Parties blamed for Waterloo region's sluggish COVID-19 case rate improvement: Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang

With the province allowing outdoor recreation facilities to open, and gatherings up to five people as of Saturday, the region's medical officer of health says there's some mixed messaging about what people are allowed to do.

"I think there's the potential for confusion. That's why I'm really hoping to make it clear that we're still under a stay-at-home order," Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang said during a media briefing Friday morning.

The province's stay-at-home order remains in effect until June 2. On Thursday, Premier Doug Ford announced the province's three-step plan to reopening, but step one isn't expected to begin until mid-June.

"I recommend you continue to only have close contact with your household members," Wang said.

If people choose to gather with up to five people outside their household, she said to "only gather outdoors, maintain six feet of distance from those you do not live with and wear a face covering. Do not gather indoors."

That phrase — do not gather indoors — was repeated several times by Wang during the media briefing as she stressed all social gatherings are safer outside and at a distance.

'Not out of the woods'

Wang said while the region's COVID-19 case rates are now better than they were in March and April, "we are not out of the woods yet."

She said case numbers are no longer going down like they had been and a big reason for that is due to people taking part in private gatherings, especially families and groups of friends.

In an enforcement update, regional Chair Karen Redman said 10 tickets had been issued to people holding private gatherings between May 6 and 19. Of those tickets, seven were issued by Kitchener bylaw, two by Waterloo bylaw and one by police. 

Public health has noted a pattern over the course of the first, second and third waves. After the peak of a wave drops, there's a rise in social gatherings, Wang said.

"[People] think that things are getting better and they don't have to be as cautious anymore. So, that's unfortunate. It can lead to a lot of people getting sick and they learn sort of the hard way it's still not recommended," she said.

If we let up too early, we'll rebound and that's actually what got us into the third wave- Dr. Hsui-Li Wang

"I know people have been under restrictions for a long time and we do have light at the end of the tunnel and things are getting better in terms of our vaccine roll out," she added. 

"I understand people may think that it's OK to start gathering and that's why I really want to be very clear that it's not. We still have to keep up with those public health precautions. We have to keep going because we if we let up too early, we'll rebound and that's actually what got us into the third wave."

64 new cases

Public health reported 64 new COVID-19 cases on Friday. That brought the total in May to 1,339 and since the start of the pandemic to 15,540, of which 14,775 have been marked as resolved.

There were 499 active cases. As well, there were 34 people with COVID-19 in the region's hospitals with 31 of them in the intensive care unit.

No new deaths were reported on Friday.

In Waterloo region, 2,876 cases have been identified as mutations or variants of concern. Of the variant cases:

• 2,541 were the B117 variant first detected in the U.K.
• 23 were the P1 variant first detected in Brazil.
• Three were the B1351 variant first detected in South Africa.
• 309 had a mutation detected, but required further testing.

12 active outbreaks

There were 12 active outbreaks, including two at long-term care and retirement homes, in the region.

The six workplace outbreaks included:

• Two at manufacturing workplaces: One with 28 cases, one with four.
• One at an automobile sales and service business with six cases.
• One at a food and beverage services business with six cases.
• One at a retail store with six cases.
• One at a farm with four cases.

The other outbreaks were:

• One at Coronation Early Learning Child Care with five cases.
• Two at congregate settings with a single case at each.
• One at St. Mary's General Hospital in Kitchener. The number of cases was not released.