TORONTO — The mayor of Toronto says the city is working on a plan to give people in high-risk workplaces the COVID-19 vaccine at their job site.
John Tory says the city is currently developing the details of the plan, which will involve mobile vaccination units that are already being used in some hot spot neighbourhoods.
Read more:
Ontario reports 5,979 new COVID-19 cases over past 2 days
He says the federal and provincial governments should work together to improve the paid sick day program to help workers stay home and self-isolate.
The Ontario government has said that it will not duplicate the paid sick leave program run by the federal government.
But Tory says the rising case counts show that it is time to reconsider that approach.
Toronto’s top doctor says workers need both targeted vaccination clinics and paid sick days as protections against the virus.
Read more:
COVID-19: Ornge head Homer Tien tapped to replace Hillier to lead Ontario vaccine drive
Dr. Eileen da Villa also called the rising COVID-19 case rates in the city “horrific.”
Meanwhile, Ontario reported nearly 6,000 new COVID-19 cases over a two-day span.
The province logged 2,938 new cases of the novel coronavirus today and 3,041 cases on Sunday, as data sharing was paused for the Easter Sunday holiday.
Ten deaths were linked to the virus on today’s report and 12 on Sunday’s update from the province.
There are 942 people hospitalized with the virus in Ontario, but the Ministry of Health noted that 10 per cent of Ontario’s hospitals do not submit data on weekends.
Read more:
Ontario teachers seeking eligibility for COVID-19 vaccines
Ontario also reported 494 patients in intensive care because of COVID-19 and 293 on a ventilator.
The province didn’t share statistics on Good Friday, but on Saturday reported there had been more than 3,000 cases of COVID-19 for two consecutive days.
Ontario said 121,577 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine were administered since the last report on Saturday, bringing the total number of inoculations so far to 2,545,640.
About 83,000 COVID-19 tests were administered since Saturday’s report.