Jim Karygiannis ：City of Toronto COVID-19 Updates – March 20
COVID-19 Updates – March 20th, 2020 City of Toronto
• As March Break comes to a close, anyone returning to Toronto from travel must self-isolate for 14 days, even if asymptomatic.
• The City of Toronto will provide a 60-day grace period for City of Toronto residents and businesses due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The deferral is retroactive to March 16 and would cover property taxes, water and solid waste utility bill payments for all residents and businesses.
O A 30-day grace period for businesses on tax and utility bill payments introduced earlier this week is being extended to a 60-day grace period as well.
O Late payment penalties for residential and business properties will be waived for 60 days, starting March 16, 2020 to reflect these relief measures.
O Utility bills (water and solid waste), are normally due 21 days after the billing date, but the City will extend that date an extra 60 days.
Garbage
• All personal hygiene and sanitary products that would typically be put in the Green Bin, including used tissues, should now be disposed of in the garbage.
• Please ensure that all material placed in garbage bins is bagged, specifically cleaning products such as wipes, tissues/napkins and other sanitary/hygiene products.
• Bins should only be placed out for collection if they are full.
Seniors
• For seniors not living in a long-term care home, Seniors Services and Long-Term Care continues to provide essential support services to seniors already enrolled in their Supportive Housing program with personal care, medication reminders, and safety checks.
• Many community agencies offer supports to seniors including Meals on Wheels, friendly visiting, transportation to appointments, personal support, and adult day programs. Seniors and caregivers should check with the individual agencies to confirm continuity of service delivery. Call 211 (available 24/7 in 150+ languages) to obtain up-to-date information.
• Other resources for seniors include:
O Toronto Seniors Helpline: 416-217-2077 or 1-877-621-2077, for support and referral to services
O Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) Home Care: 310-2222 (no area code required) to find out about services in their area
O Distress Centres of Toronto: 416-408-4357, 416-408-HELP
O Seniors Safety Line (Elder Abuse Ontario): 1-866-299-1011
• To ensure a safe and secure environment for residents, Seniors Services and Long-Term Care (SSLTC) took early action and introduced precautions to protect those in City of Toronto long-term care homes, to contain the spread of COVID-19 and to attempt to stop the virus from entering the long-term care setting, including:
O Active screening of residents, visitors and staff
O Restricting visitors to the long-term care homes
O Cancelling gatherings, events and outings
O Enhancing Infection, Prevention & Control (IPAC) practices and cleaning measures in all departments.
Shelters
• Shelters are currently enhancing cleaning and disinfection and working with Federal and Provincial counterparts to secure Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for workers.
• The City‘s Shelter Support has initiated a number of measures in support of individuals experiencing homeless:
O 5 new facilities have been opened in order to facilitate social distancing, as recommended by Toronto Public Health. These are temporary sites.
O 1 new isolation site for people undergoing COVID-19 testing.
O 1 hotel capacity for the family sector.
O 1 additional site to shelter those for 14-days self-isolation as a result of travel.
O 1 new site secured to be used as a COVID-19 recovery facility for the homeless, and is being prepared.
• Screening for illness and travel history is part of intake for shelter system both by phone and in-person. Anyone identified as requiring further assessment is being sent to a Provincial Assessment Centre before being admitted into a shelter.
Connecting People
• The City is calling on all restaurants that are still providing take-out and delivery services and businesses that sell food to consider donating any type of unsold, good food through https://foodrescue.ca/.
• The City is urging non-profit organizations and agencies to do the following to help facilitate connecting residents willing to volunteer to organizations and agencies who need the help:
O Update or add information about current operations to 211‘s database.
O Register volunteer needs through Spark Ontario at https://www.sparkontario.ca/ and/or with Volunteer Toronto at https://www.volunteertoronto.ca/. Volunteer Toronto has waived the fee associated with posting volunteer positions.
O Residents interested in volunteering should register with the above-mentioned websites to get alerts for volunteer opportunities (some of which may be remote), call Volunteer Toronto at 416-961-6888 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to connect with an advisor to discuss volunteer opportunities. Non-profit organizations and agencies‘ staff are practicing infection prevention measures within their operations and volunteers would be required to do the same.
• Through 211, operators can connect residents to income support, distress lines, mental health support and other Social Services support.
· Call 211, text 21166, live chat with 211 agents Monday to Friday from 7:00 AM to 9:00 PM or visit http://211toronto.ca to search for services.
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Government of Ontario
Provincial Legislature was recalled to vote on two Bills with only 26 sitting MPPs in an effort to maintain social distancing. Both Bills passed with unanimous support.
