Large families and large numbers of essential service workers are the factors behind the Brampton COVID spike

For weeks, Brampton has been the epicenter of Ontario’s COVID-19, and experts say the reasons are structural.

Dr. Adalsteinn Brown is a public health expert involved in preparing the province’s COVID-19 projections.

He says the virus is harder to control in regions where families are larger and there are a higher proportion of essential service workers and Brampton lives up to the bill.

Census data show that a quarter of all households in Brampton are made up of five or more people, compared with less than 10 percent of households across the province. Furthermore, only 12% of Bramptonians live alone, compared to nearly a third of Torontonians.

The city also has a disproportionate number of people working in the manufacturing industry.

It houses numerous Amazon fulfillment centers and other large-scale warehouses.

Peel Public Health says there have been 137 COVID-19 workplace outbreaks in the region since the start of the pandemic. A third of these were in production or warehouse, while 14% were in retail and 11% in food processing.