KFL&A at lowest rate of COVID-19 infection since November 2020

Thanks to both increasing vaccination rates as well as continued high rates of testing and case contact management, the Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington area is seeing its lowest rate of COVID-19 infection in seven months, said Dr. Kieran Moore, Medical Officer of Health for KFL&A Public Health in a community update on Monday, May 31, 2021.

“Really, a very important day for us, we’re down to 11 cases in our community, 160 contacts are being monitored, so that brings our rate of illness in our community down to 1.9 per 100,000 per week,” said Dr. Moore. “This, we haven’t been able to achieve since November 4 of 2020.”

“So, I have to applaud the community that’s come forward that’s gotten tested, that’s isolated – that’s prevented the spread of this virus in our community, you’ve done brilliantly, and we continue to have a very high testing rate at 0.13% of our test being positive as well.”

Dr. Moore thanked all residents who have come forward to get immunized. “We’re now at 64.5% (aged) greater than 18 being immunized, 63.5% (aged) greater than 16 being immunized…We’ve worked hard to do this as a community, we’ve made all made sacrifices,” Dr. Moore acknowledged.

Dr. Moore said that the region is hitting “a sweet spot now”, with the immunization rate going up and infection rates continuing to decrease. “We should continue to keep our case counts down, we’ll work very aggressively with our community to try to limit the spread of this virus.”

He cautioned that all residents should continue being vigilant. “We all should be monitoring for signs and symptoms of COVID-19, getting tested if we get them, and wearing a mask, having good hand hygiene.”

“But we’re in a very good place today,” Dr. Moore concluded, “and I have to thank the community for all the work you’ve done to help us achieve this phenomenal low rate of illness. It’s been a long, seven months since Nov. 4, but we’re back to an excellent rate of illness and a low risk of spread in our community. Thank you. Thank you, thank you.”