Brant officials ask residents to 'do your part' amid spike in COVID-19 cases

Brant officials are calling on people to do their part to stop the spread of COVID-19 and protect the area's most-vulnerable residents following a spike in cases.

Seventy-four people in Brant County and Brantford were known to be infected as of Friday, a far cry from a few months earlier when the county saw the number of confirmed cases per week remain in single digits throughout the summer.

"This past week, our community saw our largest single-week case total of the pandemic thus far," wrote Dr. Elizabeth Urbantke, acting medical officer of health for the Brant County Health Unit in a statement dated Nov. 3.

"Over the past three weeks, our numbers have continued to climb upwards, which is concerning, but unfortunately not unexpected from the trends we are seeing."

Of particular concern are outbreaks at long-term care and retirement homes.

An outbreak was declared at Riverview Terrace Retirement Home on Oct. 25 and has infected 13 people — 10 residents and three staff members.

An outbreak is also ongoing at Brucefield Manor Retirement Home in Mount Pleasant, where 16 residents and two staff members have contracted the virus, according to the health unit.

Mayor David Bailey released a video message Friday addressing the outbreaks and rise in cases.

"Some of these cases are unfortunately in our retirement homes and our nursing homes, affecting our most vulnerable," he said, reminding residents to wash their hands, wear masks and maintain physical distancing.

"Please do you your part to protect our community's most vulnerable. We are all in this together, and together is the only way we're going to get through this."

Brant will join areas including Hamilton and Haldimand-Norfolk in the province's "protect," or yellow zone, starting Nov. 7.

In her statement, Urbantke said the framework found mean "enhanced targeted enforcement, fines and enhanced education to limit further transmission," with additional public health measures for bars, restaurants and recreational facilities.

She asked residents to be conscious of the choices they make, noting the positive cases health officials are finding have a large number of close contacts.

"What we know about this illness is that it has an insatiable appetite to spread to people who have prolonged contact with one another," she wrote in the statement.

"Once the illness is into households, we begin to see a domino effect into other settings, such as those we saw this past week."