Coronavirus: Waterloo Public Health lists locations where public may have been exposed to COVID-19

Waterloo Public Health has launched a new page listing the locations where the public may have been exposed to patients with confirmed cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

Currently, the list includes an Italian restaurant in Kitchener as well as a meeting hall in Seaforth, Ont.

Public health officials are asking anyone who was at Casa Rugantino on March 11 between 5 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. or the Seaforth Agricultural Society on March 15 between 9 p.m. and 1 a.m. to self-monitor for symptoms of the disease for 14 days.

The agency says it will continue to add more spots to the list as the need arises and will also add flight information.

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Anyone who was at either location during the times mentioned above and who develops symptoms is asked to self-isolate by staying home and avoiding contact with other people, including others in their homes.

Public health officials say this self-isolation should continue until the person is symptom-free for 24 hours or once it has been 10 days since a person’s symptoms developed, whichever is longer.

Waterloo Region’s acting medical officer of health, Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang, announced Monday that public health officials would start to introduce locations where people had contracted the disease.

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“As we receive more cases, we are learning of public places that these cases have visited when they had symptoms and where we believe there might have been an exposure for other people at these places,” she explained.

Public health officials say they are listing the locations as they were not able to contact all of the people who may have been present during potential contamination.

“People can self-identify if they have been at these locations at times,” Wang said. “For those people who self-identify as having been present at those places and at those times, we ask that they self-monitor for symptoms and we’ll indicate until when, until a specific date.”

As of Monday, Waterloo Public Health listed 32 people in the region who have tested positive for COVID-19.

Nine of those people were said to be in hospital, while the remainder were in self-isolation.

Questions about COVID-19? Here are some things you need to know:

Health officials caution against all international travel. Returning travellers are asked to self-isolate for 14 days in case they develop symptoms and to prevent spreading the virus to others.

Symptoms can include fever, cough and difficulty breathing — very similar to a cold or flu. Some people can develop a more severe illness. People most at risk of this include older adults and people with severe chronic medical conditions like heart, lung or kidney disease. If you develop symptoms, contact public health authorities.

To prevent the virus from spreading, experts recommend frequent handwashing and coughing into your sleeve. They also recommend minimizing contact with others, staying home as much as possible and maintaining a distance of two metres from other people if you go out.

For full COVID-19 coverage from Global News, click here.