The Ontario government has developed a $2.8 billion COVID-19 fall preparedness plan to "ensure the province's health care, long-term care and education systems are prepared for the immediate challenges of the fall, including a second wave of COVID-19 and the upcoming flu season."
Keeping Ontarians Safe: Preparing for Future Waves of COVID-19 will enable the province to quickly identify, prevent and respond to surges and waves of the virus to protect the health and safety of all Ontarians.
The full plan was delivered yesterday by Premier Doug Ford, Christine Elliott, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health, and Dr. David Williams, Chief Medical Officer of Health.
"For months, our government has been developing one of the most robust and comprehensive COVID-19 fall preparedness plans in the entire country," said Premier Ford. "We are making an unprecedented investment of over $2 billion to fortify the frontlines of our health care system and ensure we are prepared for future waves of this virus."
But as Ontario health officials project over 1,000 new COVID-19 cases per day in the first half of October, Ford still won't say at what point the province could see rollbacks to Stage 2 of its reopening plan.
"We aren't rolling back today. I'm not saying that's not going to happen, but today that's not a conversation that's going to happen in cabinet," Ford said on Wednesday afternoon.
Focal Points of the Fall Preparedness Plan
The six main areas of the plan include:
- Continued expansion of testing and case and contact management; investing $1.376 billion to enhance and expand efforts to test, trace and isolate new cases of COVID-19. As part of this funding, $1.07 billion will expand laboratory capacity and add more testing locations and capacity.
- Implementing the largest flu immunization campaign in Ontario's history; $70 million is allocated for purchasing and distributing flu vaccines.
- Quickly identifying, managing and preventing COVID-19 outbreaks (with a $30 million management team.)
- Accelerating efforts to reduce health service backlogs; Ontario is investing $283.7 million to assist the health system's efforts to reduce surgery backlogs. The government is also extending hours, adding 139 critical care beds and 1,349 hospital beds.
- Preparing for surges in COVID-19 cases; $457.49 million is being spent on ensuring the health system is prepared to respond to any waves or surges of COVID-19 without interrupting routine health services.
- Recruiting, retaining, training and supporting health care workers; Ontario will spend $52.5 million on recruiting, retaining and supporting over 3,700 more frontline health care workers and caregivers.
Additional funds are mentioned here from previous announcements about supporting long-term care homes and schools. No word was given on the source of the $2.8 billion funding necessary to pay for these new programs.
Health Minister Christine Elliot breaks down the plan and offers advice to citizens
"Over the past week, we have unveiled key pillars of our fall preparedness plan which sets out specific investments and actions to protect the health and well-being of Ontarians," said Minister Elliott. "As the number of cases continue to increase, we cannot afford to let our guard down."
"It remains critically important for everyone to continue to follow public health advice and measures as we implement this plan. Everyday actions like physical distancing, wearing a face covering and staying home when you are ill will help us protect each other and the most vulnerable as we continue our fight to stop this virus."
Flexibility will also be key in implementing the program. "With today's release of the updated modelling, it shows that we need to be ready for all possibilities," said Dr. Williams.
"By implementing this plan and reminding everybody to continue following public health advice and measures, we will be prepared to respond to any scenario."
You can learn more about the new plan from this website and download a copy of Ontario's plan here.