Ontario’s top doctor expects widespread COVID spread for six to eight weeks

Students will go back to school Wednesday to give educators time to add more layers of protection against Omicron.
That was just one of many changes Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr Kerian Moore, announced Thursday.

He also says the province is limiting COVID-19 testing to the people most vulnerable to the virus.
Ontario has recorded more cases of the virus than ever seen during the pandemic – almost 14,000 Thursday – pushing the provinces testing limits beyond capacity. At last word 95,000 tests were waiting to be processed.
Moore says with 30 to 40 per cent of the tests taken positive, it is obvious there is a lot of community spread. He told reporters he expects the number of people contracting COVID to continue to grow for six to eight weeks.
So the province is limiting PCR testing to the most vulnerable- those in long term care and the immunocompromised – and health care workers. Anyone else with symptoms is expected to take a rapid test to confirm COVID and then if they are fully vaccinated they must isolate for five days along with everyone else in the house. They’ll also have to reach out to the people they’ve been in contact with so they can take precautions.
Healthcare workers will still isolate 10 days but can go back to work after negative tests at day six and seven.
In long term care, Moore said residents will be eligible for a fourth booster and visitors and care givers will soon have to have the booster shot to enter homes.
At schools, teachers will be supplied with N95 masks – the most effective against the virus. Students will be supplied with three ply cloth masks if they ask.

The province is also bring more HEPA filters into the classrooms and adding more symptoms for parents to watch for in their kids.
Moore says the province is also changing how it reports the data surrounding COVID-19 particularly in the number of people in the ICUs to reflect who is there due to COVID and who has COVID but was admitted for another issue.
Moore says the province is “anxious” about the rapid rise in the cases noting “even if a small number of people get sick, we need to be ready.”