Local COVID-19 numbers improve in late December

Jeff Green | Jan 06, 2021

Just like the rest of Ontario, Kingston Frontenac Lennox and Addington (KFL&A) are in the dreaded COVID-19 Grey Zone, with only essential businesses remaining open to public traffic and suggested restrictions on social gatherings.

However, ever since the provincial lockdown was imposed on December 26, the case rate in KFL&A has been steady or decreasing. As of Monday, January 4th, the 7-day case rate stood at 19.2 per 100,000, and the positive test rate was 0.62%.

Under the provincial colour coded system, this would place the KFL&A catchment area in the Yellow Protect Zone. The Yellow Zone is for regions with a case rate of 10 -15 cases per 100,000 people, a positive testing rate of 0.5 – 1.2%, a stable community transmission rate, and adequate health care and contact tracing capacity.

The most concerning aspect of the report that was posted on the COFID-19 dashboard on the KFLA Public Health website on Monday was one new hospitalization for the virus. There were 3 people in hospital and 2 in Intensive Care in early December, and those cases have fortunately been resolved. The number of active cases, which topped 100 in the run-up to Christmas, has settled considerably and now sits at 45.

These new numbers reflect much of the impact of Christmas gatherings, as 10 days had elapsed since December 25th, but they do not reflect the impact of New Years gatherings within the region.

In Frontenac County, there have been 3 new cases in South Frontenac over the last 7 days, 43 since the outbreak began, and there was a new case confirmed in North Frontenac on December 30th, the second since the pandemic began. There have been no new cases in Central Frontenac since mid-December. There have been no confirmed cases of COVID-19 among residents of Addington Highlands at all.

During a Skype Press briefing on December 21, Dr. Kieran Moore, Medical Officer of Health for KFL&A said that he, along the other 32 Medical Officers of Health in the province, had been consulted a week or so before the province-wide lockdown was announced, but his advice was not heeded.

“It was my suggestion that a regional approach be considered,” he said. “My preference would have been for limitations on travel instead of a province-wide lockdown. The vast majority of the caseload that we have seen in KFL&A has been travel related, coming from the hot spots for COVID-19, like Toronto the Peel region. In Southwestern Ontario they are seeing significant caseload increases, all related to travel from the GTA.”

While he said that enforcing a travel ban would be a “difficult issue”, he added that “I think they could use the OPP. They are able to stop you through the RIDE program to ask if you have been drinking. They could also ask if you are travelling more than 100 kilometres from your home”.

During the December 21 Skype call, Dr. Moore also said that he supports the 28-day lock-down in regions such as the GTA, but thinks the province could consider shortening it to 14 days in Eastern Ontario, if the caseload and hospitalization rates and ICU use remains low.

“Within 14 days of Boxing Day we will see if there is an impact from Christmas gatherings in our region on our case load, and we will have the first indications about the impact of New Year's Eve as well.

“I think the Mayors and other politicians from the region are making the case for the province to reconsider the lock-down after 14 days in regions like ours.”

Provincial officials did no signal any open-ness to amending the lockdown schedule at the time.

And now KFLAPH is not holding our any hope of an early end to the lockdown either.

When asked over email on January 4th about the potential for the lockdown to be shortened in regions other than Northern Ontario, where it was always slated to last 14 days, Jenn Fagan of the KFLAH Communications Department, wrote: “As COVID-19 cases in Ontario continue to rise, a provincewide shutdown will remain in effect. Public health unit regions, including KFL&A Public Health, in Southern Ontario will remain in shutdown until Saturday, January 23, 2021. This means that at 12:01 am January 9 and at 12:01 am January 23 the lockdown is lifted (assuming we have no extension).”

On the provincial COVID-19 vaccination website, there were 11 hospital sites listed which have begun vaccination programs, none of which are in KFL&A.

When asked about the roll-out for vaccination locally, Fagan said: “Unfortunately local information about vaccine rollout is currently confidential. We are working closely with our partners to have processes in place for a smooth roll out; however, this is dependent on the product we receive and when it is delivered to the KFL&A area. We are prepared for several scenarios and are awaiting more information from the province to see which one will work to rollout the vaccination strategy in our area. We will keep the public informed as more information arises.”