report that this is not that people are not recovering in Peel or in Brampton, this is pretty much just an administrative artifact. At Peel Public Health, we've had very stringent data practices where we want to make sure that a recovery case is actually a closed case in the provincial database.

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Dr. Loh:

And what has happened is, because we have so many cases that are there, we are obviously going through the verification process, making sure that we're closing each of them individually. Whereas at the provincial level, what they've done, is there's been an automatic count put in place where if a case has elapsed 14 days and symptoms are gone, that they're automatically considered recovered. And so naturally that means that many of the cases that were identified in April, pretty much all throughout April, up until about 14 days from today, have essentially been all counted as recovered, unless they were marked as a death, or some exception, like a severe hospitalization.

Dr. Loh:

So we at Peel Public Health have actually been discussing this, but certainly we do take our data quality very seriously. But at the same time, we do recognize that it causes some confusion amongst the public. And so it may very well come to pass that in the days to come, we may also align our stats. If a case has been diagnosed with COVID-19 and 14 days have elapsed, then we will also have that automatic switch, that they then be counted as recovered. Unless there is a more severe flag that has been put into the system, as opposed to having to close each case out individually.

Dr. Loh:

But it's a great question. I want to reassure you though, that there's no indication that people in Peel region are suffering worse than this disease, per se. Overall, the natural disease course that has been observed, both in terms of the distribution of how people are getting ill, as well as how long people are getting ill, has largely reflected what is in the province, but what you've identified is largely more of an administrative artifact, in the way that we have been reporting our data, just given commitment to data quality. But we may move to align with the rest of the province in the days to come. So thank you very much for the question and back to you, Chief Boyce.

Chief Boyce:

Thank you very much, Dr. Loh. Now, we'd like to go over the results of the first poll. And it was overwhelming that 87% of people agree that the city of Brampton should make as many services as possible accessible by phone and the internet, in order to avoid visiting city facilities in-person. And I know something that Councillor Medeiros and his working group and our Chief Administrative Officer David Barrick and senior staff will definitely take into consideration. So we appreciate your responses. Chief Boyce:

I'm going to go into the next question, which is with Lorraine. Lorraine, you on the line? Chief Boyce:

Hi Lorraine, go ahead with your question, please. Lorraine:

[foreign language 00:45:34] for taking my question. I think this is best suited for Dr. Mohammad. And the question is in the best of times, the wait time for tests, whether it be MRI or CT's is quite long. It could be four months, it could be six months. So given the COVID situation, all of these tests, non-essential, or non-emergency tests have been canceled. I'm just wondering what the plan is, or how these will be rescheduled. And will people who, for example, had an appointment in April and it was

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canceled, hopefully they won't have to wait a year for another test. I'm just wondering how these will be tackled.

Chief Boyce:

Thank you very much for the question and we'll pass it over to Dr. Mohammad. Dr. Naveed Mohammad:

Yes, and thank you for your question. Right now, we are doing some planning in the background on how to open up things like our MRIs, our CAT scans, and our ultrasound tests that have been waiting, as well as some of our surgeries that are waiting. We cannot open up any of it until the Ministry gives us the go ahead. And the Ministry's actually creating certain criteria on how you can open these things up. Dr. Naveed Mohammad:

For example, if you have a number of COVID patients in your hospital, if you have enough PPE to provide to patients as well. We will do our best to make sure that people that have missed their tests get in line at the beginning to get their tests done. Of course, there will be some cases such as cancer cases, or some urgent cases that we may do ahead of the people that had appointments, but we will not be making you wait a year.

As soon as the Ministry gives us the go ahead, we will start bringing people in and start doing tests. We will even stay open late. We may even test people on weekends and weekend evenings, just to get through the backlog. We will do our best to make sure that everybody gets through in a timely manner. Chief Boyce:

Great. Thank you very much, Lorraine. And to Dr. Mohammad for answering the question. We're going to go to our next question, which is with Priya. Priya you on the line?

Priya:

Yes I am. Hi, this is for the Mayor, Patrick Brown and his team. With a lot of people losing their jobs these days, is there any plan...

PART 2 OF 4 ENDS [00:48:04] Priya:

With a lot of people losing their jobs these days, is there any plan to reduce the property tax for this specific area in Brampton?

