Region of Waterloo not yet ready to lift COVID-19 state of emergency

The Region of Waterloo is not yet prepared to lift its COVID-19 state of emergency even, as other nearby communities have done so and as local case numbers slowly decline.

That's because, in part, having the order in place allows the region to move employees around to help cover gaps in service in the shelter and long-term care system, chief administrative officer Bruce Lauckner said Friday during a regular media briefing.

"People might look at this in a binary way of, oh, you know, COVID's ending. But we have to remember people, a lot of frontline staff, have been at this for a long time and are in a fragile state," he said. "A lot of people haven't had time to recover. So I'd prefer to err on the side of caution and allow for some recovery time, allow for some people to recoup and that may require us to still shift resources to give that that time off."

Both the shelter system and Sunnyside Home, the regionally run long-term care facility in Kitchener, continue to manage significant outbreaks:

• An outbreak at Sunnyside Home declared on Dec. 29 had a total of 147 cases, with 107 in residents. Two deaths have been linked to the outbreak.
• An outbreak in the shelter system declared on Jan. 8 had 90 cases. One death has been linked to the outbreak.

Region of Waterloo Chair Karen Redman said the state of emergency has also allowed the municipality to access certain funds from the provincial and federal government and it means volunteers who are used in some positions are covered by the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board.

"There's a few technical reasons as well why I wouldn't rush to declare the state of emergency over at the regional level and part of it is because of the type of services that we support provide to the community," Redman said.

Lauckner said the worst thing the region could do is end the state of emergency, then realize it needs to move staff and they can't. 

"As we have confidence that the shelter systems that the hospitals and our vaccine clinics and so on no longer require operational supports like that, then that would be a reason for us to end the emergency declaration."

Local COVID-19 case trends decline

Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang, the region's medical officer of health, says the area has started to see slow declines or plateauing in overall COVID-19 trends. The number of outbreaks has dropped with few new outbreaks being declared. The percent positivity of those who can secure PCR tests is also dropping while hospitalizations appear to have stabilized, she said.

On Friday, the region announced one new death of a person with COVID-19, bringing the total since March 2020 to 400.

There were 24 people with the virus in hospital and of those, 10 people were in the intensive care unit. People in the ICU may no longer be infectious with the virus, but do require ongoing care, the region noted.

There were eight outbreaks:

• Three in hospitals.
• Three in congregate settings.
• Two in long-term care and retirement homes.

Anxiety about lifting mandates understandable: Wang

Wang also said she understands people may be feeling anxious about restrictions lifting and news that the provincial mask mandate could be gone by the end of the month.

"We have to find that balance between what are the measures that we need to put in place to try and prevent the most severe outcomes but at the same time, allow people to resume activities that are also important for their health," said Wang.

But Wang said COVID-19 will continue to be a risk in the weeks to come.

"We can actually expect that we will see future periods where risk is increased again," she said, but added the community is in a far better position than it was when the pandemic began, two years ago. 

"We have elevated levels of community immunity through vaccination and we also know better how to deal with this virus," she said, noting people should have two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine plus the booster dose.