Dr. Kieran Moore gives first press conference as Ontario chief medical officer of health

On the eve of the province’s Phase 2 of reopening, a familiar face for Kingstonians was behind the desk for Ontario’s COVID-19 press briefing on Tuesday.

Dr. Kieran Moore, the former medical officer of health for KFL&A, gave his first press conference as chief medical officer of health for the province.

Dr. Moore was promoted to the province’s top doctor a month ago, replacing Dr. David Williams.

In his first provincial COVID-19 briefing, Dr. Moore touched on many points, including the new Delta variant.

“It’s aggressive, and it can have an increased risk of admission to hospital,” said Moore.

“It is a difficult adversary, and it wants to spread rapidly.”

Moore also stressed the importance of getting as many people in Ontario vaccinated as possible — which is a topic for which he steadily advocated during his time in Kingston as well.

“To the millions of Ontarians who have rolled up their sleeves since the beginning of this vaccine rollout: thank you,” Moore said.

“The importance of getting vaccinated has never been more critical — we all want a safe opening as we move into Step 2 and into the fall.”

Even though Phase 2 of reopening hasn’t even begun yet, people are already looking at when Phase 3 will kick in.

Case counts continue to drop in Ontario and more people are getting vaccinated, but that doesn’t mean Phase 3 will come any quicker.

When asked if Phase 3 will be accelerated, Moore was cautious about reopening things too quickly.

“We need that 21 days to be able to understand the impact of opening on our communities, because we never want to take a step backwards, we only want to be moving forwards,” he said.

“I understand the community’s frustrations. We’ve done very well with our immunization strategy.”

When it does arrive, Phase 3 of Ontario’s Roadmap to Reopening will include maskless indoor gatherings, indoor dining, large outdoor events and indoor events.

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