Could our country be headed for a shutdown?
With the average daily COVID-19 case count of nearly 850 and 425 cases reported in Ontario Monday, that question was floated to the Federal Minister of Health Patty Hajdu.
“The shutdown is done at a provincial level, and those governments have the authority to make decisions around what businesses can and cannot operate and when,” says the Thunder Bay-Superior North MP Hajdu. “I think the regional approach is more appropriate at this particular stage.”
There are more calls for extra funding to battle future waves and surges of the novel coronavirus, including from Ontario Premier Doug Ford.
Ford is one of four Conservative premiers pushing the federal Liberals to increase health funding in Wednesday’s throne speech.
Hajdu says her government provided money back in May to help with the projected surge.
“The intent behind the Safe Restart funds was for the province of Ontario to have a robust testing strategy. Their commitment was to have the capacity to test 78,000 Ontarians a day by October,” notes Hajdu. “They’re about half way there. We’re talking with the province on a regular basis to figure out what more we can do to accelerate their work but, at the end of the day, it’s their health care system with their labs and their professionals.”
Hajdu also wants to see the wait times come down in Ontario to get a test.
“Here in Thunder Bay, it is exceedingly difficult to get a test whether your symptomatic or not. That’s not helpful at all when we’re trying to contain COVID-19 in our communities,” stresses Hajdu.
