'If we fail to stop the spread of the variant viruses that are now rampant in the community we could lose the summer'

News 100 redBy Pepper Parr

April 1st, 2021

BURLINGTON, ON

 

Later today, Premier Doug Ford is expected to announce that the province will be put in a lock down mode for as much as 28 days.

This has been done before and the science community is of the belief that lockdowns work.

Brown and Williams

Dr Adelstein on the left and Dr.David Williams on the right at a technical briefing this morning.

This morning Dr. David Williams and Dr. Adelstein Brown took part in a video conference in which mush of the science behind the decisions that get made was discussed with media taking part in a short media question and answer session.

The news was not good.

Dr. Brown said that if the province did not go into a lock down now there “was very strong chance that we will lose the summer”.

Brown is part of a community of 120 scientists across the province who collaborate on collecting data and analyzing that data to determine the best preventive action to take.
The scientists advise – the politicians have to make the decisions.

Brown referred to data that had been collected showing that the people who need vaccinations the most are the people not getting the vaccinations.

vaxcination chart

Column 1 represents the people who are most at risk; the people in column 10 are at the least risk. The people who need vaccinations are the people who are not getting them. The race is to find a way to get those at the highest risk vaccinated as soon as possible.

Along with that fact is the perplexing problem of far too many people who qualify for a vaccination but not getting to the vaccination centres.

The province is in a third wave where the predominant virus is one the Covid19 variants which are proving to be more infectious and resulting in more deaths of people who are below the 80 year and 70 years cohorts.

field hospital - long look

The field hospital set up outside the Joseph Brant Hospital at a cost of several million was a wise decision.

The pressure on the hospitals is immense. Brown and Williams said that should the number of people in hospital ICU’s rise above 800 a tipping point will be reached where a triage approach has to be taken as to who gets treatment and who doesn’t.

This third wave is real” said Brown and “it is very dangerous because of the variants that are now rampant in the community with 67% of the cases reported being variant.

Williams referred to people meeting with people that are not part of their home group is “dangerous behaviour. The science community wants to see stay at home orders issued which does not appeal to the politicians who have to deal with the backlash from people who vote.
The province has yet to succeed in getting a strong message out to the public that we are very very close to a crisis.

Brown said the politicians have to be “more decisive’ and that we are in a “ground game” now.

Brown brought up another matter – the closing of schools saying that schools should be the last to close and the first to open.
He pointed out that students reflect the community they live in and the hard reality is that the students bring what they reflect into the classrooms.

Closing schools however also has serious long term impacts on mental health. If students miss too much classroom time their earnings potential as adults will be impacted.

The education one gets in grade three is not something you can go back and get when the student is moving on to grade four.

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2 comments to ‘If we fail to stop the spread of the variant viruses that are now rampant in the community we could lose the summer’

  • Maggie Anne Steiss

    “This third wave is real” is because the politicians want it to be real. The main danger to the public is the government. The illogical lockdowns and restrictions do more harm than good and will ultimately cause more deaths than the virus ever will. 120 scientists for lockdowns as opposed to the thousands of doctors worldwide who are against the lockdowns. The only way we will lose our summer is if we allow the government to take it from us. If we want our summer we must take it. It is long past the time to take back our lives, our businesses, our province and our country. If we don’t we will lose everything. It is the obligation and duty of every citizen to say a FIRM NO to this overreach before it is too late.

  • Denise W.

    Saving the summer would be great. We need to be planning now, on how to same the winter. I will be very happy if the field hospitals and ICU’s remain empty of covid patients. Building that extra capacity, is money well invested. Right now the variants have a fertile environment to propagate.