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Ontario's chief medical officer of health, Dr. Kieran Moore. Postmedia Network
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Ontario schools are a “low-risk environment” for COVID-19, Chief Medical Officer Dr. Kieran Moore said as students in Toronto prepared to head back to class Thursday.
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About 7% of cases are linked to school transmission and a small portion occur through contact in places like pre- and after-school programs and daycares, he said.
“So, I am confident that the school setting itself is safe,” Moore said Tuesday. “We will see outbreaks, we will see activity in the schools, but they basically reflect what’s coming on in the community.”
Ontario reported 564 new cases of COVID-19 Tuesday and an additional three deaths.
Hospitals were treating 295 patients for COVID-19, including 190 in intensive care, Moore said.
The vaccination rate was up — 83.7% of eligible Ontarians have had at least a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 77.2% are fully vaccinated.
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Moore said the vaccination rate needs to climb higher as data obtained from the science advisory table shows the unvaccinated are 24 more times likely than the fully vaccinated to end up in hospital and 43 times more likely to be need intensive care.
“When you get hospitalized, it’s because your lungs are filling up with fluid, you can’t get oxygen into your air stream, and you’re fighting for air,” Moore said. “If you’re getting admitted to the intensive care unit, it’s because you cannot breathe on your own anymore.”
Public health experts estimate 63,000 cases of COVID-19 have been prevented in Ontario due to vaccinations, he said.
“After a long weekend like this, we normally do see the increase in cases of COVID-19 later in the week,” Moore said. “I think once people realize this virus isn’t going away — the risk will continue throughout the fall and into the winter — that alone should be an incentive to come forward and get protected.
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