Dr. Howard Njoo, Canada’s deputy chief public health officer, indicated there is “some cause for concern” in Canada as daily COVID-19 case counts begin to rise nationally.
Over the past week, an average of 350 new cases per day have been identified, compared to a daily average of 300 earlier in the month. On Thursday, over 430 new COVID-19 cases were reported.
“This coincides with increasing reports of individuals contacting COVID-19 at parties, nightclubs and bars, as well as increasing rates of transmission among young Canadians in some jurisdictions across the country,” Dr. Njoo said at a press conference on Friday.
Canada’s deputy chief public health officer said part of this might be the “fatigue factor” as Canadians have been under various public health restrictions for many months. He went on to stress that although young Canadians, individuals under the age of 40, tend to not have the same rate of serious health consequences from COVID-19 as older individuals, they are still equally as susceptible to being infected and spreading the virus.
“I was young once and I can remember when I was younger I thought I was invincible, you can do anything, don’t worry about it, it will be ok,” Dr. Njoo said. “I would tell young people, including my own kids,…you need to also take some personal responsibility, it’s not only to protect your health but to protect all others in our society.”
