Neighbourly love abounds in Seaton Village

Pandemic shows we can live on so much less

While many of us are enjoying cleaner air in the neighbourhood, undoubtably there are people up at night worried about what happens if the air never goes back to being as toxic as it once was. Trillions of dollars are at stake if we, as a society, decide we don’t really want to go back to the “before” times where people drove hours to get to work and mindlessly went shopping for entertainment. 

Thousands of people are enjoying Toronto’s streets for physical activity. The old guard at city hall must be worrying, ‘What if voters decide they like this?’ Just letting us plebes see the light is a dangerous peek into Pandora’s box. 

That old guard has been protecting the car lobby interests for decades. They resist everything from bike lanes to increases in parking rates. Since I’ve been in Toronto, TTC fares have increased from $2 to $3.25, a whopping 63% increase while the upper end of street parking has increased a corresponding 43%. The $2 an hour street parking that existed a decade ago still exists now. 

These are not circumstantial decisions. Policy has a very direct impact on how a city runs and every decision maker knows it. More expensive transit and cheaper parking spots pushes people to drive more. This is a very simple supply and demand equation every student learns by 9th grade. Our policies have very intentionally kept congestion high. None of the politicians are so stupid that they don’t understand this. We live in a world where profits have always come at the expense of health and happiness. 

What happens if everyone enjoying the streets for the fresh air, physical activity, and other social, yet socially-distant activities that were meant to be the heart of living in a city, decide they don’t want to go back to the way things were? What happens if these reclaimed streets stay reclaimed? 

Fewer Canadians will die of air pollution and related illnesses. Fewer Canadians will die of car accidents. All this is terrible news for oil companies like Shell, who have openly admitted that they don’t know if oil will ever recover. Cars are getting 3 weeks to the litre right now and our new reality is a frightening time for those who depended on us being trapped in a cycle of consumption. Cleaner air means lower profits among the top tier of society in the economic system we have in place. 

The longer we stay in lockdown, the lower the appetite will be to go back to our once wasteful ways. This partially explains the rush to reopen despite the nearly 200 new cases of COVID 19 a day still being posted. 

What the world might look like post-pandemic is a scary thought for many, many people who depended on the way things were. These were the same people who insisted we can’t tackle the climate crisis because of, “the economy .” 

This pandemic is showing us that we can indeed live on so much less. We must not be afraid of telling the political class that we want to put people first. We must not be afraid of saying we want the streets for kids, not cars. We need an economy that doesn’t depend on compromising our health and safety to be strong. Teaching my daughter to ride a bike on nearly empty streets has been such an enjoyable experience. As frightening as the new reality may sound, I don’t want to go back.

Terri Chu is an engineer committed to practical environmentalism. This column is dedicated to helping the community reduce energy use, and help distinguish environmental truths from myths. Send questions, comments, and ideas for future columns to Terri at terri.chu@whyshouldicare.ca.

READ MORE BY TERRI CHU:

• GREENINGS: Capitalist truths exposed (May 2020)
• GREENINGS: Reflecting on who actually matters (Mar. 2020)
• GREENINGS: Short-term gains lead to long-term losses (Feb. 2020)
• GREENINGS: Emergency climate calls to city met with busy signal (Jan. 2020)
• GREENINGS: Moral cowardice fuels our failures (Dec. 2019)
• GREENINGS: Unpacking the winning bling (Nov. 2019)
• GREENINGS: Another election, another round of disappointing platforms(Oct. 2019)
• GREENINGS: Addiction to capitalism will lead to overdose (Sept. 2019)
• GREENINGS: Sing the same tune, PLEASE (August 2019)
• GREENINGS: Not sure what’s worse, climate crisis or denying it? (Summer 2019)
• GREENINGS: Plastic ban born of necessity (May 2019)
• GREENINGS: Confronting consumption (Spring 2019)
• GREENINGS: Preventing chaos, mass starvation (Dec. 2018)
• GREENINGS: Municipalities should flex their green muscles (City Election 2018)
• GREENINGS: Short-term solutions haunt future (October 2018)
• GREENINGS: Urban under-representation (Aug./Sept. 2018)
• GREENINGS: Nurture the neighbourhood by cultivating green canopy (Summer 2018)
• GREENINGS: Results beg for electoral reform (July 2018)
• GREENINGS: Choosing the lesser evil (Election Special 2018)
• GREENINGS: Reduce, reuse, and then recycle (May 2018)
• GREENINGS: Car-free parenting is not rare (Spring 2018)
• GREENINGS: The science of board games (Mar. 2018)
• GREENINGS: Driving fuelled by unseen subsidies (Jan. 2018)
• GREENINGS: No solutions for nobody’s problem (Dec. 2017)
• GREENINGS: Celebrate science not milestones (Nov. 2017)
• GREENINGS: Down to the data (Oct. 2017)

Flowers in the home relax the mind and nourish the spirit

In May 2020, the Annex Gleaner celebrated 25 years of publishing. In acknowledgement of this history we are republishing highlights of our past; this feature, How to arrange flowers in 10 easy steps by gardening columnist Bardi Vorster, is from July 2000. Some guidance still relevant to enjoy summer’s flowery bounty indoors. 

By Bardi Vorster

Now that the garden is in full bloom, there comes an irresistable moment when one needs to gaze intimately at its contents.

The beauty of a single lily has been known to inspire novels, paintings or launch crusades, so getting up close and personal with your flowers seems like a good idea.

