With COVID cases on the decline and vaccination rates on the rise, Chatham-Kent’s top doctor is looking forward to a return to somewhat normal life.
Dr. David Colby says while the pandemic, by its very nature, is somewhat unpredictable, the situation is definitely improving.
“The vaccination effort is proceeding very, very well, and we would be able to largely return to normal barring any unexpected developments,” Dr. Colby says. “We’ll cross our fingers and hope we don’t have even more nasty variants arising.”
The CDC in the States has already said anyone who is fully vaccinated can do away with precautions like face masks, but Dr. Colby says we’re not quite to that point yet in Canada.
“Once you’re vaccinated, your potential to spread the virus becomes much less, even in the rare instances where you get it, it’s very mild and you don’t transmit it to others very efficiently at all. (American officials) have taken that step, in Canada both the national and the provincial authorities have not taken that step yet, but it is coming.”
As of Wednesday’s update from Public Health, an estimated 68% of Chatham-Kent residents over the age of 12 have received at least one dose of COVID vaccine, while 24% are fully vaccinated with both shots.