Mayor Brown:

Well, thank you for the question, Priya. I would say, first of all, I'm very proud that under this council, for the last two years, we have froze property taxes. That's the first time in over a decade that's happened in Brampton and we were the only big city in Canada to freeze our taxes. So I'm very cognizant that this is a financial pressure on the backs of residents during the pandemic. And we realize that people have lost their jobs. People have no income.

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Mayor Brown:

And so what we did is we deferred the property taxes for five months. That's a longer deferral than Mississauga, which is three months, Toronto. That is two months. And that deferral goes until August. If you're on a prepayment plan, you have to call to take yourself off. If you normally pay them by check, then you need to know there's no fines until August 19th. So there is that deferral to offer relief. Obviously we can't remove your taxes completely because we have to pay for the firefighters, the paramedics, the police officers, garbage pick up. So we don't have the ability to remove it completely, but we have been able to manage our finances in a way that we have a five month deferral.

Chief Boyce:

Thank you very much, Mayor Brown and Priya for your question. We're going to go on our next question with Varinder. Varinder, are you on the line?

Varinder:

Yes, I am. First of all, thank you very much for all the good work you guys are doing. My question is for Dr. Lowe and Dr. Mohammed. My question is that if a person has contracted COVID-19 and has

recovered after that, is it possible for that person to recontract COVID-19? That is my first question. And another question I have is we have been hearing about this coronavirus or COVID-19 mutating. Do you have any information about that?

Chief Boyce:

Thank you very much, Varinder, for the question. I'll pass it over to our two doctors and you can start with perhaps Dr. Mohammed this time.

Dr. Mohammed:

I think Dr. Lowe may be the better one to go with, but I'll start. I think, from what I have seen, and I saw something just recently that COVID is much like the flu right now, that there is evidence that shows that if you have COVID-19 once, it is possible to get it again. I'm not sure exactly as to how fast or would it happen a few months later if you have had re-exposure. There is immunity built up, but I don't think the immunity is permanent. But I would defer to Dr. Lowe who may know a bit more about this.

Dr. Lowe:

Thank you, Dr. Mohammed, and thank you Varinder for the question. Absolutely. Dr. Mohammed, you're right. I mean, in terms of immunity, it is still being studied. The evidence is still not fully clear. But we do have the experience of four other cold coronaviruses, coronaviruses that caused the common cold to lean on. And what we do know is that you can get reinfected with those coronaviruses. Now the difference between those current viruses and COVID-19 is that over time with repeated infections, people have evolved over time to essentially be able to clear those with the symptoms of a mild cold. There's a reason why the common cold is common.

Dr. Lowe:

And so the reason why COVID-19 is so scary right now is that on occasion, because it is brand new and there's no natural immunity that any of us have to this virus, is that some people's immune systems, typically more those who have underlying medical issues and/or the elderly will react in a manner that has more severe presentations for the individual who's been infected, although it can happen to anyone

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at any age. But the idea being that if you do have more COVID-19 that is circulating around the community, at least in a controlled fashion, even though it doesn't give total lifetime immunity to individuals, it can actually provide at least a bit of a residual immunity, which actually allows individuals to not have as severe a presentation as they might be the second time that they get it.

Dr. Lowe:

And then in terms of your question around the mutation of COVID-19, this is also something that's being actively studied. Many of the studies that have been published are pre-print study. So meaning they haven't been peer reviewed and they haven't necessarily gone through the regular process in order to be reviewed. But from my perspective, at least as a public health physician, the question of mutations doesn't necessarily change what we understand to be true around COVID-19, which is the steps that we can take to protect ourselves, which is really making sure that we're physically distancing and making sure that we're practicing good hand hygiene and making sure that we're wearing a mask in places where either of those isn't possible.

Dr. Lowe:

So it's a great question, Varinder. Overall, I think the big thing at this point in time is really to just keep the advice, which is to stay at home as much as possible, only leaving for essential reasons. And if you do emerge for essential reasons, particularly for exercise, making sure you're staying close to home while you enjoy the outdoors. So thank you very much and I'll pass it back to you, Chief Boyce.

Chief Boyce:

Thank you very much, Dr. Lowe and Dr. Mohammed. Going on to the next question is Chris. Chris, are you on the line?

