Public health expecting COVID-19 challenges
Another resident diagnosed with the coronavirus has died
You may see less vaccination clinics offered on weekends, which is a shame. DR. MUSTAFA HIRJI NIAGARA ACTING MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH
Fewer Niagara Region Public Health workers will likely be available for vaccination clinics or contact tracing on weekends after the province’s COVID-19 emergency orders expire on Wednesday.
This as Niagara acting medical officer of health Dr. Mustafa Hirji continues to pressure Queen’s Park to increase efforts to protect people from the virus.
Hirji said the expiry of the orders will mean less flexibility when future waves of infection hit the region.
Made under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act, the orders permitted public health departments to redeploy staff from other areas to help with duties such as contact tracing and running vaccination clinics.
“You may see less vaccination clinics offered on weekends, which is a shame because I think right now, we in public heath are doing the majority of weekend vaccinations while pharmacies are doing the most during the weekdays. We’re going to try to find ways we can work around that.”
He said there will also be fewer people doing contact tracing and outbreak management on weekends, “so we’re going to shift to having most of our work done during the weekdays.”
Local COVID-19 statistics will no longer be updated on weekends or holidays.
Hirji said he continues to call on the province to expand required mask wearing to more public settings, expanding on a Section 22 order from Ontario’s chief medical officer of health Dr. Kieran Moore that requires masks to still be worn in high-risk settings.
Although recent data from wastewater surveillance is indicating “things might be flattening out” regarding new cases of infection, he
said “this will not be our last wave.”
“We’re going to see waves return and I really think we should have a provincial approach for dealing with waves that will apply across the province,” Hirji said.
“That should be a provinceled masking requirement during those periods where we see higher risk.”
Niagara Health reported Tuesday another patient from Niagara died while being treated for COVID-19, the third patient death reported in the past two days.
The hospital system had 82 patients diagnosed with COVID-19, including seven in intensive care admitted Tuesday.
Public health reported the death of an individual in the 80-plus age group, bringing the pandemic’s toll to 535. There were 107 known new cases reported Tuesday, and 1,999 active infections.
In addition to staffing challenges that may arise from the elimination of the province’s emergency order, Hirji said public health is also coping with staff shortages as workers are off in isolation after potential exposure to the virus. However, the staffing issues have not had the same impact on public health as they have on other health-care providers, such as hospitals.
“Some people might be sick but in many cases they’re well enough that they can work remotely, or they’re isolating because a family member is sick and they’re still able to work remotely.”
He said many public health inperson services have been on pause during the pandemic, so there are relatively few services that could be impacted by people unable to work on the front lines.