June 9 Board of Health Meeting Summary
Written by Communications, June 11, 2021
Board of Health Honours Student Nutrition Program Champion Mary Cozzarini
The Board of Health recognized Principal Mary Cozzarini from the Peterborough Victoria Northumberland Clarington Catholic School Board (PVNCCDSB) for her 29 year-long commitment to local student nutrition programs. Ms. Cozzarini started organizing student breakfast programs at her school in 1992, based on the idea of feeding hungry children before the start of the school day. In 1996, she was instrumental in the first Breakfast for Learning Grant that brought our community together with a shared vision that eventually became the Food For Kids program. The immediate years following saw the growth of a network of more schools, volunteers, funders, and organizations. Ms. Cozzarini’s passion and advocacy skills helped secure annual funding from the school board to support school student nutrition programs and create board-wide school nutrition policies, which together led to student nutrition being included as a valued part of each school day. Today, the Food for Kids partnership includes 51 of the 53 local publicly-funded schools, and last year served almost 1.5 million meals to 19,313 students.
2020 Consolidated Audited Financial Statements
The 2020 consolidated financial statements for Peterborough Public Health were audited by Baker Tilly KDN LLP in accordance with the Canadian generally accepted auditing standards. The audit concluded that the 2020 financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of Peterborough Public Health in accordance with the Canadian Public Sector Accounting Standards.
COVID-19 Update
Dr. Salvaterra shared the latest local data from the COVID-19 pandemic, noting that the community is in a much better situation than it was last month. The numbers of new cases reported daily have dropped to single digits for the past two weeks. The arrival of the Delta variant in Ontario is impacting the provincial vaccine rollout plan as one dose is not protective enough. The Ontario Science Table has used modelling data to recommend that the province strive to achieve 25% two dose vaccination rates by the end of June, with 45% two dose coverage in Delta hotspots. As of June 9, a total of 72.2% of local residents 18 years and over and 29.2% of youth aged 12-17 years have received their first dose.
PPH has recruited 301 additional staff and volunteers to support vaccine rollout locally, and volunteers have contributed more than 5,000 hours towards the vaccination effort so far. On June 11, the province enters the first step the Reopening Plan. Instructions were issued to businesses with public health measures required to protect workers and the public.