Ontario’s chief medical officer of health Dr. David Williams said the COVID-19 situation in the province is “plateauing” and it is “disappointing” the cases numbers are not coming down, as health officials were hoping for.
Dr. Williams said in an effort to determine why this is occurring, the province has connected with areas, like Toronto, that have more of the caseload. It was discovered there are still residual test results coming in from the long-term care survey that was completed at the end of last week.
“The tests done yesterday were collected a day or two before that,” Dr. Williams said.
With regards to businesses and services resuming some operations this week, Ontario’s chief medical officer of health highlighted the province has opened up restrictions on economic activity versus loosening social measures, which remain in place.
Dr. Williams said the province will have to continue to assess if there is good adherence to the public health measures with more economic openings but so far, it seems people in the province have been following the rules.
“We need everyone to stay at the task in our new COVID reality,” the chief medical officer of health said.
Dr. Williams was also asked about the use of face shields by the general public. He said there haven’t been any recommendations for public use but he will be asking federal counterparts about the use of this equipment.
The Ontario chief medical officer of health reinforced that wearing a mask properly is recommended but maintaining the two metre physical distance is a critically important component of preventing the spread of COVID-19 and cannot be replaced by a face covering.