Whether it’s the fragrance, the colours, the shape, or all three, fresh flowers in the home make wonderful decorations to relax the mind and nourish the spirit.

Personally, I have often found it frustrating to arrange flowers as the arrangement never seems to be as perfect as the subject. Nonetheless, perseverance and practice as well as a lot of reading on the subject has helped. I now have a system.

Choice of Material 

There is such an enormous amount of material available in cut flowers, including greenery and fruits or nuts that it’s easy to become confused, give up and buy a pot of mums. 

Much depends on your personal preferences for colour, and types of flowers.

But consciously identifying this makes arrangements design easier. (I hate dyed flowers and prefer flowers in season to tulips in July.)

Florists or experienced amateurs can produce amazing bouquets using the “few-of-many types of flowers” approach, but I find it difficult. 

I think it’s easier to eliminate some things and narrow the focus before you go to the store. 

Here is my system:

1.  Choose a feature flower, it can be whatever strikes your fancy.
2. Choose a “line” material; this could be twigs, or a flower of contrasting shape.
3. Choose ‘filler’ material. This would be greens such as ferns or eucalyptus or Baby’s Breath; something which adds bulk to the arrangement. 

If you have a lot of something in your garden, a popular approach is to compose a bouquet of all one type of flower in short containers; this is easy to do but it takes a lot of blooms and is expensive to purchase. 

Style

Plan ahead, if only vaguely, where the arrangement will be located and what container will be used. 

The selection of vase, pot or jam jar seems to influence harmonious outcomes the most.

Mind you, anything goes: a single rose in a beer bottle with a string tie is perfect for someone, somewhere, and granny’s antique crystal vase will look great with wildflowers or exotic orchids. 

Tools of the Trade

The following is a basic list of the most useful equipment. Most important is a very sharp knife with a short blade. 

Professionals use one with a curved blade but I haven’t mastered the stroke.

Floral foam is good for use in ceramic or other non-see-through containers. This is available from florists or craft shops and really is a snap to use  because stems stay exactly where you put them, whatever the angle. 

Different formulations of foam are available for fresh, dried or silk flowers. 

For fresh flowers, soak the block- perforations up — but cut off what you need and store the remainder in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for next time. Partially fill the container with foam, mounding the top; anchor to the container if necessary with tape. Proceed to place greens and flowers. 

Then there’s the floral food, the powder in small packs that often comes with purchased flowers. 

It contains food and an antibacterial agent that makes flowers last longer. (it is better than pennies or other old-wives formulas.)

Pruners are useful for heavy stems or twigs. Small sharp scissors are useful for snipping off errant leaves.

Procedures Oversimplified

There is much other information on conditioning and handling flowers that I must omit for space reasons, but here are the bare bones. Start by filling your container with lukewarm water and adding the floral-life product. Next, add the greenery, crossing the stems so that they will support the flowers. 

Alternatively, use invisible tape criss-crossed over the top of your container. Begin your design with the feature flower in the topmost position and add the others one at a time for balance or colour, rhythm and mass.

Hundreds of books have been written about how to achieve this minor miracle and the best are well illustrated. The most important thing is to make a fresh, clean, diagonal cut on the stem before inserting in the vase. The objective is to expose the greatest area of cells to the water so that the stem can drink. Don’t use scissors as this compresses the cells. 

Try to enjoy the process: however perfect or imperfect the arrangement is, the flowers will be just as beautiful.

A crisis is a terrible thing to waste

By Meribeth Deen

Welcome to the Bloor St. Arts Corridor monthly Covid-events column number… 4? But who is counting anyways? With a virus in our midst, we are all doing the best we can to stay safe, keep others safe, and to keep enjoying life and the world as best we can. The artists in our midst have not stopped creating, so we offer to you just a few ways to keep connecting to their work, to the world and to be part of shaping it.

The library, or at least the online version of it, is as lively as ever. While schools may be fully closed for the summer, the TPL’s Summer Reading Club, Wonder Wall and Mini Wonder Workshops will keep your kiddo reading learning, discovering and creating all summer long. These online programs even give your kids the chance to ask questions, and make new friends. Digital Innovation Classes can get you programming, making electronic music, designing webpages and more. If it’s books you’re into… they still do that! Just google TPL Live & Online program.

Live music is clearly not a thing anymore, and sadly, like many other venues, Soundstreams has canceled its 2020/21 season. Soundstreams is a global leader in the presentation of innovative, carefully curated, and immersive musical experiences, and has been introducing Canadian audiences to groundbreaking composers since its founding in 1982. They’ve recently launched the Soundstreams Insider Program to help determine a course for the future of the organization and to create a roadmap for future, live concerts. By participating, you’ll get an invitation to town halls and access to concerts before they go on sale for the general public.

Head to Hot Docs Curious Minds at Home to escape to other worlds. Dr. Peter Harris, the former Assistant Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Science of the University of Toronto, leads courses on The Age of Upheaval (between the wars) and The Age of Re-Invention (after the World War II). Music historian Dr. Mike Daley will guide you through Neil Young’s life and career with his course, Words and Music. All three courses are open for registration now, and begin July 30.

For a shorter journey, check out the Lavazza Drive-In Film Festival. A film from a different country will be featured each night at Ontario Place with a special “Focus on Italy” series, presented in collaboration with the Istituto Italiano di Cultura Toronto. The festival is meant to offer families a safe and comfortable manner of re-integrating into social events. A portion of ticket sales will go directly to the Canadian Red Cross to assist with COVID-19 relief efforts.

Celebrate the gradual re-opening of the city with the official re-opening of the Gardiner Museum this month. If you pop by for a visit, you’ll have more space than ever to view Raw, an extended exhibition featuring works made with unfired clay. Artists Cassils, Magdolene Dykstra, Azza El Siddique, and Linda Swanson—invite you to discover new possibilities in an ancient medium. For a sneak peek, check out Cassils video “Up to and Including Their Limits,” on Youtube.

While you figure out how to re-shape the world you are re-entering, pop in to the re-opened A Different Booklist where you’ll find all the tools you need to re-shape your own mind. Until We Are Free: Reflections on Black Lives Matter, published in February 2020 is available in the store now. This book, “busts myths of Canadian politeness and niceness, myths that prevent Canadians from properly fulfilling its dream of multiculturalism and from challenging systemic racism, including the everyday assaults on black and brown bodies. This book needs to be read and put into practice by everyone,” says author Vershawn Young.

Get reading, get learning, get engaged: because a crisis is a terrible thing to waste.

As 2020 season is cancelled, Marek Deska recounts historic no-hitter

By R.S. Konjek 

Marek Deska smiles as he remembers that night.

“The cool thing was, I knew the whole time.”  

Deska is recounting his role in one of the most historic baseball games in Toronto Maple Leafs history.

On August 15, 2018, Deska and fellow pitcher Zach Sloan teamed up to defeat the Guelph Royals by tossing the only postseason no-hitter in the 102-year history of the Inter-county Baseball League. On top of that, the 6-2 victory eliminated Guelph and propelled the Leafs onward in the playoffs that summer.

Many of the fans at Christie Pits that night were unaware that they had witnessed history. A rough sixth inning saw the Royals send seven men to the plate and score two runs. Despite all that activity at the plate, they did not record a hit.

Sloan was the starting pitcher for the Leafs, and he cruised through the first five innings of the game, striking out seven Guelph batters. 

While Sloan held his opponents in check, the Leafs put two runs on the board early.

It was not until the sixth inning that Sloan ran into trouble. He threw two wild pitches, two intentional walks, hit a batter with a pitch, made an error, and watched one of his fielders make another error. When the dust settled, the Royals had tied the game 2-2. 

Deska had watched most of the game from the Leafs’ bench, then moved to the bullpen when manager Damon Topolie asked him to start warming up.  After Sloan got through the sixth inning, he trudged off the field and vented to his teammate. 

“He sounded disappointed because he pitched so well against that lineup and they still eeked out two runs,” Deska recalls. In the back of his mind, he knew that Sloan had not given up a hit to that point in the game. 

“I always know. To me, the goal is always perfection. It may not be realistic at times, but if you set your expectations high enough, you’ll find a higher level of confidence that keeps you constantly sharp.”

A fan favourite for 13 seasons with the Leafs, Deska took the ball with the task of finishing the final three innings in order to win the game, clinch the series, and achieve something every pitcher dreams of. As a teenager, Deska had pitched in three no-hitters, but never at this level.

The Leafs took some of the pressure off their reliever’s shoulders by scoring four late runs to provide him with a comfortable lead, although any pitcher would agree that no lead is ever comfortable enough.

Deska hunkered down and pitched a perfect seventh inning. He survived a slightly-less-perfect eighth, and then three more outs were all that separated Sloan and Deska from destiny.

Toronto baseball has seen many no-hitters.

From 1885 to 1967, over a dozen of them were recorded by the Leafs’ minor league predecessor in the International League.

The Toronto Blue Jays have a lone no-hitter to their name, pitched by Dave Stieb in 1990.

The Leafs of Christie Pits have also recorded no-hitters, most recently by Rob Patterson in 2000.

Never before had there been a situation like this one. It was the deciding game of a postseason series. Not only was a no-hitter at stake, but if the Leafs blew the game their season would come crashing to an end.

Deska was determined not to let that happen, and returned to the mound in the ninth inning with a plan.

“I knew that all I needed to do was throw strikes to secure the win,” he recalls. “The strange thing was that they did not make any real adjustments. I was going with my regular routine of getting ahead of the batter and making them hit my pitch. I did notice that they started taking a strike near the later innings, but that just allowed me to get ahead of another hitter.”

The first batter grounded out.

“I attacked the next two batters with fastballs.”

The next man up struck out swinging.

“My slider was sharp and I had great life on my fastball that night.”

The last man up for the Royals also went down swinging. Deska got the final out and the Leafs won the game and the series.

“That last punch out was a belt-high fastball with some added zip to it to put an exclamation point on the night.”

The Leafs celebrated on the field and Deska kept the ball that marked the final out of the game.

For Sloan, Deska and the rest of the Leafs, that game remains their most recent postseason success. They were eliminated by the Kitchener Panthers in the following round of the 2018 playoffs, and were eliminated by Kitchener again in the first round last year.

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the league to postpone its season, and the City of Toronto closed all sports fields. In late June, there remained a faint possibility that the Leafs might be able to play a truncated season at Christie Pits.

If it happens, Deska will be back.

“I’m itching to go,” he says. “A summer without baseball feels odd. I’ll keep pitching as long as I can help the team win games. I’m realistic and I’m sure I’ll know when my time is up. But not yet.”

