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KINGSTON, ONT., AREA NOW HAS HIGHEST RATE OF COVID-19 CASES IN CANADA

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REGION'S TOP DOCTOR CALLS NEW NUMBERS 'THE TRUE IMPACT OF THE OMICRON VARIANT'

Trevor Pritchard - CBC News



Posted: December 16, 2021
Last Updated: December 16, 2021

People walk down a street in Kingston, Ont. As of Dec. 16, the region's local
health unit was reporting a rolling seven-day average of 471.4 COVID-19 cases
per 100,000 residents — far surpassing the next highest, a region in Quebec
where that number sits in the mid-200s. (Michelle Allan/CBC)
Read Comments

The Kingston, Ont., region now has the highest rate of COVID-19 cases in the
entire country, with the vast majority likely driven by the exceedingly
contagious Omicron variant, the local health unit says.

Dr. Piotr Oglaza, medical officer of health for Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox &
Addington Public Health (KFLAPH), confirmed the record-setting numbers at a
Thursday afternoon news conference.

As of Dec. 16, the health unit was reporting a rolling seven-day average of
471.4 cases per 100,000 residents — far surpassing the next highest, the
Chaudière-Appalaches region in Quebec, where that number sits in the mid-200s.

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 * COVID-19 infection rate by health unit in Canada

Not only are the Kingston region's numbers currently the highest in Canada,
Oglaza said, but they also exceed any other case rate in the country since the
COVID-19 pandemic was declared in early 2020.

"Unfortunately, when we look at how we compare … we are the highest in the
country, and [we have] the highest-ever case rate reported by any public health
unit over the course of this pandemic," Oglaza said.

"This is really the true impact of the Omicron variant."


MORE THAN 500 SUSPECTED OMICRON CASES

The health unit confirmed its first Omicron-related case on Dec. 8 in someone
who had no history of international travel and who had first shown symptoms in
late November.

Oglaza said Thursday the health unit had confirmed six total Omicron cases, but
the suspected number of cases is likely more than 500 — suggesting the highly
transmissible variant had swiftly overtaken Delta locally as the main driver of
the pandemic.

 * The Kingston, Ont., area has obliterated local COVID-19 records. Here are the
   numbers

The health unit also reported 198 more COVID-19 cases on Thursday, only one
fewer than Ottawa, which has a population roughly five times as large.

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As of Thursday, the region had 25 people in hospital with COVID-19, which
includes 14 in an intensive care unit (ICU) and 11 on ventilators.

So far, none of the hospitalized cases have been tied to Omicron, Oglaza said.

WATCH | Kingston reports highest COVID-19 case rate of any public health unit in
Canada 



Show more
Dr. Piotr Oglaza, medical officer of health for Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox &
Addington Public Health, says the area’s case rate has outstripped all other
regions in Canada, sitting at a rolling seven-day average of 471.4 cases per
100,000 residents.  1:17




NEW RULES SUNDAY

The bleak outlook comes one day after the health unit introduced tough new
restrictions around capacity limits, masking and physical distancing.

The rules go into effect Sunday at one minute past midnight.

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Fears about the Omicron variant have spurred the provincial government to
accelerate its COVID-19 booster shot rollout, with everyone 18 and older
eligible to get their third vaccine dose starting Monday.

Ontario's COVID-19 science table, meanwhile, has called for stringent "circuit
breaker" restrictions that would reduce social contacts by 50 per cent,
hopefully enough to stave off a surge of patients from flooding the province's
ICUs.

Oglaza said the Kingston region — held up as a success story earlier in the
pandemic — was now the victim of an "unfortunate set of circumstances" that
included an early Omicron case and high spread among the 18-to-39 demographic.

It is likely, he said, other regions in Ontario will experience similar
trajectories in the coming days and weeks as the variant gradually gains a
foothold.

 * How does Omicron spread so fast? Virus may now be multiplying 70 times
   quicker in airways

Oglaza stopped short of calling for an outright lockdown similar to what Ontario
went through earlier this year.

"It's really a balancing act between how much spread we can tolerate and can
mitigate, versus how much harm we get from the additional measures," he said.

"I would have to see that that balance of unintended severe harms is outweighed
by benefits. And at this point, I have not seen that very convincingly."

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