If people follow COVID-19 restrictions a bit longer, this could be last wave of pandemic: medical officer

With the province's stay-at-home order extended to June 2, some people may be looking at the local case numbers and wondering why that is necessary.

That's because case numbers are trending down as more and more people are being vaccinated.

Dr. Matthew Tenenbaum is the associate medical officer of health with Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health and he joined Craig Norris, host of CBC K-W's The Morning Edition, to discuss what people need to keep in mind over the coming weeks.

The following interview has been edited for length and clarity. You can listen to the interview at the end of the article.

Craig Norris: When you look at the local numbers in Wellington-Dufferin-GUelph, do you think the stay at home order needed to be extended?

Dr. Matthew Tenenbaum: Locally, we've had a great improvement in our numbers in W-D-G.

We know they're still quite high but they're down substantially from where they were at the peak. I know that across the province things are also coming down and that's encouraging, but we're not there yet.

We do want to make sure that this third wave, if at all possible, really is the last wave of this pandemic. People have gone through a lot this past year and a half, and it's obviously caused a lot of illness, a lot of death, a lot of consequence.

We're at a point where we can get vaccines out really quickly. We want to make sure we buy time for that. I think it makes sense to keep some of the measures in place for a little bit longer until we have that curve really crashed well, and until we have more vaccine in arms. So I think it's a reasonable thing to do.

CN: We've heard from many people who say they're following the rules, they're staying home, they're only going out for essentials and now they're frustrated. What more do people in the communities you serve need to do in the coming weeks to get these case numbers down?

MT: The most important thing right now that's new over this recent past is, if you're someone in our community, please make sure you signed up for your vaccine and that you book a vaccine when it's available for you.

Most of this year, we've actually had relatively little vaccine supply. We had to prioritize it, people have been waiting a while for vaccines.

So now to a point where supply is coming in quite strongly. We're getting lots of new doses every week and we're able to actually rapidly move through our community and offer doses to most of our community, reaching our target of 25 per cent quite quickly and quite soon.

So that's something that's new. We want to make sure everyone who hasn't gotten the vaccine dose has signed up on our pre-registration system on our website and is getting a vaccine as soon as they can.

Beyond that, it really is about limiting contact with others, staying home if you're sick, making sure you're wearing a mask, physically distancing. Those same things still work, it's just about doing that for a little bit longer.

CN: I want to preface this question by saying I realize that this is not an announcement that you're making, but with the local numbers, would you say that Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph is at a point where schools could reopen?

MT: So the decision about schools is ultimately being made by the province. We know there has to be some co-ordination around that decision.

I know that we are seeing some encouraging trends in our numbers and we do really want to be able to have schools open up when it's safe to do so, when that's permitted.

We know the importance of having students in school in person if possible, given the benefits for them, their education, socialization, the benefits for families.

If at all possible, it would really be great to be back in school before the end of June.

CN: And we've heard the premier say that travel is a major thoroughfare, pardon the pun, when it comes to getting COVID into this province. When you look at the numbers just in Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph, what role is travel playing in what's happening locally?

MT: The transition that we've been seeing recently and over the course of the third wave is about transmission in our community. People are getting it from others around them.

We know that travel, of course, plays a role. It played a role when COVID was introduced to Canada and Ontario. It played a role in introducing some of the new variants.

But unfortunately, those variants are here now and they're spreading among people within our communities.

So while travel is one piece, it is not by any means the only piece and COVID exists, including the variants and people need to take measures regardless of the travel.

CN: And before we let you go, Dr. Tenenbaum, next weekend is the May 24 long weekend. Given that the weather could be nice and people are frustrated with staying home, what can you say that we haven't heard before?

MT: So the first thing to say is recognizing that frustration. I know that a lot of people out there have dealt with a lot of challenges, especially during this third wave and a third lockdown.

It's been a long haul and people are quite fed up with the measures and the impact it's having, especially as the weather gets nice.

I spoke earlier about the importance of keeping things up for a little bit longer, and that really is the most important.

One of the nice things about where we are now, for example, compared to the second wave is it's the spring. We have an opportunity to spend time outdoors and we know that any activity, if you move it outdoors, it reduces the risk substantially.

So we are saying, please, please, please, you know, go for that walk, spend time outdoors, really take advantage of the weather, because that is much, much safer and the place to be compared to indoors.

Listen to the full interview: