Goderich’s Maitland Valley Family Health Team is asking residents to stay vigilant in the fight against COVID-19, as the province moves into Phase 3 of reopening.
Starting Friday, indoor dining will resume at restaurants for up to 50 people, and gatherings of up to 100 people will be allowed outdoors.
In a letter signed by Maitland Valley Family Health Organization Physicians and the Maitland Valley Family Health Team, residents are asked to “not become too complacent, as [COVID-19] is still around.”
The Goderich health officials recommend continuing “good hand and respiratory hygiene (such as covering our mouths and nose when sneezing or coughing), keeping physical distance and avoid others if we have respiratory symptoms.”
On Tuesday, Premier Doug Ford told reporters he is consulting with health officials on plans to deal with a second wave of COVID-19.
Hospitals in Clinton and Seaforth announced they are maintaining free bed space, in the event a second of the novel coronavirus effects Huron County.
The full letter can be viewed below.
A Message for the Community:
Since this past December, we and the rest of the world have faced a community healthcare emergency that none have experienced in our lifetimes in the form of the COVID-19 pandemic. It has caused personal and economic loss for all of us and, for some, it has sadly taken their lives.
We have learned a lot about the illness and ourselves over these last few months. We are a caring society that has been willing to make sacrifices for the benefit of our neighbours. As healthcare providers in your community, we would like to thank you for those efforts. You have done well.
It is important to not become too complacent, as the virus is still around. Communities are interconnected at all levels; provincially, nationally and internationally. New cases could arrive at our door step at any time. So what should we do? As we reopen our personal and work lives, we need to continue to practice the principles we learned over the last few months: good hand and respiratory hygiene (such as covering our mouths and nose when sneezing or coughing), keeping physical distance and avoid others if we have respiratory symptoms. It will require us all to make judgement calls about what are reasonable activities to do and innovate as we think of new ways of doing things.
In hindsight, there are things we could have done better. That is part of any human endeavour but we can learn from those mistakes going forward. Perhaps one of those things is in the use of a face mask. We now know that wearing a face mask does reduce the risk of transmission. It may not protect the person wearing it as much it protects others around that person. If we keep the rate of transmission low, we will be able to deal with local outbreaks and continue to reopen our personal and work lives.
Your community healthcare providers would like to encourage you to wear a face mask if you do not have a medical condition that makes this not possible. We respectfully suggest that we view wearing a face mask as a sign of consideration of one’s neighbour and not as a loss of personal freedom.
Sincerely,
Maitland Valley Family Health Organization Physicians and the Maitland Valley Family Health Team
Dr. Samuel Appavoo
Dr. Michael Dawson
Dr. Mark Duckworth
Dr. Paul Gill
Dr. Lalit Krishna
Dr. Shannon Natuik
Dr. Jacinta Peel
Dr. Tiberiu Nicolae
Dr. Dan Noel
Dr. Neil Rittenhouse
Dr. Kim Spacek
Dr. Stan Spacek
Dr. Tamra Steinmann
Dr. Katayun Treasurywala
Dr. Hilary Watson
The Maitland Valley Family Health Team