Chris:

Yes, I'm here. Chief Boyce:

Hi Chris. Go ahead with your question please. Chris:

Well, first off, to defer from my question that I had to Mayor personally, that recent speaker there, the last speaker there spoke about the Royal bank, downtown Brampton, that homeless person sleeping there. I've seen him in there firsthand. And I reported it to security guard walking around the corner to go get something else. And he says, "Not my problem." I said, "What do you mean it's not your

problem? You're a security guard. Get in there and do something about it." Nobody wants to take responsibility sometimes. Okay. Your health responders and all that. I applaud every one of you guys. I've lived in Brooklyn since 1972. I've volunteered Brampton minor hockey for many years, coached and [inaudible 00:54:49] and all that kind of stuff. Mayor Patrick Brown knows this. He's met me a couple of times through hockey.

Chris:

But my personal question is May 24th, Sunday, May 24th is the eighth anniversary of my son passing away. And I have to get into that cemetery to visit the grave site that day, along with my mother-in-law,

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my sister-in-law and other family members, my other son, who's still alive. He has two kids. I am asking for a special time to get into that cemetery because that's the only cemetery in town that has a gate with a lock on it that homeless people can't get in there and sleep. So why should we, as individuals, have to suffer because the homeless people want to sleep in a cemetery and sleep in the front foray of a Royal Bank ATM machine that I can't access anymore. And I have to go to [inaudible 00:55:50] city center to do my banking? It takes two buses to get there. I don't have that kind of time in my day. Mayor Brown:

Yeah. So thank you for the question, Chris. Let me say, first of all, that bylaw that's listening in and our chief [inaudible 00:08:08], I have heard this message loud and clear about this individual that is causing disruptions in the downtown. And so knowing them, they will act on that in the tools that they have available.

Mayor Brown:

In terms of the cemetery, I want you to know that I've actually been inquiring with the medical officer of health and our emergency management folks about this. And the reason being I've had emails and calls about people wanting to go to the cemetery on Mother's Day. And obviously I've got a lot of sympathy for that, wanting to pay your respects to a loved one. In your case, a son. And condolences on that tragedy. No parent ever wants to outlive a child. So my heart goes out to you.

Mayor Brown:

We'll make accommodations to make sure you can visit your son. I would just say tomorrow, call 311 and ask for Alan Norma, who was our emergency management director. Call 311, ask for Alan Norma and we'll make accommodations for that. And we're going to look at having visiting hours in our cemeteries. So stay tuned on some updates on changes to that. And we'll do so in a manner that is consistent with physical distancing.

Chief Boyce:

Great, thank you very much, Chris and to Mayor Brown for answering the question. I'd like to go to our second poll of the night. The question is the city is working to balance meeting residents' needs with ensuring the safety of staff and the community. In general, if you need to access city hall services during the COVID-19 pandemic, what would be your preferred way to access these services?

Chief Boyce:

Press one by phone, press two for in-person, press three for online, press four for no preference. Again, the question is that the city is trying to balance meeting residents' needs while ensuring the safety of staff and the community. If you need to access city hall services during the COVID-19 pandemic, what would be your preferred way to access these city services? Press one for by phone, press two for in-person, press three for online, and press four for no preference. And again, in a few moments, we'll come back and review the results of the poll.

Chief Boyce:

Onto the next question, we're going to go to Penny. Penny, are you on the line with your question? Penny, if you're on the line, go ahead with your question please. Okay. We'll come back to Penny in a few moments, then we'll go on to Cimarron. Cimarron, are you on the line?

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Cimarron: Hi. Yes, I am. Priya:

Go ahead. Go ahead with your question, please. Cimarron:

Okay. Thank you to everybody who's committing their time and resources for the city of Brampton. My question is with the opening up of businesses, I'd like to understand what are the criteria that Brampton or the Peel Region, if it's together with them, is following for COVID-19 screening and the numbers that we are seeing versus Toronto. Because we are really connected as a community, the GTA, and families like myself who have children whose immune systems are compromised, I really have to kind of weigh in a little bit more than what the regular public is going to be doing in terms of decisions, whether it's schooling or whether it's work related or any other factors that we might need on a day to day basis. I'd like have that understanding of how are our numbers and screening is going in versus Toronto.

