Ontario doctors calling for GTHA-wide lockdown to mitigate spread of COVID-19
Published December 18, 2020 at 2:47 pm
Ontario doctors are calling for the Province to implement a GTHA-wide lockdown to mitigate the spread of the virus.
With the number of new COVID-19 cases now consistently over 2,000 cases, with the vast majority in the GTHA, the Ontario Medical Association (OMA) is concerned the virus is on the verge of overwhelming hospitals and other health-care services.
“We supported the government’s decision to move Peel, Toronto, York and Windsor into lockdown, hoping that limiting restrictions to these hotspots would be sufficient,” Samantha Hill, president of the OMA, said in a news release.
“But we’re seeing a lot of transmission across regions. Some of it is because essential workers must go to their jobs in the health-care, transportation and food production industries. Unfortunately, some of it is also people crossing into areas with looser restrictions for non-essential reasons such as shopping, hair cuts and social visits,” she continued.
Additionally, the OMA believes, if the number of new cases continues to rise as it has been lately, the Province should also extend the winter break for Ontario schools.
Further, while the OMA acknowledges the importance of keeping children in schools, testing in high-risk schools has found high levels of the virus, and many children who are asymptomatic are spreading the virus to others in the community.
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Moreover, according to Ontario’s worst-case modelling, the number of new daily cases could reach 10,000 per day by as early as January.
“This is not the holiday season any of us wanted or had hoped for,” Allan O’Dette, CEO of the OMA, said in the same release.
“Vaccines are on the way. But in the meantime, we all have a part to play in ending this pandemic so we can all return to work and school. Protecting our own health is the first step to restoring economic health,” he continued.
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