York Region 'very concerned' more virulent U.K. variant of COVID-19 spreading locally

Time to double down on safety precautions as region works to curb spread

Yorkregon.com
Jan. 26, 2021
Kim Zarzour

The UK variant of COVID-19 appears to be circulating widely in communities north of Toronto.

York Region's public health department is "very concerned" that 15 cases of the more contagious version of the virus have been detected in Markham, Vaughan, Richmond Hill, Newmarket, King and Georgina.

Nine of the cases appear to have been contracted though local transmission and do not have any association with travel histories, said Dr. Karim Kurji, the region's medical officer of health.

"This is not good news for us, and we know that the labs are going to be sending at least another three more to us to investigate," he said in his weekly address Jan. 25.

To date, the region has not received notification of any confirmed cases of the UK variant in long-term care homes in York Region, but in Bradford, the closest town north of the region, a person in “close contact” to someone at a nursing home has tested positive for the variant.

And north of Bradford, in Barrie, 41 people have now died in an outbreak at Roberta Place long-term care home, connected with the variant.

In York, the first case appeared in King Township Dec. 22, in a female in her 30s who was linked to travel to the U.K.

Public Health Ontario confirmed the variant Jan. 2 and the three remaining household members -- a female in her 30s and a male and female in their 60s -- all tested positive Dec. 25.

Another three cases appeared in Georgina a few days later: a male and female in their 60s from the same family tested positive Dec. 29 in what is believed to be community transmission, and a female in her 50s who had close contact with a U.K. variant case.

Since then, one male in his 30s tested positive Jan. 1, a male in his 30s tested positive Jan. 7, both contracting the virus via community transmission.

Two females in Vaughan were found positive for the variant, one in her 50s with a travel-related case and one in her 20s, who contracted the virus via community transmission.

Markham has three confirmed cases of the variant. A female in her 70s and a female in her 50s from the same family both tested positive Jan. 3, and a male in his 60s tested positive Jan. 4. All cases were household and close contacts.

One additional case in York Region is still under investigation, said Patrick Casey, the region's director of corporate communications.

"It is important to curb this COVID-19 variant spread as quickly as we can," Casey said, adding "We are expeditiously contacting the close contacts of the cases in order to ensure there isn’t any unwitting transmission happening."

Kurji said evidence the variant is in the community means it is more important than ever to manage the spread of the virus, to try to delay it as much as possible -- hopefully until everyone has been immunized -- an "almost impossible task."

Kurji strongly advised the public to double down on health guidelines -- distancing, masking, staying home -- at the same time as public health will be "a bit more aggressive" to slow down its progress.

Close contact continues to be the largest factor of spread of COVID-19 in York Region.

Casey said its important residents provide all history of contacts and contact information if they test positive for the virus, saying it's crucial to the prevention and control of the infection.

If you have been in contact with a confirmed case of COVID-19, stay home and self-isolate for 14 days.

While a growing number of people are turning to higher quality or doubling up on masks for added protection against the highly contagious variant, Casey said the region has not changed its recommendations.

Continue wearing masks in all public indoor setting and any other situation (including outdoors) where it is difficult to maintain distance.

For more information, visit york.ca/mandatorymasks.