Mayor Brown:

Okay. Well, thank you for that question. Obviously, having children with existing medical conditions, you're right to be concerned. Medical research has showed that that's a vulnerable group. And so I'm glad that you raised this. In terms of when we reopen businesses, I can tell you our decisions will be driven 100% in Peel Region by public health. It shouldn't be up to politicians to pick a date out of thin air based on what is popular. It should be when medical professionals say it's safe. And that's certainly the tone we'll be taking in the city of Brampton. So maybe on this point in terms of when they think we're going to feel safe, I defer to Dr. Lowe or Dr. Mohammad, if they want to shed any light on what they'd like to see before they're comfortable seeing businesses.

Dr. Lowe:

Thank you, Mayor Brown. Oh, yeah. Thank you, Chief Boyce. Thank you, Mayor Brown. And thank you for the question. I'll start. And certainly, I'll welcome any thoughts that Dr. Mohammed might have. Certainly, as you know, the province has opened a number of businesses just in rapid succession this week, seasonal businesses on Monday and then today, additional businesses for curbside pickup and retail. And while I welcome those, I think it needs to be done obviously in a manner that is suitable and has been directed through existing provincial guidelines for essential businesses.

Dr. Lowe:

We certainly, as I said in my opening remarks, we don't want to be moving too quickly. We've managed to control the fire that was COVID-19 burning in March and April when it first started transmitting in our community. And really it means that we're in the driver's seat right now. The steps that we take right now will determine how safe and how well our population is as we go forward. So I think if we continue to move gradually and take into account our specific situation here in Peel and Brampton, we can continue to keep people safe, especially continue to keep your children safe who have pre-existing conditions as you've described.

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I would also stress that the picture that we have in the region of Peel is similar to that of the greater Toronto area and very different from the rest of Ontario. So that means we will be taking significant steps to work with business owners as they open up, certainly communicating with them, educating them to make sure that they are taking steps to protect their staff and to protect the public in terms of measures such as physical distancing, enhanced cleaning and hygiene screening, active screening of people that may enter the premises, all of these other steps that can be taken to really limit the spread and to make sure that we are continuing to flatten the curve.

Dr. Lowe:

But in terms of your broader question, certainly we are taking certain direction from the province as to what businesses will open, but also still trying to make sure that we have the health of the people of Peel absolutely first and foremost in our mind, recognizing that our picture differs from different parts of the province and making sure that we are able to respond adequately to any changes that might be communicated out of the provincial office. I don't know, Dr. Mohammed, if you have anything more specific to add from the hospital perspective in terms of care provided, et cetera?

Dr. Mohammed:

Not really. I think for us, I know the community doesn't want to hear this, but the longer we go, the safer we will be on the other side. And I know that there have been examples historically, and also that examples currently in Europe and in some other places were opening too soon because of economical pressure or political pressure can lead to a second wave that can often be worse. And I'm worried about what's happening South of the border. And I just hope that we have the perseverance to wait it out because that'll mean an easier winter for us.

Chief Boyce:

Thank you very much to both our doctors, Dr. Lowe, Dr. Mohammed. We're going to go on to our next question then we're going to reveal the results of the poll. Tara, are you on the line?

Tara:

Hi. Yes. Thank you. Chief Boyce:

Hi, go ahead and ask your question. Tara:

Thanks for taking my question. I just wanted it clarified because things are always changing and I'm hearing different things, but we live in a condo and we don't have a backyard. So whenever it's

somewhat nice outside, we like to get our kids out walking. And I just wanted to make sure that it's still accessible to walk on the pathways. Like we walk through the parks, but we don't stop at the

playground. We just walk on the pathways. I just wanted to make sure that there wasn't any restriction on that.

Mayor Brown:

Thank you, Tara, for your question. I would just say walking on the pathways is fine. The parks are closed, but the pathways are open. If you wanted to go for a walk with the people that you live with,

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that's certainly fine. It's good to get some exercise and some fresh air. So rest assured that's an appropriate practice.

Chief Boyce:

Great. Thank you very much, Mayor Brown. Just want to reveal the results of our second poll of the evening and the question referred to how you'd like to access to city services during this COVID pandemic. And there are two main answers were found with 55% of the people by phone and 31% of the people online with 7% with no preference and 7% in person. So thank you very much. We're going to go forward to our next question with [inaudible 01:06:04] on the line?

