THUNDER BAY – Thunder Bay-Atikokan NDP MPP Judith Monteith-Farrell on Tuesday once again called on the province to declare her hometown a COVID-19 hotspot.
Monteith-Farrell spoke out during Question Period at Queen’s Park, saying Thunder Bay District Health Unit medical officer of health Dr. Janet DeMille last week made a similar request, but nothing has yet been done.
“My constituents are upset and angry and they want this government to do something. Small businesses that have been shut for months are desperate. People are frustrated by the lack of vaccine appointments available,” Monteith-Farrell said.
“Will you ... declare Thunder Bay a COVID-19 hotspot and get this situation under control?”
Health Minister Christine Elliott said the province has allocated significant resources to the district, including providing 30 assigned provincial case managers to help out the health unit conduct contact tracing and other COVID-related matters.
“We now have 90 per cent of the cases are reached within 24 hours ... The number of cases have gone down significantly from 32 on Saturday on Sunday to 16 cases most recently. So the numbers are coming down. Putting Thunder Bay in the situation they are, with respect to being in the Grey zone, has been helpful, with the assistance provided by Public Health Ontario and others to help keep those numbers down,” Eillott responded.
The health unit reported 29 new cases on Tuesday and has reported a drop in the active case count for the past six straight days.
There are currently 305 active cases in Thunder Bay District, down from a high of 470 on March 7.
Monteith-Farrell highlighted the issues surrounding an outbreak at the Thunder Bay District Jail, and questioned why the cells are being filled again, adding front-line health-care workers are overworked and exhausted.
The NDP representative said given Thunder Bay Regional’s limited capacity – the hospital currently has nine COVID patients in its intensive care unit and 35 COVID patients in total admitted – it makes sense to vaccinate as many people as possible.
“Yet people over 60 are able to get vaccines in Toronto, but not in Thunder Bay. What is this government going to do right now to help the people of Thunder Bay?”
Elliott responded by saying the province has also invested an additional $2.7 million at Thunder Bay Regional to add more than 30 beds. I can certainly advise that we are planning to roll out the vaccine plan as we receive additional doses,” Elliott said of the province’s plan to allow those 60 and older to be vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccine at select pharmacies.
“We have not had significant volume until quite recently. We did receive 466,830 doses of the Pfizer vaccine yesterday. Those are going to be sent to the public health units, based on population and based on their need. So if there is still a significant need in Thunder Bay, there will be additional volumes of vaccines that will be sent there.”
Elliott said the province plans to double the number of pharmacies, across Ontario, that will be able to administer the AstraZeneca vaccine, but did not give a timeline of when it might be available in Northwestern Ontario.
