Public Health confirmed 25 new positive tests in its daily update on Wednesday, and says they were notified of another 48 cases in addition to this.
Grey Bruce Medical Officer of Health Dr. Ian Arra says this rise in cases emerged over the past 36 hours.
“Our contact tracing capacity is stretched very thin,” Arra notes. The Health Unit says there are nearly 500 active high-risk contacts in the region currently.
Dr. Arra says in response to this surge, staff will be pulled from other programs including the vaccine program and the help line to support contact tracing, “this would reflect into cancelling some clinics, we are considering cancelling some of the vaccine clinics next week as well.”
He notes they will try to salvage some of the vaccine clinics but they plan on closing the major clinic as of Saturday, and next week there are considerations of closing some of the other larger clinics as well.
To date, more than 40,000 vaccine doses have been administered in Grey Bruce.
Arra is asking residents to help stop the surge in COVID-19 cases by staying home until the health unit gets through the all of contact tracing of the hundreds of close contacts for all of the 70-plus new cases.
Anyone who is considered a close contact will be reached out to by the health unit within the next 48 hours.
“It is of critical importance that our listeners stay home until you receive a phone call from Public Health,” Arra explains. “There are many cases out there and close contacts and we need your help to get us to help you and the community contain the situation.”
Dr. Arra noted the cause for the spike in cases is due to people lowering their guard, acknowledging COVID-19 fatigue from the past year and getting frustrated of not getting the vaccine. He notes many sources of transmission are people who are not following lockdown guidelines, visiting others when symptomatic and those going to social gatherings as well as high school aged youth going to ‘bush parties.’
He is urging residents that if they must leave home, continue to follow COVID-19 safety measures like hand washing, physical distancing and wearing your face masks.
Arra says you should only go out for necessities, such as:
The grocery store or pharmacy
Health care services (including going to medical appointments or getting vaccinated)
Outdoor exercise or walking pets in your community
Work that cannot be done remotely
Child care or school
Businesses must ensure all COVID-19 precautions are in place and followed.
Arra says, Do not travel outside your region or the province unless absolutely necessary.