Boat trip blamed for surge in cases in Chatham area
Group of families on excursion account for 12 of 24 new cases
A boating trip involving multiple families is behind a spike in COVID-19 cases in southwestern Ontario as the Ministry of Health reports a fourth day in a row with fewer than100 new cases across the province.
The health unit in ChathamKent said 12 of its 24 new cases in the last two days are from a trip of several days duration outside the region and suggested the number of infections from the highly contagious novel coronavirus could spread further. “Chatham-Kent Public Health is isolating these cases and tracing their contacts, of which there is a large number,” the unit said in a statement Thursday. Officials did not provide details or dates of the boat trip.
The local medical officer of health told residents that a loosening of restrictions under Stage 3 does not mean precautions can be abandoned. “Members of the community need to be reminded that we are still in a pandemic and the potential for rapid spread of COVID-19 is very real,” said Dr. David Colby. “Social circles are a maximum of 10 people for good reason. With everyone else we must physically distance.”
Premier Doug Ford said the outbreak among the boaters is an “unfortunate” development coming amid repeated warnings for Ontarians to keep up with precautions to avoid the potential for a recurrence of cases that has hit the United States so hard.
“This isn’t over,” he told reporters on a teleconference.
“When we get to, hopefully … a vaccine by January or sooner, it still won’t be over. We have to still be vigilant.”
Across the province, there were 95 new cases Thursday, an increase of nine, according to Ministry of Health figures gathered at 4 p.m. the previous day. Fifteen of the province’s 34 health units had no new cases and another 14 had fewer than five, Health Minister Christine Elliott said on Twitter.
Windsor-Essex, which is the only region still in Stage 2, had five new cases in addition to a new low of one the previous day, fuelling hopes the province might ease business restrictions soon.
Under Stage 3, bars and restaurants can serve patrons indoors while gyms, movie theatres and playgrounds can reopen with some restrictions remaining in place. The indoor crowd limit increases to 50 and grows to 100 for outdoor gatherings, with physical distancing in place.
Windsor-Essex continues to have the most active cases of COVID-19 at 212 with its relatively small population, which is down 50 from Monday. Toronto has 176, Ottawa 175, Peel Region132 with 77 in ChathamKent, which reported its second of two coronavirus pandemic deaths on Wednesday.
The number of patients requiring hospital admission throughout Ontario increased by five to 71, while there was a decline of one patient in intensive care, to 29. Of that number, 13 were on ventilators to breathe, a decrease of two from the previous day. Toronto had the highest number of new COVID-19 cases at 30, followed by Ottawa at 19. Peel had seven, Niagara five and York Region one.