A forecasted delay in the arrival of vaccine supply in the Peterborough region is rooted in “a Team Ontario approach” that Peterborough’s medical officer of health wholly endorses.
During a Peterborough Public Health briefing held Tuesday (April 27), Dr. Rosana Salvaterra said with COVID variant cases still alarmingly high in hot spots like Toronto and Peel, it’s smart to “focus vaccinations where they are needed most.”
“That will mean that some eligible people in Peterborough will need to wait a little longer for their vaccine,” Dr. Salvaterra said. “At around the same time that the stay-at-home order is scheduled to be lifted, our vaccine supply is set to double. We will see wait times shrink and access open up.”
Based on information that’s been shared with her to date, Dr. Salvaterra said vaccination of the local 60 years old and up group “should be complete by the end of May. That’s about four weeks behind schedule. I would have loved to have them all done by the end of this week, but I’m pretty confident we’ll have them all done by the end of May.”
In his comments at the briefing, Peterborough board of health chair Andy Mitchell noted communities across the province are experiencing a similar delay in vaccine arrival for the same reason.
“I have mixed emotions about this process,” he admitted. “On one hand, I understand the importance of directing a limited resource to where it’s needed the most. We all want the hot spots controlled and the evidence suggests this approach will achieve that.”
“On the other hand, I know how important getting our residents their vaccine is. We can endure a short-term decrease in supply but it needs to be just that — a short-term disruption. As additional supply arrives in the province in mid May, I’ll be looking to the government to be directing every increasing amounts to our community.”
As the Peterborough region awaits definitive word on its next shipment of vaccine, local infection numbers continue to show marked improvement.
As of Monday (April 26) at 4:30 p.m., active cases stood at 76 in Peterborough city and county, Curve Lake, and Hiawatha — down 26 from what was reported last Friday. To date this week, just four new cases have emerged but, with most of the week still to come, that number will rise.
The number of close contacts of positive cases being followed by public health staff has also dropped substantially since Friday, down 73 to 247.
As for active outbreaks, that number remains at five. One workplace outbreak was deemed over but, on Monday, another workplace outbreak was declared.
Dr. Salvaterra made particular note of the large number of positive COVID-19 cases detected in those aged 29 and under. Of Peterborough region’s 1,179 total cases since the pandemic was declared, 600 have been detected in that age group. Dr. Salvaterra said some factors specific to that age group are at play.
“Many of these young people are precariously employed or are working in jobs without any benefits,” she said. “There’s a financial barrier for them to stay home when they need to stay home.”
“We have lots of examples of people who went to work while they were waiting for test results. They should have stayed home. Also those who continue to work even while sick because they just can’t afford to stay home.”
Dr. Salvaterra also pointed out people who must continue to work are often the same people who share their home with others.
“Because of the high cost of housing and because of the limited availability of housing, many of them share their accommodations with many others,” she said. “They share washrooms. They share tight spaces. It’s very difficult for them to self-isolate. Household contacts are probably the leading risk factor for the acquisition of this infection.”
“Both (issues) need to be addressed,” Dr. Salvaterra said. “We need to make it easy for these people to stay home when they’re sick and, in some cases, we need to support them with better places to self-isolate.”
While Ontario Premier Doug Ford promised last week Ontario would develop its own paid sick leave program, “the best program anywhere in North America, bar none”, it was revealed on Tuesday the province has asked the federal government to double the federal paid sick leave program to $1,000 a week for Ontario residents, with the province picking up the extra cost.
The federal government has rejected Ontario’s request.
“When Ontario is ready to mandate sick leave in provincially regulated businesses, as we have done for federally regulated businesses, we will be there to help,” said Katherine Cuplinskas, spokesperson for federal Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, in a statement to CBC News.
Also commenting during Tuesday’s briefing were Peterborough Mayor Diane Therrien, Peterborough County Warden J. Murray Jones, and Peterborough Police Service Chief Scott Gilbert, who provided an update on the police response to Saturday’s anti-lockdown rally at Confederation Park in downtown Peterborough.
