Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to be more clear about the members of Omega Fit Club who were contacted by KFL&A Public Health. The 70 names that were passed on for contact tracing were those who were in the building at the same time as the affected member, but may or may not have had contact with them.
KFL&A Public Health is reporting seven new cases of COVID-19 in the region.
This is in addition to the 22 positive tests reported over the weekend. Eleven cases have also been resolved on Monday, bringing active cases down to 89.
According to public health, many of the cases are coming from several outbreaks.
Dr. Kieran Moore, medical officer of health for the region, said 24 cases are associated with an outbreak at Third Day Worship Centre. The health unit says 17 of those cases are directly linked to the original cases.
An outbreak at an unnamed Kingston clinic also has 24 cases associated.
Also, Moore said he’s concerned that 36 Queens students living off campus have tested positive for COVID-19 in recent weeks. Dr. Moore says a social gathering involving Queen’s University students is responsible for a portion of those 36 cases, but did not say how many.
“For every student there’s roughly 10 to 20 contacts,” he said.
Public health is monitoring over 600 close-contacts for COVID-19 symptoms, dozens of which were from local gyms.
According to the owners of Omega Fit Club, a member tested positive after attending a indoor gathering between Dec. 5 and Dec. 6.
“I won’t identify any individual or any individual’s social activities, but that investigation is ongoing. It’s just started this weekend,” Moore said.
The owners of the gym say they have given the names of 70 people who were present in the building on Tuesday and Wednesday, when the affected member was at the gym – all of whom have since been contacted by public health.
The gym’s co-owner, Dwayne Hart, said the gym has remained open with all safety measures in place.
Hart says as of Monday afternoon, no other members have tested positive for the virus.
Despite consistently high case counts, the Kingston region remains in the province’s yellow status. Moore says this will likely change to orange.
“We flirted with the red count just on pure case counts, given the three or four major outbreaks we had last week. But they’re under control now,” he said.
Moore said as long as the region doesn’t see any more large outbreaks, he hopes to get case counts back to their normal rates in the near future.
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