in si de ha lto n. co m O ak vi lle B ea ve r | T hu rs da y, D ec em be r 10 ,2 02 0 | 6 Free contactless delivery from teasociety.ca Explore our teas at teasociety.ca Look for our new retail store coming to south Oakville in Spring 2021 teasociety.ca All our teas are handcrafted, all natural and certified organic. 22 blends of traditional, herbal and wellness teas Gift GivinG made easy Holiday gift sets & bundles for the tea lover in your life. visit teasociety.ca promocode: oak10 $10 off your first order As COVID-19 infections rise in Halton, public health officials are fight- ing to keep pace with the amount of legwork gener- ated by each new positive test result. "We are struggling right now with case and contact management," Halton Medical Officer of Health Dr. Hamidah Meghani told regional councillors during their most recent meeting. "While we are trying to on- board more and more staff towards this herculean task, it takes a lot of time (to get staff ready)." The province has set a benchmark for public health units to reach at least 90 per cent of resi- dents who've tested posi- tive for COVID-19 within 24 hours. In recent weeks, Halton Public Health has been averaging 70 to 80 per cent. Numbers have also been falling below 90 per cent when it comes to con- tact tracing in Halton, peaking mid-November with an average of almost 70 per cent of high-risk contacts being reached within 24 hours -- a figure that dropped to a 40 per cent average by month end. "We are absolutely try- ing our level best to make sure we're getting ahold of cases and contacts, but it is becoming a larger issue than is was back in Sep- tember," said Meghani. Since the pandemic started, Meghani said her staff has grown from 12 nurses on the communica- ble disease team to over 70 in the infectious disease control area of the health department. All are tasked with do- ing COVID-19 case and contact tracing, along with management of coro- navirus outbreaks in the community. But more hands on deck also equals the need for more managers to oversee them. "There just aren't enough supervisors, man- agers, and for that matter medical officers of health to go around," said Megha- ni. "We're doing our best to on-board individuals who have the right skill set, but at the end of the day we have to manage those indi- viduals as well in our orga- nization." Meghani said her staff will continue to grow over the next couple of weeks, with additional resources coming through the Minis- try of Health, including management support. Public health is also looking at other ways to make things more effi- cient, such as the automa- tion of some steps, she not- ed. "As those things come together, we should be able to save some staff time to make those first contacts happen more quickly," Meghani said. So what's the ultimate solution? "It's really about keep- ing case counts low," she said. "If we can do that, we can be much more effi- cient in Halton and sur- rounding communities at case and contact manage- ment." She strongly urged all residents to continue physical distancing, wear- ing masks and reducing the number of people they're in contact with as much as possible. "COVID-19 is not going away. It's not going away in 2021," she said. "It will be here with us for some peri- od of time, and unfortu- nately that means we have to learn to live this way for a longer period of time." For further details visit halton.ca/COVID19. PUBLIC HEALTH GRAPPLES WITH INCREASED COVID-19 CASE LOAD MELANIE HENNESSEY mhennessey@metro- land.com Dr. Hamidah Meghani, Halton Region's Medical Officer of Health, says they released the information after receiving clarification from the Ontario Information and Privacy Commissioner. Metroland file photo NEWS