Good news and bad news on the COVID-19 front in the region.
The bad news is that there are 153 new cases since Friday’s report.
Fifty-five are in the Kenora area, 35 in the Sioux Lookout Health Hub, 33 in the Fort Frances area, 22 in the Dryden Health Hub, four in Emo, two in Atikokan and one each in Red Lake and Rainy River.
Health officials note that the Sioux Lookout Health Hub includes cases reported in First Nations communities in the Sioux Lookout area. More detailed numbers can be found here: https://www.slfnha.com/covid/
The good news is there has been a significant drop in the number of active cases since Friday.
They’ve gone down to 419 today, from a high of 518:
(Health Hubs)
Kenora: 181
Sioux Lookout: 162
Fort Frances: 28
Dryden: 27
Atikokan: 7
Red Lake: 6
Emo: 6
Rainy River: 2
Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kit Young Hoon notes the numbers are underestimated as the majority of Ontario’s population can’t be tested due to provincial restrictions.
“Case numbers are going to increase. I think what’s key here is reducing spread as much as we can that’s reasonable but also to give out things such as vaccination levels. One of the key things that should be monitored at this point are the hospitalization rates.”
There are 7 people hospitalized in our region and 13 COVID-related deaths.
Dr. Young Hoon says the fifth wave has arrived.
“This is going to look like a different wave. We are dealing with a different entity here. Omicron is more transmissible than the Delta variant then previous variants. This is being seen across the province and across the country. This is not unique to Northwestern Health Unit.”
Meantime, the Thunder Bay District Health Unit is reporting 268 new cases since Friday but the number of actives has dropped to 308.
Only three people are in hospital.
In Ontario, 2,467 are in hospital with the virus and 438 are in ICU.
There were 9,706 new cases recorded Monday.
