'No' to Orange Zone, 'Yes' to more vaccines: 5 take-aways for York Region in the battle against COVID-19

From rule-breaking restaurants to delaying second doses: what you need to know now

Yokregion.com
March 12, 2021
Kim Zarzour

As part of his weekly update to York Region council, Dr. Karim Kurji, the local medical officer of health, provided new information Mar. 11 on the vaccine rollout and when the region could move into the Orange Zone. Here are some key points:

1. ‘We are not near the Orange Zone’

Last week, Kurji raised the possibility of loosening restrictions, but hopes were dashed today as he revealed that rule-breaking businesses --restaurants in particular --have put the region in danger again.

In order to move out of the Red Zone into Orange, the region needs to reduce its incidence rate to below 40 per 100,000, but as of Mar. 11, it stands at about 58, Kurji said.

Adding to the concern, the region’s enforcement task force has discovered, during inspections this week, that restaurants have "forgotten" to follow health precautions, he said.

The Ministry of Labour also carried out inspections of 335 businesses and found only 42 per cent in compliance.

"Maybe they’ve been in lockdown quite long," Kurji said. "Unfortunately, we’re finding a lot of infractions."

They range from not keeping distances, to lack of face coverings, to ignoring the limits of 10 people dining indoors.

"These findings are not what we expected … so we’ve got to make sure they are up to speed before we consider any further relaxation of measures."

2. York Region was left out of the AstraZeneca pilots

Ontario is allowing some doctors and pharmacies to deliver AstraZeneca vaccines to 60- to 64-year-olds, but not in York Region.

Kurji said he has not heard any reasons as to why York was not included in the pilot rollout.

"I did make some approaches with respect to us being able to distribute AstraZeneca throughout our clinics or through pharmacies or family practitioners because, after all, we distribute flu vaccines that way."

Kurji said if the pilots are successful and if more becomes available, he’s hopeful the vaccines will be made available to York, too.

3. Delaying second doses causes concerns

Residents in the 80 and older age group learned this week their second dose appointments were cancelled or delayed due to a decision by the province to extend the interval between doses to four months.

For many, it was upsetting news.

Public Health is also hearing resistance from health care workers and firefighters, but Kurji said the data is reassuring.

The first dose of Pfizer or Moderna provides 92-per-cent protection after two weeks. The second dose increases protection to about 95 per cent and extends that protection over many more months, he said.

With a shortage of vaccines, delaying allows more people to get the first-dose protection sooner --and repurposing the second doses for seniors can have a bigger impact on death in the community.

“We need to get the first doses into as many members of our population as quickly as possible, especially with these variants of concern around.”

4. What about variants and the third wave?

As of Mar. 11, York had 996 variants, mostly the U.K. variant.

The proportion of variant cases has increased to just 30 per cent with no explosive growth, Kurji said.

"Many experts are predicting a third wave. I don’t really think that a third wave will occur, not in York Region anyway. We’re not at the moment seeing any signs of that, but it’s another reason why we’re being cautious with respect to any movement into the Orange Zone.

"The predictions are that explosive growth will start occurring just about now so we need to see whether they are correct or not. We are monitoring very carefully."

5. What’s next for York Region?

Vaccine supplies will remain precarious until the week of March 22, after which the region will receive four to six times its usual supplies --at least 60,000 doses coming in every week for the next five weeks.

The region expects to open several clinics that week, Maple Community Centre, Aaniin Community Centre in Markham, and locations in King City and the Stouffville soccer stadium, with an additional site planned for Newmarket.

Canada’s Wonderland’s site is slated to open April 1.

By the end of March, Kurji expects the vast majority of people older than 80 will be vaccinated with help from mobile teams to reach those who can’t attend clinics and by the start of April, the 75 to 80 group and those with specific health conditions, starting with the highest risk (including those who have had transplants, who have serious kidney disease, with blood cancers and neurological conditions that cause breathing problems), followed by other risk conditions.