The Chatham-Kent Public Health Unit is contacting dozens of people who may have been exposed to a confirmed case of COVID-19 during a blood donor clinic held earlier this week in Chatham.
The clinic took place on Tuesday at the Chatham-Kent YMCA. According to Chatham-Kent's Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Colby, the health unit is contacting around 150 individuals.
Colby praised Canadian Blood Services for making it easy to do the contact tracing and for working with the health unit to pinpoint exactly who might have been exposed.
"The blood donor clinics keep exemplary records so contact tracing has not been difficult," he said. "If people are not contacted by the health unit, they don't have anything to be concerned about in this regard."
Colby said the health unit is following standard COVID-19 procedures of using the contact tracing records to get in touch with anyone who may have been exposed and instructing them to isolate and monitor for symptoms.
Colby also said the health unit is recommending the contacts get tested when it's appropriate. He added that one of the most important things to emphasize is that if you haven't been contacted by the health unit in regards to exposure, then there is no need to be tested.
"I don't want people to just go and get tested en masse because it takes a while for the test to become positive after an exposure," he explained. "We'll tell you what to do, we'll tell the people involved what to do."
A media relations manager with Canadian Blood Services told Blackburn News that the organization has been working closely with the health units in Chatham-Kent and Windsor-Essex.
Delphine Denis said collection events scheduled over the weekend in the Chatham-Kent and Windsor areas have been cancelled as a precaution.
"We want to reassure the public that the safety or our donors, staff, and volunteers is a priority and Canadian Blood Services has robust safety measures in place at our facilities and collection events across the country," said Denis in an emailed statement. "Over the last eight months, the number of cases involving employees and donors has been low, indicating that the safety measures in place at our facilities are working."
On Friday, Colby issued an order under Section 22 of the Health Protection and Promotion Act that allows CK Public Health to fine those who violate the order. It includes fines of up to $5,000 per day for those who have COVID-19 or those with symptoms who knowingly go out in public.
As of Friday afternoon, Chatham-Kent has a total of 388 cases, 16 of which are currently active.