Ontario’s Ministry of Health reports the Peterborough region has more than 400 active cases of COVID-19 following the Easter long weekend.
Due to the holiday weekend, Peterborough Public Health has not updated its COVID-19 tracker since Wednesday, April 13. However, the province issued the following data for the health unit’s jurisdiction of Peterborough, Peterborough County, Curve Lake First Nation and Hiawatha First Nation since April 13:
PCR lab-confirmed active cases: 406 — up from 333 reported by the health unit on April 13. The province and health unit note the number of active cases being reported is an “underestimation” due to changes to PCR testing availability effective Dec. 31, 2021.
New PCR-confirmed cases: 207 since the Wednesday, April 13 update.
Cumulative lab-confirmed cases: 6,732 since the pandemic began.
Community Risk Index: As of Wednesday, April 13, the region’s community risk index was moved up to “very high risk” from “high risk” reported the past two weeks. The index will be updated each Wednesday afternoon. The risk index uses a number of factors such as case rate, hospitalizations, deaths, PCR test positivity, rapid antigen test positivity and wastewater surveillance.
Deaths: 65 — unchanged since April 13, when two deaths were reported. On March 11, the health unit removed three deaths reported early in the pandemic from its database due to a change in provincial reporting methodology.
Hospitalized cases: Peterborough Regional Health Centre as of Monday afternoon reported 34 inpatients, up from 33 reported on April 14. There were 32 reported on April 13. The hospital reports one patient transfer related to provincial directives so far in 2022.
Resolved cases: The 6,261 cumulative resolved cases make up approximately 93 per cent of all lab-confirmed cases since the pandemic was declared.
Outbreaks
The health unit only reports “high-risk” outbreaks. On April 14, a new outbreak was declared at Peterborough Regional Health Centre’s C3 inpatient unit. Details are unavailable.
An outbreak at Royal Gardens Retirement Residence in Peterborough was declared over on April 15. Declared April 6, the home reported the outbreak involved two resident cases that were considered to be linked.
PRHC only lists one active outbreak, meaning the outbreak declared April 6 at the C2 inpatient unit has been lifted. At the time the hospital reported three patient cases and two staff cases.
As of April 13, the health unit reported these other active outbreaks:
- Congregate living facility (No. 36) in Peterborough: Declared April 13.
- Congregate living facility (No. 35) in Peterborough: Declared April 13.
- St. John’s Centre retirement home in Peterborough: Declared April 12.
- Centennial Place long-term care in Millbrook: Declared April 11. The home reports two cases — one resident and one staff member — in the Harvest House home area.
- Congregate living facility (No. 35) in Peterborough: Declared April 8.
- Rubidge Retirement Residence in Peterborough: Declared April 6.
- Congregate living facility (No. 34) in Peterborough: Declared April 5.
- Congregate living facility (No. 33) in Peterborough: Declared April 4.
- Congregate living facility (No. 32) in Peterborough: Declared April 4.
- Kawartha Heights Retirement Living in Peterborough: Declared on April 1.
- Congregate living facility (No. 30) in Peterborough: Declared March 30.
Vaccination
The health unit’s vaccination data has not been updated since April 13. No clinics were held on Monday.
Due to demand, the health unit will require all appointments to be booked via Ontario’s online portal or by calling the provincial vaccine booking call centre at 1-833-943-3900.
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.
Testing continues at Peterborough Regional Health Centre’s assessment centre at 1 Hospital Dr. More information about booking a test through the COVID-19 Assessment Centre can be found on the health unit’s website.
Rapid antigen tests: Pharmacies and grocery retailers in Peterborough and Peterborough County are offering kits. Visit the government’s website for updated availability.