The Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington (KFL&A) board of health met Wednesday and heard some sobering information about how the new coronavirus variant might affect to the local community over the next few months.
On Monday, KFL&A Public Health announced a positive case of the B.1.1.7 coronavirus variant — a more contagious mutation of COVID-19 first identified in the U.K. — in the local community.
Tuesday, Dr. Kieran Moore, medical officer of health for the region, clarified that the case was several weeks old, and that four other people had likely been infected with the variant.
In a presentation at Wednesday’s board of health meeting, Dr. Melissa Wan, a medical resident working with local public health, said health officials do not believe the variant is circulating widely in the community.
Moore indicated Tuesday he believed public health was able to control the spread of the variant due to contact tracing and quick testing.
Still, Wan confirmed Wednesday that none of the region’s active cases have been sent for molecular testing in Toronto to screen for the variant, since they did not meet provincial thresholds.
Tuesday, Moore told reporters that the local health unit would only be sending samples to Toronto if there was a long-term care outbreak or if a person had an epidemiological link to a variant outbreak elsewhere.
At the meeting, Wan presented modelling that predicted how virulent the U.K. variant could be if it spread across the province.
Moore noted that although the variant is most likely not circulating in the community here, it is in other places, like in Simcoe Muskoka. He also said one third of people carrying the virus are asymptomatic, which is why the local health unit is asking anyone who has travelled outside the southeastern region to get tested, even if they are not showing symptoms.
For now, public health experts are expecting to see a jump in cases in February because of the prevalence of the U.K. variant in the province.
“We have looked at modelling that’s been created that has demonstrated a significant uptake starting the second third week of February due to this variant,” Moore said.
He said that the province would be using this data to determine whether Ontario’s state of emergency will be extended past Feb. 11.
When Coun. Jim Neill, who is on the board of health, asked Moore if the Kingston region might go “rogue” again, and ask to move out of the province’s state of emergency before other hot spots due to its low case counts, the medical officer of health was not optimistic.
“I do think further public health measures will have to be maintained if we’re going to control this and ensure that we try to provide broader protection for the older members of our community and those certainly in congregate settings, it’ll be a delicate two to three months,” he said.
Despite his concerns over the variant, Moore was optimistic about schools remaining open in the region, and said the health unit is working with other interested parties to ensure that can continue safely.
“We’re planning to work with school boards on asymptomatic testing strategies. We’re meeting with the Ministry of Education and the school boards this week to further provide testing capacity directly in the school if necessary, and certainly mobile testing,” he said.
But, when questions turned to travel, especially around March break, Moore had strong words, saying that the local health unit would not be endorsing any kind of travel outside the region for at least two to three months.
He also noted that the local health unit has sent a request to the Chief Medical Officer of Health asking to put limits on travel within the province, in order to keep variants from spreading to the southeastern region.
“There may also be recommendations on not having inter-provincial travel as well. So I think that’s coming down the pipeline very, very rapidly,” he said.
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As for vaccinations, about 42 per cent of all long-term care and high-risk retirement home patients have received their first dose of the vaccine so far, according to the health unit, and the goal to get all residents vaccinated is still Feb. 5.
Moore had originally floated the idea of getting 120,000 people in the Kingston region vaccinated by fall, but said due to supply issues, giving concrete dates for vaccinating the general public will be difficult.
“Our plan has to be exceptionally fluid given the production issues that have occurred. So it’s very difficult for us to put a date to the availability for any individual at present until we get clarity on the supply chain. This is not just KFLA, Ontario or Canada, this is international,” he explained.
He did say that that for now, the available vaccines are effective on the new B.1.1.7. mutation, and should be effective for the current well-known strains, but that the federal government should be considering limiting travel outside the country to protect from other strains, like the South-African variant.
The board of health also resolved to write a letter to the provincial government in favour of the Bill 239, the Stay Home If You Are Sick Act, and put their weight behind a motion asking the province to limit shopping in big box stores to essential items only, and making those larger stores provide non-essential items by curb-side pickup.
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