The City of Toronto have made two additional maps available online, which show the percent positivity and testing rates by neighbourhood.
The Rustic neighbourhood in Toronto, north of Lawrence Ave. W to Hwy. 401 between Jane St. and Culford Rd., has the highest percent positivity at 14.3 per cent the week of Sept. 27. This neighbourhood’s testing rate was among some of the lowest in the city that week at 13.7 tests per 1,000 people. By comparison, Toronto’s affluent Bridle Path – Sunnybrook – York Mills neighbourhood had a testing rate of 22.9 test per 1,000 people in the same week.
For the week of Oct. 4, the Brookhaven – Amesbury neighbourhood had the highest percent positivity at 12 per cent, with a testing rate of 11.7 per 1,000 people.
Other neighbourhoods with higher test positivity are also in the northwestern area of the city.
Dr. Eileen de Villa, Toronto’s medical officer of health, said these numbers are not as meaningful in isolation but support her recommendation to increase COVID-19 testing in high-transmission neighbourhoods, increase infection prevention and control support in certain areas, put a stay on residential evictions and implement paid sick leave for all workers.
“These are things that matter in so many respects,” Dr. de Villa said at a press conference on Monday. “I think we can all agree that a city fuller with healthy people is better for us than a city dragged down by the cost of preventable illness.”
