The long weekend is critical to the path that our region takes towards ending the COVID-19 pandemic.
During a news conference Thursday afternoon, political and health officials discussed the current situation. Medical officer of health Dr. Lianne Catton doesn’t mince words about it.
“The worst spot we’ve ever been in this entire pandemic,” she calls it. “The cases, the outbreaks, the exposures continue to climb.”
The mayor of the regional hotspot and largest municipality served by the Porcupine Health Unit – George Pirie of Timmins – has his own dire prediction: “Quite frankly, if we do not do this correctly this weekend, we could have 500 new cases in two weeks.”
Dr. Catton says this region is second only to Peel in terms of the number of cases per 100,000 population in Ontario. She adds that it could be worse, if people haven’t generally been following public health protocols.
“We need to recognize that,” the MOH states. “We need to thank that for people that think maybe it hasn’t made a difference. It truly has, because we would be in a much worse situation right now if people weren’t listening to those rules.”