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Kingston Frontenac Lennox & Addington Public Health asks Kingstonians to remain alert to the ongoing risk of contracting COVID-19.
“With Monday [Nov. 9, 2020] numbers coming up with six cases over the weekend, this is quite a peak for us. I know it’s not in comparison to other regions, but nonetheless, it brings some uncertainty, ”said Dr Mark Mckelvie, resident physician for KFL & A Public Health.
“When we see changes like this, even at smaller numbers, we take them very seriously.”
Public health reported an additional 19 cases by Friday, November 13, 2020 – 25 total cases for the week – with the seven-day moving average for the positivity rate at 0.50% at the time of publication. There are currently 19 active cases of COVID-19 in the region. Historically, the highest number of active cases in the KFL & A area was 40 on Tuesday 31 March and 39 on Saturday 4 July 2020.
Dr Mckelvie said he and his colleagues feel uncomfortable, sensing that people in the area may feel too “comfortable” and desensitized to the risks of the virus. This is a significant vulnerability with having lower cases in the community.
“We think we’re immune, but if there’s a lot of exposure around us, there’s the potential for it to come in here,” he said.
Mckelvie said it was too early to tell whether Halloween activities played a role in the growing number of cases, but he also said it doesn’t seem to be the case.
Test, stay in place, stay essential
Mckelvie said public health currently has no evidence of spread in the community, with exposure continuing to show up outside the region.
“That’s why our message has always been to reduce your visibility. So the way you do it, the most important way to do it is to stay in place, support the local, and avoid all non-essential travel. We can guarantee that if you go to Ottawa or the GTA, you will have exposure, ”he added.
Mckelvie said it’s also essential for people who have symptoms to keep getting tested. “Now it will be the same, tomorrow it will be the same, and it was the same yesterday. Get tested if you have symptoms, isolate yourself, “he said.
Kingston spiked testing in September after elementary, secondary and post-secondary students returned to school. Now he said, the community appears to have settled into a coherent baseline. The KFL & A Public Health dashboard suggests testing averages 500 tests per day.
Public health is also reminding people to remain vigilant in the workplace and to remember that the colleagues they see every day also present the potential risk of exposure.
“We want [people] to feel comfortable at work, but we want to make sure they mask and use physical distance at work too, because we have seen – in our area but also throughout the province – that it is more so that your colleagues than you are vulnerable than yours customers in many of these service settings. “
Mckelvie said public health will continue to push its key messages through the pandemic. “I’ve said it before and I know we keep saying it, but it’s so important: staying in place, supporting the venue, hand hygiene, masking, physical distancing and staying at home if you’re sick. Consider the COVID-19 screening questions seriously, because they’re there for a reason, “he said.
The application continues
In addition to begging people to follow the rules, local authorities continue to use the application where necessary to limit the spread of COVID-19. Mckelvie said he has been involved in cases where public health has had to pursue punitive actions or sanctions against people who have failed to follow solitary confinement, but nothing recently.
According to Kingston police, in the last week they have issued three administrative monetary sanctions: one for a violation of the rules of the harassing party and two for non-compliance. According to the sergeant. Kingston Police’s Steve Koopman, Kingston City law officers reportedly issued 11 reopening notices of the Ontario Act (ROA), potentially including two $ 10,000 fines for organizing three-address meetings or social events in the Queen’s University District.
The Kingston City Criminal Police team could not comment on any pending charges as the investigation is still ongoing. Eleven people have been spoken to about violations under the Reopening Ontario Act, but no charges have been raised at this time.
Clarify the outbreaks
Many who view the KFL & A Public Health Dashboard will often have noticed that outbreaks remain active, even after the case or cases involved have been resolved. Mckelvie explained why this is so.
“We stop reporting outbreaks after 14 days, assuming we have the only case and there are no secondary cases, and the reason is that we have the incubation period – assuming a case has been exposed to other people at some point. And so we take from the end of the exposure to the end of the incubation period, so the time that people could develop the disease, “he said.
“So even if we do the initial tests on one person and everyone is negative, this is a snapshot of a point in time. That doesn’t necessarily mean there’s no secondary transmission, it just means we’re not aware of any at that point. no secondary transmission. [When] we can safely say that there has not been a secondary transmission, it is then that we would have stopped the epidemic “, concluded Mckelvie.
As of Friday, November 13, 2020, KFL & A Public Health has declared three active outbreaks in the region: one at the Trillium Retirement and Care Community, one at Our Lady of Loudes Catholic Primary School and one at McDonald’s at 285 Princess Street center.
For more detailed data on COVID-19 cases in the region, follow Kingstonist’s COVID-19 Quick Reference Guide, which is updated Monday through Friday, as well as weekends if additional information from public health is released.
With files of Samantha Butler and Tori Stafford
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