Brampton becomes provincial hotspot for coronavirus

Brampton now has more active cases per capita than Toronto, becoming the GTA's primary COVID-19 hotspot. Tina Yazdani looks at the numerous factors contributing to an alarming spike in cases.

By Tina Yazdani and Dilshad Burman

Brampton’s coronavirus case numbers have spiked, with the city now reporting the second highest number of cases in the GTHA overall, second only to Toronto.

Brampton is currently reporting 61 active cases per 100,000 residents and Toronto reported 53 active cases on Wednesday. Although the daily numbers for Toronto are still higher, Brampton has surpassed Toronto in per capita numbers.

The reason for the high numbers is a combination of factors says Shane Teper, site chief of family medicine at William Osler Health Centre.

“It’s not a simple answer. It’s related to population density, it’s related to amount of testing that’s happening, it’s related to disease prevalence in the community. Multiple factors have made Peel one of the hotspots,” he said.

City councillors believe it could have something to do with a sudden spike in illegal gatherings in the city.

On Wednesday, Councillor Pat Fortini said a record number of bylaw infraction charges were laid between June 2 and 8, in accordance with the Emergency Management Civil Protection Act.

Bylaw officers laid 127 charges and gave out 80 warnings for infractions including using park equipment and gathering in parking lots.

Fortini said the majority of the 263 complaints received were about social distancing and the maximum number of charges were laid for house parties — 92 charges spread out over 24 parties. Nineteen charges were laid at a single house party alone.

Fortini said the repeated breaking of rules could hold Brampton and the entire region back from moving into Stage 2 of reopening.

“Some of these parties there were 30 to 40 people,” he tells CityNews. “It is frustrating.  I think that if everyone suffers that three-four weeks and obeys the rules we’ll get through this a lot faster,” he said.

Epidemiologists believe it’s not just an increase in close contact gatherings that is causing the spike of cases in Brampton.

Colin Furness, an epidemiologist from the Dalla Lana School of Public Health says the developments are not unexpected. He says the path of COVID-19 in Ontario is very similar to that of tuberculosis (TB).

“[COVID-19] is travelling a very well worn path — that is to say there are vulnerable populations and COVID is finding them,” he says.

“In Brampton it’s new Canadians and there’s poverty. They’re very often racialized persons, they’re in essential work, low status, low pay, high-risk jobs. They don’t have the means and the choice to work from home,” adds Furness.

In addition, Furness says living conditions could be exacerbating the issue.

“There’s crowding in accommodations — many members of a family living in a small space. This is what makes TB thrive and it is also what makes COVID thrive.”

In the U.S., public health officials discovered in April that the potentially lethal COVID-19 virus was disproportionately affecting Black communities.

“I see a convergence between the public health challenges we have right now and the anti-racism movement we have right now. We can do better,” says Furness.

A spokeswoman for Health Minister Christine Elliott has previously said the province was working with public health and privacy experts to collect such data, but noted it would require changing regulations.

Some public health units in Ontario, including Toronto, have begun collecting race-based data with permission from the province, but it has not been implemented province wide.

In this week’s COVID-19 epidemiologic summary, Public Health Ontario reported that the number of cases in the most diverse neighbourhoods was 3.2 times higher and three times higher in the poorest neighbourhoods than in the least diverse and wealthiest neighbourhoods.

“Government at the provincial level has to say ‘we understand that racialized communities are getting the short end of the stick with COVID’ and we can fix that. It’s a question of policy,” says Furness.

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