Hundreds of residents of Toronto’s M3N postal code, a hotspot for COVID-19 infections, line up at a pop-up vaccine clinic on In April 2021.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston
Hotspot neighbourhoods with greater COVID-19 risk exposure continued to have higher infection rates even when they achieved vaccination levels equal to lower-risk neighbourhoods.
To come out of lockdown, health authorities want to see that all cases are linked, and that potentially infectious people are quarantining before they test positive. This still isn’t happening.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford puts his mask on after announcing new lockdown measures at a press conference at Queen’s Park in Toronto on April 16, 2021. The government later walked back some of the announced restrictions.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn
As the third wave ravages Ontario, there is public confusion and mistrust. Premier Ford’s flip-flops on restrictions indicate not just poor risk communications, but the lack of an informed plan.
States and territories have reacted to the Sydney COVID outbreak with varying degrees of travel restrictions. But border closures are a blunt tool, given almost all cases are linked to known hotspots.