There’s almost a sense of resignation when Chatham-Kent’s top doctor talks about the rising number of COVID cases and the lives lost to the virus in the municipality.
This month alone, 20 local residents have succumbed to the virus, a statistic that Dr. David Colby says, unfortunately, isn’t surprising, but health officials are doing what they can to protect the community.
“I think that being vaccinated to prevent severe outcomes of COVID is the key feature here. Omicron is very, very contagious, this is what’s driving our numbers so high right now. I think the probability that people will get infected with time is extremely high.”
The situation is exacerbated when it comes to those living in congregate living settings like group homes or long term care facilities.
Dr. Colby says aggressive case and contact management continues, along with staff screening and vaccination protocols.
“But when you look at the number of cases that we have in long term care, there are 11 outbreaks, two of them are very large, the number of deaths is actually small compared to other outbreaks that we have of comparative size since the pandemic started, so it’s really a question of proportion.”
Colby says health officials have shifted from trying to prevent infection to more of a harm reduction strategy and dealing with outbreaks when they can, rather than trying to prevent infection.