Simcoe County and Muskoka’s top doctor is recommending additional public health safety measures as the regional health unit reports about 40 household COVID-19 clusters since the start of November, affecting about 100 people.
“Since September, we have observed a substantial increase in household clusters of COVID-19 cases, and in each cluster, every person in the household has been infected,” Dr. Charles Gardner, the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit’s medical officer of health, said in a statement Tuesday.
“We are on track for much higher disease levels unless we take more action to curb its spread, and that includes actions as individuals within our work, social and household settings.”
Moving forward, Gardner recommends limiting close contacts to household members only but says individuals who live alone, including seniors, may consider having close contact with one other household to help reduce the negative effects of social isolation.
Gardner also recommends maintaining a distance of at least two metres from people, wearing a face-covering indoors and outdoors if physical distancing can’t be maintained, and adhering to provincial and local gathering restrictions.
“Virtual gatherings or events are the safest way to visit or recognize occasions with people outside your household,” Gardner said in the statement.
“Individuals and families in higher transmission areas should avoid travel to lower transmission areas … except for essential reasons.”
According to Gardner, people who are considering travelling to another province for essential reasons during the holidays should consider the risk associated with doing so and self-quarantine, or drastically reduce close contact with others, 10 to 14 days before travelling and after returning home.
“This pandemic has been extremely challenging for all of us and I know that the additional actions I am asking for are difficult, particularly as we approach the holiday season,” Gardner said.
“The only way we are going to slow the spread of COVID-19, which will allow us to keep our communities safe and healthy and our schools, organizations and businesses open, is through our own actions as individuals and as a society.”
On Tuesday, Gardner also issued an advisory letter to municipalities, strongly recommending they prohibit access to their recreational centres to those whose primary home is within areas that fall under Ontario’s red and grey levels of the COVID-19 response framework.
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The region’s top doctor is also recommending people stay home if they have COVID-19 symptoms, wash their hands regularly, cover their cough, download the COVID Alert app and get tested if they show signs of the novel coronavirus.
On Monday, the Simcoe Muskoka region moved into the orange category of Ontario’s coronavirus response framework.
As of Tuesday, the local health unit has reported a total of 1,938 coronavirus cases, including 52 deaths.
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