By Pepper Parr
February 17th, 2022
BURLINGTON, ON
The province moves into a new part of the Roadmap to Recovery with many restrictions being lifted.
Halton Regional Medical Officer of Health Hamida Meghani told Regional Council yesterday that while things are certainly a lot better than they were in January it is still important that people be vigilant – “wear your mask when you are with people who are not part of your bubble”.
Dr. Meghani displayed some graphics that show the stages this pandemic has gone through adding that the virus is still very much with us.
The degree to which the Omicron variant impacted the province. The concern is that there could be another variant working its way towards us. The defence is ensuring that everyone is fully vaccinated.
Provinc- level testing has been cut back but the Region has been testing the effluents at the waste water treatment plants in the Region and reported that the level of the virus in the community is stable with none of the waste water treatment plants showing increases.
Testing results from waste water treatment plants
Dr. Meghani stresses again and again that this virus is passed from person to person and that the most effective way to prevent that from happening is to wear a properly fitted mask.
She produced a graphic that explains it all – adding that being fully vaccinated lessens the chances of an infection taking hold.
Look at the graphic carefully – it shows the path the virus takes.
The virus on the left and the route it takes getting to you.
Related news stories:
Province eases up on restrictions February 17th and again on March 1st.
Both the graphic and Dr. Meghani could have been a bit more precise–the data is clear that while vaccination greatly reduces the chances of being hospitalized, unless of course you have comorbities and/or elderly in which case you are still likely at some risk, it does not lessen a person’s ability to contract the virus and spread it to others (over half the documented cases are in people who are fully vaccinated). For the record, I’ve had 3 shots of Pfizer.