Today’s Headlines
1) 5 new cases of COVID-19 in KFL&A Sept 25th 2020
- New local cases: This is a very brief Friday note to acknowledge that there have been 5 new cases of COVID-19 in KFL&A over the past 24 hours. These infections are in young adults (students of Queen’s University). Fortunately, all 9 active cases (several form earlier in the week) are sufficiently stable that they are recovering in the community. There are no cases in KHSC.
Ontario: There have been 409 new cases of COVID-19 in Ontario since yesterday. We are in the early portion of a second wave of COVID-19. We should not shut schools, businesses or lock down society, (and certainly should not panic). We should: wear masks when indoors, wash hands frequently, physically distance (2 meters separation), avoid large group gatherings and stay home if sick.
Canada: Canada is entering wave 2 as can be seen by the rise in active cases (orange line-top graph). However, positive test rates are stable. This is a phase in the pandemic where adherence to sound public health policy can allow us to function fairly normally and yet control the size of the second peak. Our behaviors will determine the severity of the second wave…..so let’s behave in ways that flatten this 2ndwave, just as we did wave 1!
COVID-19 in Canada on Sept 25th 2020
Testing: A reminder that asymptomatic people should not be tested for COVID-19 unless it is part of a contact tracing exercise. Children with the isolated symptom of a runny nose and no fever or cough should ideally not be tested (recognizing the challenge that some schools have non-evidence based return to school requirements).
TGIF!