By Mike Renzella
The Haldimand Press
HALDIMAND—With news of a federal election to take place next month, people across the nation and locally are looking at how the different parties involved are approaching the continued response to the pandemic.
The current federal Liberal party recently announced a vaccine mandate for all federal employees, with Conservative leader Erin O’Toole opposing the plan and instead pushing for daily rapid tests of employees, allowing workers to have more autonomy in making the decision to get immunized or not.
Provincially, in addition to long-term care facility staff requiring vaccination, the Ontario government expanded mandatory vaccinations to staff in high-risk settings like hospitals and home and community care service providers. Those not wanting the vaccine must have a medical reason or complete a “COVID-19 vaccination educational session” and then must submit to regular COVID-19 rapid antigen testing. Regular testing will also be required for unvaccinated school staff.
Interim Medical Officer of Health Dr. Alex Hukowich believes that it’s not such a black and white issue: “I would not take a view of either/or. It’s much better when people are provided an option in terms of what they can do…. It depends on what particular risk that person may present to others. It depends on the nature of that particular federal worker’s job.”
Hukowich asserted that public-facing positions would be better immunized “because they would put fewer people at risk. They may want to take the risk themselves, but I don’t know that they should have a right as part of their job to put other people at risk.” Comparatively, he is “not sure what the value is” to mandate immunization for someone working from home, for instance.
“One could argue daily testing would also minimize the risk they would put to other people,” he added.
Hukowich also suggested that voters look at the larger picture regarding health care in the province when making their choice at the polls: “As an example, we have set up our medicare program several years ago, but it does not include a variety of necessary services. Things like dental service. We have more and more information that poor teeth are a beginning for a whole bunch of other problems, including heart attack and heart disease. We don’t include home care in that program. I think there’s a good case to be made that most people would rather, if sick and elderly, stay at home with some supports…. There’s the issue of long-term care and how we treat our elderly citizens after they’ve worked for many decades contributing to the economy.”
Statistics on COVID vs. Influenza death rates, transmission rate of Delta variant
“I’ve taken a close look at the death rates,” said Hukowich on comparing the severity of COVID-19 to that of influenza. “Over the last 20 years, from the year 2000 to 2019, the annual death rates in Canada for influenza have varied from a low rate of 15 per 100,000 population to a high of about 23 per 100,000. The COVID death rate for Canada is 47 deaths per 100,000. So, two to three times higher than the death rates from influenza. In Ontario that number is 42 per 100,000.”
With school starting imminently, Hukowich would like to see immunization rates rise dramatically in the coming weeks to avoid the worst-case scenarios that could see the Delta variant driving a series of outbreaks in local schools this fall: “All parties are going to do the best they can to try and avoid outbreaks of COVID amongst the school children, teachers, and social workers, but we really don’t know what may happen. We’re going to have to be prepared.”
He reiterated that while children are less susceptible to serious illness, they are not immune, stating that they are just as capable as adults of contracting and transmitting COVID, a concern magnified by the much higher transmission rate of the Delta variant.
Epidemiologist Dr. Katherine Bishop-Williams touched on that transmission rate, stating that the original strain of COVID saw an average of two to three new cases generated from every original infection, while new cases of Delta are averaging a transmission rate of six to seven new cases.
“The number of virus particles they would have in their nose and throat would be somewhere around a thousand times higher than someone who had the initial COVID virus,” said Hukowich.
Ontario has also launched third dose availability for the highest-risk residents as an extra layer of protection against the Delta variant. This includes transplant recipients, patients with hematological cancers on active treatment, recipients of anti-CD20 agents, and residents of high-risk congregate settings.
Haldimand Norfolk remains
below provincial vaccine average
As of August 16, about 127,000 doses were administered locally. With 74.4% of the region (12 and up) having a first shot, and 67.4% having a complete series, Haldimand Norfolk continues to lag behind the provincial average by approximately 6-7%.
“Although the rates of immunization have been slowing, they have not stopped. We’re still immunizing new people, completing immunization series…. We have not yet saturated the market,” said Hukowich. “For every additional person we get immunized, that’s one less person likely to suffer a serious illness, be hospitalized, and die. That’s a very good thing. Until we get to a point where we’re not getting anybody to be immunized, we will continue to make all the efforts we possibly can to get people immunized.”
Although vaccination rates are lagging, Haldimand Norfolk is not seeing as dramatic an increase in new cases as other areas of Ontario.
“I think we’re doing somewhat better than the province, and Canada-wide. Our rates have come down a small amount. They’re certainly not going up,” continued Hukowich. “I put that down to a more rural population.”
Pop-up clinics scheduled
A number of pop-up clinics are scheduled for this month.
Residents looking for a first or second dose are welcome to attend one of the walk-in clinics at local fire stations, including the Jarvis fire hall on August 19, the Lowbanks fire hall on August 24, and the Port Rowan fire hall on August 26. All fire station clinics will all take place between 4-7 p.m. and will be stocked with both Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.
Additional clinics will take place at Talbot Gardens Arena on August 23, 3-6 p.m.; Cayuga Arena on August 31, 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.; and Pfizer clinics at Norfolk General from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on August 20, 23, 25, 27, and 30.
A full list of current and upcoming pop-up clinics can be found at hnhu.org/popup.
