Waterloo region's the three hospitals are asking people to make financial donations as they face increasing pressure from COVID-19.

Grand River Hospital, St. Mary's General Hospital and Cambridge Memorial Hospital issued a joint statement this week announcing the new website: regionready.ca. Any money donated through the website will go into a joint fund that will be distributed to the hospitals.

The statement said that back in February an unnamed donor gave the hospitals funding to help them build up their stock of equipment including hospital beds, ventilators and oxygen monitors, but more is needed.

The hospitals have already been receiving many offers of help from the public, said Patrick Gaskin, chief executive officer of Cambridge Memorial Hospital.

"We are grateful and inspired to be reassured that we are truly all in this together," he said in the release.

Susan Dusick is president and CEO of St. Mary's General Hospital Foundation. In an interview, she said donations have included masks from construction crews and food from local restaurants and caterers.

"We're seeing a lot of people stepping up, supplying us with what they have," she said.

The donations are helping with worker morale, Dusick said, noting staff feel supported.

"They feel well-equipped to be able to handle what we're currently dealing with," she said. "Here at St. Mary's, I would say our morale is high, we're feeling good, we're feeling very well prepared."

On a regional level, she said the three hospitals and public health have been working together to prepare for COVID-19. The foundations are working together to make sure money raised through the website is deployed either to the hospitals or, if needed, to set up "something new to support the regional response."

Sanitizer, masks, gloves still needed

St. Mary's and Grand River have also set up a joint website for individuals or businesses with items to donate. People can access a form to tell the hospitals they have items to donate through the St. Mary's in-kind donation page.

Currently they are looking for:

Bottled hand sanitizer with at least 70 per cent alcohol

Hand sanitizer dispenser refill bags (but not buckets)

Level 1 and up masks

N95 masks

Disposable gowns, caps, shoe covers

Nitrile gloves in all sizes.

The hospitals say they cannot accept items that are expired, food made in home kitchens, unsealed items or fabric masks.

Dusick said they appreciate all offers of donations, but are asking people to check the list of needed items regularly.

"Don't just assume that you know what we need. Reach out and ask us what we need because our needs will change," she said.

People who want to make donations need to contact the hospitals to arrange for drop-off, she said.

An online form has been developed to assist our local hospitals with the large amount of support being offered by the community regarding the much-needed supplies for protecting staff and caring for patients. Visit <a href="https://t.co/ZBQhuoSGUs">https://t.co/ZBQhuoSGUs</a> for more information. <a href="https://t.co/neYvEN2ZQ2">pic.twitter.com/neYvEN2ZQ2</a> —@SMGHF

Guelph to limit bus riders

People will be able to ride the bus for free in Guelph until the end of April, but the transit service is taking more measures to ensure riders sit further apart.

The city said in a release Thursday that a maximum of 10 people will be allowed to ride the bus at a time. As well, some seats will be blocked off to keep customers away from each other.

The transit service is also asking people to only ride the bus for essential travel, including work, medical appointments and grocery shopping.

Earlier this month, Guelph Transit announced people should board the bus from the back doors unless they need an accessible entrance.

Grand River Transit is also asking bus riders to board at the back doors.

Next update from region on Friday

This week, Region of Waterloo Public Health changed when it will report new case numbers in Waterloo region. Reports on public health's website are now updated Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

On Thursday, there were 170 new cases of COVID-19 in Ontario which raises the provincial tally to 858.

Ontario currently has a backlog on test results, with people waiting at least four days between test and result. Region of Waterloo Public Health says on its website it is taking up to five days to receive test results.

The number of people across the province awaiting results continues to rise, as seen in the graph below.

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