The Ontario government says the COVID-19 crisis is spiraling out of control and we are facing a very serious situation.
Associate Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Barbara Yaffe says new modelling figures will be released early next week and she warns the numbers will be a real wake-up call for everyone.
She says they are seeing more and more community spread of the virus.
“We don’t want to scare people but on the other hand I think there’s too much complacency. And I understand it. We’re tired. It’s been a long time. People are sick and tired of the whole thing. They may not know anyone who has become ill.”
Dr. Yaffe says public health measures must be followed and we need to hang on until April, May and June when mass vaccinations begin.
“We want to keep people healthy and safe. So please stick to the measures. But I will say as we look at the modelling through the Public Health Measures Team, with input from the Medical Officers of Health across the province, I think we do need to consider more serious measures. Perhaps similar to what happened in the spring and looking at other jurisdictions, what they have done and what has worked, so we can get ourselves out of this.”
Dr. Yaffe says it’s concerning to see positive rates among children on the rise as well as outbreaks and deaths in long-term care homes.
She notes a new challenge is the new UK variant with six confirmed cases in the province to date.
Ontario is reporting 4,249 cases Friday, another single-day record, as well as 26 more deaths.
