For the first time in seven weeks, there is no week-over-week increase in COVID cases in Simcoe-Muskoka region.
While it's a relief to see a break in the upward trend, Dr. Charles Gardner, medical officer of health for the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit, said it's too early to call an end to the fourth wave.
The health unit reported 196 cases for the week of Sept. 5 to 11 – all of them caused by the delta variant – which is down slightly from the 203 cases reported the week before.
"It's good news to see plateauing or a slight reduction rather than the continued steep rise in cases, both for the province and Simcoe-Muskoka as a whole," said Gardner during a media briefing on Sept. 15.
However, students have returned to in-person learning and with little more than a week of class time so far, the impact of back-to-school on COVID cases is still unknown.
"There have been some exposures, but no in-school transmission," said Gardner.
As of Sept. 14, there were 22 active cases in Simcoe County schools. The cases were not necessarily transmitted in the school.
Gardner noted outdoor activity has low transmission rates, but winter is coming.
"I think it's important to note we have many weeks ahead of colder weather driving people indoors with the potential for transmission through social exposure," said Gardner. "We have to continue to be careful."
A growing number of cases (about 30 per cent) are listed as community-acquired transmission because the health unit has not been able to link those cases to any other known cases. Likely, the transmission happened with exposure to others in the community or at social settings.
He reminded residents to stay home from school, work, and social functions if they are ill.
Immunization is also important in reducing the amount of transmission and serious illness from the SARS-CoV-2 virus, said the doctor.
"We are responding to the pandemic of the century, we know getting a very high immunization rate is necessary to control the variant [delta]," he said.
The health unit has hosted 11 school-based vaccine clinics so far, providing 1,240 doses of vaccine. Thirty-six per cent of the people immunized at school clinics were children, the rest were staff and community members.
Of the doses given out at school-based clinics so far, 549 were first doses.
"There's a 27 per cent increase in the number of people who have been getting their first dose in Simcoe-Muskoka from the beginning of September compared with the first two weeks of August," said Gardner. "These have primarily been young adults 18 to 39 years old and more males than females."
Prior to the province's announcement of a vaccine certificate program for non-essential indoor settings, the young adult male population in the region had a lower vaccination coverage rate than most other population groups.
