TORONTO: 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 the 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 on Wednesday by Premier Doug Ford, Christine Elliott, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health, and Dr David Williams, Chief Medical Officer of Health.
Premier Ford said: “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 while ensuring patients and long-term care residents continue to receive the absolute best care from our top-notch professionals and their loved ones.”
“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 wellbeing of Ontarians,” said Minister Elliott.
“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.”
“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.”
The Keeping Ontarians Safe plan focuses on six key areas to rapidly identify and respond to COVID-19 outbreaks and surges, build health system capacity, and reinforce the province’s health care workforce.
These areas are:
Ontario is 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, reduce testing backlogs, support existing assessment centres, and add more testing locations and capacity.
The province is working with Ontario Health, local public health units and hospitals to expand testing locations based on local needs, while also offering more convenient and less invasive testing options and increasing testing capacity.
Up to 80 pharmacies in Ontario are currently offering free COVID-19 testing by appointment only. The province has also added over 1,700 staff to assist with the case and contact management.
Ontario is investing nearly $70 million to purchase and distribute flu vaccines to deliver a robust and expanded campaign this year.
In addition, Ontario is investing $26.5 million to purchase and administer the additional flu vaccine doses if required and $2 million to purchase additional antiviral medication to support outbreak management of influenza in institutions The province is investing $30 million to build on its efforts to rapidly identify and contain any COVID-19 outbreaks.
Under the leadership of Dr Dirk Huyer, Coordinator of the Provincial Outbreak Response, the province is working to prevent, minimize and manage outbreaks in a number of sectors.
Ontario is investing $283.7 million to assist the health system’s ongoing efforts to reduce surgery backlogs by supporting extend hours for additional priority surgeries and diagnostic imaging.
The government is also adding 139 critical care beds and 1,349 hospital beds in hospitals and alternate health facilities across the province to support more surgical procedures.
This investment is in line with the guidance framework released in May 2020, A Measured Approach to Planning for Surgeries and Procedures During the COVID-19 Pandemic. These efforts will support a resilient system that can safely continue to provide services during potential future outbreaks and surges.
Preparations are also on for surges in COVID-19 cases.