There has been an increase in COVID-19 cases and associated outbreaks over the past few days in Grey Bruce. One trend identified from the ongoing investigations indicates the chain of transmission has mainly been started with young individuals (under 18 year old) with connection to organized sports. A second trend indicates the transmission starting in individuals who attended sports, school or childcare while having symptoms.
Another trend that is evident in all current investigations is the increase risk of both infection and transmission in individuals who are not vaccinated.
There is no evidence at this time of transmission in places like malls, big box stores or grocery stores or the high impact sectors such as long-term care, retirement homes, or hospitals.
Although it will most likely become the dominant strain, at this point, there are no confirmed Omicron cases in Grey Bruce. We have one case under investigation pending lab confirmation. We will update the public of the results as soon as we receive them.
The Grey Bruce Health Unit is actively working with stakeholders within the school systems (both in class and extracurricular), minor and amateur sports organizations. In collaboration with these stakeholder, and based on the outcome of the ongoing investigations and the risk assessments of different sectors, we may introduce a number of measured restrictions within these settings. Such restrictions may include:
- Pausing sporting events associated with school boards (Extracurricular)
- End travel of minor and amateur sports teams to locations outside of Grey Bruce
- Restrictions to the sporting events within Grey-Bruce such as reducing frequency of events for certain age groups, for all age groups, and/or
- Pausing sporting events within Grey-Bruce
“We will, as always, ensure the safety of the community while following the principle of least intrusive,” said Top Grey-Bruce’s Doctor, Dr. Ian Arra “Our goal in the management of the pandemic is not to shut down Grey-Bruce, rather to keep it open as long as we can, so long as it is safe to do so.”
Parents are cautioned to not send their children to school and sports if they have symptoms. The Health Unit is reminding the public of the importance of vaccination and the need to be vigilant especially when interacting in the above settings and over the holidays.
