Adam Prudhomme
Editor
Speaking with media on Monday, KFLA Public Health’s medical officer of health Dr. Kieran Moore covered a range of topics from the recent spike in COVID-19 cases to vaccine rollout.
Moore says the health unit is currently tracking over 600 people who have been in contact with known COVID-19 cases, most of them stemming from recent outbreaks from a place of worship, a community health clinic, a Gananoque car dealership and social gathers held by Queen’s University students.
“I’m happy to say those major outbreaks hopefully have peaked and those numbers will be coming down,” said Moore. “The main ongoing risk is that high number of students who have tested positive off campus downtown. That’s a significant worry for us as we know they’re very social and we’re working very closely with Queen’s to ensure that there’s no spread on campus or at any of the associated student services that are provided at campus.”
Moore credited the KFLA community for their cooperation in getting tested to help track and limit the spread. He noted this region has one of the highest testing rates in the province, with an average of two per cent of the entire KFLA region getting tested per week.
“As a result I think we can bring these numbers down heading into the holiday season, but it’ll take every single one of us doing our best to adhere to the best practices of hand hygiene and masking and social and physical distancing if we’re going to get a handle on this,” said Moore. “We certainly want a safe holiday season where you can be comfortable in your household and connect virtually to your family and any older people in your family, but it’s all going to depend on how well we react to the sudden rise in cases this week. For me, this is a crucial week for all of us heading into the holiday season where we really have to lower the risk and lower the transmission of this virus. It’s nasty, it’s aggressive and it wants to spread. I know we’re going to want to socialize but this holiday season has to be different. It really cannot be an accelerant of our cases because we’re already at a high rate. If the holiday season only increases our rates, we’re going to have a very difficult January trying to limit the spread of this virus.”
Moore said the community remains under yellow status for now but is teetering on orange in some aspects.
“It certainly is reasonable given our current numbers to move us in orange,” said Moore. “The only gap we see is our outbreaks are limited and controlled and our impact on our healthcare system at present with only two people having been admitted is quite small and the percentage of our tests still doesn’t meet the criteria. Only one of the four major criteria are being met and that’s simply by the number of cases we’ve had in the community.”
The province will review KFLA’s numbers on Wednesday and a decision will be announced Friday whether or not the region will be downgraded to orange.
As of Monday, there were two people in a KFLA hospital due to COVID-19, one of which was in the ICU.
“It’s a reminder that this virus can cause serious illness, can lead to hospitalization and certainly we’ve been fortunate not to have anyone die of COVID-19 to date in our community, but at these numbers, if it continues, sadly, that may occur,” noted Moore.
He did offer some positive news however as the outbreaks appear to be under control and the number of positive cases were trending in the right direction. After 22 cases reported over the weekend, there were three reported on Monday and the active cases had dropped from 100 to 89.
Monday saw the first Ontarians receive the COVID-19 vaccine in Toronto. It marked a major breakthrough, but members of this region will still have to wait before they can roll up their sleeves.
“We have been notified that the highest priority areas are those that are in lockdown,” said Moore. “Then it’ll be those that are in the red zone. We anticipate Kingston, given that our long-term care facilities, retirement homes have been relative safe compared to the rest of the province, and our region, given our relatively low counts, will be sort of mid-to-lower in the priority list. We haven’t been given any firm date when our hospital (will receive a shipment). Kingston Health Sciences will be the receiver of the vaccine due to the low temperature it has to be kept at, that’s the Pfizer vaccine. We haven’t been given any notification.”
Moore says KFLA is working with the Leeds-Grenville-Lanark Health Unit as well as the Hastings-Prince Edward Health Unit in preparation for when the vaccine is ready to be administered in this region.
“We’re going to be ready if and when the vaccine arrives to be able to store it safely and to distribute it quickly and effectively to the priorities that the government tells us,” said Moore. “Those are going to be principally initially the long-term care facilities, retirement homes and or the workers that are involved in providing service to them. We’ll probably learn a lot from Toronto and Ottawa’s experience with the new technology and the process involved in this vaccine and they’re sharing that with us on a regular basis and the community should be assured that we’re ready.”