Kingston’s first COVID-19 wave near its end, but more possibly on the horizon: public health

With novel coronavirus case numbers staying steady in Kingston, KFL&A Public Health‘s medical officer of health says the region has seen its first real peak of the virus.

On Friday, numbers remain at 55 total cases, 51 of which are resolved.

There have been no new cases since the weekend, and only two new cases over the last week and a half.

Dr. Kieran Moore says it’s safe to say the region has probably seen it’s first peak of the virus, and luckily, it was fairly low.

“So we went through that first wave and that was our maximum impact on the health system to date,” said Moore.

Although he gave credit for the community for their social distancing efforts, he did say that the lack of large numbers does put people in the region at risk if another wave were to hit.

“It can come back, though, and it’s not a time to let our guard down because we can experience second, a third or a fourth wave,” Moore said Friday.

The one down side of not seeing a large peak hit the region, however, is that most people do not have immunity to the disease, which, if social distancing measures were to relax, could cause new peaks to arise.

Of course, one of the many benefits of not seeing a large spike in numbers locally is that our health care system was not overwhelmed, meaning those who needed critical medical attention were able get that attention.

“There was some hope that the virus wouldn’t be around in the summer. But the virus has shown in other warm climates and humid climates that it can continue,” Moore added.

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Despite seeing low numbers, Moore said public health is still committed to testing as many people as they can.

As of Friday, there have been 2276 COVID-19 swabs done in the region. Moore said he’s not naive to think there are no other cases of COVID-19 that have and gone untested in the community, but public health is not seeing evidence of significant spread of the virus.

“I would love to test more people. I’d like to find any even asymptomatic carriers. But we’re not seeing it in our community just yet. And I’m I’m comfortable with the amount of testing we’re doing,” Moore said.