Grey Bruce Medical Officer of Health Dr. Ian Arra says the region is witnessing a slowing down in the rate of new cases connected with the recent surge of local COVID-19 cases.
Arra says the majority of this surge can be traced to specific sectors of the community with lower vaccination rates. However, he notes these cases are situationally complex and related to disadvantaged groups, including those who are facing housing challenges and people with substance use issues. Arra says, there is a strong relationship between caseloads and vaccination rates with cases rising more rapidly in communities with lower vaccination rates.
He says, “Whenever there is circulation in a certain population—-it’s so easy for people to point the finger, and we need to remember that it is a pandemic that’s causing the hardship, it’s not the disadvantaged community, they actually are disadvantaged and the fact that they acquired the disease because resources were not there for them to protect themselves,” says Arra, adding, “It actually is a result of less resources available for the least advantaged of us.”
He says ensuring cases observe isolation and other protocols related to limiting transmission is difficult with this population
and notes Public Health is also working with EMS, hospitals, physicians, and pharmacies, to provide targeted vaccine clinics for those who are at greater risk due to housing and substance-use challenges.
He says the more contagious Delta variant appears to also be driving the surge and notes COVID-19 remains a serious threat to unvaccinated adults, especially those middle-aged or older.
While case numbers may be reminiscent of mid-April’s ‘critical threshold’ of cases that saw tens of new cases a day, this time there is no backlog in case management.
Arra says there are no plans to disrupt the further reopening of the region, “The situation has not indicated staying in the same stage, despite, the high numbers, all these numbers are not related to a regulated setting,” (grocery stores, workplaces, hospitals, long-term care homes)
“There hasn’t been transmission there and the decision to move from step one to two is directly related to these settings, so there’s no change there and the level of transmission remains the same,” says Arra. “We don’t see the need for staying in step one.”
He notes, the Grey Bruce Health Unit has requested ‘massive shipments’ of vaccine from the province for the region’s three hockey hubs with a goal of having everyone in Grey Bruce with either their first or second vaccination by the end of July.
The vaccines are effective against Delta, nearly eliminating any chances of serious illness.
Arra says, “We will not be out of the woods unless we have the vaccines in arms, because this can repeat.”
