Impact of physical distancing may soon be felt, says Hirji
The next week may be a critical one in Niagara’s fight against the ever-expanding COVID-19 pandemic, says its acting medical officer of health.
“I think in the next week we are going to see how effective social distancing and other measures have been,” said Dr. Musfata Hirji in a Thursday interview. “Hopefully, it has been having an effect and will we start to see the number of cases start to fall a little bit.”
If the rate of COVID-19 infection starts to fall, Hirji said it will be a positive sign that Niagara is on course to flattening the curve.
Hirji made his comments on the same day Niagara saw its largest confirmed growth in the novel coronavirus to date, with 21 new patients identified.
The new cases put Niagara’s total since the first case was discovered locally to 82.
The Niagara Health hospital system announced Thursday a fourth Niagara COVID-19-related death at St. Catharines hospital of a Niagara resident. Three local residents, including an 84year-old resident of a retirement residence and a 54-year-old mother of a three, have died at the hospital. Another person — for a total of five — died earlier this week at the hospital, but is a resident of Dunnville.
Eleven Niagara residents have recovered from COVID-19, bringing the total number of active cases in the region to 67.
The number of confirmed cases in the region has been increasing steadily over the past week, with each increase larger than the last.
Hirji said of the newly confirmed cases, only six were travel related. Six are community transmissions for which the source of infection is unknown and the remaining nine are people linked to previous local cases.
Hirji said while travel-related cases were once the dominant source of local COVID-19 infections, data is showing an increasing number of cases coming from domestic exposure to the virus.
“This is what happens,” Hirji said. “We will still see some cases as people return home, but what this data is showing us is that the virus is here and is spreading locally.”
Hirji said this trend further reinforces the need for residents to take infection control measures seriously, including physical distancing.
He noted while daily updates of COVID-19 cases can cause alarm, particularly when the increase is in the double digits, the growth is not precisely that dramatic.
There is a lag between the time a person was tested and results are reported. He said there is also a lag between the time a person is infected and eventually contacts public health authorities.
For instance, one of Thursday’s new cases is 19 days old — the result of a person only contacting health authorities when symptoms began to show.
However, Hirji said that lag time in reporting is a cause for some concern because a person can be infectious even if they are not showing symptoms.
“What we have seen as well is someone showing mild symptoms and not reporting it until a few days later when they start to exhibit more severe symptoms,” Hirji said. “If you are exhibiting symptoms — which includes fever, a cough, runny nose, or difficulty breathing — please contact public health to be assessed and possibly tested for COVID-19.”
Early intervention allows for quick contact tracing by public health investigators which, in turn, will allow cases to be discovered and isolated faster, he said.
Some of the newly confirmed cases are workers at four longterm care homes where COVID-19 outbreaks have been declared. Although Hirji would not disclose what roles those workers hold at the homes, he said they are being isolated and treated.
Many long-term care homes and retirement residents rely on the work of personal support workers to help vulnerable populations.
Hirji said while it is common for PSWs to work in multiple locations under normal circumstances, he said they should not be visiting multiple residences during the pandemic.