Local health official and business community representatives advise caution toward reopening despite high local vaccination rates.
"Our case rates are marginally up over the previous week," said Dr. Rabia Bana, associate medical officer of health, who was filling in for Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang, the region's medical officer of health. "Our seven-day rolling average is 2.9 cases per 100,000 vs. 2.6 last week. As of yesterday, our current case rate sits at approximately 20 cases per 100,000 per week. This is down from a rate of 40 cases per 100,000 per week at the beginning of July."
Vaccinations rates, she added, have seen a steady increase.
"Over 83 per cent of the eligible population having received first doses and 72 per cent receiving second dose," said Bana, adding, "Delta remains a threat to unvaccinated groups in particular."
Since May 1, she said, 71.9 per cent of all COVID-19 cases were among those not vaccinated, where 25.2 per cent were recorded among those partially vaccinated or not yet fully protected by the vaccine, and 2.9 per cent were among those fully vaccinated, also known as breakthrough cases.
"The majority of hospitalizations, 71.5 per cent, were unvaccinated individuals, 24.4 per cent were partially vaccinated or not yet fully protected by their vaccination and 4.1 per cent of hospitalizations were of fully vaccinated individuals," Bana noted.
A rise in cases, she said, is expected with the region slowly reopening and being eligible for moving in step three.
"The Delta variant has been incredibly transmissible and with individuals and groups gathering, we do expect to see a rise in the cases," Bana said. "It is incredibly important, as we move toward the fall, for as many individuals that are eligible to get vaccinated as quickly as possible."
Ian McLean, president, Greater Kitchener Waterloo Chamber of Commerce, said a move forward needs to be taken with extreme caution.
"Just because we can go to stage three, doesn't mean we should," he said. "Staying open is the prime objective. Racing ahead and having another lockdown would be devastating for our members.
"(KW Chamber of Commerce) does not advocate coming fully out just because we can. It's precarious right now," added McLean.
He also talked about the uptake in the Safe Ambassador Program rolled out with regional funding to help local businesses gain the confidence to reopen safely and remain open safely.
"Confidence is a big part of reopening," McLean said. "Just because governments say they can reopen, they need to have the confidence both for themselves and the consumers."
The program, he said, has been a tremendous success, adding he did not have exact uptake numbers but hundreds of businesses had taken advantage of the program.
"We've had many many businesses that have phone or in-person sessions," McLean said. "Businesses across all sectors are seeking visits from the ambassadors that are on the road. Businesses want the tools to keep themselves, their staff, and customers safe. We're not at the end of the tunnel and it's really important that we use these types of tools to reopen and stay safe."
The need, he said, was seen across all sectors.
"In a lot of cases, it's reviewing their own safety plans that were already in place," McLean said. "Businesses are painfully aware that it's important we don't open up fast but open up safe. We need to keep business open and people employed. This program is a huge piece of the puzzle."
Bruce Lauckner, Region of Waterloo chief administrative officer, said "over 1,800 businesses have participated in the program. We have over 90 per cent of those that participated are fully compliant and have decals on their businesses."
There was also discussion around Ontario's Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore's comment at a recent conference about 'normalizing' COVID-19. The comments were made following the release of the province's back-to-school strategy.
"We did hear Dr. Moore speak about normalizing COVID-19 in certain environments," said Bana. "It depends on continuing to evaluate the risks in our community and balancing that with restrictions and measures that need to be put in place. We need to try and strike that balance between restrictions on individuals and groups. As we increase our vaccination rates, that balance can shift a little bit and help us move toward more normal life."
Dr. Julie Emili, associate medical officer of health, added to that.
"We're a year and half into this and it's understanding that COVID-19 is part of our lives moving forward," she said. "We need to find ways to get as back to normal as possible as safely as possible. Some of the discussion you're seeing at various levels is how do we do that. The way we get to as normal as possible is getting the highest vaccination rates possible."
