The Grey Bruce Public Health Unit. (Matt Hermiz/Bayshore Broadcasting)
About a month into the return of in-person learning at schools and nearly two weeks since capacity limits were eased further for several indoor and outdoor settings, Grey Bruce’s medical officer of health says the region’s Covid situation is “as good as it gets.”
Dr. Ian Arra says Grey Bruce is in a very positive position with zero current hospitalizations, no outbreaks in any hospitals, long-term care/retirement facilities, schools or childcare centres, and an average of less than five daily cases in recent weeks.
Arra believes it is a combination of factors including remaining public health measures and increasing vaccinations that have contributed to the current positive pandemic situation.
To date, 85 per cent of the eligible population in Grey Bruce have received at least one shot of Covid vaccine, and 80.2 per cent are fully immunized.
“We’ve known over the past number of weeks that most people who are hospitalized or in intensive care units are not vaccinated,” Arra explains. “That re-assures that the protection from the vaccine has been … a key factor especially with the Delta variant.”
Dr. Arra says Grey Bruce has also seen an increased number of people attending clinics, pharmacies and primary care providers to receive a shot since the province’s vaccine certificate policy came into effect on Sept. 22.
“That is reassuring that we are on a good trajectory,” Arra explains. “Hopefully we can get to the higher numbers of 90 per cent or more people (vaccinated). That should help us further prevent community transmission, reduce other restrictions and hopefully we go back to normality a bit earlier.”
Looking ahead, Arra says it is difficult to predict when further steps might be taken to ease remaining public health measures including capacity limits on some sectors and mask mandates at indoor public settings. He says there are multiple variables to consider for the months ahead that could increase the level of transmission such as colder weather, more people getting together indoors and the possibility of waning immunity from vaccines.
“On the other hand, we have a high level of vaccination and it’s increasing,” Arra says. “And if we reach 90 per cent or more (people vaccinated) the circulation of the virus might not be there, and in that case we can relax the measures.”
Arra adds: “In general, experts in the field would expect and I would agree that by the spring of 2022, it’s most likely this pandemic will be behind us. It might be earlier, if we reach the high level of vaccination that we’re aiming for before waning immunity takes place.”