LATEST: Portion of Hamilton’s City Hall to reopen next week
Published July 14, 2020 at 8:13 pm
Tuesday’s (July 14) virtual media update from the City of Hamilton will be the last regular COVID-19 briefing for the time being.
Tuesday’s (July 14) virtual media update from the City of Hamilton will be the last regular COVID-19 briefing for the time being.
In a sign that things are returning to some degree of ‘normal,’ the briefings, that were held daily and then twice weekly throughout the course of the pandemic, will now be held when the City is making announcements.
Mayor Fred Eisenberger also announced Tuesday that the first two floors of Hamilton City Hall will be reopening next Monday (July 20).
The director of the City’s Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) provided some insight on what the reopening of City Hall will look like.
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He said hours of operations will be strictly between 8:30 am to 4:30 pm, adding that outside of those hours, the building will be closed to the public. Greeters will also be positioned at City Hall entrances to help members of the public get where they need to quickly and with minimal contact.
Health screening, which can be done online, will have to be completed by staff and city councillors before accessing the building, Johnson said.
“If you don’t feel well, please don’t come to City Hall,” Johnson said.
The City of Hamilton is reporting that there have been 868 cases of COVID-19 in the community as of Tuesday since the virus was first reported here in March.
This is up two cases from Monday’s reporting. Of these cases, 860 are confirmed while eight are considered probable.
Hamilton’s COVID-19 related death toll remains 44 — this number has not gone up since late June.
Since March, 800 cases in Hamilton have been resolved, approximately 92 per cent of all cases in the community.
The numbers show that there are currently fewer than 25 active cases in the city right now.
There are currently no active institutional or community outbreaks being reported at this time, a day after one nursing home instituted outbreak protocols after a brief brush with the virus.
The worker at Grace Villa Nursing Home on the East Mountain who previously tested positive for COVID-19, does not, in fact, have the virus. A second test produced a negative result, Hamilton’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Elizabeth Richardson, confirmed Tuesday.
Ontario is reporting 111 new cases of COVID-19, on Tuesday, along with one new death due to the novel coronavirus.
The total number of cases now stands at 36,950, which includes 32,785 marked as resolved and 2,723 deaths. The province is also reporting 122 newly resolved cases Tuesday.
Ontario completed more than 16,744 tests for the novel coronavirus over the previous 24 hours.
The numbers of people in hospital, in intensive care and on ventilators because of the virus all increased slightly.
Health Minister Christine Elliott said 28 of Ontario’s 34 public health units were reporting five or fewer cases.
— with a file and photo from The Canadian Press
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