READ MORE ON MIRVISH VILLAGE:

• CHATTER: A deeper history buried in Mirvish Village (August 2019)
• NEWS: First meeting on new Mirvish Village park (Summer 2018)
• CHATTER: Coming down (Nov. 2017)
• EDITORIAL: Westbank’s positive precedent (April 2017)
• NEWS: Westbank presents latest proposal (MARCH 2017)
• FORUM: Build a neighbourhood (March 2017)
• NEWS: Height, density still top concerns (July 2016)
• NEWS: Westbank submits revised application (June 2016)
• DEVELOPINGS: Annual review reflects tension between community activism and OMB (March 2016)
• Westbank towers over 4 Corners (January 2016)
• City hosts first Mirvish Village community consultation (November 2015)
• Residents’ associations share concerns for Mirvish Village (October 2015)
• Westbank submits application (August 2015)
• BABIA endorses Westbank proposal (July 2015)
• How do you make it real? (April 2015)

Kensington and other seniors’ homes in Annex very well prepared

By Nicole Stoffman

Coronavirus has hit long term care homes and retirement homes hard, accounting for 12% of all Toronto’s cases but 35% of all the city’s deaths, according to data from the National Institute on Ageing and Toronto Public health. As a percentage of Toronto’s cases, 61, or 6.5%, and 8 deaths, or 4%, are in the Gleaner’s coverage area. All of the eight deaths have been at Kensington Gardens, at the time of writing.

Kensington Gardens faced the largest outbreak of any seniors’ home in the Annex, with 29 cases, seven of them amongst staff, and eight deaths. All eight deaths occurred in the most acute ward, amongst residents with advanced dementia or Alzheimers. 

The outbreak, one of 38 across the city, was most probably spread by an asymptomatic staff member, whose mother had just returned from the U.K and who subsequently developed symptoms. When it spread to Kensington Gardens’ “lockdown unit,” in the north building, it spread like wildfire. This unit is for patients referred to as “the wanderers”, the residents with significant behavioural issues.

Kensington Gardens is a 350 bed long term care home operated by Kensington Health, a registered charity that also runs an eye surgery institute, screening clinic, hospice, and many other programs and services. Formerly the Doctor’s Hospital, the campus has been serving the health needs of the Kensington Market community for 100 years.

When symptomatic staff in the long-term care home began following protocols to self-quarantine for 14 days, CEO John Yip put out a call for volunteers to replace them. Thirty staff from across the organization answered. Knowing he could not ask them to do something he wouldn’t do himself, Yip bought himself some scrubs, an N95 mask, and a washable gown. He’s worked as an aide on the affected unit for 102 days, feeding bedridden residents.

The Ontario Ministry of Health did not begin purchasing additional personal protective equipment for long-term care homes until March 17. Fortunately, Yip had swung into action in February. Realizing Kensington had only a  two-week supply, he instructed staff to order PPE from Amazon, Walmart, “whatever we could get our hands on that was good quality,” he said. It was a good thing he did: PPE ordered from their usual supplier in early March did not arrive until May 5.

Yip implemented outbreak protocols, such as universal masking and limiting staff to one workplace at the end of March, two weeks and three weeks, respectively, before those measures were mandated by Toronto Public Health and the province. A mobile team from their partner, Women’s College Hospital, tested all staff and residents starting March 12, including in the less acute South building, long before universal testing was mandated by the province on April 22.

As of the Gleaner’s May 6 interview with Mr. Yip, the south building was COVID-free, the lockdown unit had been declared out of outbreak, and the remaining residents were recovering well. 

“Residents who were bedridden are wandering again, which to me is healthy,” said Mr. Yip. “They’re eating. My guys, that I see, were struggling to eat, and they’re now helping themselves to seconds.”

In other good news, Kensington’s senior team is already planning repatriating staff back to their home positions, as they ramp up their ambulatory-surgical operations. 

“This is an unbelievable example of a team,” said Yip. “Colleagues helping colleagues.”

Of the eight seniors’ homes in the Gleaner’s coverage area, Kensington Gardens is the third largest after Castleview-Wychwood (capacity 456), and Christie Gardens (capacity 400). Castleview-Wychwood, a municipally run home, has had two staff cases, and Christie Gardens, a non profit retirement home, is COVID-free as of the beginning of May, after an outbreak of 22 cases, according to data from Toronto Public Health. All have recovered.

Castleview-Wychwood did not respond to the Gleaner’s request for comment. The remaining five homes, which range in capacity from 99 to 238 residents, have had 1-5 cases of COVID-19.

Christie Gardens’ CEO Heather Janes attributes the quick recovery of her home to its partnership with Mount Sinai Hospital, which ramped up April 18. The hospital provided on site testing, risk assessment, and PPE, including over 1,000 disposable gowns, just when they were about to run out. Two weeks later, they were through the worst of it.

Christie Gardens found housing for 18 of their staff, who had been away from their families for two months at the time of writing. The only two coronavirus infections at Christie Gardens were among staff. Of the 61 infections in seniors’ homes across the Annex, 16 were staff cases.

Janes also attributes the home’s complete recovery to the large cohort of independent residents, who live in apartments with their own kitchens, and respected her request that they stay in their suites for three weeks. 

“It’s a highly educated crowd,” says Janes, proudly, “a lot of former politicians and profs from U of T.”

Meals, a hallway exercise program, mail and other services were delivered to their doors. “If you walk through the hallways, you wouldn’t believe the notes on people’s doors, thanking staff for ‘caring for us’. ”

Ninety percent of cases at Christie Gardens were asymptomatic. 

