The COVID-19 pandemic

[tomh009]

WEDNESDAY 2020-11-04

Waterloo Region again reported 23 new cases for today (17.4% of the active cases).  136 new cases for the week (+15), averaging 17.9% of active cases (ugh). 140 active cases (+46 in the last seven days).

This is quite disconcerting, really. The number of active cases is creeping up -- 50% increase in the last week -- but on top of that, the new cases as a percentage of actives (which implies R0, or the infection rate) is also increasing. What has changed in the region?

People having parties. Wasn’t there a wedding that ended up with a whole bunch of infections?

Anyway, people are having large gatherings, and this is likely the cause.

I suspect you are right: it's being spread in private settings more so than in public ones, where the rules mandate masks and distancing. And from that point of view, I could see relaxing some of those rules. But if relaxing the public-setting rules causes people to become even less vigilant at home and in private settings, then we have a recipe for disaster.