Head of Ontario COVID-19 science table says capacity limits may need 'fine-tuning'
The head of Ontario's COVID-19 science table says it could be time to revisit some capacity limits in the province as COVID-19 cases start to tick back up.
Dr. Peter Juni, scientific director of Ontario's COVID-19 Science Advisory Table, told Newstalk 580 CFRA's "Ottawa Now with Kristy Cameron" that the recent increase comes on the heels of two factors.
"The second honeymoon is over. We just need to be aware of what is happening. We have, on one hand, lifted capacity limits in sports arenas and restaurants and, on the other hand, the temperature has dropped," he said.
"What we're seeing now is a result of lifting capacity limits and the temperature drop and, therefore, we're now having exponential growth in the province."
Juni said it's a good time to remind people to follow other COVID-19 measures, such as mask use and enforcing vaccine certificates.
"We can't let it linger and we can't pretend the pandemic is over," he said. "If we do a little bit of the right thing, we’ll continue to go back to the right track."
Ontario's seven-day average of daily infections stands at 476 as of Monday, up from 371 the previous week. The province saw more than 500 daily cases on Friday and Saturday and more than 600 cases on Sunday.
Juni said the recent removal of capacity limits may have been "a little bit too much" at this time.
"It was an experiment. I was always very upfront about that," he said. "We will need to experiment with it and see whether we actually tolerate it, whether the vaccines have brought enough protection that we can do that. What we see now, with temperature lowering and moving inside more, is it was just a tiny bit too much."
He suggested capacity limits may need to be "fine-tuned" in the coming weeks.
"Restaurants may not like to hear that, sports arenas neither, but it may be that in a few weeks we need to have this difficult discussion and say, 'Okay, we need to go back to just 50 per cent capacity, to physical distancing of tables again in restaurants.' It's quite a fair possibility, to be honest with you," he said.
The Ontario Science Advisory Table's COVID-19 dashboard says the doubling time for cases in Ontario is 17 days, meaning in just over two weeks, if trends continue, the province could be seeing around 1,000 cases per day, on average, Juni said.
"That's the nature of exponential growth," he said.
"Things are not dramatic. Why do I say that? Because our ICU numbers and hospital numbers are low,” he noted. “If we are on the on the wrong track … there is a moment where hospital admissions and ICU admissions will follow and we don't want to go there… It's not much that we need to do, but we need to do a little bit of something."
Juni said, in addition to fine tuning capacity limits and reinforcing pandemic safety measures, vaccinating children and providing boosters to the most vulnerable will also aid in keeping cases and hospitalizations low.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Western University researchers unlock potential 'cure' for ALS
New research out of London, Ont.’s Western University is shedding light on a potential cure for ALS, in which the targeting of the interaction between two proteins can halt or fully reverse the disease’s progression.
What Michael Cohen said on the stand in Trump hush money case
The star prosecution witness in Donald Trump's hush money trial took the stand Monday with testimony that could help shape the outcome of the first criminal case against an American president.
Collapsed Baltimore bridge span comes down with a boom after crews set off chain of explosives
Crews conducted a controlled demolition Monday to break down the largest remaining span of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore.
Police release 3D images of young child found in an Ontario river two years ago
Police have released a three-dimensional image of a young child whose remains were discovered in the Grand River in Dunnville, Ont. almost two years ago.
Kamala Harris drops F-bomb during White House live-stream
U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris used a profanity on Monday while offering advice to young Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders about how to break through barriers.
Behind the barricades: How protesters spend their first days in a new encampment
Students in Montreal describe life in a newly erected encampment in Montreal as a whirlwind of preparations, from facing rain and a potential police crackdown to setting up a space for the exchange of ideas.
Security video caught admitted serial killer disposing of bodies in Winnipeg garbage bins
Security video caught admitted serial killer Jeremy Skibicki on multiple late-night outings, disposing of body parts in nearby garbage bins and dumpsters in the middle of the night.
Canucks' Soucy suspended 1 game, Zadorov fined $5,000 for post-game crosschecks on McDavid
A Vancouver Canucks defenceman has been suspended for a game and another was handed a hefty fine after a scrum broke out at the end of Game 3 against the Edmonton Oilers Sunday night.
'Judge Judy' Sheindlin sues for defamation over National Enquirer, InTouch Weekly stories
'Judge Judy' Sheindlin sued the parent company of the National Enquirer and InTouch Weekly on Monday for a story that she said falsely claimed that she was trying to help the Menendez brothers get a retrial after they were convicted of murdering their parents.