Item - 2020.HL24.2

During the review of the Order Paper on December 16, 2020, City Council adopted a procedural motion to remove this Item from the Board of Health and bring it forward to City Council for consideration.

The Board of Health recommends that:

1.  City Council request the Provincial Government to provide resources and funding to support the community engagement plan being prepared by Toronto Public Health and Social Development, Finance and Administration to support community groups and other stakeholders to build knowledge and support for the COVID-19 immunization plan.

2.  City Council request the Ontario Ministry of Health to provide resources and funding to adequately prepare for Toronto's COVID-19 immunization plan, including support for required technology, staffing, and logistics.

3.  City Council request the Ontario Ministry of Health to ensure that the COVID-19 Vaccine Information System is created in consultation with Toronto Public Health and is a comprehensive and practical system that is simple to use.

The Board of Health:

1.  Requested the Provincial Government to provide resources and funding to support the community engagement plan being prepared by Toronto Public Health and Social Development, Finance and Administration to support community groups and other stakeholders to build knowledge and support for the COVID-19 immunization plan.

2.  Requested the Provincial Government to lead data collection on how people are managing the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and ensure representation from those disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, encompassing representative data at the public health unit level.

3.  Requested the Ontario Ministry of Health to provide resources and funding to adequately prepare for Toronto's COVID-19 immunization plan, including support for required technology, staffing, and logistics.

4.  Requested the Ontario Ministry of Health to ensure that the COVID-19 Vaccine Information System is created in consultation with Toronto Public Health and is a comprehensive and practical system that is simple to use.

5.  Directed that the Toronto Public Health COVID-19 Community Survey Results in Attachment 1 to the report (November 30, 2020) from the Medical Officer of Health be forwarded to the Ontario Ministry of Health for information and consideration.

6.  Authorized the City Solicitor to commence proceedings under Section 24 of the Health Protection and Promotion Act to recover expenses incurred in carrying out directions given by the Medical Officer of Health to enforce any order issued under Section 22 of the Health Protection and Promotion Act to address COVID-19, including costs of the proceedings.

7.  Requested the Medical Officer of Health, in consultation with Toronto's COVID-19 Incident Commander, to provide a presentation at the January 18, 2021 meeting of the Board of Health on the City of Toronto's COVID-19 Immunization Task Force, the status of intergovernmental coordination, issues including the prioritization and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, and the local work being led by Toronto Public Health and the City of Toronto, including public communication campaigns and measures responding to TO Supports: COVID-19 Equity Action Plan.

8.  Requested the Medical Officer of Health to work with appropriate partners to identify relevant trends from the Toronto Public Health COVID-19 Community Survey Results in Attachment 1 to the report (November 30, 2020) from the Medical Officer of Health and share these findings with stakeholders through community groups and Toronto's 13 COVID-19 Community Cluster tables.

9.  Requested the Medical Officer of Health to update Attachment 2 to the report (November 30, 2020) from the Medical Officer of Health with data and research from the remainder of 2020 and report to the Board of Health with the findings when the data analysis is complete.

The Medical Officer of Health, the Acting Manager, Surveillance and Epidemiology, Toronto Public Health, and the Acting Supervisor, Health Status and Epidemiology, Toronto Public Health, gave a presentation on Response to COVID-19: Update Presentation to the Board of Health.

This report provides a status update of the COVID-19 pandemic locally, Toronto Public Health's (TPH) response work to date, and provincial and local public health measures. As well, it provides an update on the City of Toronto's COVID-19 Immunization Task Force (ITF) planning, results of a community survey on the effects of the pandemic as well as a report on the indirect impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health and well-being on Toronto's residents.

On November 24, 2020, Toronto moved into the "Grey - Lockdown" level of the Province's Keeping Ontario Safe and Open Framework in response to the significant rate of COVID-19 spread. This change adds further restrictions in Toronto, including: gathering restrictions, restricting people from having non-essential visitors inside their homes, closing indoor and outdoor dining at restaurants and bars, closing all indoor gyms, closing hair salons, barber shops, nail salons and tattoo parlours, and closing all retail, including malls, except for curbside pick-up or delivery. Essential businesses such as supermarkets, grocery stores, convenience stores, hardware stores, beer and wine and liquor stores, pharmacies and safety supply stores can be open for in person shopping at 50 per cent capacity.

Earlier in November, the City of Toronto formed the COVID-19 Immunization Task Force (ITF) as part of its pandemic response and recovery efforts. The ITF continues to work to ensure that the City is ready to play its role in helping Toronto residents get vaccinated in order to protect against COVID-19 infection. This work includes preparing for logistical considerations and partnering with community groups to build knowledge and support for the COVID-19 immunization plan. The Ministry of Health has indicated that it is working to establish an information system that can support the logistics of the COVID-19 immunization plan including registration, appointment booking, confirmation of vaccination and inventory management.

The first shipments of the COVID-19 vaccine are expected to be delivered in the first quarter of 2021 and will likely be reserved for provincially identified, higher-risk populations, such as residents of long-term care homes and health care sector workers. It is expected that vaccines will become available for additional populations in the spring of 2021.

TPH engaged Ipsos Reid to conduct public research to understand how residents of Toronto are managing the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. This COVID-19 Community Survey was administered online between October 20 and October 30, 2020. The survey includes feedback from 1,201 Toronto residents. Overall, a majority of Toronto residents agree that the city needs to take "whatever measures are necessary" to control the spread of COVID-19 and reduce the number of deaths (90 per cent agree). There is also widespread support (83 per cent) for a second lockdown, if the number of cases continues to rise. Initial survey results can be found in Attachment 1.

The COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the public health measures put in place to prevent its spread, have been increasingly shown to impact mental health and well-being. To understand this further, TPH examined the impacts of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated public health measures on the mental health and well-being of Toronto residents. As TPH used data from the first wave of the pandemic to inform this research, TPH is working to update this research with data since the resurgence of COVID-19, and will report back to the Board of Health with its findings.