Medical Officer of Health Dr. Ian Gemmill has confirmed that a variant of the coronavirus has appeared in Port Hope.
The Haliburton Kawartha Pine Ridge District Health Unit Medical Officer of Health shared the news Wednesday at the weekly media scrum he presents for regional members of the media.
Though he didn't have information on which variant it would be, the doctor said that it occurred in a person who works outside the area. This person has been isolated, and they check periodically to verify that he or she remains in isolation. As well, contacts have been traced and are in quarantine.
“This is potentially newsworthy, but it was pretty much inevitable,” Dr. Gemmill stated.
“These variants are going to be more and more prevalent as time goes on.”
When he heard the news, he said, “My reaction is, 'It's finally here.' But we have everything in place in terms of controlling it.”
Though the health unit declined to break down numbers beyond upper-tier municipalities when the pandemic began, for fear of someone being stigmatized, Dr. Gemmill said this is less of a concern now that the region is approaching 1,000 cases. In answer to reporters' questions, he gave numbers for the past week in four areas – three cases in Brighton, two in Trent Hills, eight in Cobourg and seven in Port Hope.
Positivity rates seem to remain at about 1.5%, more or less, he added.
Dr. Gemmill said this week's most urgent message has to do with the pending removal of provincial emergency orders and stay-at-home orders. Continuing to stay at home whenever possible – regardless of whether it is required – is the only way to keep any kind of reins on the virus until vaccines are more widely available.
At this time, the HKPR region can expect about 89 cases per day, the majority of which are associated with outbreaks – of which there are currently nine in long-term-care homes.
Two of these have been considered significant, but the one at Hope Street Terrace in Port Hope has been declared over. The other, at a facility in Lindsay, continues to rumble on.
“The residents who are not acutely ill have been immunized,” he said.
Dr. Gemmill repeated that the term “outbreak” applies as soon as one positive case is detected, regardless of how serious a case it is.
“In many of them, we don't have a lot of sick people,” he pointed out.
With the prospect of provincial restrictions being lifted from the HKPR region next week, Dr. Gemmill stressed that this does not signal that life as usual has returned.
At the start of the restrictions, the region had gone from green to yellow, and he would not be surprised if it reopens in the orange zone. At any rate, a number of restrictions will still apply, and he encourages everyone to research both yellow and orange restrictions in advance.
“I do want to say now – and I'll say it again and again and again – this is a change in approach to controlling the virus provincially, but it does not mean in any way that the risk out there is diminished. Even though a stay-at-home order is not in place, I am still strongly encouraging people to stay at home except getting groceries, or maybe they can get their hair done – but go from home to their appointment and home again.”
Regardless of provincial orders or colour coding, he stressed, this must be the pattern until vaccines are in arms.
“They do not change the virus out there. They do not change the epidemiology. They do not change the risk. That is the same, so I am really pleading with people, even though it's no longer a legal requirement, I am asking people to continue to behave this way. That is the only way we will keep the virus in check until we get the vaccine into arms,” he urged.
“Stay at home, even though the order is lifted. If people are going out for services, that's fine if it is allowed. But I would discourage people from going out for recreation that involves group contact or informal social gatherings or big family gatherings.
“We are dealing with one large family outbreak right now as a result of a birthday party, and some of these people are older.”
Dr. Gemmill always looks forward to sharing vaccine news, and the 1,000 expected vaccines arrived in good time and are still being administered in long-term-care homes and high-risk retirement residents.
Though no fresh virus shipments are expected for the week of Feb. 15, they should resume the following week. There are no plans at this point to use vaccines for second doses, since even the earliest due dates for second doses are in early March.
Once these vulnerable residents are vaccinated, the next priority group is workers and essential care givers at long-term-care homes.
From there, the advisory committee struck to plan the vaccine roll-out is meeting regularly and looking ahead.
Just as the reluctance to identify cases is fading as time goes on and cases continue to appear, Dr. Gemmill is less reluctant to take the initiative and report cases in such public places at the Cobourg Police Station and the Colborne Tim Hortons. One big motivator is that, without an official announcement, people consult social media, hear gossip and pick up misinformation.
Though he could not provide specific numbers on ventilators and COVID beds at Northumberland Hills Hospital, Dr. Gemmill expressed confidence that the region's hospitals are in good shape. Though the province has asked each hospital to reserve a proportion of ICU beds in case they are needed for COVID patients from areas where capacity is completely taken up, there have been relatively few hospitalizations locally.
Asked about rapid testing, Dr. Gemmill acknowledged it has some advantages over the standard testing, and it will be in use in schools. But since every positive result has to be confirmed with a regular standard test, it should be considered more a screening tool than a definitive testing tool.
Members of the public are invited to attend a one-hour virtual town hall on the local COVID picture next Tuesday, Feb. 16, at 1 p.m. Dr. Gemmill is looking forward to this event, not only as a forum to disseminate reliable information but also as an opportunity to hear the concerns that people have.
It will be available on YouTube for anyone who wants to view it. But if you wish to submit questions and participate in the session, you can sign up on the health unit website.