The provincial government’s booking system went live on Monday morning. Anyone who would turn 80 this year or older (those born in 1941 or earlier) would be accepted for a booking. The appointments could be made by visiting www.Ontario.ca/bookvaccine or calling 1 888 999 6488.
A technical issue affected bookings for residents of the Eastern Ontario Health Unit (EOHU) on Monday. The health unit said the province had not added all of their clinic locations, which caused an error message on the booking service. “Please note that our staff is unable to access this booking system, so are unable to book an appointment for you if you call,” the health unit said in a statement released on Monday afternoon. “We are sorry for this inconvenience.” The local issue appeared to have been resolved by the end of Monday.
EOHU Medical Officer of Health Dr. Paul Roumeliotis said he believed the provincial system would be able to handle the volume of applications once the technical issues were solved. “I think there are growing pains,” he said. “This is an unprecedented thing that’s going on. Moving forward, they’ll be able to get the kinks out.
Six vaccination clinics were available across the region at Casselman, Hawkesbury, Rockland, Alexandria, Cornwall, and Winchester. Dr. Roumeliotis said pop-up and mobile clinics would also be set up to help administer to the doses to more people.
Outbreaks
An outbreak continued at Place Rideau in Hawkesbury, with one resident case. There were no outbreaks reported at Prescott-Russell schools as of Monday, but École élémentaire catholique Sacré-Coeur in Clarence-Rockland reported one staff case, while École intermédiaire catholique Pavillon L’Escale and Rockland Intermediate School, both of which were also in Clarence-Rockland, recorded one student case each.
Fifteen people were in hospital, three in intensive care, across the EOHU region. Sixty-nine people have died in the region since the pandemic began.
The region
Of the 167 cases in the EOHU on Monday, 40 were confirmed to be COVID-19 variants of concern. Twenty-eight active cases were reported in Prescott-Russell communities, including 13 in Clarence-Rockland, 7 in Alfred-Plantagenet, 4 in Hawkesbury, 3 in Casselman, and 1 in Russell. There were no active cases reported in Champlain, East Hawkesbury and The Nation.