“COVID-19 is so different from any other kind of flu outbreak,” said Janes. 

“We have not done a good job as a province, and as a country on contact tracing, like other jurisdictions,” asserted Yip. “Had we done contact tracing of all international travelers at that time, we would have saved eight lives here, guaranteed.”

 There might still be other outbreaks, yet the stories at Kensington and Christie Gardens suggest that a proper PPE stockpile and early testing of both staff and residents kept the virus in check. 

If there is a silver lining in all of this, perhaps it is to draw attention to the importance of hospitals partnering with seniors’ homes in times of crisis, as witnessed right here in the Annex. 

“Our partnership with Women’s College has helped tremendously. We’ve had a partnership with them pre-COVID, but we drew on that existing relationship for them to come help us,” explained Yip. “ Without them, the numbers would have been drastically different. The testing and protective equipment that they supplied saved lives.”

Christie Gardens’ partnership with Mount Sinai was not pre-existing, and how it came to be still mystifies CEO Heather Janes, who suspects one of her residents made it happen.  It allowed them to start testing about three weeks before the ministry of health and local health networks were able to. “I have been in this business almost thirty years,” said Janes. “I have never-seen a hospital-nursing home partnership like this. It’s incredible. I can’t wait to say a proper thank you to the folks at Sinai.”

READ MORE LOCAL COVID-19 COVERAGE:

• NEWS: COVID-19 outbreaks at grocers (May 2020)
• CHATTER: Annex hotel now home for frontline workers (May 2020)
• NEWS: Food bank to receive funds raised by community mask initiative(May 2020)
• CHATTER: Horn on the Cob and the Social Distance (May 2020)
• EDITORIAL: Ontario gets a failing grade (May 2020)
• FORUM: We are here to support you (May 2020)
• FORUM: COVID-19 has exposed issues in long-term care homes (May 2020)
• FOCUS: Local resources for a global pandemic (May 2020)
• ARTS: Embrace culture in defiance of COVID-19 (May 2020)
• ON THE COVER: Everything will be alright (Apr. 2020)
• NEWS: Keep Your Rent campaign emerges (Apr. 2020)
• NEWS: ARA helps thy neighbour (Apr. 2020)
• FOCUS: Andrà tutto bene – Everything will be alright (Apr. 2020)
• FOCUS: Local resources for a global pandemic (Apr. 2020)
• CHATTER: “A burger and a pound of butter please…” (Apr. 2020)
• CHATTER: Victory’s Nick is the anti-gouger (Apr. 2020)
• CHATTER: Pop-up coffee shop opens on Bloor! (Apr. 2020)
• FOCUS: Former lingerie maven makes masks for neighbours (Apr. 2020)
• EDITORIAL CARTOON: How Nice (Apr. 2020)
• EDITORIAL: Local heroes (Apr. 2020)
• FORUM: We will get through this together (Apr. 2020)
• FORUM: Pandemic brings out the best in humanity (Apr. 2020)
• ARTS: Culture Corridor thrives online (Apr. 2020)
• LIFE: Two wheels keep on turning (April 15, 2020)
• ON THE COVER: Order in (Mar. 2020)
• NEWS: Local resources for a global pandemic (Mar. 2020)
• EDITORIAL CARTOON: How Nice (Mar. 2020)
• EDITORIAL: Modelling healthy behaviour (Mar. 2020)
• FORUM: We need to do our part (Mar. 2020)
• EDITORIAL: Modelling healthy behaviour (Mar. 2020)
• GREENINGS: Reflecting on who actually matters (Mar. 2020)

Loblaws, Metro, Fiesta Farms all affected

By Nicole Stoffman

How is COVID-19 impacting the health and safety of grocery workers and their customers across the Annex? The Gleaner took a closer look.

DUPONT LOBLAWS

Toronto Public Health is actively investigating two clusters of cases of COVID-19 among staff at grocery stores including the Loblaws at Dupont and Christie, said Dr. Vinita Dubey, Associate Medical Officer of Health, in an email to the Gleaner.

There have been “multiple confirmed cases over many weeks,” of employees who have tested positive at the Dupont Loblaws, according to a May 23rd statement from the company. 

“We immediately took a number of steps to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our customers and colleagues, including providing masks and gloves to the team, making temperature checks mandatory before shifts and following the guidance of public health following each confirmed case. The store also significantly reduced the number of customers allowed in at any one time, and proactively sent home many colleagues to self-isolate,” the statement read.

An employee who spoke to the Gleaner, on condition of anonymity, stated there have been 25-30 cases, but Loblaws declined to share exact numbers. 

A Dupont Loblaws employee tested positive on April 17, another on April 29, and a few more on May 2. It was not until May 2 that employees had their temperature checked at the start of each shift, and at no time were masks mandatory for workers or customers, according to information shared on the Dupont Loblaws Facebook page.  

“It was just a case of ‘wash your hands and practice good hygiene’,” said the employee. “But you can’t trust human beings to do the decent thing.” 

All confirmed cases but one came from the day crew who interact with customers, as opposed to the night crew, who restock shelves and prepare online orders, said the employee.

In response to each positive case, and working with Toronto Public Health, the store was sanitized daily, and closed overnight for cleaning, according to statements on the store’s Facebook page. 

However, customers writing on the page complained that social distancing measures were not being enforced, staff was not wearing PPE, and the company was not letting people know when the COVID-19 positive employees had worked, making it impossible for them to know if they had been exposed.

