COVID spike continues in KFL&A, with Kingston driving the case-load increas

Jeff Green | Nov 15, 2021

Dr. Piotr Oglaza, medical officer of health with Kingston Frontenac Lennox and Addington Public Health, is not contemplating bringing any new restrictions at this time in response to a surge in COVID-19 cases in the region.

He said that, in comparison to the Sudbury region, where new restrictions have been implemented, there is no “pattern of general spread” in KFL&A.

“We are seeing are seeing patterns of cases in clusters, interventions such as the ones being implemented in Sudbury are designed to address a general spread. Our current spread is conducive to targeted interventions.”

Dr. Oglaza made his comments at a media briefing last week, when active cases in the KFLAPH region were in the 120 case range.  The case load has increased substantially since then, and between Friday (November 12) and Monday (November 15) a further 69 cases have been confirmed.

As of November 15, there were 169 active cases in the KFL&A region, 10 requiring hospitalization, of which 5 were in the Intensive Care Unit, 2 of them requiring ventilation.

There have been no deaths from COVID in the KFL&A region since July, and only 6 since the onset of the pandemic in March of 2020.

The largest outbreak at this time is centred around the Integrated Care Hub (ICH)  in Kingston. The ICH is operated by the City of Kingston as a 24-hour, wraparound service for a vulnerable population with immediate needs such as food and shelter, and longer term needs such as addictions and mental health.  in the City of Kingston. Doctor Oglaza indicated that the staff and clients at the ICH are a focus of targeted efforts by KFLAPH

“We are addressing barriers to care that some face. One is to offer testing and vaccination to people who do not have health cards. If we do testing, we may see more cases, which we can track and that allows to do something to slow the spread,” he said.

The Integrated Care Hub outbreak is responsible for 33 recent cars, 19 of which are still active. It is noe the making it the second largest outbreak of the entire pandemic in the region.

There were also 4 new cases over the weekend in South Frontenac, bringing the total since the beginning of the month to 21. Most of the South Frontenac cases, at least earlier in November, were attributed to an outbreak at Perth Road Public School. There are 7 cases associated with that outbreak on the KFL&A dashboard, but only 1 of those cases is still listed as an active case, and the school is gradually returning to the COVID normal.

There have been 21 cases in South Frontenac this month, among a population of 18,500 people, making it the jurisdiction in KFL&A with the second highest per capita case rate, still well behind the City of Kingston, with 210 cases among about 120,000 people. There have been no cases in Central and North Frontenac in November, nor have there been any in Addington Highlands or Frontenac Islands. This makes this 4^th wave spike different from other waves locally, where cases were spread throughout the region. In this wave, the rate remains low in Lennox and Addington, and the more remote parts of Frontenac County.

The demographics of active cases in the region were dominated by public school aged children in late October and early November, but the school outbreaks seem to be on the wane as we hit mid-month.

The dominant age group for cases is now the 18-29 year old age range. Of 120 cases that were reported in the week of November 8-15, almost a third (39) were among this group. The 30-39 year old group is close behind, with 32 cases, and there were 18 among those aged 40-49. The case rate for those 9 and under was 17 for the week. The testing positivity rate in the region is now 2.49%, the highest it has been

The region remains in the orange zone under the old regional colour coded system, but the red zone is now in sight.

Dr. Oglaza said that the rate of infection among the unvaccinated population is now 6 times that of the vaccinated population in the region. The age groups with the highest number of cases are also those with the lowest rate of vaccination.

Although 86.8% of KFL&A residents 12 and over have been fully vaccinated, that rate is only 71.6% among 20-29 year olds, and 70.6% among 30-40 year olds.

Late last week, the region hit the provincial target of 90% of eligible residents having received a first dose of vaccine, but at the current rate of vaccination, achieving 90% full vaccination for the entire 12 and over population will not happen until the beginning of 2022, after the Christmas holiday season.

Dr. Oglaza said that the majority of case spread in the region has been the result of private gatherings among family and friends, and not from public spaces such as schools or restaurants.

That was one of the reasons he noted for saying that the KFLAPH is not considering bringing in local measures such as re-imposing capacity limits in restaurants, in order to bring the recent spike in cases to an end.

“That is not where the virus is spreading,” he said.

There will be a media briefing on Tuesday afternoon this week, and we will see at that time if the case spread late last week has changed the outlook in the region.