Leaders in Chatham-Kent say life as we knew it is over and it will look a lot different when the COVID-19 pandemic has ended.
Chatham-Kent Health Alliance CEO Lori Marshall said during the weekly media briefing on Thursday that patients will see more virtual care, especially for pre-surgery assessments. Marshall said there will be many more virtual care models emerging as we move forward.
"People coming in for surgery, can we manage their pre-surgical visit and their screening and those sorts of things that normally people would come into the hospital for. Can we do all of that virtually in the future," she said.
Mayor Darrin Canniff also said municipal operations will not be business-as-usual moving forward. The mayor said there will be changes coming and new ways of doing things and they will be here to stay. Canniff added the municipality will also review having some municipal employees working from home to create physical distancing for others at the office instead of cramming as many workers as possible into a shared space.
He said the municipality is also looking at putting more services online to prevent people from coming into a space to get things done and to be more efficient.
"Through this, it has gotten a lot more people online and they're realizing it's a little easier than they thought it might be," said Mayor Canniff.
The mayor said several municipal employees are already working from home and anybody who can work from home is already doing it and realizing the benefits of it.
He also said reception areas will have more Plexiglas barriers and sanitizer to keep the public safe, all to prepare for and minimize another possible pandemic in the future after this pandemic revealed how vulnerable our society can be.
On Thursday, CK Public Health reported another new COVID-19 case at Greenhill Produce to bring its total to 103 cases. Three of them remain active at the greenhouse operation while the others have recovered. Colby said the entire farm workforce has been tested twice and public health officials continue testing and managing the outbreak.
Three other cases in the community remain active for a total of six if the Greenhill Produce cases are included. Chatham-Kent has a total of 147 confirmed cases, one person still in the hospital, and one person deceased because of COVID-19.