Sudbury medical officer of health wants to see province-wide lockdown

Sudbury's medical officer of health says she agrees with the province-wide lockdown Premier Doug Ford is reportedly going to announce Monday afternoon. 

Unnamed government sources have been telling journalists that a 28-day lockdown for all of southern Ontario will begin on Christmas Eve, along with a 14-day lockdown for the north.

Medical officer of health for Sudbury and Manitoulin Dr. Penny Sutcliffe says she doesn't know the details of that announcement. 

But she says she was consulted by the province last week and agrees with all of Ontario going into lockdown. 

"Although we've had a regional approach in response to the cases that we've seen and the burden on the health care system and the public health system across the province, now I do agree that we need a province-wide approach to the concerns that we're seeing to the south of us," says Sutcliffe.

"It takes very very little to go from green to yellow to red."

Sudbury and Manitoulin moved Monday into the green zone after being in yellow for the past month, following a spike of cases in November.

Sutcliffe admitted that could be "potentially very confusing" if then there is a province-wide lockdown on Thursday. 

COVID cases in Sudbury have been very steady for the past month, however Sutcliffe says the health unit is "very much on high alert."

With cases climbing suddenly up to 14, the Timiskaming Health Unit district is now labelled yellow, which means more restrictions on the number of customers allowed in restaurants, gyms and other businesses.

"Things have really gone in the wrong direction," says acting medical officer of health Dr. Glenn Corneil, who pointed out that following the provincial framework, the district could technically be in the higher orange zone based on the local COVID count. 

After the first COVID-19 vaccines were given in southern Ontario last week, there has been no word of when the first doses will come to the north. 

Corneil says he's been told that his district won't be getting this first vaccine produced by Pfizer, because it needs to be stored at -70 C.

"A lot of the north, it's just too complicated to get the Pfizer vaccine to rural areas," he says.

Corneil says he "anticipates" that the next vaccine, produced by Moderna, will come to his district in January, but he says the exact details of the plan are still being worked out in "extensive meetings."