With the provincial lockdown extended for another few weeks, and many Ontario residents are wondering what happens next.
Chatham-Kent’s Medical Officer of Health, Dr. David Colby, says once the stay-at-home order is lifted, he’d like to see a more regional approach.
“The health unit by health unit approach was not particularly successful,” Dr. Colby says. “Although there was a lot of good sense put into its design, I don’t think the experiment worked particularly well, that’s why we’re in basically a province-wide lockdown. So I think they’re going to redesign that from the ground up, perhaps looking at this regionally rather than health unit by health unit.”
Dr. Colby expects each region’s vaccination rate will factor into how the eventual reopening is rolled out.
“I think that’s a very important thing going forward, and provides an incentive to our community to roll up your sleeve as soon as you can to help us get out of this.”
Dr. Colby says 42% of Chatham-Kent resident 16 and older have now been at least partially vaccinated. So far, public health and its partners have administered more than 40,000 doses of COVID vaccine, with at least 38,651 people who’ve received at least one shot so far.
The provincial stay-at-home order is currently set to expire on June 2nd.
