HURON-PERTH – COVID-19 has been attributed to the deaths of four residents of Milverton’s Knollcrest Lodge long-term care home, according to Huron-Perth Public Health (HPPH) Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Miriam Klassen.
The announcement was made during HPPH’s bi-weekly media teleconference briefing on Sept. 8. The passing of Knollcrest’s four residents earlier this month has brought the regional total up to 63 deaths. As of Monday, there were 31 active cases of the virus in Huron-Perth, with four hospitalizations.
“We extend our condolences to the residents’ loved ones, and to the staff and residents of Knollcrest during this sad time,” said Dr. Klassen. “The majority of new cases locally and across Ontario have been in unvaccinated or partially-vaccinated individuals. Getting vaccinated means you have a much lower risk of contracting COVID-19, and an even lower risk of suffering severe outcomes such as hospitalization, and you’re less likely to spread the virus.”
Dr. Klassen went on to say that 95 per cent of residents and 70 per cent of staff at Knollcrest Lodge were fully vaccinated at the time of the outbreak. Staff, in conjunction with HPPH, had planned to begin administering third booster doses in late August, but the outbreak had already been detected, halting efforts.
“What we’ve seen is that the immune system of our elderly population of our residents in Knollcrest isn’t as robust as those of younger people,” commented Dr. Rachel Anderson, attending physician and medical director at Knollcrest. “And so we do have a responsibility as younger people with good immune systems entering these homes and being in the community as well where it is being more transmissible. We do have this responsibility to get vaccinated in order to protect those who don’t have a good immuno-response… that is the biggest and the best thing we can do, because this isn’t going away anytime soon.”
Anyone turning 12 and older in 2021 is currently eligible for the vaccine. As of Sept. 13, nearly 195,000 doses had been administered in Huron-Perth; amongst those residents 12 and older, 81.1 per cent have received at least one dose, while 74.8 per cent of the population has been fully vaccinated.
Dr. Klassen said the ongoing effort to educate and vaccinate the remainder of the population that has not received one or both doses would be of critical importance to keeping schools running in-person for the entire year. She added that since the province’s announcement that vaccine certificates would be required for those accessing certain services after Sept. 22, vaccination numbers have experienced an uptick regionally.
“There are many things working in our favour to help our schools succeed,” said Dr. Klassen. “The most important thing is that we continue to drive down local community transmission. We can do this for our kids.”
When asked to comment about vaccines and vaccine passports being politicized throughout the pandemic, and particularly as of late during the federal election campaign, Dr. Klassen spoke to the historical proven science of vaccinations.
“I’ve been passionate about vaccinations before COVID ever started,” she said. “I would argue that vaccinations are the number-one medical achievement ever. It is an intervention that pays for itself. The first vaccination was developed over 200 years ago. So, this is building on a long history of understanding how to teach… how to recognize certain infectious diseases and protect people against them. From my perspective, it’s an easy choice.”
