On April 7, GSL Director Steven Hoffman was featured in a Global News article comparing the latest COVID-19 trends in Alberta and British Columbia (B.C.), where the curve seems to be flattening, with Ontario and Quebec, where we still experience sharp increases in the number of cases.
In the article, Hoffman said about Ontario that the advice by the provincial government, to get out and enjoy March break might have contributed to higher COVID-19 numbers in the province. Ontarians tend to travel to Florida and New York in big numbers during the March break, both places which have developed into COVID-19 hotbeds. He added that B.C. might have been the clearest communicator in that respect.
But B.C., according to Hoffman, didn’t just get lucky with it March break, but also adapted well after they had an early case of COVID-19 in January and so far mostly avoided community transmission. Good news for Ontario and Quebec, however, might be around the corner. The data we see now is still 10-14 days old and according to Google’s harvesting of location data, people in Ontario and Quebec have done the most social distancing over the past couple of weeks. Hoffman also advocated for increased testing and stricter measures at long-term care facilities
Read the full article here.
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