A Tiny Ontario Town Is Becoming A COVID-19 Hot Spot Because People Can't Stay Apart
A new mini hot spot for COVID-19 has popped up in Ontario. The small town of Aylmer has 42 active cases and reported eight new ones on Tuesday. According to the London Free Press, the sudden spike in Aylmer's COVID-19 cases is due to large gatherings and inadequate social distancing.
"It’s the way COVID works: it does spread quickly among close contacts," said Joyce Lock, medical officer of health for Southwestern Public Health to LFP.
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"We really do need to stay in our social bubbles and not let them get bigger."
Aylmer has seen a sharp increase in new infections over the last couple of weeks. The town had floated in the single-digit margin for most of July. However, its case numbers significantly increased just ahead of August.
Thankfully, however, Lock says that they're still traceable.
"The good news is that even though our cases are going up, we are able to connect the dots," she added.
"It’s a very rare case where we can’t connect the person to somebody else."
A mandatory mask bylaw came into effect in the town on August 6.
Mayor Mary French told CTV News that officials are doing everything they can to limit the spread.
"With the numbers going up, everyone, they’re nervous. So, we’ve got to do what we can to get the numbers back down."
An Aylmer church came under fire back in April for hosting a drive-in service in a parking lot, to which 70 vehicles reportedly showed up.
Pastor Hildebrandt, who hosted the event, claimed that no one physically interacted during the service.
However, Aylmer Police was quick to point out that gatherings of five or more people for religious ceremonies were still against the law.
Ontario reported just 86 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, marking three days in a row where fewer than 100 were registered, according to CP24.
There are 18 new cases in Toronto, 16 in Ottawa, 14 in Chatham-Kent, and 11 in Peel Region.
York Region has 10 new cases and Windsor-Essex reported just two new infections.