A recent uptick of COVID-19 cases in the Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington (KFL&A) region is prompting health professionals to reiterate the importance of safety protocols.
This includes masking and keeping small social circles alongside getting fully vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus.
“We’ve done really well here in the southeast part of Ontario, particularly in KFL&A, during waves one, two and three,” Dr. Gerald Evans said. “As a result of that and these very high vaccination rates, I think there’s a general kind of view that maybe we’re over the hump of COVID.”
Dr. Evans is the chair of the division of infectious diseases at Queen’s University and KHSC. He says that even though we have high immunization rates in the region, the rise in case count can be partially attributed to people feeling more comfortable and becoming less strict with safety measures.
According to Evans, for every 10 people added to your social circle, there is a roughly 25 per cent increase in risk of COVID-19 exposure.
“If we weren’t this heavily vaccinated in KFL&A, the number of cases we would be seeing would be actually substantially higher than what we’re seeing at the moment,” he says.
While Evans says there’s no question that vaccination is the number one strategy to fight COVID-19, cases will still occur within the vaccinated population.
“Now that most people are vaccinated, yes, you’re going to see cases popping up in vaccinated people,” Evans said. “What we do know about most of those vaccinated people is it’s very uncommon for them to have a serious course.”
The burden of cases across Ontario remains to be in unvaccinated individuals.
“The risk of getting COVID if you’re unvaccinated compared to a vaccinated person is very high,” Evans said. “It’s somewhere around seven to eight times higher.”
Around 22 per cent of Ontarians are not yet vaccinated, but about half of those people are already eligible.
“Everybody needs to continue to do all the good things that we were doing before the vaccination came along,” he said. “And if you’re not vaccinated, get vaccinated. Absolutely, it is going to help our local community out well.”
Evans says one-third of unvaccinated Ontarians make up children in the five to 11 age group, who are not yet eligible.
That group is expected to help nudge the numbers, but Ontario will still have a substantial amount of unvaccinated people.
“The holidays are about six weeks away and we need to do everything now to drive down those numbers,” Evans said.
“Keep the numbers low, so that we can actually have a safe and enjoyable holiday season with our friends and family over that period of time where last year, we were really, really, severely hampered because vaccines had just become available.”
Dr. Evans says 90 to 95 per cent of Ontarians would need to be vaccinated to see considerable effects, including the possibility of herd immunity.
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