“Once we started having cases three, four and five, I feel that they kind of wanted to turn a blind eye and not accept responsibility for it,” the employee said. “At a time like this, you just want to be honest and upfront with people. People will respect that a lot more.”

On May 11, the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), which represents 25,000 grocery workers across the province, including at Loblaws, called on the store to close for two weeks to assess the scale of the outbreak. Instead, Loblaws temporarily closed the store to shoppers, providing pickup orders only. Their pharmacy remains open. 

Since then, masks, gloves and temperature checks are mandatory for all staff, and they have only had one case in two weeks, according to the employee, who now feels safe, but says, “it’s also too little, too late… It’s very much been a reaction.”

BLOOR STREET METRO

An employee at the Bloor and Robert St. Metro grocery store tested positive on April 24th. Working with Toronto Public Health, Metro ensured the employee was safe and quarantined, cleaned all surfaces they may have been in contact with and informed all of the store’s employees. The store was deep-cleaned that night, according to a statement from Communications Manager, Stephanie Bonk.

Metro advises, but does not require, everyone to wear masks in store. In early May, all employees were provided a face shield and masks. PPE is now mandatory for employees for whom contact with others within 2 meters is likely because social distancing measures, “have been considered but are not possible,” said Bonk.

Metro publishes a listing of the numbers of all positive employee COVID-19 cases, along with the location details, at the bottom of the FAQ page of their website.. 

FIESTA FARMS

Fiesta Farms blogged on May 20th that their first employee tested positive that day. The employee’s last day of work was May 16th. Fiesta Farms immediately informed public health, interviewed all staff to discover who had contact with the employee, and closed the store for three days so it could be sanitized by a specialized company. 

The employee is recovering very well, at home, according to store managers Tracy Virgona and Kendra Sozinho.

To get ahead of a possible outbreak, all other 149 employees were tested. At the time of writing 60% have come back negative. Employees still waiting for results stayed home, while those who tested negative were part of a small crew stocking shelves for the re-opening on May 23.

Fiesta Farms went beyond Toronto Public Health protocols for plexiglass shields and social distancing markings by providing face shields for employees. On May 13th, they went further and implemented a mandatory mask policy, to the objection of many customers. 

“You’re coming here to shop. It’s a 20-30 minute shop, so just go with the rules the store has put in place,” urges Sozinho. “Think of our health care workers. They’re wearing the full gear for 10-12 hour shifts. So, suck it up and wear a mask. Sorry to be so blunt.”

“The best protection from COVID-19 is to keep two metres (or six feet) from others, wash your hands often and avoid non-essential trips in the community,” says Dubey. 

Toronto Public Health and the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) both recommend that grocery store staff and customers wear a face mask, as shopping sometimes makes keeping six feet apart difficult. 

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association has said that refusing someone service because they are not masked would be a violation of their rights. However, Dubey confirmed that it is within the purview of private businesses to implement Occupational Health and Safety policies for their workers. 

‘‘Just as we’ve seen different governments around the world enforce policies around mask wearing, it really is up to the employer or government to make it applicable across the province, country or the workplace,” said Joel Thelosen, of the UFCW.

Grocery store employees have suddenly become front line workers during a pandemic involving an insidious virus that spreads asymptomatically. Keeping them safe, therefore, protects the public too, and may be key to flattening the curve, according to a March 19th statement from UCFW President, Wayne Hanley, who called on the province to take stronger measures to protect grocery workers.

READ MORE LOCAL COVID-19 COVERAGE:

• CHATTER: Annex hotel now home for frontline workers (May 2020)
• NEWS: Food bank to receive funds raised by community mask initiative(May 2020)
• CHATTER: Horn on the Cob and the Social Distance (May 2020)
• EDITORIAL: Ontario gets a failing grade (May 2020)
• FORUM: We are here to support you (May 2020)
• FORUM: COVID-19 has exposed issues in long-term care homes (May 2020)
• FOCUS: Local resources for a global pandemic (May 2020)
• ARTS: Embrace culture in defiance of COVID-19 (May 2020)
• ON THE COVER: Everything will be alright (Apr. 2020)
• NEWS: Keep Your Rent campaign emerges (Apr. 2020)
• NEWS: ARA helps thy neighbour (Apr. 2020)
• FOCUS: Andrà tutto bene – Everything will be alright (Apr. 2020)
• FOCUS: Local resources for a global pandemic (Apr. 2020)
• CHATTER: “A burger and a pound of butter please…” (Apr. 2020)
• CHATTER: Victory’s Nick is the anti-gouger (Apr. 2020)
• CHATTER: Pop-up coffee shop opens on Bloor! (Apr. 2020)
• FOCUS: Former lingerie maven makes masks for neighbours (Apr. 2020)
• EDITORIAL CARTOON: How Nice (Apr. 2020)
• EDITORIAL: Local heroes (Apr. 2020)
• FORUM: We will get through this together (Apr. 2020)
• FORUM: Pandemic brings out the best in humanity (Apr. 2020)
• ARTS: Culture Corridor thrives online (Apr. 2020)
• LIFE: Two wheels keep on turning (April 15, 2020)
• ON THE COVER: Order in (Mar. 2020)
• NEWS: Local resources for a global pandemic (Mar. 2020)
• EDITORIAL CARTOON: How Nice (Mar. 2020)
• EDITORIAL: Modelling healthy behaviour (Mar. 2020)
• FORUM: We need to do our part (Mar. 2020)
• EDITORIAL: Modelling healthy behaviour (Mar. 2020)
• GREENINGS: Reflecting on who actually matters (Mar. 2020)

The Annex café at the corner of Bathurst and Bloor has announced its closing after 12 years in business. The announcement came ahead of the pandemic crisis and reportedly as the building had been sold by the tenant’s parent company.