The Employment Standards Amendment Act (Infection Disease Emergencies), 2020 :
O Provides job-protected leave for employees who are in isolation or quarantine due to COVID-19, or those who need to be away from work to care for children because of school or day care closures or to care for other relatives.
O Measures are retroactive to January 25, 2020 (when the first case in Ontario was confirmed) – will also make it clear employees do not need a doctors note
The Municipal Emergency Act, 2020:
O Ensures that for the near future, the delivery of goods to Ontario businesses and consumers is not impacted by Municipal noise by-laws that may unintentionally be impeding such deliveries when they are most urgently needed.
O The legislation also gives municipalities the ability to fully conduct Council, local board and committee meetings electronically when faced with local and province-wide emergencies.
• Learn at Home/Apprendre à la Maison was launched today – a new online portal that will provide resources for families so students can continue their education while schools are closed due to the ongoing COVID-19 in both English and French.
O Learn at Home: https://www.ontario.ca/page/learn-at-home
O Apprendre à la Maison: https://www.ontario.ca/fr/page/apprendre-la-maison
• TVO and TFO will also be modifying their broadcast schedule to air more educational programmes aimed at students.
Government of Canada
• The Government of Canada is currently in talks with Canadian airlines to help stranded Canadians come home. The first flight organized by the Government of Canada to help Canadians abroad will be leaving Morocco on Saturday, March 21st going to Montreal.
• All non-essential travel officially between the U.S and Canada takes effect tonight at 12:00 AM.
• Asylum seekers attempting to enter the Canadian border through unofficial ports of entry will be turned back.
• The Federal Government is offering assistance to companies producing medical supplies, including monetary support and scaling up industrial capacities, for companies already making masks, ventilators, and hand sanitizer. This will also cover companies that wish to shift their production to medical supplies.
• There have been more than 500,000 applications from Canadians for financial aid. Prime Minister Trudeau is asking Canadians to be patient while they process applications.
COVID-19 更新 - 2020年3月20日
多倫多市
• 隨著三月春假的結束，任何旅行之後返回多倫多的人都必須自我隔離14天，即使沒有症狀。
• 由於COVID-19大流行，多倫多市府將為多倫多市居民和企業提供60天的寬限期。該延期追溯至3月16日，將涵蓋所有居民和企業的物業稅、水費和固體廢物公用事業賬單。
O 本週早些時候出台的針對企業稅務和公用事業賬單支付的30天寬限期將延長至60天。
O 減免措施還包括從2020年3月16日起，住宅物業和商業物業逾期付款的罰款將豁免至60天。
O 公共事業賬單（水費和固體廢物）通常在開票日期之後21天到期，但市府將把該日期再延長60天。
垃圾
