WATERLOO -- One week into the new school year, multiple student cohorts are isolating at home after Waterloo Region’s public and catholic school boards confirmed more than a dozen COVID-19 cases.
The region’s medical officer of health, Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang, said the number of cases in schools is proportional to the overall spread within the community at large and schools are doing a good job in limiting spread once cases are reported. She says the real issue is the overall number of cases in the region. Data from Public Health shows 30 positive cases for every 100,000 people each week.
When asked if rapid testing should be introduced in schools to help limit the spread, Dr. Wang says that’s not an option.
“The Ministry of Health doesn’t believe that the addition of systematic rapid testing will be over added value given the additional limitations of the test in the current environment,” Dr. Wang said.
Waterloo Region released more figures on the effectiveness of vaccines. According to local data, unvaccinated residents are nine times more likely to contract the virus. Those without the vaccine are 24 times more likely to end up in hospital and 43 times more likely to be admitted into an Intensive Care Unit.
