Is it now targeting younger people? 17 confirmed children with COVID-19 at 3 Vaughan daycare centres

Yorkregion.com
Aug. 11, 2021

At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, younger people felt invincible. However, the virus is changing and so are its targets, with York Region’s top doctor citing “unvaccinated” people as the reason for that.

There are now 17 children in Vaughan confirmed with COVID-19.

According to provincial data, Fun on the Run Pope Francis child-care centre has six children with confirmed child cases and one staff, Holy Family Daycare has one child with COVID-19, Tiny Treasures Learning and Child Care Centre Inc. has 10 children with COVID-19, and one staff infected.

Elsewhere in York region, only Newmarket’s CUTIES & PATOOTIES had a child test positive for COVID-19.

The region’s top doctor Karim Kurji said in an interview with 680 News that independent modelling is showing how COVID-19 is expected to increase with children and youth being the main target.

“Children, youth and young adults are being disproportionately impacted with 63 per cent of cases in the past week being under the age of 29,” Kurji said.

However, Kurji gave the reason.

“A majority of these cases are in unvaccinated individuals,” he added. However, Health Canada has approved the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine only for those 12 years of age and older.

As of Aug. 8, the group aged between 12 and 17 in York region has a 55.8 per cent full vaccination rate. People aged 75 to 79, on the other hand, have an 89.4 per cent rate.

The single-dose vaccination rate for those aged 12 to 17 is 71.3 per cent in York region.

Some experts explain that because older generations were vaccinated earlier, COVID-19 has less of an impact on them now.

Fully vaccinated people can still get COVID-19, officials stress. Province-wide, there are three fully vaccinated people in the intensive care unit (ICU) as of Aug. 10, but Ontario's Minister of Health Christine Elliott tweeted Aug. 10 that “growing case counts will not mean the same thing as before.”

Cases are steadily rising in Ontario. The province reported 168 new infections on Monday, Aug. 2 and 325 a week later. There were no additional deaths reported Monday, Aug. 9

“Hospitalizations and ICU admissions will be especially critical in monitoring Ontario's COVID-19 response,” said Elliott, who is also MPP for Newmarket-Aurora.

Citing an op-ed by Dr. Kieran Moore, Ontario’s chief medical officer of health, Premier Doug Ford also tweeted Aug. 9 stating: “Public health experts expect cases to begin to rise. Thanks to the protection offered by vaccines, experts also say that growing case counts will not have the same meaning as during previous waves of the pandemic.”

Moore wrote that those who are vaccinated and get infected will have milder cases. “Your risk of needing to be hospitalized or in the ICU is much less,” he said.

Moore urged those who aren’t vaccinated to get the jab before it’s not too late.