Funding set to flow for strained local social services as 34 new Brampton cases of COVID-19 confirmed Monday

A total of 34 new COVID-19 cases were confirmed in Brampton Monday morning, according to the region’s public health unit, bringing the city’s total to 211 cases. 

The spike in new infections came after a weekend that appeared to show the number of new cases decreasing in the city, with 14 new infections confirmed Saturday and only 5 new cases yesterday. But that short trend did not extend into the Monday figures. 

The morning’s numbers were a troubling reminder of the unpredictable nature of the pandemic. 

The Brampton increase is part of a significant jump in new infections observed across the Region of Peel which reported 72 new cases Monday morning, bringing the region's total to 557 infections and eight deaths. 

The number of deceased doubled from the four reported a day earlier.

The number of individuals requiring treatment for COVID-19 has also been steadily increasing over the last week. 

As of Monday morning, 395 individuals had tested positive for COVID-19 at Osler’s hospitals — which include assessment centres at Peel Memorial and adjacent to Etobicoke General — and 31 of them are currently being treated in Osler facilities, including Brampton Civic. However, these are the same figures reported Sunday and may be outdated. 

In an effort to deal with a projected increase in COVID-19 patients, Osler began setting up temporary triage tents outside of Brampton Civic and Etobicoke General to help the emergency departments with intake. 

According to a release from Osler, the tents will remain vacant until they are needed and can be implemented to provide additional capacity for the hospitals’ ER. 

“While we are currently managing capacity well, this tent is being installed as one of the many proactive steps Osler is taking to ensure we are well prepared to care for an increasing number of patients in the time ahead,” states Kiki Ferrari, Executive Vice President, Clinical Operations at William Osler, in a press release. “The health and safety of patients, staff, physicians, volunteers and our community is a top priority and increased capacity will enable us to continue to provide quality health care even as the situation evolves.”

A triage tent was erected outside Brampton Civic Hospital on the weekend to serve as additional capacity for the hospital's emergency department if the need arises. 
 

It’s unlikely the tents will be able to house beds for patients, as many with serious symptoms have to be moved to the intensive care units and some have to go on ventilators.

The tents for triage are basically to relieve some pressure from the regular ER function of the hospital. 

The ability for Brampton Civic to absorb the additional capacity, particularly for the most serious cases of COVID-19, is uncertain. Ahead of the pandemic, the hospital had just 24 intensive care units, and was operating well above capacity. Further, data from Critical Care Services of Ontario shows that the Central West Local Health Integration Network (LHIN), which includes Brampton, is already 27 percent beyond its capacity for ventilator demand, the necessary care for treating critical COVID patients whose lungs need assistance. 

The troubling spike of new infections observed throughout last week across the province continued over the weekend with nearly 800 more cases confirmed, 375 on Saturday and 408 on Sunday, bringing the Ontario total to 4,038. 

On Saturday the province announced a further $40 million to support service organizations providing residential services for a number of vulnerable communities across Ontario, including children and youth, people fleeing domestic violence and those with developmental disabilities. 

Eligible organizations will be able to use the funding to add staff to support increased demand during COVID-19, provide respite for caregivers, purchase needed personal protective equipment (PPE) and other supplies and cover additional cleaning costs. 

The new Residential Relief Fund is on top of the $200 million which was announced on March 23 billed as a social services relief fund to provide needed dollars to shelters, food banks, emergency services, charities and nonprofits, all of whom are facing uncertain futures in the face of the coronavirus. According to regional documents, the Region of Peel is set to receive approximately $6 million from this fund for housing supports. 

The support for childcare services in particular is crucial in Brampton, where the availability of such services has been lacking for some time. 

According to a 2018 study called Child Care Deserts in Canada, 95 percent of Brampton’s children live in a “child care desert,” making it one of the most scarce areas in the country for child care, second only to Saskatoon. A child care desert is a postal code that has fewer than one childcare space for every three children. The same report says the average child care coverage rate of Brampton sits at roughly 21 percent.

Along with support from the province, the Region of Peel has also moved to create additional child care support for the region’s frontline healthcare workers. 

Announced on April 2, the region has partnered with licensed child care providers in Peel to deliver free emergency support to healthcare and frontline workers during the pandemic. 

A selection of these services will provide child care for 24 hours a day, seven days a week for eligible parents with kids under the age of 12. Eligibility criteria for the program can be found here. Each of these child care centres will include enhanced safety measures to limit the spread of COVID-19 including daily screening for both parents and children, enhanced cleaning, physical distancing and only small groups of children will be allowed in each centre. 

There is also child care available for those parents not eligible for this program. Further information can be found at infopeel.ca or by calling the region’s Child Development Resource Centre at 905-890-9432.

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @JoeljWittnebel

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