The province’s Scientific Advisory Board says COVID-19 cases may have peaked in Ontario based on sewage surveillance.
However, they say the impact of the long weekend gatherings remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, Kingston’s chief physician was asked about the surge in cases at his latest press briefing on Wednesday.
In his fortnightly press conference, Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington Medical Director of Health, Dr. Piotr Oglaza, confirmed that the highly transmissible BA-2 subvariant is now the dominant variant in the province.
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“As we know, it spreads very easily and it’s starting to have an impact on our number of new hospitalizations,” he said.
However, Oglaza said they are seeing shorter hospital stays and that is helping to stabilize the numbers.
The region is also seeing more deaths related to COVID-19.
Oglaza said the health unit is investigating whether the deaths are directly due to COVID-19 or if they occurred in conjunction with other circumstances.
Kingston continues to have the worst rates of COVID-19 in the province as people head into the Easter weekend.
Oglaza also said that anyone with symptoms should stay home.
“Rapid antigen tests are not as reliable when a single pre-meeting test is used,” he said.
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In the meantime, he said it appears the region’s wastewater data is starting to stabilize.
Public health is also working to make that data more reliable.
“[We are working] to eliminate fluctuations that are not due to COVID activity but to changes in sewage concentration based on precipitation and the like,” Oglaza said.
Heading into the Easter long weekend, he recommended increasing ventilation at indoor gatherings, diligently self-monitoring and staying home if you’re sick, and even canceling at the last minute if necessary.
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