Mayor cautiously optimistic about Mississauga COVID outlook

Cautiously optimistic was the predominant theme at Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie’s weekly COVID-19 news conference.

“Last week I was hopeful. This week my optimism is growing further,” said the mayor at the live-streamed event.

She then went on to talk about the local hospital situation stabilizing as well as touting some of the improving COVID-19 rates and vaccination percentages by age group.

“Last week, Peel’s infection rate was 347 per 100,000 residents. This week it’s down to 297/100K. In Mississauga, we’ve dropped from 282 to 240/100K. We’re dropping about 2.5 per cent per day and that’s great.”

Crombie expects another 150,000 people in Peel to be vaccinated this week. “We’re giving 20,000 doses per day and we just passed 700,000 doses total, which puts us over the 50 per cent threshold. I want to thank the province for prioritizing Peel and getting us extra vaccines.”

More than 60 per cent of all Peel residents over the age of 50 have been vaccinated so far, with numbers dropping off for younger adults. Less than 18 per cent under the age of 40 have been vaccinated, although it’s only recently they were fully eligible for the shot.

Crombie highlighted several ways the region is continuing to drive vaccinations, including this weekend’s Doses After Dark 32-hour marathon event at The International Centre as well as popups and workplace clinics. MiWay transit workers and other essential city workers will have their own clinic soon.

“We’ve seen numbers go down before. But we’re so relieved things are trending in the right direction.”