Where in York Region are you most at risk of COVID-19 variants?

Public health now sharing information about variant hotspots

Yorkregion.com
Feb. 9, 2021
Kim Zarzour

Monday, February 8, 2021
Want to know if the super-contagious variants of COVID-19 are in your community?

York Region Public Health is now tracking and reporting the  virus variants -- including the “lineage” (U.K., South African, Brazilian etc.), how many cases, and which municipality they were located in.

So far, York Region has detected 64 variants of concern.

Vaughan appears to have the majority of cases.

Of the variants identified in York Region as of Feb. 8, 20 appear to be the highly contagious B.1.1.7 (U.K.) variant.

The lineage of the remaining 44 cases is not yet determined.

Public health experts are predicting the emergence of variants here signals a transition into a “new epidemic.”

Case counts have been declining in York Region and across the province, but the delayed impact of variants could change the picture quickly.

In fact, it is so transmittable that infected individuals are infecting people in the same household within 12 hours, said Dr. Karim Kurji, the region’s medical officer of health.

The province began screening all COVID-19 tests for variant mutations Feb. 3.

Screening for variants is a two-step testing process, said Patrick Casey, the region’s director of corporate communications.

The screening tests first identify a mutation of the virus and then confirm its lineage, otherwise known as the variant.

Public health began adding the data to its publicly accessible online dashboard Feb. 6.

The data can be found under the Confirmed Cases listing (below the Epidemic Curve graph) on the main page of the dashboard, york.ca/covid19

More detailed data on variant cases will be added in coming weeks, Casey said.

Sharing this information is part of the region’s commitment to transparency and a reminder to the public to remain cautious and strictly follow public health measures, said Kurji.

“We are keeping a very close eye on variant cases in York Region,” he said, adding the presence of the variants is of “great concern”.

“We have seen these variants affecting a wide range of ages from five to 79 and have seen cases in almost all of our municipalities, including many cases linked to household and local transmission,” he said.

Public reporting of the new and old variants is helpful to decisions-makers tracking the trajectories, said epidemiologist David Fisman on Twitter.

“Novel variants aren't the apocalypse, but they give us less margin for error, especially as ICUs are already pretty full.”

As York Region stands poised to ease up restrictions and return to the Grey Zone, public health is urging everyone to ensure they keep their physical distance of two metres or more from others and avoid anything more than the briefest of encounters with people outside their own homes