Infectious disease specialist says cases are still on the rise in Kingston

As of Monday, the KFL&A region has surpassed 300 active COVID-19 cases, which is a record high.

“We’re still on the rise. We’re still heading up and we haven’t yet seen that plateau,” said Dr. Gerald Evans, an infectious disease expert at Queen’s University.

With COVID-19 cases continuing to hit record highs in the Kingston area, Evans says there is still a window to get things under control before the holidays.

“I think we could be looking at a peak now within the next couple of weeks, but that’ll still put us with a lot of cases over the holiday period,” Evans said.

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He added that following health guidelines, especially a recent local health order limiting indoor social gatherings to 10 people, could put a dent in cases.

“The problem is, is that when we do an intervention to try and reduce case numbers, we only see that effect about 10 to 14 days later,” Evans said.

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If cases continue to rise despite the local health order, Evans said he trusts that Piotr Oglaza, medical officer of health, and KFL&A Public Health will be looking at other measures to slow the spread of COVID-19.

As for the new Omicron variant, Evans says that poses a lot of unknowns.

“This variant is everywhere already. And what we just need to do and hope is that we can control the spread until we understand more about it,” Evans said.