Last chance to avoid new COVID lockdown
Niagarans should double down on safety measures to control spread: Hirji
Niagara has one final opportunity to blunt the impact of a second COVID-19 wave and avoid a return to lockdowns that could wound an already ailing economy, says Niagara’s top public health official.
Dr. Mustafa Hirji, Niagara’s acting medical officer of health, is urging Niagara residents to limit their social activities, avoid non-essential outings and double down on infection control behaviours to head off the kind of provincial government restrictions being imposed on other Ontario communities.
“If we do that, we can spare everyone the pain of that kind of economic impact,” said Hirji on Friday, the day Ontario set a new daily record for new COVID-19 cases.
“If we voluntarily do it, we can avoid a return to the more restrictive lockdowns.”
However, Hirji said, the sand is rapidly running out of Niagara’s pandemic hourglass.
The local health department confirmed 11 new cases Friday, bringing the active total to 105 people, the highest it has been since early April when the first wave of COVID-19 was climbing.
Hirji said Niagara’s situation is not yet as bad as Toronto — one of three regions, with Peel and Ottawa, to face new provincial government restrictions — but it could get there quickly.
“I don’t think we are as far off (of Toronto’s situation) as peo
ple might think,” he said. “If we do the things we need to, really limit our activities, then we can keep our restaurants open and enjoy those activities to some extent.”
For those regions, Premier Doug Ford announced new limits on indoor dining at restaurants, occupancy at gym and banquet halls as well as a provincewide masking order that will require face-coverings to be worn in all public indoor spaces.
Niagara Region already has its own mask bylaw, which was recently extended until April.
It is not clear if the provincewide order will have the same degree of exemptions as the local bylaw does. Currently in Niagara, those with medical conditions that would be exacerbated by a mask do not have to wear one.
The new measures were put in place as Ontario registered a record 732 cases in a single day.
Hirji called that number troubling, but said it might actually pale in comparison to the situation in the spring.
“Ontario was doing much more restrictive testing in April, and so at the time there were likely a lot of cases being missed,” he said. “So the numbers then, although high, were probably much higher than they are now.”
In Niagara, the 11 new cases bring the historic local COVID-19 total to 1,092, with 105 of them still active. The last time there were that many active cases in Niagara was early April, when the daily case count was consistently in the double digits.
There were nine cases on both Wednesday and Thursday, with several days of double-digit increases in the preceding five days. It is all an indication of greater community spread of the novel coronavirus that causes the COVID-19 disease.
At least 64 Niagara residents with the virus have died during the pandemic. The last COVID-19 related death was recorded in July.
Hirji said recent cases continue to be driven by personal gatherings and social activities, rather than in restaurants, gyms and other businesses.
After months of not having COVID-19 admissions, Niagara Health reports it now has three patients at the St. Catharines hospital with the virus. Hospital executives urged the public this week to re-engage in infection-control behaviours — physical distancing, wearing a mask, and handwashing — to prevent a new surge in hospitalizations.
The news of Ontario placing new restrictions on some regions came after U.S. President Donald Trump — well known for mocking masking and physical distancing recommendations, and for lying to the public about the severity of the pandemic — tested positive for COVID-19 and was reportedly being taken to hospital.
Hirji said even putting Trump’s behaviours aside, it is worth noting the White House goes to extreme measures to protect senior staff from the novel coronavirus, including the president.
“It just shows you how difficult it can be to prevent an infection. The virus is invisible, you can’t see it coming. This is why we really need to be vigilant about our behaviours.”