Waterloo region at tipping point with new delta variant, health official says

Waterloo region is at a "tipping point" with new COVID-19 cases and the spread of the delta variant is a real concern, says associate medical officer of health Dr. Julie Emili.

"We have two paths we're going to go down and if we don't recommit to public health measures, and do everything we can to keep delta at bay, we will be going down a path of increased cases, hospital being overwhelmed and then potentially moving backwards in the [provincial] steps," Emili said Friday during a regular regional COVID-19 media briefing.

She said people have the tools to prevent spread and they are to:

• Not have close contact with people outside a person's household.
• Wear a mask.
• Keep a physical distance.
• Get vaccinated as soon as possible.

Close contact between individuals is driving cases in the region, Emili noted. For the entirety of the pandemic, close contact makes up 46 per cent of all cases. Since April 1, close contact has been responsible for 55 per cent of cases, she said.

Emili said public health is "concerned our trends are not improving," but would not say the region's case rates are moving in the wrong direction. She said case rates have fluctuated over the past two weeks and it would take a few more days, perhaps into early next week, before public health could determine if there is a trend.

69 new cases, 32 in hospital

Region of Waterloo Public Health reported 69 new cases on Friday.

There was an increase of 22 active cases to 405. No new deaths were reported.

There were 32 people in the region's hospitals, a decrease of two from Thursday, with 19 of those people in intensive care, a drop of five from the previous day.

Lee Fairclough, president of St. Mary's General Hospital in Kitchener and the Waterloo-Wellington hospital lead for COVID-19 response, told CBC K-W that many hospital workers feel they're still in the midst of the third wave of the virus.

At Friday's briefing, she also urged people to follow public health measures.

"This virus will take any gap it's given," she told reporters Friday. "Hold onto measures and protect yourselves and as much as we enjoy caring for people at St. Mary's, we don't want to see you here for that. Please, I think we can steer our way through it, this community has done remarkably well."

Neither Fairclough or Emili could say if any of the people currently in hospital have received the COVID-19 vaccine. Fairclough confirmed all cases currently in the region's hospitals are people from the community.

4 active outbreaks

There were four active outbreaks in the region. One is at a congregate setting with 47 cases. Emili said there were two locations that house people who are homeless grappling with an outbreak of cases that grew quickly.

The other outbreaks were: 

• One at an office with five cases.
• One at Waterloo Regional Police Service central division in Kitchener with two cases.
• One at Trillium Bilingual Montessori School child care with two cases.

An outbreak at the Kitchener long-term care home Forest Heights Revera, which saw seven cases with five in staff and two in people who live at the home, was declared over on Wednesday.