The last time that Dr. Nicola Mercer appeared on this podcast it was July, and things seemed to be going pretty good. Much of the province had been under a Stage 2 re-opening for weeks, and we were on the cusp of Stage 3. The virus wasn’t gone, but the number of new and active cases was on the right trajectory, but there were at the time rumblings about what would happen in the fall.

We’re now more than one month into fall, and it seems like those warnings underestimated just how hard COVID-19 would come roaring back as soon as it got colder outside. If you just watch the daily numbers, it seems bad, or if you just listen to the news about all the places that have had to go back to Stage 2 openings, the outlook for the rest of the year is concerning. But doctors have been advising us to look at the trends,  so what do the trends tell us?

By the time you’re listening to this, it’s likely that Wellington, Dufferin and Guelph has had more cases of COVID, but even in this resurgence we’re seeing around 50 active cases at any given time. Our local assessment centre has struggled occasionally to keep up with testing capacity, but that wasn’t an unusual story as cases started ticking up again last month. It seems we’re doing well managing the pandemic locally, but let’s ask an expert on public health matters.

Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Medical Officer of Health Dr. Mercer joins us this week to talk about the bigger picture in protecting our area from COVID-19, the secrets to our success so far, and whether or not she’s concerned about the surge in new cases in other regions around us. She will also discuss the potential issues with the location of the assessment centre now at Southgate Drive, when an outbreak’s not an outbreak at Holy Trinity School here in Guelph, and how you might be able to tell the difference between when you have the common cold and if you might have COVID-19.

So let’s talk about COVID (as if we’re talking about anything else) on this week’s edition of the Guelph Politicast!

You can get all the latest trends and statistics about the COVID-19, as well as the latest public health advisories and advice, at the Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health website.

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