KFL&A Medical Officer of Health says Lockdown should be reconsidered in 14 days

Jeff Green | Dec 22, 2020

Dr. Moore advocated for a travel ban instead of a province-wide lockdown

Kingston Frontenac Lennox and Addington Public Health (KFLAPH) received no advanced notice before Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced that a province-wide lock-down will be in place as of this coming Saturday, December 26.

At a Skype press briefing this morning, Dr. Kieran Moore, the Medical Officer of Health with KFLAPH, said that the 33 Medical Officers of health from across the Province were consultant last week by Public Health Ontario in the lead-up to the decision that was ultimately being taken by the Premier.

“It was my suggestion that a regional approach be considered,” he said about the meeting last week, “my preference would have been for limitations on travel instead of a province-wide lockdown. The vast majority of the caseload that we have seen in KFL&A has been travel related, coming from the hot spots for COVID-19, like Toronto the Peel region. In Southwestern Ontario they are seeing significant caseload increases, all related to travel from the GTA.”

While he said that enforcing a travel ban would be a “difficult issue”, he added that “I think they could use the OPP. They are able to stop you through the RIDE program to ask if you have been drinking. They could also ask if you are travelling more than 100 kilometres from your home”.

While the position he supported, along with other Eastern Ontario officials, Dr. Moore said that he is “happy that at least they consulted local Public Health.”

He also said that he supports the 28 day lock-down in regions such as the GTA, but thinks the province could consider shortening it to 14 days in Eastern Ontario, if the caseload and hospitalization rates and ICU use remains low.

“Within 14 days of Boxing Day we will see if there is an impact from Christmas gatherings in our region on our case load, and we will have the first indications about the impact of New Year's Eve as well. I think the Mayors and other politicians from the region are making the case for the province to reconsider the lock-down after 14 days in regions like ours.

He also said that after the case rate increased in KFL&A over the last month, putting the region in the Orange Protective Zone as of Monday, December 20, the situation has settled down in recent days.

“We will be announcing 6 new cases today, all related to previous cases among people who are already in isolation because they are close contacts with other cases. With 9 recoveries, our active case rate is down to 83. And we were very happy to learn that one of the two individuals who have been in ICU is no longer in ICU. We now have 3 hospitalizations and 1 person in ICU.”  

(Editors note - When the KFLAPH COVID-19 dashboard was updated two hours later, the total active caseload was down to 80. Hospitalization was down to 2, and there were no COVID patients in the ICU.)

Ironically, the lock-down might increase the risk of transmission in cottage country throughout Southern Ontario, if people from the GTA decided to spend the time at their cottage properties

Dr. Moore said that he does not think that seasonal residents, who own waterfront cottages in the KFL&A region, should be permitted to spend the lock-down at their cottage instead of their year round urban home.

“Going to a cottage is not essential travel. The more people travel around the province, the greater the risk for everyone,” he said. “There really is nothing stopping people from coming, unfortunately, which is bothersome to me. But the Premier has been very forceful on this in his messaging, and the message is for people to stay home.”

The Mayor and Medical Officer of Health for the City of Ottawa, where COVID case numbers have been falling for weeks, have been publicly urging the province to reconsider the lock-down in Eastern Ontario after 14 days.

In a response to that urging, the Ontario Ministry of Health has restated that the lock-down will be reconsidered for northern Ontario in 14 days, and for southern Ontario in 28 days.