Delta casts cloud over Ontario’s Step 2 reopening

Delta put a damper on the celebration of Ontario moving into Step 2 of reopening June 30 amid falling COVID numbers and increasing vaccination.

We're watching the data carefully," said Ontario's outgoing chief medical officer of health, Dr. David Williams. It's going in the right direction. At the same time, internationally we're hearing a number of other jurisdictions that are starting to see struggles as they deal with the Delta variant."

In Ontario, there is particular concern in what Williams called outbursts" of Delta - also known as B.1.617.2 - in Waterloo and Porcupine, which are not moving into Step 2. North Bay and Grey-Bruce are also on the radar.

We have to really go slow and steady in the face of the Delta strain becoming the dominant strain within Ontario," said the province's incoming chief medical officer of health, Dr. Kieran Moore, pointing out that Delta now makes up about 50 per cent of cases.

I absolutely hope that our local public health agencies in partnership with the ministry (of health) can get the Delta activity under control that is slowly increasing in some jurisdictions in Ontario," he said. We're going to be watching very closely what is going on in Waterloo to make sure it doesn't spread in the southwest region."

The province is at a fork in the road depending on whether Delta can be kept under control with public health measures and vaccination.

If we can, I can see that as giving the green light to moving to Step 3 and progressing back to the post-pandemic era," said Moore.

The 21 days between steps will show the effect the return of amusement parks, outdoor concerts, sports leagues, hair cuts and indoor gatherings has on COVID spread.

Going to Step 2 doesn't mean throwing everything off, you still have to be careful and watch what you are doing," said Williams. While everyone is in a hurry, we'd rather take slow strides forward than trip going out the door."

The other unknown is the impact of one in four adults not having a first dose of vaccine.

That is a significant number of people especially if they are clustered together," said Williams, warning of outbreaks.

Hamilton is lagging the province at 73 per cent of adults with one shot on June 23 compared to Ontario's 76 per cent.

Over 10,000 vaccine appointments are being added to the provincial portal (Friday)," Hamilton public health said in a statement. It's also expecting an additional 10,000 appointments to be added soon."

Provincial trends are looking very promising," said Moore. Hamilton is mostly following that same downward path.

The city reported 21 new COVID infections Thursday to bring active cases to 142.

A more reliable marker is the average daily new cases - at 17 as of June 22 - and the rate per 100,000 population - at 20, which is similar to what Hamilton was at on Oct. 8.

Test positivity is down to 2.2 per cent although it's still higher than Ontario's 1.1 per cent.

The reproduction number was up to 0.97 on Thursday compared to 0.64 the week before. The aim is to keep it below 0.7 in the presence of fast-spreading variants.

Hamilton declared its first new outbreak since June 16 after two children tested positive at Meadowlands Preschool and Daycare in Ancaster. The city has only four active outbreaks.

The city's hospitals were caring for 29 COVID patients Thursday compared to 161 at the end of April. However, the majority are severely ill. All 12 of the patients at St. Joseph's Healthcare are in the intensive care unit, while at Hamilton Health Sciences it's 10 of 17.

Joanna Frketich is a Hamilton-based reporter covering health for The Spectator. Reach her via email: jfrketich@thespec.com