As rising COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations threaten to reduce hospital services, Middlesex London's medical officer of health has issued a special plea to the community.
Dr. Alex Summers is urging residents to help stop the spread of the virus by wearing a mask in public spaces, keeping vaccine doses up to date, and staying home if feeling sick.
“It’s going to be important to follow the personal protective measures that have become so familiar during the pandemic, even if they are no longer required by the province,” said Summers. “With many folks planning to gather with family and friends this week and throughout the month, we need to remember that we each have a role to play in reducing the effects of COVID-19.”
Within the last week, there have been 768 confirmed infections and three additional COVID-19 related deaths in the London area. According to the Middlesex London Health Unit, community spread is currently higher than at any other point during the pandemic, prior to the Omicron surge in January, and wastewater analysis shows an increase in COVID-19 viral load. This means the risk of contracting the virus remains "very high" in the city and county.
"I want to see as much masking in indoor public settings as possible," Summers said. He added that those considering attending or hosting a social gathering need to take a hard look at the guest list.
"The risk is very high that someone may be incubating COVID-19. So think about how you can reduce the risk of transmission of COVID-19, such as inviting fewer people to those gatherings or hosting the event outdoors," said Summers.
While strongly recommending residents continue to mask when in indoor public settings, Summers stressed he currently isn't considering a Section 22 order to make face coverings mandatory.
"I would never take it off the table entirely. What I would say is the Section 22 Order is in place for a medical officer of health to respond to new and emerging, time-sensitive risk that requires a very urgent response... In this instance there is not a new and emerging issue that is specific to the London and Middlesex region to which the provincial authority do not have access to that same information," said Summers. "I do not think a Section 22 is appropriate in this current context and I don’t believe that I, as the medical officer of health, have the authority in the current context to use those Section 22 powers.”
Summers' plea to the community came on the same day the London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) warned it could be forced to reduce services due to the number of staff out sick.
On Monday, the hospital network reported 288 of its employees were infected with COVID-19 and an unspecified number of workers had to take off after coming into close contact with the virus.
"Over the weekend we started to see more and more impact on our health care system and it is significant," said Dr. Adam Dukelow, chief medical officer at LHSC. "We are seeing larger and larger numbers of staff who are off due to COVID and an increase in COVID inpatients as well."
Dukelow said the hospital network was unable to staff all of its emergency department beds for a number of hours over the weekend due to the staffing shortage. He added that if the spread continued to rise it is possible some hospital services could be cut this week.
"We may find ourselves in a position of having to consolidate or reduce services as the week continues or having to transfer patients to our regional partners," said Dukelow. "These are challenges we are seeing across the region and are not unique to LHSC.
He went on to state that hospital officials understand the "very real" impact potential service reductions have on patients.
"We will do everything we can to mitigate our health human resource challenges in order to provide safe patient care," said Dukelow.