Continued vigilance is needed to prevent future outbreaks and further community spread of the COVID virus in Newfoundland and Labrador.
That’s the conclusion of predictive analytics released today and presented by Dr. Proton Rahman as part of the province’s latest COVID briefing.
Newfoundland and Labrador saw two major outbreaks, one last spring linked to the funeral home cluster and the other in February linked to community spread of the B117 variant.
A small increase in cases was seen in November and December, linked primarily to travel.
Young people under the age of 20 dominated the latest outbreak, followed by a similar spike in numbers among people 30 and over as the virus spread to people within household bubbles.
Hospital and ICU admissions also spiked in February as a result of the outbreak.
Clinical scientist with Eastern Health and Professor of Medicine at Memorial University, Dr. Proton Rahman says their graphs clearly show that public health measures have been effective in helping to known down outbreaks.
The graphs show how effective public health measures were in reducing COVID cases, and how well people complied with those measures. He calls the latest outbreak a “scary event” but the numbers show cases dropping by half every four days.
The Centre for Health Information says the province is still at risk for COVID infections, including the UK variant which can spread very quickly, and continued vigilance is needed.
Active Case Count Continues Decline
There are no new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Newfoundland and Labrador today.
There have been nine new recoveries—eight in Eastern Health and one in Labrador-Grenfell Health—leaving 36 active cases, including two people in hospital.
Dr. Janice Fitzgerald says a full 14 days under the new alert levels is required to determine if there has been any transmission of COVID-19 in the province as people start moving once again.
She asking people to book a test if they encounter any symptoms. A new, mild cough is enough to warrant a test. Fitzgerald says daily interactions should align with what is permitted under the alert levels and not according to a person’s personal comfort level or how many cases are in the province.
Eastern Health has closed its temporary drive-through COVID testing clinic set up at the Reid Community Centre in Mount Pearl.
Current testing is being carried out through existing testing sites at the Janeway and Waterford hospitals.
If the region experiences another surge, the health authority says it can ram up the Reid site quickly if necessary.