Since no tenant was immediately found, the owners reopened a temporary takeout window on May 7. They will continue serving coffee, tea, ice cream and small bags of freshly roasted beans, until a new occupant is secured. 

The Green Beanery café-roastery was a popular source for coffee beans and equipment for Annex’s locals since it opened in 2008.

“Green Beanery began as an experiment in fundraising for Probe International, our charitable foundation. We wanted this enterprise to embody our ideals of bringing together small coffee farmers and Canadians who loved their unique coffees,” reads their statement. “We also wanted to recreate a coffee house of old, without WiFi, where all could come to imbibe superb coffee and explore the important issues of the day without fear of intolerance. We hope we have succeeded.”

The café was a beloved space to connect for the political discussion group Grounds for Thought, and from “first dates (and even proposals), to meetings and poetry readings.”

“We want to extend our heartfelt thanks to you, our loyal customers and friends, who have made this café such a great success,” the statement reads in part.

While the company has closed a location on Bloor Street, it remains in business. 

“We are very happy to share the news that our online coffee equipment and bean sales will continue from new locations run by Green Beanery staff and associates,” says the statement.

The Green Beanery takeout window at the corner of Bathurst and Bloor is open every day of the week from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. for fresh beans, beverages and ice-cream to go until further notice. 

—Tanya Ielyseieva, Gleaner News

The twenty-four room Annex Hotel at 296 Brunswick Avenue has re-opened its doors to accommodate Toronto healthcare workers fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Mid-March we closed our doors to the public proactively, obviously, as a result of COVID-19 becoming a bigger and bigger kind of presence,” said General Manager Ryan Killeen. “We re-opened the hotel early April to frontline health care workers, and we were able to do so through a private donor. The cost of our rooms has been sponsored through the end of June, which means that we were able to put health care workers up on a complimentary basis.”

The hotel has been fully occupied since the initiative was launched. All services are provided online and by text message or phone.

“The healthcare workers have been very appreciative that we were able to assist and provide them with a place to call home,” said Killeen. “It’s alleviated stress for them. I mean, there’s a lot of healthcare workers who are living with immunocompromised parents and children. So going home after work is a very anxious feeling for them and they’ve been very appreciative that they’re able to come back to The Annex Hotel and self-isolate in their own rooms.”

The Annex Hotel has launched an online store where the community can participate in the initiative.

“We know there are many organizations and people out there stepping up,” Killeen explained. “We hope that by adding our name to the chorus, it will give others a chance to join in to support everyone who is, in turn, supporting us.”

—Tanya Ielyseieva, Gleaner News

READ MORE LOCAL COVID-19 COVERAGE:

• NEWS: Food bank to receive funds raised by community mask initiative (May 2020)
• CHATTER: Horn on the Cob and the Social Distance (May 2020)
• EDITORIAL: Ontario gets a failing grade (May 2020)
• FORUM: We are here to support you (May 2020)
• FORUM: COVID-19 has exposed issues in long-term care homes (May 2020)
• FOCUS: Local resources for a global pandemic (May 2020)
• ARTS: Embrace culture in defiance of COVID-19 (May 2020)
• ON THE COVER: Everything will be alright (Apr. 2020)
• NEWS: Keep Your Rent campaign emerges (Apr. 2020)
• NEWS: ARA helps thy neighbour (Apr. 2020)
• FOCUS: Andrà tutto bene – Everything will be alright (Apr. 2020)
• FOCUS: Local resources for a global pandemic (Apr. 2020)
• CHATTER: “A burger and a pound of butter please…” (Apr. 2020)
• CHATTER: Victory’s Nick is the anti-gouger (Apr. 2020)
• CHATTER: Pop-up coffee shop opens on Bloor! (Apr. 2020)
• FOCUS: Former lingerie maven makes masks for neighbours (Apr. 2020)
• EDITORIAL CARTOON: How Nice (Apr. 2020)
• EDITORIAL: Local heroes (Apr. 2020)
• FORUM: We will get through this together (Apr. 2020)
• FORUM: Pandemic brings out the best in humanity (Apr. 2020)
• ARTS: Culture Corridor thrives online (Apr. 2020)
• LIFE: Two wheels keep on turning (April 15, 2020)
• ON THE COVER: Order in (Mar. 2020)
• NEWS: Local resources for a global pandemic (Mar. 2020)
• EDITORIAL CARTOON: How Nice (Mar. 2020)
• EDITORIAL: Modelling healthy behaviour (Mar. 2020)
• FORUM: We need to do our part (Mar. 2020)
• EDITORIAL: Modelling healthy behaviour (Mar. 2020)
• GREENINGS: Reflecting on who actually matters (Mar. 2020)

Neighbours come together in a time of “social distancing”

By Tanya Ielyseieva

The Palmerston Area Residents Association (PARA) has donated $7,900 to the Daily Bread Food Bank raised by a community fundraising drive. To help prevent the spread of COVID-19, they also launched an initiative to make non-medical masks, which raised some additional funds for the Daily Bread Food Bank.

