The Haliburton, Kawartha Pine Ridge District Health Unit shifts Monday to a “yellow — protect” designation as the number of active cases in the health unit’s jurisdiction remains below 30.
On Friday, the province announced the health unit would move from its “orange — restrict” designation to yellow. As of Friday afternoon, there are 26 active cases of COVID-19 after three new cases were reported in Northumberland County. There were 21 active cases reported on Thursday. The health unit notes case data is subject to change as cases are reassigned.
There remains one active outbreak declared at the Regency Place long-term care in Port Hope where a staff member tested positive on Jan. 30.
In comparison, a month ago on Feb. 5, there were 11 active outbreaks for the health unit and 77 active cases of COVID-19. On Jan. 5, there were 79 active cases and two outbreaks.
“We’ve had a significant decrease in COVID-19 cases over the last two-week period, so that’s great news to be rewarded with a move to ‘yellow’ because things are looking better,” stated Dr. Ian Gemmill, acting medical officer of health. “That said, I want to urge people not to let their guard down and continue taking COVID-19 precautions because the situation could quickly change.”
The active cases are evenly split between the Kawarthas and Northumberland County with none in Haliburton County.
Of the health unit’s 1,042 cases since the pandemic was declared, 962 are now resolved, or approximately 92 per cent.
There remain 14 variant-of-concern cases for the health unit and these consist of a dozen cases in Northumberland and two in the Kawarthas.
The number of high-risk contacts increased by one on Friday to 93 (50 in Northumberland, 38 in the Kawarthas, and three in Haliburton County).
Also on Friday, the health unit reports three people are currently receiving hospitalized care. One of the three patients is in an intensive care unit, one fewer than Thursday. Ross Memorial Hospital in Lindsay reports that it does not currently have any COVID-19 admissions as of noon Friday.
The death toll from COVID-19 sits at 67 for the health unit: 55 people in the Kawarthas — which included 28 residents at Pinecrest Nursing Home in Bobcaygeon in the spring of 2020 and 18 residents at Caressant Care McLaughlin long-term care in Lindsay following an outbreak in January which was declared over on Monday.
There have also been 11 deaths in Northumberland County. The first COVID-19 death in Haliburton County was reported on Thursday.
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