COVID-19 on P.E.I.: What's happening Monday, July 27

Maritime Electric has brought in a new COVID-19 customer support program, which is offering customers struggling because of the pandemic the option of deferring payments of their bills for a few months.

This may help some residential customers who have seen as much as a 10 or 15 per cent hike on their bills since the pandemic. Power use has remained the same, but with more people working from home, residential rates have gone up, the utility says.

The Canada Revenue Agency says itwon't impose late fees for anyone who owes back taxes for the 2019 tax year until September 2020.

The 2020 Stompin' Tom Festival is officially underway, after the centre in Skinners Pond officially opened its new stage and festival grounds specifically designed for physical distancing. The ribbon cutting was held on Saturday.

The Queen Elizabeth Hospital has eased some COVID-19 restrictions and, as of Saturday, is letting more visitors in to see patients, with two designated visitors permitted at all services within the hospital.

A group that supports breastfeeding mothers is rebranding on P.E.I. with the goal of making support more accessible and inclusive for Island parents. It has started holding meetings online due to COVID-19 restrictions.

The Island is now down to twoactive cases of COVID-19, out of a total of 36 diagnosed since the pandemic began.

Also in the news

• Many of the visitors P.E.I. welcomes every summer are not tourists in the strictest sense they are people who used to live on the Island but moved away.With COVID-19 restricting visitors to those inside the Atlantic provinces,seasonal residents with P.E.I. property, and other Canadians who apply successfully tocome to P.E.I. to support family, a lot of those expats are left out.
• Music venues had been shut as of mid-March due to COVID-19 restrictions, but those loosened a few weeks ago, allowing performersto once again take the stage 12 feet from the audience, and to a maximum of 50 patrons who are physically distanced from one another.
• TheP.E.I. Home and School Federation still has questions about schools reopening following two virtual town halls hosted by the Department of Education.
• The P.E.I. government is hopeful aspects of the federal program that aims to safely reopen the economy will help women, who are much more likely than men to be unemployed in the pandemic, to get back to work.

Further resources

• Here isinformation for livingwith the COVID-19 pandemic on P.E.I. including information on government relief programs, physical distancing measures, and essential health services.
• Here is achart tracking COVID-19 numbers and a timeline of COVID-19-related events on P.E.I.

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