Local hospitals, schools, and the Municipality of Chatham-Kent itself are all nervously keeping a close eye on the current sixth wave of COVID-19.
The Chatham-Kent Health Alliance (CKHA) said it keeps shuffling around staff daily to cover for employees sick with COVID-19 or waiting for a test result.
CKHA President and CEO Lori Marshall said 61 hospital workers are either off with the virus or waiting for a test result while 16 others are isolating and can only go to work and then straight home. She said her hospitals are going through a situation similar to the last wave with staff being off work sick.
"Chatham-Kent Health Alliance is not unique across the province in this, but it is the major impact to us right now," said Marshall.
Marshall said surgeries continue despite staff absenteeism.
Chatham-Kent Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Colby said the work/home isolation has to happen sometimes to keep the hospital running.
Marshall reported on Thursday that the Chatham hospital has six patients being treated primarily for COVID-19, but none is in the Intensive Care Unit.
Dr. Colby also expects the outbreak in the Continuing Care Unit at the Chatham hospital to be declared over on Thursday. The outbreak was declared two weeks ago.
He also thinks the lifting of pandemic public health measures across the province was done prematurely.
The Lambton-Kent District School Board (LKDSB) is reporting that staff and student absenteeism due to COVID-19 is trending down. LKDSB Education Director John Howitt said 8.5 per cent of staff and 11.8 per cent of students were off with the virus on Wednesday and he's pleased with the way things are going so far. Howitt said Wednesday's school attendance was the best in April to date.
"Students have been generally trending down since April 1st. The staff have been hovering in the nine to 10 per cent with one peak of 11 per cent. We've dipped down to 8.5 per cent, which is great and did not require any use of Central Office staff to cover absences," Howitt said.
The municipality said it's watching the current COVID-19 wave very carefully and has extended its pandemic protocols for employees until the end of May because of the latest surge. Interim Chief Administrative Officer Tony Haddad said he was hoping to end the staff pandemic protocols this month, but will look at it again next month and determine if they keep going or get relaxed.
"In fact, we were anticipating that we were going the other way, but unfortunately that didn't pan out. So, were being cautious in our proceedings and continue to observe and assess," said Haddad.
When it comes to COVID-19 vaccine waste in Chatham-Kent, Dr. Colby said he didn't have the numbers, but believed there were not a lot of vaccines thrown out because they had expired.