Canada to unveil new federal coronavirus projections today: Trudeau

Apr 28 2020, 3:32 pm

The federal government will be releasing its new COVID-19 projections on Tuesday afternoon.

According to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the new modelling will be the best updated picture on where Canada is, as well as measures we have taken so far that are working.

Trudeau said the curve has been flattening in many parts of the country, but Canada is not out of the woods yet.

“This is the worse public health crisis we have seen, so we must stick to measures for now,” said the prime minister.

He said the path ahead is up to us, “it’s all up to all of us.”

Earlier in April, the longer term federal modelling showed 11,000 to 22,000 deaths with strong epidemic control over the course of the pandemic. Health officials said that number goes as high as 300,000 with no epidemic measures in place.

At the time, Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam said that models are imperfect, and are highly sensitive to our actions, but they do allow “us to forecast” short-term possibilities. Models are used to ready health care systems to plan.

As for the reopening of economies, Trudeau said federal guidelines will be released shortly. He added that provinces will have to ensure they have the testing capacity, and there will be restrictions for those who will be allowed to go back to work.

Trudeau said the federal government “must ensure the safety of all Canadians as daily life returns.”

Hospitals must be able to continue to cope, not just with coronavirus patients, but for everyone who needs care, he said, adding that six million surgical masks and 100,000 face shields are being shipped to provinces and territories.

After the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy opened on Monday, Trudeau said 44,000 businesses have already applied.

On Monday, Trudeau said that getting life back to normal is “something that’s a long way off for all of us” emphasizing that reopening society and the economy will happen over months.

He said that the federal and provincial governments must have a “careful” reopening of certain sectors of the economy and that caution must remain intact, because if measures are loosened too quickly, there can be a “tremendous spike” in cases again.

Daily Hive StaffDaily Hive Staff

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