Medical Officer of Health would support two-week extension of lockdown

The medical officer of health for the Thunder Bay District says she would support northern areas remaining in lockdown for another two weeks, along with the rest of Ontario.

Dr. Janet DeMille said she's unsure of whether the province will decide to end the lockdown for the seven northern health units on Saturday, which had been the original timeline when the government announced the restrictions that went into effect on Boxing Day.

"I think there would be value in extending the lockdown, at least for another two weeks," DeMille said in a Thursday interview on CBC Radio's Superior Morning.

"I'm very nervous thinking about how things can go, what I'm seeing across the province, the kind of situations and the spread of this virus. This virus is strong right now. While we've been able to keep it at bay in our area and really hold it a bit in check across the province, it's still winning this game right now."

DeMille said she expects, if the northern lockdown is brought to an end, that the Thunder Bay District would go back into the orange level of the province's pandemic response framework.

The Thunder Bay District Health Unit announced nine cases on Thursday, the ninth straight day with a single-digit increase in positive tests.

Eight of those cases are located in Thunder Bay and the surrounding area, with the other in a district community. Five are close contacts of existing cases, one had travelled outside of northwestern Ontario, one had no known exposure to the virus and two have yet to be determined.

There are 54 active cases in the Thunder Bay District, which is down significantly from when that figure was over 100 in December.

"Overall the provincial situation is not improving," DeMille said. "Even though we've seen an improvement here in this health unit area, we are really the exception and not the rule across the province."

The Thunder Bay District has had 22 deaths from COVID-19 throughout the pandemic, with 20 of those having been residents at the Southbridge Roseview long-term care facility in Thunder Bay.

DeMille said the outbreak, which was first declared in mid-November, remains ongoing at the home. An update on the home's website shows four residents and five staff members who are active cases.

"It's maybe the worst thing we've experienced at all during this pandemic," DeMille said. "We're hoping these ongoing measures, the continuous improvement in policies and practices, the continuous brainstorming, will bring it to an end."

The Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre began administering the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in December, which DeMille said is great to see people starting to receive doses.

"Probably the biggest question we have is exactly what is the supply of vaccine going to be for us in the future and being able to plan around that. That's still a bit up in the air," DeMille said.

"I would say overall, compared to health units in the southern area, we still have a fairly limited supply."