Getting jump on it

The numbers might not be big, but they’re being taken seriously.

It’s clear that people are jumpy about COVID-19 inside the remains of the Atlantic Bubble: in Prince Edward Island, after four new COVID-19 cases were announced in the province on Sunday, the province’s premier and health authorities asked that everyone between the ages of 20 and 29 in the Charlottetown area get tested for the virus.

Monday morning, a COVID testing site in Charlottetown was crowded. Four high schools were moved to remote learning, and the province closed restaurants to indoor dining, suspended organized sports and shut libraries. Private gatherings were banned and stores were told to reduce their capacity of shoppers.

In Newfoundland, three different towns have done their own partial shutdowns, independently of the provincial health authority: Deer Lake, in western Newfoundland, and Grand Bank, on the Burin Peninsula, put in restrictions after small bumps in case numbers, with Deer Lake shutting down its municipal buildings and recreation facilities for a period of time.

And this past weekend, the town of Harbour Breton, on the Connaigre Peninsula, asked residents to stay home, closing the town office and recreation centre after two cases appeared that didn’t have a clear source. Two area schools were also closed Monday. A mobile testing facility was dispatched to the town.

In Nova Scotia, two new cases in the province’s central health zone saw two elementary schools closed until Thursday for cleaning and until contact tracing can be completed.

Keep in mind, all of this happened after the entire Atlantic region recorded a total of just 16 new COVID cases on Sunday — a number that, in other parts of the country, would seem like a huge success.

But the difference this time for the Atlantic region is the awareness that a number of the cases haven’t yet been traced to their sources, raising the spectre that we are witnessing community spread.

Health authorities in the Atlantic region have had more than enough object lessons in other parts of the world, Canada included, to show how important it is to jump on potential community spread cases as soon as possible. Once people start moving around in public, unaware that they could be spreading the virus, the problem grows exponentially — especially if it takes place in a pre-christmas period when lots of people are on the go.

Forewarned is, at least, forearmed. And if there is a lesson from everywhere else in Canada, it’s that, once it’s out, the COVID-19 genie does not like to go back into its lamp.

Follow health recommendations.

Do your part.