For the first time since the coronavirus pandemic began, Lambton residents can easily see where cases have been appearing most in the county.
Officials with Lambton Public Health on Tuesday unveiled a new online COVID-19 mapping tool that breaks the county down into five areas and displays how many cases have been reported in each during the pandemic, as well as over the last month.
Health officials say the new tool, which splits the county into two rural and three urban reporting regions, will allow the public to access information about coronavirus cases in their area while keeping the personal health information of those individuals private.
“This is an important tool for Lambton County, as it allows the public to visualize how case rates vary across our urban and rural regions, accounting for the fact that some regions have more residents than others,” said Siobhan Churchill, an epidemiologist with LPH, in a statement.
According to the new tool, Central Sarnia and Point Edward, grouped together as “Urban 2,” have collectively reported the largest number of cases during the pandemic with 98. Of those, eight have been in the last month.
Get weekly health news
South Sarnia and Aamjiwnaang First Nation, grouped together as “Urban 3,” have collectively reported a combined 94 cases, including five in the last month.
“Rural 2,” covering Lambton Shores, Plympton-Wyoming, Warwick, and Kettle and Stoney Point First Nation, has seen a total of 37 cases, the fewest among the five reporting regions. No cases have been reported within the last month.
-
![]()
Canada mandates front-of-package warnings for foods high in fat, sugar or sodium -
![]()
Patient diagnosed with heart disease days after giving birth receives ‘world first’ procedure -
![]()
Health Canada makes front-of-package nutrition warning labels mandatory -
![]()
MS patient calling out systematic failures in B.C. drug coverage
Up until now, Lambton residents have been largely in the dark as to where cases have been occurring specifically. The health unit previously only provided a simple ‘rural/urban’ pie graph, and refused to release more granular detail, citing patient privacy.
While the tool is a notable improvement from what had been offered previously, the amount of detail that can be gleaned from the tool is still minimal compared to what is offered by neighbouring health units.
Other health units, such as Huron Perth Public Health, Grey Bruce Public Health, Southwestern Public Health, and the Middlesex-London Health Unit, have been posting case numbers from each municipality in their respective regions for months.
According to Public Health Ontario, Lambton County’s overall incident rate stands at 279 cases per 100,000 people, compared to Chatham-Kent’s 351, Huron-Perth’s 100, London-Middlesex’ 206, and Southwestern Public Health’s 141.
The county has reported 18 cases since the start of October, and a total of 365 cases since the pandemic began. Of those, 329 have recovered and 25 have died. The death toll has not changed in several months.
Health unit data shows the test per cent positivity rate for the county was 0.11 per cent as of the week of Sept. 27 to Oct. 3, the most recent figures available. About 3,426 people were tested that week.
Comments