As the province’s new state of emergency comes into effect, the number of COVID-19 cases continue to rise in Waterloo Region. The impact of the stay-at-home order will likely take at least a couple of weeks to determine.
As of today (Friday), there were 1,045 active cases of Sars-COV2, bringing the cumulative total throughout the pandemic to 8,088. Of those, 6,862 cases have been resolved (84.8 per cent). There have been 179 fatalities linked to the virus.
“These indicators show that our situation locally is quite serious. In the coming weeks, we will see trends provincial measures in our own individual actions are working to bring COVID-19 under control,” said medical officer of health Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang during Friday’s weekly community update.
The incidence rate has also increased from 185 per population of 100,000 from last week’s reported 160 cases. The positivity rate of test also grew in the past week, to 7.3 per cent from 5.5.
Active outbreaks also continue to be rampant, with 42 ongoing at this point, the majority split between long-term care facilities/retirement homes and workplace settings. Chartwell Elmira has the fourth-highest rank among long-term care homes, with 21 diagnoses in residents and five among staff.
Wang encouraged residents to comply with the new public health measures, noting most have been cooperative throughout the pandemic.
“Many Waterloo Region residents have been following public health recommendations to avoid social gatherings with people outside of their household and only the four essential trips. The stay-at-home order builds on our recommendations, given the seriousness of the situation in Waterloo Region and Ontario. The new measures announced yesterday and their continued commitment of Waterloo Region residents to do everything we can to support those measures will be critical to our community’s ability to slow the spread. We are asking you to stay home as much as possible. Avoid social gatherings and only leave for essential reasons,” said Wang.
While the new provincial order is sweeping, some confusion remains about the rules, especially what constitutes “essential” in making a trip out of the house. Chief administrative officer Bruce Lauckner suggests a simple rule of thumb: “If you have to ask if it’s essential then it is probably not essential.”
Wang noted the list of appropriate reasons “may include but is not limited to getting groceries or takeout medical appointments or picking up prescriptions, going to work, exercising outdoors. If you live alone, you may consider joining one other household exclusively. Ontarians are asked to work remotely as much as possible. in all industries and sectors,” she said, adding “the more we stay apart the harder it is for COVID-19 to spread.”
In terms of enforcement, Lauckner said all regional enforcement partners would be taking a similar approach to that adopted by police, focusing on the following four E’s: educate, explain, engage and last enforce, in that order.
In a briefing Thursday, Waterloo Regional Police Chief Bryan Larkin said his department would be enforcing the rules on a complaint basis, saying ticketing would be a last resort. He urged residents to abide by the new order.
