PEI

COVID-19 on P.E.I.: What's happening Monday, Oct. 19

It is time for the psychiatric ward at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital to reopen, says the province's chief of mental health and addictions.

2 charged with impaired after Confederation Bridge COVID checkpoint staff call RCMP

Unit 9 at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital is the psychiatric unit but is currently full of patients with dementia. (CBC News)

P.E.I.'s chief of mental health and addictions is "profoundly concerned" that the Queen Elizabeth Hospital's psychiatric ward, closed in the spring for COVID-19 patients that never came, has still not reopened.

Staff at the COVID-19 checkpoint in Borden-Carleton have called in the RCMP twice recently to deal with drivers they suspected were impaired.

Some small P.E.I. businesses are weathering the impact of COVID-19 better than others, says Penny Walsh-McGuire, CEO of the Greater Charlottetown Area Chamber of Commerce.

The financial hit of this season could be "very big," but the Charlottetown Islanders are trying to focus on hockey ahead of their home opener this Friday. 

The haunted house at Summerside's College of Piping will go ahead for Halloween, but the ghosts will socially distance.

The Council for Recovery and Growth has met about 30 times virtually since it was formed back in May and has received about 1,000 submissions, P.E.I. Premier Dennis King says.

There have been 63 confirmed cases of COVID-19 on P.E.I. Of those, 61 cases are considered recovered. There have been no hospitalizations or deaths, and there is no evidence of community spread.

Also in the news

  • Buddhist monks and nuns on P.E.I. are taking extra precautions against COVID-19 by creating their own bubbles on their campuses.
  • P.E.I. entrepreneurs from the francophone community will hold their annual business meetings with Quebec buyers virtually this year due to COVID-19, and many are anxious to see how it will work.
  • Public health officials will soon be visiting Prince Edward Island schools to ensure compliance with operational plans designed to stem the spread of COVID-19.
  • P.E.I. theatres reflect on a "devastating" season due to COVID-19.

Further resources

More COVID-19 stories from CBC P.E.I.