Canada’s director of public health has injected a dose of optimism into the country’s fight against the fourth wave of COVID-19.
Dr. Theresa Tam said efforts to slow the spread where the virus is increasing appear to be working.
He said difficult lessons must be learned about the risks of removing public health measures too soon, particularly in areas where not enough people have been vaccinated.
“The curve is just bending,” Tam said at a briefing on Friday. He also emphasized how basic measures, such as masking, must remain in place to avoid another spike in the winter.
Tam said it is promising that more than 80 percent of Canadians eligible to receive an injection are now fully vaccinated against COVID-19, yet there are still some six million eligible Canadians who are not properly immunized.
He cautioned that people should follow public health measures ahead of Thanksgiving weekend.
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Specifically, he recommended people to restrict Thanksgiving gatherings indoors to those who are fully vaccinated and the hosts should make efforts to open windows to improve ventilation.
Family or friends with additional health problems may want to continue wearing a mask, Tam added.
For those who are not fully vaccinated, Tam recommends that meetings be held for household members only and ideally held outdoors.
She and Dr. Howard Njoo, deputy director of public health, acknowledged that asking guests their immunization status could be difficult.
The health agency today released its latest model for the pandemic showing that it recorded an average of 3,700 new cases reported daily across the country this week, much less than initially projected.
Tam says that nationally, this is also the first time since July where the pandemic does not appear to be in a growth pattern.
Reference-toronto.citynews.ca