Speaker 1:

Yes, I am. Hi, how are you? Chief Boyce:

Good. Thank you. Go ahead with your question, please. Speaker 1:

Okay. Thank you first of all, for all the work that you guys all do. My primary question comes with the factor of the garbage. So I know that we have our three bins and I know the risks and all those factors that play into it. But last week we had an issue with our toilet. For example, we had a plumber come in and I called the city to come and pick up the toilet and they said that there would be no picking up. Then two days ago, unlucky enough, we had another toilet issue, plus a sink issue. Whatever the case may be, but it's happening.

Speaker 1:

My question is now at this point, when will be pickup? Because on the side of our house now, we're going to end up with two toilets, possibly a sink and some pipe. The hygiene there is also questionable. The buildup, all of those things that will happen of course with rain. What's the timeline on that? Because I know that obviously safety is a concern, but with the same token, there's another safety concern here at my home.

Mayor Brown:

Thank you very much for the question. And we wish you some better luck with your unfortunate circumstances. But I'll ask [inaudible 01:07:35] emergency management to touch on it.

Len:

So thank you for the question. The waste management aspect is being handled by Peel, the region of Peel waste management division. And right now they are not taking any bulk items, any large items or furniture or things like that because of the safety of their workers. The problem there lies that when they have to pick up any kind of bulk items, they have to have two people at least being there. And then we're getting into this problem with the social distancing or physical distancing, and they are concerned. So on the website right now, they're saying that everything has been postponed indefinitely. It's just like everything else. When is this going to reopen? We don't really have a fixed date. They don't give an exact timeline.

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Len:

What I suggest is that you go back to the website on a regular basis and see, because they will be announcing as soon as they are ready to restart some of this service, they will be announcing it. I know that there are plans to reopen and restart a lot of things. The other thing is that the waste collection or the recycling centers are also closed and there is no date yet as to when they will reopen. But rest assured that there are people that are working on trying to find solutions. So I suggest you keep watching the website, going back to the website. Maybe make a call once in awhile just to see if things have changed. But unfortunately I can't give you a fixed timeline, sadly enough.

Chief Boyce:

Thank you very much for your question, and Len for the answer. I'd like to go on now to our next question with Xavier. Xavier, are you on the line?

Xavier:

Yes. I'm on the line. Thank you for taking my call. And my question is maybe for one of these doctors. I would like to know what type of method you use for CPR in the ambulance or emergency or in the hospital. Is it mouth to mouth or do you all have a special tool or any other methods?

Chief Boyce:

Thank you very much, Xavier, for your question. I'll turn it over to Chief Peter Dundas from Peel regional paramedic services to answer. Chief Dundas?

Chief Peter Dundas:

Thanks, Chief Boyce. And thanks for your question. CPR, paramedics perform CPR using an adjunct of equipment. We'll do CPR and use what we call a bag valve mask with a mask that goes over the face for a tight seal. And we squeeze the bag to be able to inflate the lungs. In the cardiac arrest case with our advanced care paramedics, they also would probably use what's called a supraglottic airway, or we'll try to intubate the patient and then attach the same bag valve to the tube so we can inflate the lungs. Chief Peter Dundas:

What we do encourage, just as a side, is layperson CPR can continue. If you witness a cardiac arrest in the community, hands only CPR is still encouraged, but in conjunction with it during the COVID is if you could put something over the face of the mouth and nose of the individual that you're doing CPR to just to be able to limit the amount of spread of possible air exchange that may come out of their lungs through their mouth or nose during that. But we do have full levels of equipment to be able to properly administer CPR and any resuscitative measures for the patients that we transport.

Chief Boyce:

Thank you very much, Chief Dundas. And we'll go on to our next question with [inaudible 00:23:25], are you on the line?

Speaker 2:

Hi, Mayor Brown. I really thank you for holding these conferences. It's helped a lot with the anxiety over the COVID period. My question is the province is moving to open businesses slowly. I'm interested in

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knowing what type of contact tracing exists. How would someone know if they've been in contact with someone who had COVID?

