DISTRICT – Limit your close contacts to your household. Don’t travel outside the district unless you must. Inquire about COVID-19 testing even if you’ve just got a runny nose.
That was the message from Temiskaming’s acting medical officer of health this afternoon (December 23) as case numbers reached 48. Twenty have been reported in the past week alone.
Dr. Glenn Corneil urged the public to adopt the mindset that Temiskaming is under a lockdown now.
That it was only the second press conference called since mid-March and the declaration of a pandemic indicates the significance of rising case numbers, said Corneil, the district’s acting medical officer of health and CEO of the Timiskaming Health Unit.
It “underlines very clearly” that public health officials are concerned about the number of cases in recent weeks, but particularly in the past week and especially in the Kirkland Lake area, Corneil said.
A number of test results are now pending, he continued.
In its contact tracing, he said the health unit is hearing of “inappropriate” social gatherings.
“We’re hearing evidence of parties, we’re seeing get-togethers that are leading to increasing spread,” he said.
“It’s multiplying very quickly through our district.”
Temiskaming formally moved into the “yellow-protect” categorization of restrictions on Monday. But in light of its case numbers and other data this week, he said it could well have been categorized as the more restrictive “red-control” had the province not been moving into lockdown on Boxing Day.
And as Christmas approaches, he urged people to limit their close contacts only to members of their own household. Single people have been advised they may socialize with one other household, but that should be their only other household contact, he said.
Maintain physical distancing and wear masks when with non-household contacts, he said.
It’s important that people not travel outside the district, and that non-residents also not visit, he said. (College and university students coming home are deemed an “essential return,” he said.)
In terms of testing, he said the cardinal symptoms of COVID-19 are fever, cough and shortness of breath.
But people should also seek out testing for a runny nose, sore throat, sore joints or loss of smell or taste.
And if someone in your household is waiting on a test result, other members of the household should stay at home, if work permits, until the results are known, he said.
It’s “essential” that anyone who tests positive follow public health direction to isolate, he continued.
The health unit is hearing of instances of people who should be in isolation but are out and about, he said.
And if you’re a close contact of someone who has tested positive, you too must isolate for 14 days after that last contact, he said.
“We know this is difficult, but we are also seeing way too much spread in our communities. Most of the cases we have detected in the last ten days, especially, have been links to people who ended up being positive.”
At the Kirkland Lake hospital, Blanche River Health CEO Sean Conroy said two employees have tested positive.
Both acquired the virus outside the hospital, so there has been no internal transmission “at this point in time,” he said.
It’s now nearing the end of testing all employees.
He said a patient was recently admitted to the hospital with COVID-19, and is in stable condition.
At this time, the hospital is maintaining appointments for out-patient services. Its operating room has closed, but that had been a scheduled holiday shutdown.
But the patients the hospital is seeing are more acutely ill, he continued.
If COVID-19 case counts continue to rise, he said the hospital will have to revisit plans for out-patient and surgical services.
Health officials are “imploring the community” to take public health advice to heart, he said.
As for local outbreaks, Corneil said no further cases have been linked to date to Teck Pioneer Residence, where one staffer tested positive.
Nor have more cases been linked to an outbreak at École catholique Sainte-Marie in New Liskeard.