Free rapid COVID-19 testing kits are now available to businesses
Visit gncc.ca/workplace-self-screening-kits to learn more and reserve kits for your organization.
Government of Canada will invest in POST Promise initiative to support the safe reopening of Canadian small businesses
Today, the Honourable Mary Ng, Minister of Small Business, Export Promotion and International Trade, announced an investment of more than $1 million to support the POST Promise initiative, led by a national not-for-profit organization. The mission of the POST Promise is to help boost consumer and employee confidence through enhanced awareness and execution of workplace health measures so that customers feel safe shopping as public health restrictions begin to lift and the economy begins to safely reopen.
Click here for more information.
Yukon becomes latest territory to make agreement with Government of Canada for affordable daycare
Today, the Honourable Chrystia Freeland, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, the Honourable Ahmed Hussen, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, the Honourable Sandy Silver, Yukon Premier, and the Honourable Jeanie McLean, Yukon Minister of Education, announced an agreement that significantly improves early learning and child care for children in Yukon.
The Government of Canada’s investment builds on Yukon’s efforts to date to ensure that all families have access to an average of $10 a day out-of-pocket parent fees for full-time regulated child care spaces for children under age six.
Click here for more information.
Walk-ins now available at all Niagara Region Public Health COVID-19 vaccination clinics
Walk-ins for those getting their first and second doses are now welcome at all Niagara Region Public Health COVID-19 vaccination clinics from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Anyone 12 years of age or older who does not yet have their first or second dose of COVID-19 vaccine is encouraged to come to any Public Health clinic across the region whenever and wherever works best for them. Both Moderna and Pfizer vaccines will be available at all clinics.
Click here for more information.
Click here for a list of clinic locations and dates.
Visit Ontario.ca/bookvaccine or call 1-833-943-3900 to book an appointment.
Susan Venditti named 2021 T. Roy Adams Humanitarian Award Recipient
Susan Venditti has been named the 2021 recipient of the T. Roy Adams Humanitarian Award in recognition of her lifelong dedication to caring for those less fortunate in our community.
Venditti recently retired as CEO of Start Me Up Niagara, an organization she founded and has overseen since 1998.
Click here for more information.
Canadian retail sales decline in May
Retail sales declined 2.1% to $53.8 billion in May. The largest declines occurred at building material and garden equipment and supplies dealers (-11.3%) and motor vehicle and parts dealers (-2.4%). During the month of May, many retailers continued to face closures due to the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sales decreased in 8 of 11 subsectors, representing 65.6% of retail trade.
Click here for more information.
Featured Content
COVID-19 has significantly impacted young people’s ability to find and maintain employment. Compared to 2019, the first year of the pandemic almost doubled youth unemployment rates. To provide up-to-date insights on these and other youth employment trends, NWPB has developed a youth employment dashboard. This dashboard will ensure there are easy-to-access and public metrics available to support pandemic recovery on a monthly basis.
Some trends from the latest update include:
- 21,400 youth reported being employed in June 2021. This is an increase compared to June 2020 (19,500 employed) but is still much lower than June 2019 (32,200 employed).
- The youth employment rate increased from 42.6% in May to 45.5% in June 2021
- The youth participation rate increased from 56.6% in May to 57.9% in June 2021
- The youth unemployment rate decreased from 24.8% in May to 21.3% in June 2021
All of NWPB’s recent reports, including our monthly eye on employment, can be found on our website, www.nwpb.ca.
Reading Recommendations
Back in the room: what do we need to think about?
Wilson Sherriff
Increasingly our clients are thinking about holding events face to face – back in the real room rather than the Zoom room.
As facilitators, our risk assessments for events were usually straightforward. We have been doing a lot of thinking about how to handle the new situation arising in the UK where citizens will no longer have to abide by a full range of specific rules but are being asked to use ‘personal responsibility’ to make judgements about risk from Covid.
The question is: how do we organise events to enable individuals attending to exercise personal responsibility when different people have different ideas of what that means? It’s easy to allow people to choose to wear masks or not, but do we make provision for people who want to observe social distancing?
Bank of Canada to let staff clock in up to half their hours from home
Reuters
The Bank of Canada will allow most of its staff to clock in up to half their hours remotely once public health guidelines allow it to fully reopen offices, a spokesperson for the central bank said on Friday.
The bank expects to bring back many employees to offices after the summer, but it does not see conditions returning to normal until 2022, a Bloomberg News report said.
Niagara COVID Stat Tracker
| December 18 | December 25 | January 1 | January 8 | January 15 | January 22 | January 29 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reproductive number | 1.4 | 1.8 | 1.4 | 1.1 | 1.0 | 0.7 | 0.9 |
| New cases per 100,000 | 101.2 | 267.3 | 469.8 | 575.8 | 507.1 | 295.5 | 250.6 |
| New cases per day (not including outbreaks) | 60.7 | 178.7 | 311.7 | 376.9 | 325.4 | 182.7 | 145.7 |
| Percent of hospital beds occupied | 97% | 95.2% | 98.2% | 103.2% | 104.5% | 103.6% | 106% |
| Percent of intensive care beds occupied | 78.8% | 77.3% | 87.9% | 87.9% | 90.9% | 89.4% | 93.9% |
| Percentage of positive tests | 6.1% | 15.6% | 28.1% | 28.6% | 26.6% | 21.2% | 16.2% |
Last updated: July 17, 2021
These data show the status of the COVID-19 pandemic in Niagara. The Province of Ontario is now using a provincewide approach to reopening, and these data no longer have any influence on Niagara’s restrictions.
Data are drawn from Niagara Region Public Health.
Click here for a guide to this table.
Niagara COVID vaccination tracker
Last updated: July 23, 2021
Niagara’s most up-to-date vaccination numbers are presented below, along with comparison data from Ontario, Canada, and G7 countries.
Total doses administered in Niagara: 599,172
Total doses administered in Niagara since yesterday: 2,924
Ontario is currently in Step Three of the Roadmap to Reopen.
| Percentage of population with one dose | Percentage of population fully vaccinated | |
|---|---|---|
| Niagara | 82.7% | 78.2% |
| Ontario | 84.6% | 79.1% |
| Canada | 84.7% | 78.6% |
| United States | 75% | 64% |
| United Kingdom | 78% | 72% |
| Germany | 76% | 74% |
| France | 80% | 77% |
| Italy | 83% | 76% |
| Japan | 80% | 79% |
| World | 63% | 53% |
Data are drawn from Niagara Region, the Government of Ontario, and Oxford University’s Our World in Data project.
Information on government grants, resources, and programs, policies, forms, and posters for download and use, areavailable here.The GNCC is here to support you. Contact us with any questions you have.
