50 PEOPLE WORKING LOCALLY ON CONTACT TRACING
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com
MUSKOKA — If public health hasn’t contacted you yet, chances are you’ve not come in close contact with someone who has officially tested positive for the coronavirus.
Not that the health unit knows.
The job of contact tracing is daunting with more people being tested.
In Simcoe and Muskoka the health unit has 50 employees following up on confirmed cases after hiring more public health nurses to do the work.
This as testing is the new epicentre of the pandemic, with Toronto giving up tracing outside institutional outbreaks, the province announcing today that it is outsourcing tests to California due to tens of thousands of swab backlogs and the federal government promising money for 500 more tracers.
And a new report is critical of governments’ handling overall after what it knew and should have acted on in wake of the SARS outbreak a decade ago
Locally, Dr. Charles Gardner says the extra workload caused by COVID-19 has seen the province promise an additional $100 million for health unit to cope.
Simcoe Muskoka’s share would be about $3 million more, he said in a weekly media update.
That’s on top of money they’ve used from reserves.
The region’s chief medical officer of health told MuskokaTODAY.com that extra money is for follow-up on the 943 (figures as of Oct. 5) confirmed cases since the pandemic’s started.
There are 78 active cases and 38 deaths in this region.
Gardner said the “goal” is to contact contacts within 24 hours.
The way tracing is supposed to work is that the health unit contacts infected person, who informs the health unit where they’ve been and who they’ve been in contact as best at they can remember.
Public health workers then notify them of a potential exposure and work with them to help prevent further spread of the disease. This typically involves a period of self-isolation.
So, be conscious and remember who you’ve been in touch with and where you’ve been in case contract tracers contact you about an infected person.
Gardner said as cases mount, notably in schools, health units could still ask the government for more money for tracing.
And if tracing becomes so unmanageable as to contacting individuals he can issue a blanket notice for anyone who may have been at a particular location to be get tested.
But with backlogs that could be difficult.
All this in the day before Thanksgiving when Ontario health experts urge people to stay within their own family health cohort and to avoid any gatherings and turkey time should be limited to within the family home this coming weekend.
And effective today public COVID assessment centres are by appointment only.
Huntsville’s Shoppers Drug Mart remains the lone Muskoka pharmacy to offer sanctioned government testing for the coronavirus.
Also today, Oct. 6, the federal government said it is looking into private labs that offer testing for $200, according to Health Minister Patty Hajdu.
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