The Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit reported five new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday.
Two of the cases are in the City of Kawartha Lakes and three are in Northumberland County. There were also six more resolved cases. Of the health unit’s 1,015 cases since the pandemic was declared in March 2020, 930 have been resolved (91.6 per cent), leaving 32 active cases, one less than Tuesday.
The active cases include 20 in Northumberland County and 12 in the Kawarthas. There are no active cases in Haliburton County as of Wednesday after the lone active case was declared resolved.
Last week, the health unit also reported a COVID-19 variant was found in Port Hope.
On Wednesday afternoon, Dr. Ian Gemmill, acting medical officer of health, says there are now has nine COVID-19 variant cases. Seven of the cases are in Northumberland County and two in the City of Kawartha Lakes.
The source of all of the VOCs are tied to contacts with others outside the HKPRDHU region. Gemmill says he’s not concerned with community spread of the variant as all cases are in isolation and quarantine.
“The 9 VOCs involve three clusters and a single case — and in all these situations, these local VOCs are well under control as the people involved are isolating and limiting their contacts,” he said.
“What is worrisome is the continuing spread of coronavirus variants across Ontario. We are likely to see more of these VOCs in our region, so the need to take public health prevention measures continues to be important until more people are vaccinated.”
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The health unit also reports three active outbreaks as of Wednesday.
- Warkworth Place long-term care: Declared Feb. 17 — one staff member tests positive.
- Regency long-term care home in Port Hope: Declared Jan. 30 with four cases — one resident and three staff members.
- Caressant Care McLaughlin long-term care in Lindsay: Declared Jan. 9 — 17 resident deaths. No active cases as of Tuesday evening, according to Ross Memorial Hospital on Wednesday morning. There have been 62 resident and 49 staff cases since the onset of the outbreak.
As of Wednesday, there are currently four people hospitalized in connection with the virus (down from five on Tuesday). Two of the four patients are in an intensive care unit. Since the pandemic’s beginnings, there have been 44 cases requiring hospitalized care.
The death toll remains at 66 with 11 in Northumberland County, 55 in the City of Kawartha Lakes, and none in Haliburton County. Twenty-eight deaths in the Kawarthas were associated with an outbreak at Pinecrest Nursing Home in the spring of 2020. Another 17 deaths in the Kawarthas have been attributed to the ongoing outbreak at Caressant Care McLaughlin.
Schools in the health unit’s jurisdiction with active cases:
- Cobourg Collegiate Institute: 2
- Northumberland Hills Public School in Casteton: 1
- St. Dominic Catholic Elementary School in Lindsay: 1
The health unit on Monday said it was expecting this week to receive more than 4,500 doses of the Pfizer vaccine and 1,700 doses of Moderna. The Pfizer vaccine will be administered to staff of long-term care and retirement homes, essential caregivers in those facilities, and health care workers in area hospitals. The Moderna vaccine will be used to provide the second dose to those residents of long-term care and high-risk retirement homes who had received their first dose last month.
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