The Northern Health Region says that they’re using this period of calm to prepare for the second wave of COVID-19 in the fall.

Doctor Natalie Casaclang, one of the Medical Officers of Health for the authority, says the Northern Health Region currently has three weeks supply of personal protective equipment on hand, which they are closely monitoring.

She adds that the region is looking at how they can increase testing capacity and how they can safely isolate people who aren’t able to be at home.

Casaclang says while she can’t predict when exactly the second wave of the virus will come, it’s important to remain vigilant in following public health guidelines.

She explains this is especially imperative that we take what we learned from the first wave of the virus as flu season comes up in the fall, as COVID-19 shares most of its symptoms with the common flu, and that we should treat the flu season as COVID season.