The Canadian Press
TORONTO–Ontario is reporting 399 new cases of COVID-19 today and 48 more deaths.
That brings the province to a total of 19,121 cases -a 2.1 per cent increase over Wednesday’s total- including 1,477 deaths and 13,569 resolved cases.
The number of people in hospital with COVID-19 and the amount of people in intensive care remained stable, and the number of people on ventilators dropped from 174 to 155.
Ontario completed 15,179 tests in the previous day, a higher daily total than the past several, but still short of the 16,000 a day the province said it would be doing by now.
Premier Doug Ford had a call Wednesday afternoon with cottage country mayors and says in a statement today that they are asking people to hold off on travelling to their regions.
Ford’s statement doesn’t explicitly advise cottagers not to visit their seasonal properties in advance of the May long weekend, but says “there will be plenty of long weekends to come.”
However, he also says those who do travel to their cottages should continue public health measures such as not holding gatherings, practising physical distancing and avoiding non-essential travel.
The premier said earlier this week that there was only so long he could “hold the big gates back” if people travelled only to their cottages, brought their own food and didn’t go into town.
Cottage country mayors and health officials have urged seasonal residents to stay home to avoid taxing the health systems in small towns and rural areas.
