KFL&A Public Health Limits Private Gatherings To 10 As COVID Cases Rise

Jeff Green | Dec 01, 2021

Four weeks into the largest, and most deadly, local wave of the entire pandemic, Kingston Frontenac Lennox and Addington Public Health (KFLAPH) took matters into its own hands last Friday afternoon (November 26).

Under his authority as the regional Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Piotr Oglaza issued an order under Section 22 (s. 22) of the Public Health Act restricting gatherings in private settings to a maximum of 10 people.

In a virtual media conference just minutes after the order was announced, Dr. Oglaza described the order as a “targeted measure that is aimed at addressing the most common source of new cases in KFL&A in recent weeks.”

He said that 48% of new cases over the preceding week had been spread at private gatherings where masking, and restrictions based on vaccination status are not applied.

“We are not seeing cases stemming from indoor public settings [such as restaurants and gyms] where public health measures such as masking and vaccine passports are in place,” he said, “and that is why I did not include any new restrictions on those locations at this time. We are focussed on where the cases are being spread in KFL&A.”

The new Section 22 order does not have an end date, and Dr. Oglaza said that it will remain in place until the recent surge in cases begins  to ease. 

“Far from seeing a decrease in cases, we have not yet seen the beginnings of a plateau,” he said, adding that he will not be considering whether to lift the restrictions for the Christmas and New Year’s seasons until he sees whether the order has its desired effect and the case rate begins to slow.

One of the reasons for the order to be put in at this time is for it to be what Dr. Oglaza called “a wake-up call” for people in the region to consider the risks that they are taking when holding gatherings and parties in their homes.

KFL&A is the only region in Eastern Ontario to have put measures in place that are above and beyond the provincewide COVID measures enacted by Public Health Ontario.

In order draw attention to  the level of risk that the population in KFL&A are now facing, the colour coded COVID case level system, which is not longer a part of the provincial response to COVID, has been brought back to the COVID dashboard on the KFLAPH website. KFL&A is now in the red COVID restricted zone. 

A further 109 new cases were announced on Monday (November 29), covering the period from the previous Friday afternoon to Monday morning. As of Monday, 23 patients are in hospital with COVID in the region, including 9 requiring intensive care and 6 requiring ventilation. The third local death of the current wave (9th overall) was also announced on Monday.

 For the week ending on November 22, there were 196 cases in Kingston. With a population of about 125,000, that puts the 7 day case rate at 158 per 100,000.  The red zone kicks in at 50 cases/per week/per 100,000 people. 

South Frontenac has the second highest case rate in the region, with 15 cases in the week ending on November 22, a case rate of 82.5 per 100,000, also in the red zone. There were 6 new cases, among South Frontenac residents, last weekend alone.

Loyalist Township has 15 cases, Greater Napanee 12, and Central Frontenac 2 - in the week ending on November 22.

When asked whether they had considered restricting the private gathering limit to the City of Kingston, where the case rate is highest, instead of extending it to the entire KFL&A region, Public Health said they had not.

“The s. 22 Order is issued to all residents of KFL&A Public Health to address the risk for our entire community. Adding restrictions to a specified region would not address the risk to the entire community as our population is mobile, and the COVID-19 virus knows no bounds. In fact, an unbalanced application of the requirements may cause an unintended result, such as an increase in cases within a certain area. Furthermore, while the number of cases is larger in the city of Kingston right now, it changes over time. Addressing the Order, to all residents of KFL&A, functions to reduce or eliminate the risk for everyone in our community,” wrote Suzette Taggart, Manager of Communications, in an email to the News.

“The best defense against contracting the virus is to follow public health guidelines, and to take advantage of the availability of COVID vaccines, for those who have not yet done so,” said Dr. Oglaza on the Friday media call.

The COVID dashboard has had a new graph added to it, which underlines Oglaza’s comments. Using  rolling data from the previous month, the graph shows that the rate of COVID infection per 100,000 people is 6.2 times higher, locally, for those who are not vaccinated as compared to those who are.

On the vaccination front, a recent update from Stats Canada, which showed a slight decrease in the population, has changed the vaccine percentages for KFLAPH. Over 92% of the 12 year old and over population have received one dose, and 88.9% have received at least two doses and are considered fully vaccinated. At the current rate of vaccination, the region will reach the 90% target among those 12 and over, on or around the end of the year.

The 5-11 year old cohort has now been added to the vaccine statistics as well. 7.5% of the approximately 30,000 children, in that age group, have already been vaccinated. 

For the entire population who are now eligible for vaccination, (5 years old and over) the first dose rate in the region is now 85.2%, and 82.4% are fully vaccinated.

To book a first or second dose of COVID vaccine for an adult or child over 5, or third dose for those who are eligible, go to www.kflaph.ca/en/healthy-living/covid-19-vaccine.aspx