Those looking for any semblance of good news to latch on to as another yet month of the COVID-19 pandemic dawns have reason to smile.
During a Peterborough Public Health media briefing held Tuesday (February 2), medical officer of health Dr. Rosana Salvaterra reported a continued downward trend in the number of new local positive cases detected.
As of 4:30 p.m. on Monday, there are 33 active COVID-19 cases in Peterborough city and county, Curve Lake, and Hiawatha — a significant drop from the 50 active cases reported the previous Friday.
Even more encouraging is that no new cases were reported Monday, the first time this has occurred since December 14th. To date this week, there is just one new case reported.
The latest numbers continue a downward trend between the week of December 28th, when a record weekly high of 71 new cases were reported, to the week of January 25th when 31 new cases were confirmed. Still, January’s total of 198 total cases represents the highest one-month total of new cases reported locally since the pandemic began.
The news is also good on the local outbreak front with no new outbreaks reported, and those previously declared at the Peterborough Regional Health Centre, Peterborough Retirement Resident, and Regency Retirement in Lakefield reported as stable. An outbreak reported January 17th at Centennial Place long-term care home in Millbrook is now resolved.
Still, the dark cloud cast by the growing emergence of more contagious COVID-19 variants across Ontario is keeping local public health officials wary.
“I’m hoping we are seeing the peak of the second wave here but with variants of concern now being identified in other parts of the province, our current control of the outbreak remains tenuous,” cautioned Dr. Salvaterra, noting public health is stepping up its efforts to stay ahead of the emergence of the variants.
In Ontario to date, 109 cases have been reported of the B.1.1.7 variant, commonly called the UK variant as it was first identified in the United Kingdom last fall. Ontario’s first case of B.1.351, commonly called the South Africa variant, was reported yesterday. Another variant, P.1 (the Brazil variant) has been detected in the US but not yet in Canada.
“We have enhanced our management of all COVID cases and contacts,” Dr. Salvaterra said, describing the health unit’s efforts to prepare for more contagious variants. “We have decreased our threshold for identifying contacts as being high risk and are also increasing the frequency of testing of high-risk contacts, with some now being tested twice during their isolation period. We will be treating any symptomatic contacts as possible cases until proven otherwise.”
Dr. Salvaterra stressed that while many COVID variant cases in Ontario have been traced back to travel, that’s not exclusive.
“We have community spread of variants because they were introduced at some point, maybe two or three or four cycles ago. They are more easily transmitted — there’s about a 56 per cent higher transmission rate — so you don’t require as much as an exposure. If we have these variants locally, we will have more exposure occurring.”
Dr. Salvaterra also provided an update on the first-dose vaccinations of local long-term care home residents, noting there are enough doses left over from last week’s first shipment of 500 doses of the Modern vaccine to fully immunize the residents of Springdale Country Manor in Cavan-Monaghan Township.
She said the next shipment of the Moderna vaccine is expected “this Friday or Saturday” and will be used to immunize residents of the final three long-term care homes yet to be visited early next week. In addition to Springdale Manor, residents of Fairhaven, Riverview Manor, Extendicare Lakefield and Pleasant Meadow Manor in Norwood have already received their first dose.
As for the enforcement of COVID-19 protocols at local big-box and grocery stores, local inspectors visited 11 stores this past weekend with another 19 undergoing inspection this week.
“So far, we’re finding our local businesses are for the most part taking the recommended and required actions,” says Dr. Salvaterra.
“There are some areas for improvement, the most common including the types of disinfectants being used and the procedures for disinfecting. Some are having issues with screening, and some don’t have adequate signage for the public. We have to follow up with some that have not monitored their capacity limits. We’re also doing additional work with some on their safety plans.”
Also present and commenting during Tuesday’s briefing were Peterborough-Kawartha MP Maryam Monsef, Peterborough-Kawartha MPP Dave Smith, Peterborough Mayor Diane Therrien, Peterborough County Warden J. Murray Jones, Hiawatha First Nations Chief Laurie Carr, and Peterborough Board of Health chair and Selwyn Mayor Andy Mitchell.
