Dear Neighbour,

I want to stress the importance of social distancing. It is a key step in slowing the spread of COVID-19. I am continuously hearing from constituents about people crowding around in public places. Please stop this. As Canada’s Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Tam said, we need to “Plank The Curve”, which means we need everyone to practice social distancing all the time. Every person’s action makes a big difference. Please keep in mind, even if you are healthy, you could be spreading COVID-19. Please take this very seriously as we have community spread happening.

Here’s a visual I came across of how social distancing can make a difference:

COVID-19 Health Care Provider Recruitment
I want to begin by bringing your attention to the Ontario government’s call for health care providers who may be working part-time and want to and are prepared to increase their work hours or former healthcare providers who are retired, or on inactive status with their regulatory college, and are prepared to return to employment.

These individuals include current and former members of Ontario’s regulated health professions and the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers, Physician assistants and Personal support workers. For those who are interested, please fill complete the recruitment form.
 
Mutual Aid/Caremongering
We know that many of our neighbours are disproportionately impacted by social distancing due to housing insecurity, mental health, poverty, precarious work, and lack of access to affordable food and resources. We must ensure that isolated and vulnerable community members have support networks and solidarity during these difficult times. 

• Parkdale People’s Economy has launched mutual aid networks in Parkdale to build strong connections with neighbours during the outbreak of COVID-19.
• Windermere United Church has started a neighbourhood support group for residents in Parkdale—High Park.
• FoodShare Toronto and Greenest City are teaming up to ensure that community members facing food insecurity have access to fresh food delivered to your door!
• UHN Open Lab has a living document with a list of volunteer, donation and job postings for folks who want to support those impacted by COVID-19.

Seniors

• The Friendly Neighbour Hotline, a single phone number seniors living in low-income housing in Toronto can call for support will be launched tomorrow March 23, 2020, at 9:00 a.m. The hotline is available in over 180 languages. 

• The Toronto Arts Council has a page dedicated for COVID-19 information and resources for the arts community including links to several emergency funding initiatives such as Netflix Media’s $100 million for Emergency Support for Workers in the Creative Community, Akin Rent Relief Fund for artists, National Arts Centre’s $100,000 relief initiative etc. 

• The government of Ontario has launched Ontario Together, to allow businesses to apply to manufacturer supplies for COVID-19 response.
• The Junction BIA has put together key highlights of the federal supports for small businesses with direct links to specific programs.
• The Ontario Chamber of Commerce has put together a toolkit to help support businesses with human resources or operational-related disruptions. 

• A list of locations will be made available once emergency child care centres open. 

• Community Legal Education Ontario (CLEO) has just put out a guide to legal issues that arise out of the COVID-19 crisis.