• 現在應將通常放在綠色垃圾箱中的所有個人衛生和清潔用品，包括用過的紙巾，都丟入垃圾（黑桶）中。
• 請確保將所有垃圾放入垃圾箱的袋里，尤其是清潔用品，例如抹布、紙巾/餐巾紙和其他清潔/衛生用品。
• 只有裝滿垃圾桶時，才可以將其放置路邊以便收集。
長者
• 對於不在長期護理院中生活的老年人，老年人服務和長期護理將繼續，為已經加入住房支持計劃的老年人提供基本的支援服務，通包括個人護理、用藥提醒和安全檢查。
• 許多社區機構為老年人提供支持，包括上門送餐服務、友好探訪、交通預約、個人幫助和成人日間活動。老年人和護理人員應與各個機構覈實，以確保服務的連續性。致電211（7天24小時提供150多種語言）以獲取最新信息。
• 其他長者的資源包括：
O 多倫多長者服務熱線：416-217-2077或1-877-621-2077，以獲取幫助和推薦服務
O 本地健康整合網絡（LHIN）家庭護理：310-2222（無需區號）以查找有關其所在地區的服務
O 多倫多心理健康中心：416-408-4357，416-408-HELP
O 老年人安全熱線（安大略省防止虐待老年人）：1-866-299-1011
• 為了確保居民有可靠和安全的環境，長者服務和長期護理中心（SSLTC）採取了前期行動，並實施了預防措施，保護多倫多市長期護理院中的人，並防止COVID-19的傳播同時嘗試阻止病毒進入長期護理環境，包括：
O 積極篩查居民、訪客和員工
O 限制訪客進入長期護理院
O 取消聚會、活動和郊遊
O 所有部門需加強抗傳染、預防及控制（IPAC）實踐、和清潔的措施。
庇護所
• 庇護所目前正在加強清潔和消毒，並與聯邦和省級對口機構合作，保障工人得到個人防護設備（PPE）。
• 市府庇護所已經採取了許多措施，以幫助無家可歸的人：
O 根據多倫多公共衛生局的建議，已經增設了5個新庇護所，以保持社交距離。這些都是臨時的庇護所。
O 1個新的隔離中心，供正在接受COVID-19測試的人員使用。
O 1家酒店供家庭使用。
O 1個額外的庇護所，供那些因旅行而需要自我隔離14天的人使用。
O 正準備一個新庇護所，為患有COVID-19的無家可歸者康復使用。
• 無論是通過電話還是面對面的方式，篩查疾病和旅行史都是進入庇護系統的一部分。任何人如被確認需要進行進一步評估，必須先送到省評估中心，然後才能進入庇護所。
聯絡民眾
。 市府呼籲所有仍在提供外賣和送餐服務的餐廳以及銷售食品的企業考慮通過https://foodrescue.ca/捐贈任何未售出的優質食品。
• 市府敦促非營利組織和機構做以下事情，讓對志願服務感興趣的居民向需要幫助的組織和機構提供志願服務：
O 更新或添加有關當前的信息到211的數據庫中。
O 志願者需通過安大略火花網站https://www.sparkontario.ca/和/或多倫多志願者組織網站https://www.volunteertoronto.ca/註冊。多倫多志願者組織已免除張貼志願職位的有關費用。
O 對志願服務感興趣的居民應在上述網站上註冊以獲取有關志願服務的機會（其中一些可能是遠程的），請致電多倫多志願者組織416-961-6888或發送電子郵件至This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.與顧問聯繫，討論志願者相關的機會。非營利組織和機構的員工正在其業務範圍內實施預防感染的措施，志願者也必須這樣做。
• 通過211，運營商可以幫助居民連接到收入支援、求助熱線、心理輔導和其他社會服務支援。
· 週一至週五上午7:00至下午9:00致電211、短信21166、與211代表進行實時聊天、或訪問http://211toronto.ca進行搜索服務。
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安大略省府
省議會再次召開會議對兩項法案進行投票，由於需要保持社會距離，僅26名省議員出席投票。兩項法案均獲得一致通過。
2020年《就業標準修正案》（傳染病緊急情況）：
O 為因COVID-19而被隔離或隔離的員工，或因學校或日托中心關閉而需要離開工作崗位照顧孩子或照顧其他親屬的員工，提供工作保護的假期。
O 措施可追溯至2020年1月25日（安大略省首例確診病例）——並明確表明員工不需要提供醫生的證明。
2020年《市政應急法》：
O 確保在不久的將來，安大略省企業向消費者交付貨物不會受到市政噪音法規的影響，該法規可能會在最緊急的情況下無意中阻礙了此類運送。
O 該法規還讓市府有能力在面對地方和全省範圍的緊急情況時以電子會議的方式全面舉行理事會、地方理事會和委員會。
• 在家學習/Apprendre à la Maison 今天啓動——一個嶄新的在線網站，它將為家庭提供資源，由於COVID-19大流行導致學校關閉，學生可以在此期間繼續接受英語和法語教育。
O 在家學習： https://www.ontario.ca/page/learn-at-home
O 在家學習法語Apprendre à la Maison: https://www.ontario.ca/fr/page/apprendre-la-maison
• TVO 和 TFO還將修改他們的廣播時間表，以播出更多針對學生的教育節目。
加拿大政府
• 加拿大政府目前正在與加拿大航空公司進行談判，以幫助滯留海外的加拿大人回家。加拿大政府首趟安排滯留海外加拿大人回國的航班將於3月21日星期六離開摩洛哥，飛往蒙特利爾。
• 美加邊境禁止所有非必要旅行將於今晚12:00 AM生效。
• 加拿大政府將遣返試圖通過非官方入境口岸進入加拿大邊境尋求庇護的難民。
• 聯邦政府援助生產口罩、呼吸機和洗手液等生產醫療用品的公司，包括財政支援和協助擴大工業生產力。這還將涵蓋希望轉型生產醫療用品的公司。
• 超過50萬的加拿大人申請經濟援助。總理特魯多要求加拿大人耐心等候政府處理申請。
Jim Karygiannis,
Councillor, Ward 22 Scarborough-Agincourt
3850 Finch Ave E G7
Scarborough Ontario M1T 3T6
(416) 392 1374 Phone
(647) 723 0287 Fax
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.