Peterborough Public Health Pilots Local COVID-19 Community Risk Index
Written by Comms Team, March 30, 2022
Current Status is “High” as Wastewater Signals Reach Same Levels as January’s Omicron Surge
Peterborough Public Health released a beta-version of its new online COVID-19 Community Risk Index today to help residents protect themselves and others when local transmission levels are high.
“Our goal with the COVID-19 Community Risk Index is to make our community’s virus transmission status as transparent as possible by integrating several indicators into one easy-to-understand five-point scale,” explained Dr. Thomas Piggott, Medical Officer of Health. “Each level corresponds to specific public health guidance both for the general population, and for those residents who are at high-risk of serious health outcomes if they get infected.”
Dr. Piggott noted this information will be of particular importance to people at higher risk of severe COVID who are needing evidence to make risk base decisions in this challenging time.
The COVID-19 Community Risk Index incorporates data such as wastewater surveillance signals, number of hospitalizations and deaths, percentage positivity of PCR tests and community-reported rapid-antigen tests (through Peterborough Public Health’s online survey), and the local case incidence rate per 100,000. The Index provides a risk level for each data point based on current values, which is then used to inform the overall risk level for the community. The Index will be updated weekly each Wednesday by 4 p.m. The Index can be found at www.peterboroughpublichealth.ca/covid-risk-index and residents are encouraged to check it regularly in the same way they check a weather forecast.
Dr. Piggott said he is concerned that current COVID-19 Community Risk is “high” according to the Index. This is being driven by the community’s “very high” PCR testing positivity rate and “high” wastewater surveillance values that are equivalent to the levels seen during January’s Omicron surge.
“This sixth wave we are starting into, like the fifth omicron wave, will disproportionately impact those who are more vulnerable in our communities: people still unvaccinated, elderly, medically-at-risk, and immunocompromised,” he said. “Their protection depends on all of us taking simple actions to decrease transmission as noted.”
Peterborough Public Health recommends the following guidance for local residents:
- get vaccinated with every dose you are eligible to receive – three doses for most residents, four doses for those who are immunocompromised;
- continue to mask up indoors and around others with a respirator, e.g. N95 or KN95 (especially if you’re at high-risk);
- stay home if sick, even if mildly – your mild symptoms could be deadly to someone you pass it along to;
- use rapid antigen tests and continue to report both positive and negative to PPH using our confidential online reporting survey
- get tested and treated if you’re eligible, if in doubt whether you are eligible seek PCR testing to confirm. Many people do not realize that they are eligible for newly available lifesaving treatments;
“Each of our decisions to decrease transmission today will impact the context of the pandemic in our community tomorrow,” Dr. Piggott said. “I am closely watching the concerning evolving context, considering actions to reimpose requirements as I am responsible to do under the provincial legislation, and readying to take any measures needed to protect our community and those more vulnerable in it.”
Peterborough Public Health is one of the first health units in Ontario to produce a local COVID-19 Community Risk Index. Dr. Piggott noted the Index is still in its pilot phase and wants to hear from residents how useful this tool is for them as we all learn to live with COVID-19 while the pandemic continues. Residents are encouraged to complete the online survey that can be found on the same webpage as the Index itself, or by clicking on this link.
The COVID-19 Community Risk Index will continue being refined in the coming weeks, including through the addition of granular data in a ‘business intelligence dashboard’, and will ultimately replace the Local COVID-19 Tracker. Peterborough Public Health developed the Index as a way to provide residents with more useful information on the local COVID-19 situation as the availability of certain indicators has changed (e.g. better access to wastewater surveillance data, less access to accurate case numbers, etc.). This builds on other types of risk indices designed to help residents make informed decisions on their own health, such as the Air Quality Health Index. Variables and weighting within the index will continue to evolve with the changing context of the pandemic. The Index is designed to help individuals make personal decisions about COVID-19 protective measures.
More information about the COVID-19 Community Risk Index can be found in this explainer video by Dr. Piggott here. To bookmark the Index, please visit www.peterboroughpublichealth.ca/covid-risk-index.
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For further information, please contact:
Brittany Cadence
Communications Manager
705-743-1000, ext. 391