No new COVID-19 cases in Kingston region, total still at 54

As of Tuesday afternoon, KFL&A Public Health says it has not identified any new cases of COVID-19 in the Kingston region voer the last 24 hours, leaving the total cases of the novel coronavirus still at 54.

On Monday, Dr. Kieran Moore, medical officer for health for the region, said there was evidence that numbers in the region were plateauing.

Unlike other regions in the country, he said, the Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox and Addington regions have been seeing slow growth in numbers in recent weeks — with an average of two to three new cases a day.

“This whole southeast region is doing relatively well compared to other jurisdictions in Ontario. And I have to thank everyone in all our communities and our municipal leaders that have worked so cohesively together,” Moore said

Moore pointed to projections for the region released by the Ontario government, that estimate if Kingston were to continue at the same pace with its social distancing efforts, that the region’s curve would stay flat.

Tuesday’s lack of new cases seem to point to a plateau. Over the last week, Kingston has seen growths of only one case per day for several days, including between Sunday and Monday, and between Thursday and Friday.

Some say that number haven’t been totally accurate since testing criteria has been limited to recent travellers, close contacts and those who are extremely ill. Moore did say that the region’s testing capacity has recently increased to allow for more swabs to be used on a wider swath of people.

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“We’re very happy that we’ve got, the swabs that are necessary and the machines that are necessary to ramp up our testing,” Moore said.

He noted that people in the Kingston region have been doing very well with social distancing and staying home, but he wanted to reiterate the importance of those practices as the nice weather and long weekends are on the horizon.

“So right now, first week of April, I’m happy that our our community is doing so well, taking these basic precautions so seriously preventing rapid spread in our community.”