The medical officer of health for Chatham-Kent says he's focused on preventing a second wave of COVID-19, not dealing with it if it comes.
Dr. David Colby told the media during a weekly briefing on Thursday morning that we don't know if a second wave is coming. He said that there's too much talk that a second wave is inevitable and added it shouldn't happen in the community if people keep up physical distancing measures. Colby said people could provoke a second wave if they relax their physical distancing.
"Prevention is the key with regard to waves. It's not something we want to plan for and have to deal with," Colby said.
Dr. Colby said modeling shows that it would take a month for us to "be awash in cases" if we relaxed physical distancing and went back to normal. Colby said he would feel better if people practiced better physical distancing across the province to drop the number of new daily cases faster in Ontario. He added that number is still too high for him. Colby previously said he would like new cases to fall below 200 a day. Currently, they are over 300 daily. The doctor said he would like to see stricter regulations across the province to better control the virus and bring the numbers down. Colby said he has the authority to impose tougher safety regulations in Chatham-Kent if it comes to that, adding he's extremely concerned about local people letting their guard down prematurely during the summer.
"I have to wonder if we shouldn't be looking at even more stringent guidelines to get that number down," he said.
Colby is emphasizing that the best way to prevent the spread of COVID-19 is to maintain physical distancing of two metres. He said wearing a non-surgical mask in public is fine but it's a poor choice to replace physical distancing. He reminds the public that non-surgical masks are worn to protect others. The doctor said those masks are a distant fourth on his list of important COVID-19 safety measures.
CK Public Health reported four new cases on Thursday to bring the local total to 142. All four new cases are from Greenhill Produce and they bring their total to 100. There are 48 active cases at Greenhill and just three across the community. Public health officials report 142 cases since the pandemic started and 90 people recovering during that time. The local health unit still lists one person in the hospital with the virus and one person dying from it.
Colby also said schools, workplaces, and other institutions could be asked to develop a pandemic plan to be better prepared to deal with a future pandemic. He said the health unit has one but added it's impossible to be completely prepared.
"We could always do better," he added.
Chatham-Kent CAO Don Shropshire said the municipality has had a pandemic plan for many years and it's working well. He added he's sure it will be refined again to add certain things such as social distancing and safety barriers given the COVID-19 experience.
Shropshire also said the work continues to sign a deal for a permanent homeless shelter. He tells Blackburn News there is one site under consideration and there is no timeline for an announcement. A temporary shelter is set up at the John Bradley Convention Centre and Shropshire said between 25 and 45 people use it daily.
The CEO of Chatham-Kent Health Alliance also told reporters that the planning continues to slowly re-introduce elective surgeries and other procedures. Lori Marshall said if a combined regional plan (Chatham, Windsor, Sarnia) is approved by Ontario Health, some elective surgeries are set to resume as early as May 25 with the addition of a third operating room in Chatham. CKHA has been operating with just two of its six O.R.s during the pandemic. Marshall said the hospital will contact those who are scheduled for surgery. She warns that local elective surgeries will be reduced again if there is a spike in local COVID-19 cases. Marshall added it's difficult to estimate how big the surgery backlog is right now.