Today I am thinking about that meme of Jack Nicholson in The Shining with “I’m Back” written on it.

After a few weeks of no new cases of COVID-19 in Kingston, with the exception of two cases that had a link to the GTA, the KFLA Health unit has reported 10 new cases in the past week.  Apparently none of them have known connections outside our district.  One of these is associated with a unit at the hospital, another works at a local restaurant and several associated with a nail salon**.  Public Health officials will be working hard to track down, test, and isolate any known contacts. By the time you read this, there may be more.

In the KFLA district, we’ve been both lucky and responsible so far. This recent little outbreak in Kingston should act as a wake-up call to all of us that we are not done with COVID-19 despite our relatively light exposure over the past few weeks.  Maybe the fact that we have had so little in our community has seduced us to be more negligent about following the advised recommendations.

In recent days, I have seen groups of people clustering, not within 2 metres of each other and not wearing masks outside an ice-cream shop, on the street, and in the barber shop.  I have had friends say “It’s OK to get together as long as it is less than 10 people”, seemingly unaware that this comes with the additional caveat that small groups can gather but only if they are following the distancing guidelines.  I see lots of people in stores, even clerks, not wearing a mask. It is encouraging to see the numbers in Ontario and Canada abating. However, we only need to look at what is happening in parts of the US where the guidelines are being resisted to see how quickly this virus can gain control. 

There has also been a shift in the demographic of COVID-19 cases to include more younger people. Perhaps this is because they are more likely to be mingling with each other and they might feel a bit less vulnerable than their older fellows.  I worry about when students will inevitably return to Kingston for university or college and we have all heard of tourists being spotted in Kingston from other districts.  Protecting ourselves by being cloistered is simply not going to be an option. 

I fear that complacency is asking for trouble.  While we are able to be outdoors, our risks are certainly reduced but because of our luck and success at avoiding a major outbreak so far in Kingston we have become lax with following the guidelines.  

I admit to having relaxed in some respects, too.  But I am going to try to tighten up.

I have a small group of friends that I will continue to walk with (less than 5) and we will do our best to keep our distance as much as possible and only meet outdoors.  I have only been in 3 houses of other people in the past 14 weeks and have only had two others come into mine on limited occasions. I will continue to limit indoor visits anywhere.  I will wear a mask whenever I am inside a store of any kind and often on the street when I see that distancing is going to be tricky because of narrow sidewalks or busier pedestrian traffic. I am aware that this will offer me limited protection but any advantage is better than none. It will also act to protect others from me if I am infected and don’t know it. If more of us wear masks under these circumstances it will become the norm, rather than the exception. This will help our community to limit spread. I will wear a mask in a car if anyone else is in the vehicle and insist that they do as well.  I will continue to wash my hands whenever I return from being out anywhere. If I become sick at all, I will avoid others and will consider getting a COVID-19 test if symptoms are suggestive of that in any way.  Testing is easily available now to anyone  and widespread testing with appropriate contact tracing will help to squash any outbreak we have.

It is discouraging to have to admit that this COVID-19 thing is going to be a challenge for several months to come. Like you, I was hoping it would  just go away. But it is here for a while. We need to continue to be diligent, without being antisocial or paranoid, in order to keep it under control, to protect our community and our Health Care System and to limit the adverse effects of this virus to as much as we can.

Stay calm but stay the course. Protect yourself and your community by continuing to act responsibly.

John A Geddes MSc MD CCFP June 25, 2020.

** In the six hours since I posted this blog i have heard that most of the new cases in Kingston are connected to the nail salon. Amazing how one breach in security can have unfortunate ripple effects through the whole community.