Mayor Brown:

So actually, Dr. Lawrence Lowe spoke about this today about the importance of- PART 3 OF 4 ENDS [01:12:04]

Mayor Brown:

Dr. Lawrence Loh spoke about this today, about the importance of contact tracing. Maybe Dr. Loh, if you could use this as an opportunity to explain what contact tracing is and why it's so important to your efforts.

Dr. Lawrence Loh:

Thank you so much, Mayor Brown and thank you for the question. Contact tracing is essentially what is done with every single positive case of COVID that gets reported to Peel Public Health. It's essentially us as disease detectives in a way. We try to figure out where this person may have acquired the disease from, ensure that the person is taking appropriate measures to isolate and then identifying all the close contacts they may have had during the time that they may have been infectious, as well as any potential exposure sites that they may have gone to where it would be impossible for us to identify individual contacts.

Dr. Lawrence Loh:

I want to reassure you that Peel Public Health has been doing contact tracing since January, since we got our first case, not our first case, but since we got first word of the pandemic unfolding in China. Then, aggressively so since we got our first case on March 5th, with the first case of COVID-19 that was reported to us here in Peel.

Dr. Lawrence Loh:

We definitely will aim to continue contact tracing with every positive case that we get reported to us in the region of Peel because ultimately that is how you interrupt transmission. If you're able to quickly identify who has COVID and isolate them, as well as people they may have exposed, then the people that they have exposed do not have an opportunity to transmit further on. That's how you interrupt chains of transmission where you have a disease like this. We would definitely be very interested and very committed to continuing that, both, I mean we're obviously doing it now, but especially as we start to reopen our community to make sure that we are controlling and protecting people against potential exposures.

Dr. Lawrence Loh:

That said, we do know that we need to have way more contact tracing than we already do. Right now, I've already got about 60% or 70% of my entire health department that have been redeployed to contact tracing on just COVID-19 itself. That really speaks to the idea that I know Public Health Ontario and the provincial government want to ramp up additional contact tracing so that we can make sure that this goes forward.

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Certainly there are tools, such as digital or mobile applications, that may support it. But overall, contact tracing is a key component of what's going to get us out of this and also what's keeping us safe and flattening the curve right now. I do want to reassure you that it is something that we are actively engaging in, our staff have been engaging in since we got our first case here in Peel. Thank you very much for the question and I'll pass it back to Chief [Boyce 00:01:19:32].

Chief Boyce:

Thank you very much, Dr. Loh. We have time for about one more question, so I'd like to go to Jeff. Jeff, if you're on the line, could you go ahead with your question please?

Jeff:

Yes, I am. Hello. Chief Boyce: Hi, Jeff. Jeff:

Thanks for taking the call. I'm an elderly senior. I live by myself and whilst I appear relatively fit, I do have some underlying conditions. My fear is that without testing, we don't have data. Without data, we don't have control. How much testing can we get done? Can we get up to several hundred thousand per week? When might that happen? Thank you.

Mayor Brown:

Oh, great question. I couldn't agree with you more that data is key and Ontario has made positive strides in testing. I certainly don't think we're where we need to be. I'm certainly on the record with the

provincial government pushing for more testing, but we are seeing them head in the right direction. Maybe, Dr. Muhammad or Dr. Loh, you could speak to where we were in testing a few weeks ago to where we are today? I would note, this is not a municipal decision how broad-based the testing is, it's a provincial one.

Dr. Lawrence Loh:

I'm happy to jump in first, Mayor Brown, and certainly pass on Naveed if he wants to add on. We have made great strides in ramping up our testing capacity here in the province, as I understand it. Our provincial counterparts have moved from 3000 tests a day in February up to 19,000 tests a day now, so the capacity's there. I do agree with you and with Mayor Brown, that we do need far more testing capability. We also need far more public health and contact tracing capability to act on the outcomes of those tests because they go hand-in-hand. I think that's one part of it.

Dr. Lawrence Loh:

Then the other part that I always talk about is the idea that right now the testing is really about

identifying people that may be infected, but the Holy Grail of this is really to start identifying immunity, people who may have had infection and really just trying to track what aspect of our population may have at least some residual immunity to COVID-19, which will actually help us understand who may have at least some protection to the virus going forward.