After a long streak of single-digit numbers, Niagara saw a sharp spike in confirmed COVID-19 cases in its daily reporting on Monday, with 23 new cases confirmed.
20 of the new cases are linked to Pioneer Flower Farms in St Catharines, that is now being considered an outbreak location.
The regions acting medical officer of health, Dr Mustafa Hirji, said while the discovery is concerning, he says it is not cause for alarm in surrounding communities.
“We are fairly optimistic that this is contained to the farm. We are continuing to investigate, but i don’t think people outside need to worry more than before,” he told Thorold News.
He said the testing commenced after two symptomatic cases appeared on the farm, but that the vast majority had mild or no symptoms when they were tested on Friday.
The outbreak was first publicized by the farm on its Facebook page, and comes at the same time as other southern Ontario farms make similar findings among its workers, often migrant laborers who also live on the farm.
“One conclusion of this is that certain groups of people are inclined to push through and not give symptoms a lot of attention. Health care workers are notoriously bad at that, which is probably true among manual laborers who pride themselves on being strong as well. We did not find these cases as soon as we could have,” Hirji continued.
As the two-week mark of many businesse re-opening is approaching, along with 14 days since Victoria day, Hirji says he is prepared to see an increased case count as testing continues.
“This is a good reminder that there is still COVID-19 in our communities, and the importance of continued social distancing, handwashing and wearing masks.”
On Monday, Niagara had 666 confirmed cases of COVID-19 of which 559 had resolved.
48 cases were listed as 'active', and 59 individuals had died after contracting the virus.
