As COVID-19 activity rises, Windsor-Essex's acting MOH wants for more provincial measures

During a weekly media briefing Thursday, Windsor-Essex's acting medical officer of health said he believes the province should enact more COVID-19 measures, such as mask-wearing, to curb the increased activity of the virus across the province. 

Dr. Shanker Nesathurai said Ontario-wide measures would ensure uniformity in public health messaging. 

"At this point in the pandemic I think that the province should put in additional public health measures," he said. 

"We've had a number of weeks of increasing disease activity and it seems to be a province-wide phenomena."

COVID-19 indicators including hospitalizations, officially confirmed cases and wastewater data show an increase of viral activity in Windsor-Essex and across Ontario, leading to many people calling this the pandemic's sixth wave. Amid the increases, Ontario opened up eligibility for fourth COVID-19 vaccine doses to those aged 60 and older. Local booking opened Thursday at WEVax.ca, with appointments available through local health-care partners, or at the health unit's Ouellette Avenue office. 

Walk-in clinics are taking place from April 11 to 22 at the Leamington Municipal Building. First, second, third and fourth doses are available for those eligible.

On Thursday, it was reported another person in Windsor-Essex has died due to the disease. She was a woman in her 70s. The community also added 145 high-risk cases of confirmed COVID-19. 

Local wastewater data suggests viral activity is now similar to the initial Omicron wave seen in Windsor-Essex months ago. 

"Our spike that we're seeing right now it's following the trend we saw for Omicron toward late December of last year," said Ramsey D'Souza, manager of epidemiology with the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit.

"Especially within the last week and a half, we are seeing a dramatic rise when it comes to our wastewater surveillance."

Using provincial wastewater data, Ontario's science advisory table estimates about 100,000 to 120,000 people are getting infected daily. 

WATCH | Wastewater testing suggests Ontario is experiencing as many new COVID-19 infections as it did during the peak of Omicron: 

Don't panic but wear a mask, Ontario COVID-19 expert says

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Wastewater testing suggests Ontario is experiencing as many new COVID-19 infections as it did during the peak of Omicron, says Dr. Peter Jüni, the head of the province's COVID-19 Science Advisory Table.

While Nesathurai said he has the authority to pursue local health measures, he believes it is the province's place to take action at this time. 

"We have to act early in the course of increasing disease activity," said Dr. Nesathurai.

"This kind of approach requires earlier intervention than later intervention. Any measures we put in at this point in time will take perhaps a week, 10 days, 14 days to really have an effect."

Nesathurai said any measures would be for provincial policy makers to decide, but that bringing back indoor masking where social-distancing isn't possible would be an incremental step. 

Hospitalizations rising with thousands awaiting procedures 

Windsor-Essex, in line with the rest of Ontario, is seeing a growing number of COVID-19 hospitalizations for another consecutive week, the health unit reported Thursday. 

"I am worried about additional burden of disease to the community," said Nesathurai. 

"One of the goals of trying to reduce the increasing number of cases or mitigate the current burden of disease is that we have limited hospital capacity in the province."

About eight per cent of all hospital beds in Windsor-Essex are currently used for COVID-19 patients, said the doctor. That means other crucial medical services cannot be completed. 

About 4,000 people in Windsor-Essex are currently awaiting surgical procedures. 

At the same time, the number of health-care workers unable to work due to COVID-19 is growing, said Nesathurai. 

"Before the pandemic, hospitals were struggling to meet the demands of the community," he said. "With the pandemic and with the additional burden of COVID, we all — or at least I, remain concerned with the hospitals' ability to meet all the demands."

Nesathurai said he believes there is significant risk that hospital resources may not be sufficient enough to meet the potential demand related to additional COVID-19 cases, and that being precautions is the only way to move through this stage of the pandemic.