Does the reduction in health unit live updates reflect drop in Covid-19 cases?
Is a decision by health authorities to reduce live Covid-19 updates from daily to three times a week a reflection of a reduced number of local virus cases or simply health staff fatigue or both? Local Medical Officer of Health Dr. Wajid Ahmed and/or CEO Theresa Marentette have hosted the daily updates for months. But this week the schedule was reduced. Over the past couple of months Windsor-Essex have had a markedly reduced number of cases. Since September 1 when there were three new casss, until Oct. 13, when there were two, there has been an average of 4.44 new Covid-19 cases per day. Even in August cases were low. This compared to earlier in the summer when cases were well in the double digits, sparked largely by the migrant labor population. On June 28 – the highest single day count since the pandemic began – there were 119 cases. Asked if declining caseload or burnout may be factors, WON.com got this response from the health unit. “Wechu.org is updated every day and we issue email updates about case counts, statistics, and more to the media and our subscribers every day, including this past Thanksgiving holiday. We continue to respond to media questions on Tuesdays and Thursdays and often on weekends. We have committed to bringing back weekday broadcasts on YouTube Live if the need arises. At this time, we’ve decided to broadcast on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.”
