With 123 active cases of COVID-19 reported in the Peterborough region — 16 fewer than the number reported last Friday — local medical officer of health Dr. Rosanna Salvaterra expressed very cautious optimism the tide may be turning during a virtual media briefing on Tuesday (April 20).
Also buoying her spirits is the reduced number of close contacts of cases being followed by her Peterborough Public Health staff, down 115 to 306.
Still, the downward trend follows a week that saw 112 active cases in the region, which is the highest weekly count since the pandemic was declared. And with 240 new positive cases reported this month to date, April has seen the most new cases reported in any month since March of last year.
“While these numbers are starting to go in the right direction, last week’s record-breaking case count will still be felt for weeks to come,” said Dr. Salvaterra.
“Contact tracing and case management are the first line of defence in containing an outbreak,” she added. “The longer it takes us to reach a high-risk contact, the greater their chance of spreading the virus.”
On Monday, Peterborough Public Health announced it was suspending its COVID-19 hotline phone and email services until further notice, with all hotline staff being reassigned to help the health unit manage cases and complete contact tracing.
Dr. Salvaterra noted “we should start to see this week whether or not the lockdown measures imposed on April 3rd are starting to have any effect.”
“What we’re seeing the last few days is a bit of a relief. What we want to do now is see this sustained going forward.”
Meanwhile, a startling contrast between now and the pandemic’s early manifestation can be seen in the number of positive cases by age group. To date, 567 cases — more than half the total number of cases locally — have been seen in people under the age of 29.
Also attending the briefing was Dr. Lynn Mikula, chief medical executive and chief of staff at Peterborough Regional Health Centre (PRHC). She affirmed non-urgent care remains ramped down to help accommodate patient transfers to PRHC from east GTA hospitals.
“Over the last week the situation across the province has continued to escalate,” said Dr. Mikula, noting there are, at present, 2,360 patients with COVID-19 in Ontario hospitals — 773 in intensive care units, with 537 of those on ventilators.
“This is a substantial increase in hospitalized and critical care patient numbers since less than a week ago,” Dr. Mikula pointed out. “We (PRHC) have 17 patients who are positive for COVID-19. We’ve accepted a total of 46 patient transfers and 22 of those transfers have taken place in the last three weeks.”
“This is a high and accelerating number of patient transfers. We expect to continue to receive patient transfers in the coming days and weeks.”
Also attending the briefing was Andy Mitchell, Peterborough board of health chair and Selwyn mayor. In his remarks, a clearly agitated Mitchell took direct aim at senior government politicians sparring over new provincial restrictions and arguing their timing and effectiveness.
“At a time like this, politics needs to be set aside, blind adherence to ideology needs to be stood down, and the blame game needs to cease,” said Mayor Mitchell, adding “If you’re looking for a culprit, its name is COVID-19.”
To date, 41,148 Peterborough and area residents have been vaccinated with at least one dose since January 26. That number represents 32.6 per cent of the local vaccine-eligible population. That data will be updated this Thursday (April 22) after 4 p.m.
As of now, residents’ best chance of being vaccinated any time soon still lies in making, and securing, an appointment with those pharmacies offering AstraZeneca shots to anyone 40 years of age and older. Four city pharmacies — Costco Pharmacy at 485 The Parkway, High Street Guardian Pharmacy at 815 High Street, Walmart Pharmacy at 1002 Chemong Road, and Rexall at 1154 Chemong Road — are booking vaccination appointments.
The full list of Ontario pharmacies providing vaccinations is available at covid-19.ontario.ca/vaccine-locations, where visitors can type in their postal code to find the pharmacy closest to home.
Also commenting during Tuesday’s media briefing were Peterborough-Kawartha MP Maryam Monsef and Peterborough Mayor Diane Therrien.
