With a total of 10 active COVID-19 cases in Kenora in schools and a long-term care home, Dr. Kit Young-Hoon, medical officer of health at the Northwestern Health Unit, said they cannot rule out the possibility of community transmission.
“Considering the number of cases in the Kenora area and that they’re not necessarily connected together, it could be that there is transmission happening in Kenora and the municipality of Kenora and the Kenora area,” Young-Hoon said.
“All those contacts have been advised to self-isolate and they are self-isolating as far as we’re aware at this point.”
One of those cases belongs to the Birchwood Terrace long-term care home in Kenora, now declared in an active COVID-19 outbreak, as per the Ministry of Health’s definition.
Valleyview Public School is also considered in outbreak after the Keewatin-Patricia District School Board reported two positive cases. Young-Hoon said they still cannot determine whether there was transmission at the school until they get results back.
Young-Hoon said at this point there are only classroom closures and no school closures.
“With all these cases, we’ve initiated case and contact management that will be ongoing until the periods of self-isolation for these situations,” Young-Hoon said.
There are currently 15 active cases in the NWHU’s catchment area. There are 10 cases in Kenora, two in the Rainy River region, two cases in the Sioux Lookout region and one in the Dryden/Red Lake region.
With Thanksgiving and Halloween approaching, Young-Hoon said she is advising people to stay within their households and limit the number of people they are connected with.
“As the weather gets cooler, people tend to begin socializing indoors instead of outdoors,” Young-Hoon said. “Being indoors with other individuals who are not in your social circle can increase the likelihood of spreading COVID-19.”
Young-Hoon said people can still dress up and have fun without hosting parties or gatherings.
“There are safe ways to trick or treat and we will be sharing more Halloween tips with the public over the next few weeks. Examples of things you can do is setting up a trick or treat station outside your house staying two meters away from others, portioning out treats ahead of time to allow touch-less trick or treating and wearing a mask when giving out treats,” Young-Hoon said.
“If you’re going door-to-door, choose a costume where you can also wear non-medical masks, wash your hands before and after trick or treating and bring a hand sanitizer with you. You can also think about other Halloween ideas such as an online costume party or setting up a scavenger hunt for your family.”
People need to assume COVID-19 is in their community and follow public health measures, Young-Hoon said.
