The Kingston-area public health unit says that COVID-19 is now spreading within the local community, and is urging locals to take precautions if symptoms arise.
“Unfortunately, our case investigations show that individuals are not always following public health guidance and are ignoring symptoms and delaying testing,” said Dr. Piotr Oglaza, medical officer of health for the region.
“This puts everyone in the community at risk. If you feel sick, or even if you just have mild symptoms, make the responsible choice and get tested to protect yourself and your community.”
The health unit says community spread happens when there are many positive clusters of cases in the community that cannot be accounted for by known exposures.
Last week, in a press conference, Oglaza said that community spread was not being detected widely, and that cases were limited to clusters which could be dealt with by targeted interventions. It seems that has changed as of Tuesday.
This news comes as active cases have ballooned up to 184, the most the region has ever seen over the course of the pandemic.
In a press conference Tuesday, Oglaza stopped short of implementing additional health restrictions, like some other health units have done. But, he said if things continue down the same path, additional public health measures may be necessary.
He also noted that many people have been missing COVID-19 symptoms thinking they were just experiencing common cold symptoms.
“There’s no such thing as just a cold right now,” he said Tuesday, urging anyone with symptoms to stay home and to be tested for COVID-19.
The health unit is also asking locals to get fully vaccinated, limit indoor social gatherings, stay two metres apart and to wear masks indoors where distancing is not possible, but most of all – to stay home while sick.
The health unit recently sent a memo to the Chamber of Commerce noting that some vaccinated individuals were going to work while symptomatic, causing transmission in the workplace.
The health unit is now asking people to go back to basics in order to deal with the recent surge in cases.