THUNDER BAY - There are more than 100 active cases of COVID-19 in the district, but public health officials say it is unlikely the district will move into the red classification under the province’s response framework.
“I am not aware that the government is planning to move us into red,” said Dr. Janet DeMille, medical officer of health with the Thunder Bay District Health Unit.
“We have had a slight improvement in some of the actual numbers they would use to calculate that or determine that. I am going to presume we will remain in orange.”
The Thunder Bay District was moved into the orange or restrict classification under the COVID-19 response framework on Dec. 4 after a surge in positive cases.
The district remains under orange and DeMille said she is not recommending to the province that the district move to red, which carries many more restrictions.
There were 10 new cases of COVID-19 reported on Thursday in the Thunder Bay district, bringing the total number of active cases to 101. There have been 467 total cases since the start of the pandemic and 14 deaths.
On Thursday, the Ontario Hospital Association called on the provincial government to move health units with more than 40 cases per 100,000 people into a four-week lockdown in order to ensure hospitals are not overwhelmed with a surge in cases.
“I think that there is a bit of advocacy that that be considered across the province,” DeMille said. “I think there would be value from the COVID-19 perspective if that were to happen here. But that kind of lockdown has consequences and that has to be taken seriously.”
Last week the Thunder Bay District was at 40 cases per 100,000 people, which was down from 47.7 the week before. And while these numbers are improving, DeMille said it is only a slight improvement and the situation hasn’t changed.
“One has to be careful in how to read into the those numbers,” she said. “COVID is here. It is in the Thunder Bay area and the surrounding communities and district communities. We can anticipate that will continue if nothing changes and that could easily get worse.”
There is growing concern that with the holiday season just around the corner, there will be more social gatherings, resulting in another surge of cases in January, which can affect a large number of people, businesses, and workplaces.
“One gathering can lead to a lot of different places being impacted,” DeMille said.
But there is light at the end of the tunnel, with vaccinations against COVID-19 already taking place in parts of Canada.
DeMille said they anticipate immunizations for at-risk individuals could start taking place as early as January.
“I have to say it is exciting that the vaccine is coming to our area,” she said. “We will shortly be immunizing people, which in many ways is the beginning of the end. But the details are still emerging so it’s difficult to say how exactly it will roll out.”
Thunder Bay Mayor Bill Mauro also does not anticipate the district will be moving to red, but reiterated the importance of remaining vigilant this holiday season.
“The message is the same as it’s always been. We know what the numbers are now. We know this can change in a hurry,” he said.
“We know with the Christmas holidays coming there will likely be far more indoor gatherings so post holiday season there could be a spike in cases. The message has always been be as vigilant as you have always been.”
“There is light at the end of the tunnel, there is reason for optimism, but we still have some runway ahead of us before we are completely on the other side of this.”
The province will announce any new districts moving to new classifications under its COVID-19 framework on Friday.
