“,”heading”:””,”fullWindow”:false,”fullBleed”:false,”showFullBleedOnMobile”:false,”headColor”:””,”type”:”html5mobile”,”textColor”:””,”mobileImageUrl”:””,”bgColor”:””,”imageUrl”:””,”registeredOnly”:false,”linkUrl”:””,”internalScroll”:false,”displayStyle”:”small-up”},{“text”:”Low testing in April may have masked community infections, experts say. Today, more people are being tested. “,”type”:”text”,”isParagraph”:true},{“text”:”“Another explanation could be that people are not practising physical distancing as seriously as before, resulting in more new infections,” said Zahid Butt, a public health professor who studies infectious disease. “We may have to wait for a few weeks to get a clearer picture.””,”type”:”text”,”isParagraph”:true},{“text”:”Bauch sees low testing as a possible explanation “but also it suggests that community transmission is still happening somehow, somewhere.””,”type”:”text”,”isParagraph”:true},{“type”:”textBreakPoint”,”insertAt”:”contentMiddleBreakPoint”},{“type”:”ad”,”heading”:”ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW”,”name”:”ArticleSecondBigBox”,”display”:”medium-down”,”pos”:”2″,”interstitial”:true,”sizes”:[[300,250]]},{“text”:”“It would be good to know what’s going on with the uptick in cases,” said Craig Janes, director of the School of Public Health. “Is this the result of some super-spreading events?” He said it’s hard to know without more tests and better tracing of infection contacts.”,”type”:”text”,”isParagraph”:true},{“type”:”articleRelatedInlinePrimary”},{“text”:”Is now the right time to relax pandemic restrictions and physical distancing ?”,”type”:”text”,”isParagraph”:true},{“snippet”:””,”heading”:””,”fullWindow”:false,”fullBleed”:false,”showFullBleedOnMobile”:false,”headColor”:””,”type”:”html5mobile”,”textColor”:””,”mobileImageUrl”:””,”bgColor”:””,”imageUrl”:””,”registeredOnly”:false,”linkUrl”:””,”internalScroll”:false,”displayStyle”:”small-up”},{“text”:”“I think there should be stronger evidence for a reduction of cases in the community before restrictions are relaxed in this region,” Bauch said.”,”type”:”text”,”isParagraph”:true},{“text”:”“Plans to re-open schools and workplaces usually assume that cases have passed their peak due to physical distancing measures, but there is not strong evidence that the K-W region has passed the peak in community transmission.””,”type”:”text”,”isParagraph”:true},{“text”:”Butt advises a “stepwise process with low-risk areas opening first as compared to high-risk areas, with the provision that they may be closed if there a surge of new cases.””,”type”:”text”,”isParagraph”:true},{“type”:”slimcut”},{“text”:”Experts want more virus testing. The regional public health unit has expanded testing slower than the rest of Ontario, achieving only 91 per cent of the average provincial growth in tests, since April 14. “,”type”:”text”,”isParagraph”:true},{“type”:”articleRelatedInlineSecondary”},{“text”:”Matching the provincial rate would have meant another 2,721 tests completed locally between April 15 and May 11. “,”type”:”text”,”isParagraph”:true},{“type”:”relatedStories”,”relatedStories”:[]},{“type”:”cta”,”buttonText”:”Sign Up”,”buttonLink”:”/newsletters-signup.html?nsrc=article-inline-covid”,”description”:”Never miss the latest news from The Record, including up-to-date coronavirus coverage, with our email newsletters.”,”title”:”Get the latest in your inbox”},{“text”:”“We need to test as widely as possible,” Janes said. Without the capacity to do so, the region should strive to test more than just vulnerable or high-risk groups, by also testing people who appear infected based on symptoms, he said.”,”type”:”text”,”isParagraph”:true},{“text”:”Bauch sees high testing rates as an important factor in countries such as Germany and South Korea that have controlled their outbreaks. “So I think that higher testing rates would help in the K-W region as well, including for the wider community,” he said. “,”type”:”text”,”isParagraph”:true},{“text”:”Greater testing of close contacts “could be very useful in identifying persons who are spreading the virus but not yet showing symptoms,” he said. “,”type”:”text”,”isParagraph”:true},{“type”:”textBreakPoint”,”insertAt”:”contentEndBreakPoint”},{“text”:”He recognizes that Ontario needs more laboratory capacity to achieve greater, faster testing. Without that “we have no choice but to focus testing on at-risk groups.””,”type”:”text”,”isParagraph”:true},{“text”:”Jeff Outhit is a Waterloo Region-based general assignment reporter for the Record. 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