With focus shifting to a potential second wave of COVID-19, Chatham-Kent’s Medical Officer of Health says his goal for Chatham-Kent is to side step that wave completely.
“My entire focus is to prevent a second wave, not deal with one that is coming,” says Dr. David Colby.
Health officials and experts have long predicted a potential second wave as restrictions begin to lift. Recent discussion is suggesting September for a potential timeline for this new influx of infections.
Dr. Colby says the message remains the same in Chatham-Kent. Continue to adhere to public health protocols, the most important of which is adhering to physical distancing.
With C-K’s low number of infections comparatively, Colby warns that also means there are many who are susceptible to the virus if it does continue to spread.
“The low prevalence of this in our community means that there are a large number of susceptible,” he adds. “If we relax our physical distancing and start taking a casual attitude towards infectious control measures, then we could provoke a situation where the numbers are increasing again.”
Colby is doubling down on maintaining physical distance, especially with the re-opening of local businesses locally and across the province.
“If we relax our precautions to the point where people don’t pay attention to physical distancing and engineering controls in stores and everybody went back to normal, the modelling projections we’ve seen show that a month later we’d be awash in cases, just like we’ve worked so hard to prevent. So prevention is the key with regard to waves. It’s not something we want to plan for and have to deal with.
