Canada's Top Doc Wants People To Cut Back On Socializing Right Now

Cases keep climbing. Now Dr. Theresa Tam has advice for people in Canada. Social bubbles need to stay small in order to slow the spread of the virus. That means cutting back on in-person visits. 

In a statement released on September 19, Canada's chief public health officer said that people have to do more than just wearing masks and washing hands.

"In addition to strict adherence with personal protective measures (e.g. physical distancing, handwashing and wearing non-medical masks where appropriate), we must all reduce our number of contacts to a minimum," Dr. Tam said. 

She goes on to stress the importance of cutting back on how many people you see. 

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"When considering whether to attend an activity or event, remember that just because you might know the people attending, every person outside your household/close-contacts bubble significantly increases your risk of exposure to the virus," the statement says. 

"Limiting your in-person contacts to your existing consistent and trusted close-contacts bubble is safest." 

Dr. Tam mentioned that this is especially important as activities move indoors, increase the risk of the virus spreading. 

This warning from the top doc comes as Ontario has re-introduced strict rules on gathering limits. 

Effective immediately in all regions of the province, only 10 people are allowed to gather indoors and only 25 people are allowed to gather outdoors. 

This restriction is in place for informal gatherings only though and won't apply to staffed venues like restaurants, banquet halls, places of worship, or gyms. 

Ontario reported over 400 cases of COVID-19 on September 19. 

For Canada as a whole, Dr. Tam that as of Friday, September 18, the average daily case count for the past week was 849. 

The country has seen a total of 141,911 cases since the start of the pandemic.