Huron Perth Public Health's medical officer of health said it's very difficult to predict what the second wave of COVID-19 might look like.
Dr. Miriam Klassen said it's likely going to be moving from complete elimination to a sudden wave of transmissions. She said it's clear from what's happening in parts of the world, like Israel and Australia, that were celebrating their success in controlling the virus and are now dealing with significant outbreaks, that COVID-19 has not gone away.
On the other hand, we can't stay locked down forever. So, she said, "we all need to continue to find the right balance to open the economy and yet protect public health and we all need to be responsible on an individual and organizational and community level.”
Dr. Klassen added, “I think we have to continue to expect to see cases and clusters, but if we can mobilize around those quickly and put all the right measures in place and break the chains of transmission, then they won't grow exponentially into these large numbers of cases that overwhelm the health care system.”
Dr. Klassen said we've done fairly well in Huron and Perth in dealing with the first wave and what we've learned from that should help in dealing with a second wave. Dr. Klassen also suggested a vaccine is what will take us from Stage 3 to Stage 4 and something approaching normal.
