COVID-19 Information for Health Professionals

York Region Public Health continues to provide support for health professionals related to COVID-19. The York Region Public Health phone line for health care professionals 1-877-464-9675 ext. 77280 is staffed from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday to Friday, and is provided for health care providers to ensure your inquiries can be answered quickly. Messages received over the weekend will be responded to as soon as possible, in the order they were received and based on urgency the next business day. Urgent inquiries will be triaged to our after-hours line through our Answering Service.

COVID-19 Vaccines

Six COVID-19 vaccines are currently approved for use in Canada. For information on approved vaccines, including product monographs, administration information and additional resources, visit Approved COVID-19 Vaccines from the Government of Canada.

Information on COVID-19 vaccine eligibility and available clinics in York Region can be found at york.ca/COVID19Vaccine

Additional COVID-19 vaccine resources:

Alert

Please update your College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) address and fax number to ensure you are receiving all ENS messaging as it relates to COVID-19.

You can also reach out to @email if you continue to experience issues receiving ENS updates.

For Health Professionals

Sector-Specific Guidance Documents

For up-to-date guidance and requirements for your health sector with respect to screening, infection prevention and control measures, personal protective equipment, and other sector-specific needs, visit the Ministry of Health COVID-19 Guidance for the Health Sector page.

Infection Prevention and Control (IPAC) Recommendations

For the most up-to-date Infection Prevention and Control (IPAC) recommendations, please refer to Public Health Ontario’s (PHO) IPAC Recommendations for Use of Personal Protective Equipment for Care of Individuals with Suspect or Confirmed COVID-19.

Important Information to Gather from Suspect Cases

Please collect the following information from anyone you believe may meet the COVID-19 case definition to help with an assessment:

  • Signs, symptoms, onset and your clinical assessment
  • Travel details if applicable (dates and exact location(s) of travel and date of return to Canada)
  • Full patient demographics (including phone number)
  • Confirmation of infection prevention and control measures put in place following assessment and testing for COVID-19 (if testing was carried out)
Children and COVID-19

Clinical disease presentation and severity

Parents may request your support in interpreting symptoms based on the Ontario COVID-19 Screening Tool for Children in School and Child Care. Consistent with prior data, reports continue to indicate that children have mild disease compared with adults. However, there are reports of severe disease in children. Paediatric patients with COVID-19 may experience the following signs or symptoms based on illness severity, as identified by the Canadian Paediatric Society:

Mild Disease

  • Asymptomatic infection or upper respiratory tract symptoms (e.g., pharyngeal congestion, sore throat, or fever) for a short period (i.e., less than 7 days)
  • No oxygen support required
  • No abnormal radiographs or evidence of sepsis

Moderate Disease

  • Fever, cough, fatigue, headache, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, myalgia, anosmia (loss of smell) or ageusia (loss of taste)
  • Signs of increased work of breathing and increased respiratory rate, but no hypoxemia (no oxygen required)
  • Pneumonia on chest x-ray
  • No evidence of sepsis

Severe Disease

  • Respiratory distress or organ dysfunction, such as
    • Tachypnea
    • Hypoxemia
    • Cardiovascular effects (e.g., myocardial injury)
    • Central nervous system effects (e.g., decreased level of consciousness, depression, seizures, or coma)
    • Gastrointestinal effects (e.g., dehydration, difficulty feeding, elevated liver enzymes)
    • Coagulation dysfunction, rhabdomyolysis, or other vital organ dysfunction

Critical illness

  • Respiratory failure requiring mechanical ventilation (acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), persistent hypoxemia)
  • Septic shock
  • Organ failure requiring invasive monitoring and mechanical ventilation
    • Myocardial injury/heart failure
    • Liver injury/coagulation dysfunction
    • Kidney injury

Acute Inflammatory Syndrome in Children

An acute inflammatory illness has been reported in a small number of children worldwide, thought to be associated with COVID-19. Clinical presentations include persistent fever and features suggestive of Kawasaki disease (complete or incomplete), toxic shock-like syndrome, euvolemic shock states and severe gastrointestinal illness. Severe myocardial dysfunction and multiple organ failure have also been reported. While rare, clinicians should be aware of this potential syndrome and maintain a high index of suspicion to identify cases. For more information, please see the Public Alert from the Canadian Paediatric Surveillance Program.

Disease transmission in children

Person-to-person spread was demonstrated very early in this pandemic and has been well described in children. Contact tracing in various countries has determined that the major risk factor for acquiring COVID-19 infection in childhood is currently household exposure.

Managing children and youth infected with symptomatic COVID-19

Treatment remains largely supportive and includes prevention and management of complications. Several Canadian universities, research centres and medical organizations have recommended against use of off-label, investigational therapies and antivirals.

For more information on the management of a child with COVID-19, options include:

  • Contact the Pediatrics Department at your local hospital
  • Page Pediatric Infectious Diseases at the Hospital for Sick Children
  • And/or send a referral to the Hospital for Sick Children’s virtual COVID clinic (Infectious Diseases rapid access clinic) through EpicCare Link

Immunization

While COVID-19 is currently a primary focus for health care providers, there are vaccine preventable diseases that still pose a risk to the York Region community. Routine immunization services should still be provided, as long as proper infection prevention and control measures are in place.