Ingrid Nasager, PARA membership coordinator and board member, says the idea for the mask project came after hearing the statistic that one in five people may be asymptomatic carriers of COVID-19, and learning that wearing masks could help curb the spread of the disease.

“I liked the idea of wearing a fabric mask, so as to avoid taking away resources from healthcare professionals,” said Nasager.

PARA made a Facebook post asking for people in the neighbourhood who sew to start making masks on April 7. By the time the Gleaner interviewed Nasagar, PARA had collected more than 100. 

Volunteers followed Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommendations in making the masks. 

They used tightly woven 100% cotton for the outside, and non-woven interfacing for the inside. 

Though not a medical-grade filter, the interfacing makes it harder for the wearer’s infectious respiratory droplets to escape.

There were no set prices for masks, and people could pick them up from various porch-locations at set times.

“The response has really just been so great. It provided a safe space, with social distancing, of course, for people to promote and ask questions, get the latest updates. I’m really glad to see something being done and I’m glad to participate in that,” said Nasager. 

This initiative is part of a larger one launched initially by an anonymous group of neighbours called The Gratitude Project which aimed to raise funds for the Daily Bread Food Bank.

“We called it the Gratitude Project because we’re saying thank you to everybody who helps in the neighborhood and then thank you, to you, who make the donations,” said Paul MacLean, PARA’s chair.

The Daily Bread Food Bank encourages donations, and has a collections button on its web page.

PARA has also provided a community service for seniors like grocery shopping or picking up medications or running errands.

READ MORE LOCAL COVID-19 COVERAGE:

• CHATTER: Horn on the Cob and the Social Distance (May 2020)
• EDITORIAL: Ontario gets a failing grade (May 2020)
• FORUM: We are here to support you (May 2020)
• FORUM: COVID-19 has exposed issues in long-term care homes (May 2020)
• FOCUS: Local resources for a global pandemic (May 2020)
• ARTS: Embrace culture in defiance of COVID-19 (May 2020)
• ON THE COVER: Everything will be alright (Apr. 2020)
• NEWS: Keep Your Rent campaign emerges (Apr. 2020)
• NEWS: ARA helps thy neighbour (Apr. 2020)
• FOCUS: Andrà tutto bene – Everything will be alright (Apr. 2020)
• FOCUS: Local resources for a global pandemic (Apr. 2020)
• CHATTER: “A burger and a pound of butter please…” (Apr. 2020)
• CHATTER: Victory’s Nick is the anti-gouger (Apr. 2020)
• CHATTER: Pop-up coffee shop opens on Bloor! (Apr. 2020)
• FOCUS: Former lingerie maven makes masks for neighbours (Apr. 2020)
• EDITORIAL CARTOON: How Nice (Apr. 2020)
• EDITORIAL: Local heroes (Apr. 2020)
• FORUM: We will get through this together (Apr. 2020)
• FORUM: Pandemic brings out the best in humanity (Apr. 2020)
• ARTS: Culture Corridor thrives online (Apr. 2020)
• LIFE: Two wheels keep on turning (April 15, 2020)
• ON THE COVER: Order in (Mar. 2020)
• NEWS: Local resources for a global pandemic (Mar. 2020)
• EDITORIAL CARTOON: How Nice (Mar. 2020)
• EDITORIAL: Modelling healthy behaviour (Mar. 2020)
• FORUM: We need to do our part (Mar. 2020)
• EDITORIAL: Modelling healthy behaviour (Mar. 2020)
• GREENINGS: Reflecting on who actually matters (Mar. 2020)

READ MORE LOCAL COVID-19 COVERAGE:

• EDITORIAL: Ontario gets a failing grade (May 2020)
• FORUM: We are here to support you (May 2020)
• FORUM: COVID-19 has exposed issues in long-term care homes (May 2020)
• FOCUS: Local resources for a global pandemic (May 2020)
• ARTS: Embrace culture in defiance of COVID-19 (May 2020)
• ON THE COVER: Everything will be alright (Apr. 2020)
• NEWS: Keep Your Rent campaign emerges (Apr. 2020)
• NEWS: ARA helps thy neighbour (Apr. 2020)
• FOCUS: Andrà tutto bene – Everything will be alright (Apr. 2020)
• FOCUS: Local resources for a global pandemic (Apr. 2020)
• CHATTER: “A burger and a pound of butter please…” (Apr. 2020)
• CHATTER: Victory’s Nick is the anti-gouger (Apr. 2020)
• CHATTER: Pop-up coffee shop opens on Bloor! (Apr. 2020)
• FOCUS: Former lingerie maven makes masks for neighbours (Apr. 2020)
• EDITORIAL CARTOON: How Nice (Apr. 2020)
• EDITORIAL: Local heroes (Apr. 2020)
• FORUM: We will get through this together (Apr. 2020)
• FORUM: Pandemic brings out the best in humanity (Apr. 2020)
• ARTS: Culture Corridor thrives online (Apr. 2020)
• LIFE: Two wheels keep on turning (April 15, 2020)
• ON THE COVER: Order in (Mar. 2020)
• NEWS: Local resources for a global pandemic (Mar. 2020)
• EDITORIAL CARTOON: How Nice (Mar. 2020)
• EDITORIAL: Modelling healthy behaviour (Mar. 2020)
• FORUM: We need to do our part (Mar. 2020)
• EDITORIAL: Modelling healthy behaviour (Mar. 2020)
• GREENINGS: Reflecting on who actually matters (Mar. 2020)