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One in three recently diagnosed COVID-19 cases in the London area can’t be traced to a known source, an indicator that community spread is still a concern four months into the pandemic, public health officials say.
While about two-thirds of recent cases reported by the Middlesex-London Health Unit can be traced to a known origin — close contact with a confirmed case, an outbreak or travel — there’s no smoking gun for the other infections.
Though new daily cases of COVID-19 have averaged between one to two a day all July, London’s top public health official is urging people to be vigilant about social get-togethers over the holiday weekend.
“We know people will be gathering. Please do try to keep your distance at those gatherings,” said Chris Mackie, medical officer of health. “Party as if everybody could have the virus. Just be careful.”
The London-area health unit reported five new COVID-19 cases Friday, bringing its total number of positives to 674 since the first case was reported in late January.
All five new cases are young adults, Mackie said. Two were in contact with a known case diagnosed three days ago, one is believed to have a workplace exposure, the other two were community cases with no known links to confirmed positives, Mackie said.
In London and Middlesex County, people under 40 years old account for 257 of the 674 cases. People 20 to 29 years old beat out other age brackets in case count, accounting for 20 per cent of total cases alone.
Cases among younger adults are an emerging concern, said David Fisman, a London native and epidemiology professor at the University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana school of public health.
“Per test positivity is highest in the youngest age groups,” he said in a statement Friday. “We think that risk is driven by behaviour. Younger folks are out and about and older folks are still distancing.”
The five-case single-day jump in the London-area is the third time this month daily new cases have totalled five or more.
At the same time, July had nine days with no new cases.
“There’s mixed signals day to day here in Middlesex-London,” Mackie said of July’s daily case numbers. “What is clear is that COVID-19 isn’t going away any time soon and the physical distancing measures that we’ve all been taking so seriously need to continue.”
