Canada’s Top Doctor Says There's 'Cautious Optimism' As Cases Start To Slow Down

Is there light at the end of the tunnel? We might not be out of the woods yet but there's still hope to be found. Dr. Theresa Tam has "cautious optimism" when it comes to COVID-19 in Canada. Even though there are positive signs, there's still work that needs to be done when it comes to fighting this epidemic.

On April 15, Dr. Tam took to Twitter to share information about the virus and how efforts by Canadians are helping to slow the spread.

In a thread, she said that while we don't have all the answers about COVID-19 yet, "there is some cause for cautious optimism" based on data.

She went on to mention that the growth rate of the virus in Canada was at its fastest in March. 

During that time, the number of new cases was doubling every three days.

Now, in recent days, that doubling time has shifted to over 10 days which Dr. Tam said means the epidemic is slowing down.

However, this optimism doesn't mean that we can all relax now — more still needs to be done.

"Though we all wish this could be a sprint to the finish, it is NOT," Dr. Tam said. "This will be a MARATHON and there are no rewards for quitting early."

During a press conference on April 16, Dr. Tam also addressed that cautious optimism but still stressed that there's more to do.

"There are signs our collective efforts starting several weeks back have had an effect to slow down the epidemic," she said.

She went on to note that the recent long weekend, or "staycation for the nation" as she put it, may have helped maintain that trend.

"We now need to double down to stamp out outbreaks in high-risk settings," she said.

If action isn't taken, there could be more outbreaks and more deaths related to COVID-19.

It was originally predicted that there could be 500 to 700 COVID-19 related deaths in Canada by April 16.

At 11:00 a.m. ET on that day, 1,048 fatalities had been reported by the government.

While that's pretty grim, there's still some optimism.

Between 22,580 and 31,850 cases were also predicted to happen as of April 16.

However, Canada's confirmed cases are below the top end of the projection at 28,884 as of 11:00 a.m. ET on that same day.

That's something!