Kingston Report

Sadly for me as a longtime Kingston resident, I am no longer able to produce a meaningful weekly Kingston COVID report as a result of Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington Public Health having been merged with Hastings Prince Edward Public Health and the Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit to create South East Public Health . While the merged unit continues to produce the same weekly statistics, they are no longer as useful to Kingston residents wishing to know their current risk of COVID exposure.

Viewing the merged statistics, the greater Kingston area accounts for only 37% of the population served by South East Public Health. For example, the new stats for South East COVID deaths show 51 over the past 12 months of which, proportionately, Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington should have had 19. We actually had 14, which is 39% lower.  

Remarkably, thanks to our then proactive, province-leading Health Unit, no Kingstonians died from COVID in 2020, the first year of the pandemic. Statistically, of Ontario’s 4,098 fatalities, all else being equal we could have expected 60 such deaths. Adjusting for our higher percentage of seniors, that figure would realistically be closer to 70. Those 70 lives were undoubtedly saved thanks to the aggressively  proactive preventative measures unilaterally imposed by our then-Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore in face of the oncoming pandemic.  With the Ford Government having significantly increased their control over the health units, political considerations will inescapably slow and impair responses to the inevitable future medical emergencies.  Were those 70 lives worth it?  I believe that most Kingstonians would say “Hell, yes”.