With March trending to become the month with the highest number of new positive COVID-19 cases detected in the Peterborough region, the number of residents immunized with at least one vaccine dose is approaching the 25,000 mark.
During a Peterborough Public Health media briefing held Thursday (March 25), medical officer of health Dr. Rosanna Salvaterra reported 178 new positive cases in March to date, a figure that’s closing in on the 198 new cases reported in December.
Currently there are 55 active cases — the same as reported one week ago — but an additional 39 cases have been identified as a presumed variant of concern that is more transmissible and lethal, bringing that total to 165.
Despite March being on track for the most new cases in a one-month period, the week-over-week numbers are trending downwards, from a high of 69 new cases for the week of March 1st to just 13 new cases detected this week as yesterday.
“We’re walking a bit of a tightrope right now,” said Dr. Salvaterra. “We’re trying to contain the outbreak and not to move into grey (lockdown), but we continue to see outbreaks being declared and we’re not getting that downward trend that we need in order to move to a colour (level) with less restrictions.”
Still, Dr. Salvaterra reported “great progress” is being made in terms of the local vaccination effort, noting 24,309 residents had received a first dose as of Thursday morning — an increase of 10,000 over the past week.
She also took a few moments to address ongoing public concerns with the AstraZeneca vaccine in light of “a lot of news coverage recently about its safety and effectiveness.”
“AstraZeneca protects very well against severe disease and hospitalization,” she said, noting investigations by highly respected health agencies both in Canada and abroad have concluded AstraZeneca “isn’t associated with an increase in overall risks of blood clotting.”
“There have been very rare cases of unusual blood clots accompanied by low levels of (clot inducing) platelets after a vaccination. The reported cases in Europe were almost all in women under the age of 55.”
“The safety and effectiveness of the COVID vaccines is very good,” she added. “The bottom line is because COVID-19 can be so serious and is so widespread, the benefits of getting the vaccine outweigh the risks of very rare side effects.”
Staying with vaccines, Dr. Salvaterra acknowledged that some residents have travelled out of the region to get vaccinated at locations where it is more readily available, such as pharmacies in the GTA. With public health urging no travel out of the region, she’s asking residents “to be patient.”
“We have been assured that every health unit will have at least three pharmacies supplied with AstraZeneca,” she pointed out. “I do know we had some hiccups earlier this week as the province opened up the gates to people 75 plus.”
“We had an issue with getting all of our clinics included on the booking system, and people were being offered appointments in Cobourg or Belleville. If some people travelled for their vaccine, I apologize. We have vaccine here for them and appointments available.”
Dr. Salvaterra also addressed the concern of some people about the legitimacy of emails they have received for purpose of setting up a vaccination appointment. She said the emails are legitimate, terming them the “back door of the booking system.”
“It’s the way that we can actually curate lists and provide these lists to the clinic at PRHC to offer immunization,” she explained.
“That results in someone receiving an email from the PRHC clinic advising them that they can book an appointment. They are legitimate. It’s one of the ways we’re reaching other priority groups such as health care workers.”
Asked how she feels about the progress of the local vaccination effort, Dr. Salvaterra was blunt.
“I feel I need more vaccine. We could be doing more here if we had more vaccine. We certainly have the capacity. Our biggest issue is supply. I’ve asked for more. I just wished I had more vaccine. That’s how I feel.”
Meanwhile, the outbreak picture is a little less muddled, with outbreaks at the Severn Court Student Residence near Fleming College and Trent University’s Champlain College declared resolved, and the Section 22 containment orders put in place at both locations lifted, meaning those residing at both locations can again come and go more freely.
Outbreaks, however, remain declared at Trent University’s Gzowksi College (14 cases with 10 still active), Empress Gardens Retirement Residence (three cases), and The Brock Mission (one case).
Still up for discussion one month after the Severn Court outbreak was declared is the laying of any charges in connection with it. Peterborough Police Services chief Scott Gilbert says a number of investigative challenges remain in play.
“The investigation is not bearing fruit at this time,” said Gilbert. “We have attempted one search warrant and that was refused by the judiciary for (confidential) medical information that is in the hands of Peterborough Public Health.”
“It’s a conversation I will have with Dr. Salvaterra and her staff if this persists. If that’s the case, we’ll have to hand it over to public health since they have the majority of the information that we’re unable to obtain through legal sources.”
“We’ve spoken to a number of students at the school (Fleming College),” Gilbert added. “They all insist, amazingly, that there were nine or less people at any of the parties (held February 20), or they have issues with recalling whether or not they were there. Hopefully their memory lapses don’t occur during final exams coming up in April.”
Peterborough Public Health’s catchment area of Peterborough city and county and Curve Lake and Hiawatha First Nations remains at the ‘Red-Control’ level of Ontario’s COVID-19 Response Framework — a more restrictive status that has been in place since March 8th.
Also commenting during Thursday’s media briefing were Peterborough-Kawartha MP Maryam Monsef, Peterborough mayor Diane Therrien, Peterborough County warden J. Murray Jones, and Peterborough board of health chair and Selwyn mayor Andy Mitchell.
