Ontario has given police, firefighters and paramedics the emergency power to ask for a person’s COVID-19 status when responding to calls as the number of cases shot past 5,000, including 165 deaths.

The measure announced Monday comes after a Peel paramedic tested positive for the novel coronavirus after tending to victims at a motor vehicle accident.

“This goes to show the public that this virus can be transmitted to anybody at any time,” said Peter Dundas, chief of the paramedic force in Peel, which is now having its front-line staff wear masks and eye protection for all calls.

The new power to determine COVID-19 status is “crucial” for first responders “to take appropriate safety precautions to protect themselves,” said Solicitor General Sylvia Jones.

“First responders put their lives on the line every day and they are at great risk of being exposed,” she added, noting the infection information will be gathered along with name, address and date of birth and not divulged otherwise.

Ontario’s tally of confirmed and presumed cases hit 5,102 by 5 p.m. Monday, according to a Star compilation of online postings and news releases from 34 regional health units. That’s up 378 people from Sunday night at 10:30 p.m.

There have been 165 fatalities, an increase of 20 on the day and more than triple the death toll at this time last week.

The new cases include three workers from a special care nursery at St. Joseph’s hospital in Hamilton, and three more deaths at the hard-hit Pinecrest Nursing Home in Bobcaygeon, lifting the total there to 26 fatalities. The facility has 67 beds.

There are now outbreaks of COVID-19 in “at least” 46 long-term care homes, with 56 deaths to date, Dr. Barbara Yaffe, Ontario’s associate medical officer of health, told a briefing Monday.

Canada’s chief public health officer, Dr. Theresa Tam, said the rising number of cases in nursing homes is “most concerning,” but cautioned that people as young as their 20s are also dying from the disease.

“No one can predict when critical illness will strike at any age,” she added, noting the number of cases across Canada was 15,822 with 293 dead.

At St. Joseph’s in Hamilton, parents and children involved in the area for babies needing extra support are being “closely monitored,” Hamilton Public Health and St. Joseph’s said in a joint statement.

Officials said one of the nursery workers had no direct contact with patients or families and two had limited contact while wearing masks. None of the three were showing symptoms while caring for the children.

“Contact tracing is underway to ensure all babies, family members and staff/physicians who had direct contact with the positive health care workers are tested and appropriate measures will be taken to limit transmission,” the statement said.

“No babies or parents in the unit are symptomatic.”

The nursery is getting a deep cleaning and the infants have been moved to a separate space.

Ministry of Health official numbers released Monday morning, as reported by the public health units by 4 p.m. Sunday, include 589 Ontarians now in hospital for COVID-19, including 216 in intensive care and 160 of them critically ill on ventilators.

To date, the ministry said 1,624 people have recovered, which amounts to 37.4 per cent of the province’s confirmed 4,347 cases.

Another 329 people were awaiting test results as the government’s capacity to process them, now including hospital and private labs, has grown and eliminated a backlog that once approached 11,000 and left some people waiting as long as two weeks.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Almost 79,000 Ontarians have been tested for COVID-19.

Health experts warn the actual number of infected people in the province is likely hundreds or thousands higher, because many people with mild symptoms have not been tested, are have instead been asked to self-isolate at home for 14 days.

Testing has been limited to more serious cases presenting in hospitals, health care workers, seniors and First Nations.