Thunder Bay public health monitors COVID-19 surge, not ready to put in local restrictions

Amid a rise in COVID-19 cases in the Thunder Bay, Ont., area, the local medical officer of health acknowledges the situation is concerning, but isnot ready to bring in new restrictions.

The Thunder Bay district had 134 active COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, after 18 new positive test results were reported.

In the past 20 days, 261 cases have been reported in the region. Outbreaks have been declared at four Thunder Bay schools in the last month, with cases linked to a handful of other schools.

Four cases of the omicron variant were confirmed over the weekend, with four others identified as likely cases.

"I'm certainly concerned at the case numbers we do have here in Thunder Bay and we're watching it closely," said Dr. Janet DeMille, the district's medical officer of health.

Earlier this week, Dr. Peter Juni, Ontario'sCOVID-19 science advisory table scientific director, suggested Thunder Bay follow the lead of other areas in the province, including Windsor-Essex, where public health officials have implemented local public health measures.

Juni specifically suggested reducing capacity in restaurants and bars to 50 per cent, as well as limits for indoor private gatherings.

DeMille, responding to Juni's suggestions on Wednesday, said she has a better knowledge of what's specifically happening in Thunder Bay. Decisions about local restrictions will be made not based on numbers, but instead an understanding of the situation, she added.

"It is important to put in measures early if we anticipate that we could have broader spread, for example, or case numbers going up further," she said.

"However, putting in restrictions do have consequences that need to be considered."

Monitoring outbreaks and spread

DeMille said public officials are understanding the outbreaks that have happened and where spread has taken place, as well as working on case and contact management.

"We're reporting a lot of people who are either household or close contacts, and that's really meaning that our case and contact management we're currently doing is working. We're really tracking down all the chains of transmission, all the spread that's happening.

"We don't have very many cases that we don't know where they actually got it from, or we don't have an idea of where they might have gotten it from."

Dr. Kieran Moore, Ontario'schief medical officer of health, was asked whether he would recommend further restrictions as cases increase across the province.

"We're working very closely with our sister health units that are experiencing high rates of illness. and quite appropriately those health units are putting in public health measures," Moore said during a Tuesday news conference, where he also praised local health units like the ones in Windsor-Essex, Algoma and Sudbury and Districtfor taking action.