While many are clamouring for the province to move on to the next phase of reopening sooner than later, Chatham-Kent’s top doctor is urging caution.
Medical Officer Dr. David Colby says an increase in COVID cases in the Waterloo region serves as a cautionary tale about how dangerous the Delta variant can be.
“Really this can happen at any point, the Delta variant is extremely contagious,” Dr. Colby says. “We’re also seeing pressure on the ICU in Waterloo, so back to what we were facing a couple of months ago.”
As yet, there have been no confirmed cases of the Delta variant in Chatham-Kent, but Dr. Colby says there are a few cases he’s waiting for results from and is treating as suspicious.
The head of Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table, Dr. Peter Juni, has said Ontario is absolutely not ready to move into Step 3 right now because of the Delta variant.
As it stands, Ontario could move into Step 3 of the reopening plan by July 21st. The next phase of reopening will include more indoor activities, including gyms, movie theatres, and casinos, among other things.
While most areas of the province, Chatham-Kent included, are seeing positive trends overall in terms of new COVID cases and vaccination rates, Dr. Colby believes speeding up the three-week timeline between reopening phases could jeopardize the progress that’s been made.
“The effect of changing the requirements with regard to the stages and so forth, has to have time to allow those happen for a proper assessment to be made. We need probably at least three weeks in stage two before we can consider going to stage three. If what’s happening in Waterloo and Grey-Bruce is any indication, we may be in stage two for quite a while.”
