The Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit reported 91 new cases of COVID-19 over the last three days. The spike is mainly attributed to the escalating cases at the Central East Correctional Centre in Lindsay over the Victoria Day weekend
The health unit says the outbreak at the Lindsay jail as of Tuesday afternoon now has 131 confirmed cases of COVID-19 – 122 inmates and nine staff. The outbreak was initially declared on May 17 involving six inmates who tested positive at various areas of the jail.
It is now deemed a facility-wide outbreak involving inmates and staff after another 67 cases were reported over the weekend which make up the 88 new cases in Kawarthas over the last 72 hours.
Laboratory testing has detected mutations consistent with a COVID-19 variant, however, the specific variant lineage is yet to be confirmed and could take several weeks before results are available, the health unit reports.
“Our staff are working closely with the health services staff within the facility to help prevent any further spread,” stated Dr. Natalie Bocking, medical officer of health. “We have seen these measures implemented in outbreaks in other correctional facilities in the province and they have helped prevent any further spread and helped bring the outbreaks to a close. Coupled with increased infection and prevention control measures being implemented by the facility, we hope to see these individuals recover and no further cases.”
As of Tuesday, the number of active cases for the health unit is 179, up from 117 reported on Saturday. No case data updates were provided Sunday and Monday.
There are 147 active cases in the Kawarthas, 31 in Northumberland and one in Haliburton County.
There are now 1,752 resolved cases of the 1,992 cumulative cases. Resolved cases make up 87.9 per cent of the cases.
Over the weekend, the outbreaks were declared over at a Dairy Queen restaurant in Lindsay (declared May 11 with four cases) and the OPP offender transport unit in Lindsay (declared May 9 with five cases).
The only other active outbreak is at Campbellford Farm Supply Ltd., declared May 19. Case details have not been made available.
Other data for Tuesday:
- Vaccinations: as of Monday, the health unit reports 95,921 residents have received at least one vaccine dose. Of those, 7,335 people have received both their first and second dose.
- Deaths: 74 — the latest was reported in Northumberland County on May 20. Since March 2020, the health unit has reported 56 virus-related deaths in the City of Kawartha Lakes, 17 in Northumberland County and one in Haliburton County.
- Hospitalized cases: 71 — one more since May 22. Seven people are currently in an area hospital with five in an intensive care unit (both unchanged since May 22). Ross Memorial Hospital in Lindsay reported four admitted COVID-19 patients as of noon Tuesday, unchanged since May 19.
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