COVID-19: 2 new cases for Peterborough area; outbreak declared at Roger Neilson Public School

For the third consecutive day, the number of active cases of COVID-19 in the Peterborough area remains at 18, according to data from Peterborough Public Health on Friday afternoon.

From its COVID tracker update issued around 4:20 p.m., the regional health unit again reported two new cases of COVID-19 following two days in a row of single cases.

Other data from the health unit — which serves Peterborough, Peterborough County, Hiawatha First Nation and Curve Lake First Nation — on Friday:

• Cumulative confirmed cases: 1,891 since the pandemic was declared in March 2020.
• Variant of concern cases: 1,109 — one more since Thursday’s update. The first confirmed Delta variant case was reported on June 19 and the first variant case was reported on Feb. 23.
• Resolved cases: 1,850 — two more since Thursday (1,848). Resolved cases make up approximately 97.4 per cent of all cases.
• Close contacts: 162 – unchanged from Thursday’s update. A close contact is a person who is known to have had close contact with someone who was infected with COVID-19. People who are close contacts have to self-isolate for 14 days from the last time they had contact with a person infected with COVID-19.
• Peterborough Regional Health Centre: Reported no COVID-19 inpatients as of Tuesday afternoon (most recent data). Since the pandemic’s beginning, there have been at least 76 patient transfers from other areas.
• Hospitalizations: 88 cases have required hospitalized care since the pandemic began, making up approximately five per cent of all cases; 18 of the cases required the intensive care unit. ICU admissions make up one per cent of cases.
• Outbreaks: An outbreak was declared Friday at Roger Neilson Public School in Peterborough. The health unit has dealt with 335 cases (two more since Thursday’s update) associated with 57 outbreaks since the pandemic’s beginnings. Of the 335 outbreak cases, 97 have been in a school setting (19 elementary, six secondary and 72 post-secondary).
• Deaths: 23 — the latest death was reported on Sept. 10.
• COVID-19 exposure: 75.8 per cent of all cases (1,434) in the health unit’s jurisdiction are from contact with another existing case, 19.8 per cent (375 cases) are connected with community spread, 3.9 per cent (74 cases) are related to travel and 0.5 per cent (eight cases) have yet to be determined.
• Testing: More than 62,450 people have been tested for COVID-19 — an additional 100 since Thursday’s update.
• Enforcement: Since Oct. 1, three charges have been laid against one business under the Reopening Ontario Act.

The Peterborough Victoria Northumberland Clarington Catholic District School Board again reported four active cases at its schools within the health unit’s jurisdiction on Friday afternoon (the school board does not state if cases involve students or staff).

• St. Anne Catholic Elementary School in Peterborough: Two cases, unchanged since Wednesday. School remains open.
• St. Paul Catholic Elementary School in Norwood: Two cases, unchanged since Wednesday. Three cases from an outbreak have been resolved. School remains open.

The Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board, as of 10:17 a.m. Friday again reported two active cases among its schools within the health unit’s jurisdiction (the school board does not state if cases involve students or staff):

• Norwood District Intermediate School in Norwood: One case, unchanged since Wednesday. School remains open
• Roger Neilson Public School in Peterborough: One case, unchanged since Wednesday. The health unit declared an outbreak at the school on Friday afternoon. School remains open.

Trent University reported no active cases at its Peterborough and Durham campuses on Friday afternoon. It says 93 per cent of students and 96 per cent of employees are fully vaccinated and four per cent of students and one per cent of staff are partially vaccinated.

Fleming College has not reported any cases at its Peterborough campus.

The health unit releases its weekly vaccination rate data on Wednesday. The latest data can be found in this Global News Peterborough story.

All testing and medical assessments for COVID-19 in Peterborough are now consolidated at Peterborough Regional Health Centre’s assessment centre at 1 Hospital Dr. Appointments must be booked online.

A number of Peterborough and area pharmacies offer vaccinations to eligible recipients. Appointments are required and can be made by calling the respective pharmacies or visiting the Ontario government’s website.