Young warned: Don’t fuel the virus

OTTAWA — Canada’s chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam is doubling down on warnings to young Canadians to stop fuelling the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Tam delivered the warning on Friday — one week after her deputy Dr. Howard Njoo did the same — because of the worrying trend of rising infections among people aged 20 to 39. Tam said that age group accounted for the highest incidence rates for COVID-19 cases in the past two weeks.

Tam outlined how the daily national case count, based on a seven-day average, is rising again across the country after falling earlier this summer. She said the seven-day measure is the best way to assess the trend in the number of infections.

Tam said it stood at a high of 1,800 per day in early May, then dipped to 273 in early July, but in the last seven days the average daily count rose to 487. The 20-to39 age group accounted for 60 per cent of those cases, and onethird of them had to be hospitalized, said Tam.

“I must urge all Canadians, particularly younger adults, to not give in to COVID-19 fatigue,” she said Friday in Ottawa.

“This is your generation and your future that is being shaped. Younger age groups are not invincible against COVID-19,” said Tam, who returned to the government’s public briefings after her own summer break.

“The upward trend in daily case counts is worrisome. We know that we have the means to keep COVID-19 under control, but this is by no means a sure thing. It is going to take all Canadians doing their part and working together, with public health, to keep the curve down.”