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Ontario plans COVID-19 vaccine rollout as it reports 1,707 new cases and spike in ICU admissions The worsening of the second wave in Ontario comes on the same day Ontario health minister Christine Elliot, along with retired general Rick Hillier, chair of Ontario's vaccine distribution task force, held a media conference at pharmaceutical distribution company McKesson Canada in Brampton to provide an update on the province's plan for rolling out COVID-19 vaccines when they become available. "Collaborating with industry experts in health care and logistics will be key to ensuring we are prepared by December 31 for the first phase of rolling out COVID-19 vaccines, when they are available," Elliott said. "Under the leadership of General Hillier, the province will be ready to launch Ontario's COVID-19 immunization program." Most of the new cases reported today are in Toronto, which saw another record increase of 727 cases, followed by Peel (373) and York (168). There are double-digit increases in Durham (72), Waterloo (61), Hamilton (58), Windsor- Essex (47), Halton (47), Simcoe Muskoka (36), Ottawa (34), Niagara (15), Wellington- Dufferin-Guelph (13), and Grey Bruce (12), with smaller increases in Huron Perth (8), Brant County (8), Eastern Ontario Health Unit (7), Hastings Prince Edward Public Health (6), and Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit (6). (Note: due to the way cases are reported, there are discrepancies between the Ontario data and the data reported by by local health units.) The remaining 19 health units are reporting 5 or fewer new cases, with 6 health units reporting no new cases at all. Of today's cases, 54% are among people under 40 years of age, with the highest number of cases (666) among people ages 20 to 39 followed by 511 cases among people ages 40 to 59. With 1,373 more cases resolved since yesterday, the percentage of resolved cases has decreased by 0.1% to 84.6%. The average positivity rate across Ontario has increased by 0.5% to 5.1%, meaning that 51 out of every 1,000 tests performed were positive for COVID- 19 on November 30. Ontario is reporting 7 new COVID-19 deaths today, including 6 in long-term care facilities -- the lowest number of daily deaths since October 28, when 5 deaths were reported. However, hospitalizations continue to climb, with 27 more people with COVID-19 in hospitals, for a total of 645. The number of patients with COVID-19 admitted to ICUs has jumped by 17 to 185, with 4 more patients on ventilators. A total of 34,046 tests were completed yesterday, and the backlog of tests under investigation has increased by 6,658 to 34,046. The number of new cases in Ontario schools has jumped to 299, an increase of 197 from yesterday, with 255 student cases and 46 staff cases. There are 40 new cases in licensed child care settings, an increase of 26 from yesterday, with 21 cases among children and 19 2/6