Ontario’s associate chief medical officer of health calls current COVID-19 situation ‘dire’

TORONTO – Ontario’s associate chief medical officer of health says the COVID-19 situation in the province is “dire.”

“I really wish I had better news to give you today,” Dr. Barbara Yaffe told reporters at Queen’s Park Thursday afternoon.

“I have been providing updates to Ontarians for over a year now and at some of the previous press conferences I referred to the situation as worrisome and even scary. What is truly scary is that when I used those words before, our rates and our trends were nowhere near where we find ourselves today.”

Yaffe’s comments came as Ontario recorded its single-highest daily case count.

The province reported 4,736 new cases of COVID-19 today, along with 29 more deaths.

Yaffe noted that the previous all-time high was just four days ago, when the province logged 4,456 new diagnoses.

She said there are also more COVID-19 patients in intensive care than ever before.

Yaffe the data is “alarming and should be of tremendous concern for everyone.”

— With files from Nick Westoll

View link »