Chatham-Kent’s Medical Officer says COVID-19 is running rampant across Chatham-Kent.
Dr. David Colby says public health has stopped releasing active case counts in its daily updates because there’s no way to accurately tell how far the virus has spread.
“Many, many times I have said that I have taken comfort in the fact that we don’t have a lot of unlinked cases, well we are flooded with unlinked cases, it is spreading in the community to the point where our case counts have become meaningless because of a shortage of testing,” Dr. Colby explains. “There is no question that we’re dealing with community spread and the ramifications of that are profound.”
Colby says at this point, contact tracing has become virtually impossible so anyone who feels sick or thinks they may have come in contact with the virus needs to self-isolate.
“It’s not a question of giving up by any means, but in any war you win some battles and you lose some battles, and there is a time to retreat and a time to advance. We’ve got an overwhelming amount of cases right now and we’re doing everything we can (with) the ultimate aim of preserving our hospital capacity.”
Colby says the number of cases being identified right now is likely a fraction of the real picture, and everyone needs to do their part to keep themselves and the community safe.
