On the day the Ontario government announced Stage 3 of its reopening plan, the province’s chief medical officer of health, Dr. David Williams, said there could be a way for businesses excluded from the next stage of reopening to participate.
Dr. Williams indicated any business is able to submit a plan to health officials and if it is deemed adequate to keep customers and employees safe, they may be able to resume operations in some capacity.
Dr. Barbara Yaffe, Ontario’s associate chief medical officer of health, said the province continues to see a downward trend in cases, most recently coming from Toronto, Peel, York, Windsor-Essex and Ottawa regions.
She also spoke about recent reports that airborne transmission of COVID-19 may be possible, indicating droplet spread continues to be the main concern, but the science is evolving.
“The bottom line is that our real-life evidence has shown that this is almost virtual entirely transmitted through large droplets,” Dr. Yaffe said. “If it were aerosolized, we would be having widespread outbreaks way more than we’ve had.”
“What it does show is there’s the theoretical possibility for very small particles to remain in the air for a while and that is a big issue for medical procedures that generation aerosols. For example, when you’re inserting a tube to ventilate a patient or you’re suctioning a patient.”
Dr. Yaffe said this also stressed the importance of having good ventilation in a shared space, even if physical distancing is being maintained and masks are being worn.
