Public Health plan hints at how isolation easing could roll out

Jeff Green | May 06, 2020

Last Friday (May 1st) Frontenac County Council met in special session to receive a report that was prepared by Dr. Kieran Moore, Medical Officer of Health for Kingston Frontenac Lennox and Addington (KFL&A). The report details how the KFL&A region is in a position to begin lifting restrictions related to COVID-19 and provides a draft plan for doing so.

In the information package provided to Council, there was also a draft letter from Moore to the Minister of Health in which Dr. Moore proposed the following: easing public health restrictions at a regional level, as opposed to a provincial level, in a coordinated balanced approach.”

In a letter to Dr. Moore, Kingston Mayor Bryan Paterson, suggested that having the letter signed by himself, Lennox and Addington Warden Marg Isbester (the Mayor of Napanee) and Frontenac County Warden Frances Smith (the Mayor of Central Frontenac) as well as Moore would make it a strong statement.”

The City of Kingston and the County of Lennox and Addington both endorsed having their head of council sign the letter and Frontenac County Council was being asked to do the same.

Moore’s report detailed how the KFL&A region has been able to avoid much of the predicted impacts of COVID-19 on its 200,000 permanent residents as well as its health infrastructure.

At the time of writing there had been 59 confirmed cases in KFL&A and none since April 6. There had been no deaths. A week after the report was written (May 5) there are now 61 cases, 2 having been reported within the last week. Of those, 3 are active cases and none of them require hospitalisation. There have still been no deaths.

Dennis Doyle, the Mayor of Frontenac Islands, is a member of Frontenac County Council. He is also the chair of the KFL&A Board of Health.

He told Council that the low level of community transmission of COVID-19 in KFL&A have allowed Public Health “to assign 7 of our people to visit each of the long-term care homes in our region every week, and last week we began bringing Public Health nurses into the homes as well. This has all helped us, and we are very fortunate to have kept our long-term care homes free of infection, because we know what can happen from the experience in other parts of the province,” he said.

Dr. Moore’s report also acknowleges the impact that the current self-isolation and quarantine rules have had on the general population.

“People should be treated as moral equals, worthy of respect. While individuals may be asked to make sacrifices for the public good, the respect due to individuals should never be forgotten in the way in which interventions such as quarantine and self-isolation are implemented.

“The public has a right to obtain key information that benefits its safety and security. The

aims and evidence of the interventions being implemented should be clearly communicated. In communicating plans to loosen public health measures, the public should be aware of the criteria for loosening restrictions, and well as criteria for re-instating measures.”

His report includes an appendix which provides a draft regional checklist for lifting restrictions. The stated goal of the check list points to the current state of debate around the battle against COVID-19 in the region, province and perhaps he nation as whole

“Goals - maintain a low level of COVID-19 transmission to ensure that Public Health and acute care capacity is not overwhelmed; reduce mortality due to COVID-19 and non COVID-19 causes; minimise unintended consequences such as negative physical and mental health and socio-economic impacts; and minimise societal disruption, maintain public trust and reduce public panic.”

The check list includes criteria for beginning to lift restrictions. One of the key criterion is a low level of new cases, numbers that have been met in KFL&A but which the province as a whole has not yet met (100-200 cases per day in Ontario, which translates roughly to 1-2 cases per day in KFL&A)

Phase 1 of a transition to a new normal includes maintaining physical distancing in public spaces and continuing to avoid non-essential travel, resuming elective surgeries that can be done on an out-patient basis, and permitting gatherings of up to 10 people. It envisions parks re-opening with restrictions on the use of play structures and other apparatus, opening small retail stores, continuing to encourage teleworking bur return to workplaces in phases, opening large venues that permit distancing protocols (such as restaurant, theatre religious centres, and sporting venues), opening gyms with strict guidelines, and opening up construction projects for which permits were obtained before April 4. Schools, daycares and bars would remain closed. Under phase 2, schools and daycares could re-open, in addition to healthcare services such as dental clinics, chiropractic and physiotherapy services and others, and the protocols in parks, large venues and gyms would be relaxed.

Phase 3 is as close to a return to pre-COVID life as we can expect before a vaccine is developed, as all stores and other businesses will be able to open, with safety protocols remaining in place.

This draft checklist was prepared before the announcement later on Friday (May 1) by Premier Ford that a limited amount of businesses were able to open as of Monday, February 4th.

After an inquiry late on Friday afternoon, KFL&A Public Health said that the draft checklist that had been created locally will be altered to reflect new information from the Province of Ontario and should be released in the coming days. A new checklist had not been released as of the end of the day on Tuesday, March 5.

Frontenac County Council members were supportive of the KFL&A Public Health initiative.

“We want to do something that will work for our areas and not just the big cities,” said Dennis Doyle.

South Frontenac Mayor Ron Vandewal asked if it will soon be possible to lift the emergency order if the infection rate remains low, and Warden Smith said she had heard that something might happen on a provincial level on May 12.

Before the vote was taken, Warden Smith said “this is all about asking the province to give us the go-ahead to work on a local solution. The Premier did say this week that he is afraid of opening up outside of Toronto because people would flock to whichever communities had opened up. So, he may not respond to this, but he may.

The motion was endorsed and Warden Smith was authorised to sign the letter.

Frontenac County Council is scheduled to hold their monthly meeting, over Zoom, on May 20.