    Past Communications from York Region Public Health
    Community Health Care Provider Webinars

    York Region Public Health hosts interactive webinars with community-based health care providers to provide updates on COVID-19. To receive an invitation or submit questions for future webinars, please subscribe to York Region’s Public Health Matters.

    COVID-19 Briefing: November 29, 2021

    Hosted by Dr. JoAnne Fernandes and Dr. Cindy Shen, both Associated Medical Officers of Health for York Region.

    NOTE: As of December 19, 2021, there have been recent regulatory changes made to the Reopening Ontario Act, due to the rapid increase of COVID-19 transmission related to the Omicron variant. This webinar does not reflect these changes.

    COVID-19 Briefing: September 27, 2021

    Hosted by Dr. JoAnne Fernandes and Dr. Cindy Shen, both Public Health Physicians of York Region.

    COVID-19 Briefing: August 23, 2021

    Hosted by Dr. JoAnne Fernandes, Public Health Physician and Dr. Ceinwen Pope, Public Health and Preventive Medicine Resident Physician of York Region.

    COVID-19 Briefing: June 9, 2021

    Hosted by Dr. Cindy Shen, Public Health Physician and Dr. Azim Kasmani, Public Health and Preventive Medicine Resident Physician of York Region. Also, Dr. Richard Gould, Associate Medical Officer of Health for York Region joined for the Q&A session.

    COVID-19 Briefing: May 10, 2021

    Hosted by Dr. Cindy Shen, and Dr. Mehvish Mehrani, both York Region Public Health Physician

    COVID-19 Briefing: March 29, 2021

    Hosted by Dr. Fareen Karachiwalla and Dr. Richard Gould, Associate Medical Officers of Health, York Region Public Health

    COVID-19 Briefing: February 26, 2021

    Hosted by Dr. Cindy Shen, Public Health Physician and Dr. Mehvish Mehrani, Public Health Physician

    COVID-19 Briefing: January 18, 2021

    Hosted by Dr. Fareen Karachiwalla, Associate Medical Officer of Health and Dr. Mehvish Mehrani, Public Health Physician

    COVID-19 Briefing: November 26, 2020

    Hosted by Dr. Fareen Karachiwalla, Associate Medical Officer of Health and Andrew Lam, University of Toronto Medical Student

    COVID-19 Briefing: October 29, 2020

    Hosted by Dr. Shixin (Cindy) Shen, Krista Richards and Kim Bacani-Angus, York Region Public Health

    COVID-19 Briefing: September 23, 2020

    Hosted by Dr. Alanna Fitzgerald-Husek and Dr. Richard Gould, Associate Medical Officers of Health, York Region Public Health

    COVID-19 Briefing: August 19, 2020

    Hosted by Dr. Fareen Karachiwalla, Associate Medical Officer of Health and York Region Public Health and Dr. Rebecca Shalansky, Medical Resident, York Region Public Health

    Please note that this webinar was recorded prior to the release of the COVID-19 Guidance: School Outbreak Management document from the Ontario Ministry of Health. If there are any discrepancies between what was said in the video with respect to school outbreak management and the Ministry Guidance document, the Guidance document prevails.

    COVID-19 Briefing: July 16, 2020

    Hosted by Dr. Fareen Karachiwalla, Associate Medical Officer of Health, York Region Public Health

    Reporting an Adverse Event Following Immunization (AEFI)

    An AEFI is an event or reaction that occurs following immunization that may or may not be caused by the vaccine. Health care providers are required to report AEFIs to York Region Public Health under the Health Promotion and Protection Act.

    Consult the  Factsheet for Healthcare Providers for more information about AEFIs and when they should be reported.

    To report an AEFI:

    • Complete an  adverse event form, or  download the form and complete, then fax the completed form to York Region Public Health at 905-898-5213, or
    • Call our Nurses Line at 1-877-464-9675, ext. 73452

    Additional Resources

    York Region Public Health - Should you report an Adverse Event to York Region Public Health? (Decision Tool)
    Public Health Ontario - Adverse Events of Special Interest (AESIs) for COVID-19 Vaccines Surveillance

    Related Resources

    External Resources for Health Professionals

    Access to Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

    Ontario Health, together with the Ministry of Health, has implemented a new temporary process called Pandemic PPE Transitional Support (PPTS). This new process provides access to a dedicated supply of PPE from the provincial stockpile to all community-based physicians – both primary care providers and community-based specialists – free of charge.

    Eligible practitioners can make requests through the Ontario Health Regional Online Remedy Intake Form.

    In addition, the Ministry of Health requests that primary care providers and community-based specialists continue to update their PPE inventory levels twice a week. This is an eligibility requirement to receive PPE through PPTS.

    For more information, see Transitional PPE Support.

    Resources for Patients in Different Languages