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Health unit says Algoma definitely leaving the 'green zone' after lockdown

Spike in COVID-19 cases saw Algoma Public Health call in additional staff over the holidays
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File photo. Darren Taylor/SooToday

Dr. Jennifer Loo says the recent spike in COVID-19 cases has placed the Algoma Public Health region in the yellow zone - and quite possibly, the orange zone - based on the number of cases alone once the province-wide lockdown comes to an end. 

There are currently 39 active cases in the region. 

The medical officer of health tells SooToday that the spike in COVID-19 cases prompted the health unit to bring on additional staff over the holiday season in order to carry out contact tracing with more than 150 contacts.      

“Certainly I think that it was not unexpected,” said Loo, speaking with SooToday earlier this week. “We were certainly prepared for a rise, and an ongoing need to do case contact management over the holidays.”

“We scheduled our staff on the phone lines and our nurses to be ready, but with the amount of cases, we definitely had to call in additional staff in support over the holidays just to make sure that we reached all those people in a timely manner to let them know that they were impacted and exposed, and give them instructions to isolate and how to do that and call for testing.”

A total of 10 confirmed cases of COVID-19 were identified by Algoma Public Health Jan. 6, after receiving test results from earlier this week.  

Eight of those cases were under the exposure category of close contact, meaning the person was infected through close contact with a known confirmed case. The other two were considered unknown exposure, meaning the person did not have recent international travel or close contact with a known confirmed case. 

The health unit is now asking passengers and flight crew in rows 3-9 who were aboard Air Canada flight AC 8325 from Toronto to Sault Ste. Marie Dec. 28 to contact their respective local health units. 

Algoma Public Health is also looking to speak with people who attended a New Year’s Eve gathering in Garden River First Nation. Dr. Loo told SooToday the gathering was attended by upwards of 20 to 30 people.

In the meantime, they’re being asked by the health unit to self-isolate.  

“I think by and large the vast majority of people really did their best, they made those sacrifices and they followed the public health guidelines,” said Loo. “Unfortunately in some situations, people chose to continue to travel, they chose to receive visitors from other regions - and on top of that, they chose to attend gatherings regardless whether or not they were permitted.”

“I don’t think that this was done maliciously to infect people, but it’s important to remember that a person with COVID-19 could feel perfectly fine, and still be infectious - 48 hours before developing symptoms, a person with COVID-19 can transmit that infection to others.”

A total of 104 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in the public health region to date.