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Three More Algae Blooms Reported

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Three more cases of algae blooms found in the Dryden and Sioux Lookout area.

The Northwestern Health Unit says there have been reports in Abram Lake in Sioux Lookout, Minnitaki Lake near Sioux Lookout and Wabigoon Lake in Dryden near the Eagles Landing Golf Course.

The algae blooms are currently being tested by the Ministry of the Environnment to see if they are blue/green algae.

At this point the Health Unit says it doesn’t know if they blooms are blue/green algae, but suggests the public treat them as such.

Some blue/green algae blooms can be toxic to people and animals.

Last week, an algae bloom was reported in Pelican Lake in Sioux Lookout.

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Positivity Rate Rising Slightly

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One leap forward, two leaps back.

That seems to be what’s happening to our COVID-19 rates in the region.

The seven-day positivity rate has increased to 17.8 per cent, up from 16.1 per cent earlier in the week.

The one bit of positive news is that the number of active high-risk cases dropped to 240, down from 259 in Wednesday’s report from the Northwestern Health Unit.

Local Health Hub Active Resolved Total
Atikokan 1 110 111
Dryden 11 541 552
Emo 0 201 201
Fort Frances 8 1,146 1,154
Kenora 24 1,539 1,563
Rainy River 2 229 231
Red Lake 8 233 241
Sioux Lookout
(on reserve)		 182 2,023 2,205
Sioux Lookout
(off reserve)		 4 466 470
Other 0 5 5
TOTALS 240 6,493 6,733
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Another 30 Cases Of COVID In The Region

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There are now 197 active cases of COVID-19 in the region.

The Northwestern Health Unit confirms 30 more positive results today.

14 of those are in the Kenora area, 8 in the Sioux Lookout Health Hub, 6 in the Dryden area and 2 in Red Lake.

Since last Friday there have been 109 cases of COVID-19.

Of the active cases, 77 are in the Kenora area and 47 in the Dryden Health Hub.

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No Active Cases Of COVID-19 In The Region

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For the first time in months, there are no active cases of COVID-19 in the region.

The Northwestern Health Unit says there were no new cases for the second day in a row.

It’s different down the road in the Thunder Bay district where there are 16 active cases.

There were four new positive results today.

There were also 419 new cases in Ontario with 279 coming from individuals who are not fully vaccinated or have an unknown vaccination status.

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NWHU Active COVID Cases Drop Over Weekend

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The Northwestern Health Unit says there is one new case of COVID-19 in the region since their last update on Friday morning.

It’s one of the five total active cases within their catchment area and comes from the Rainy River district.

All of the active cases, including one hospitalization, are currently in the Rainy River health hub.

Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kit Young Hoon says the health unit is continuing to monitor the COVID-19 situation in the Emo area, following an outbreak at Sturgeon Creek Alternative Program and SonShine Christian Kindergarten.

The regional health authority tells us that they’ve now administered 125,255 doses of vaccine to date.

“Our vaccination coverage rate is getting higher,” says Dr. Kit Young Hoon. “Of those in our region aged 12 and older 87.5 per-cent have had at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while nearly 81 per-cent have had two doses. We do continue to offer COVID-19 vaccine appointments in many of our communities.”

Dr. Young Hoon stresses it’s important that anyone who has symptoms of COVID-19 gets tested, even if the symptom is mild.

Provincially, the number for one dose is 87.1 per-cent while the two-dose rate sits at 82.4 per-cent.

To the east, the Thunder Bay District Health Unit is also reporting one new case.

Christine Elliott, Ontario’s Health Minister, says there are 390 new cases Monday across Ontario. Just under 67 per-cent of those (260) are people who are either not fully vaccinated or have an unknown vaccine status.

(With Files From Sarah McCarthy)

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NWHU: No Herd Immunity Yet

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The vaccination rate for COVID-19 in the region for the first dose is just over 87 percent.

Dr. Kit Young Hoon is the Medical Officer of Health for the Northwestern Health Unit says while that number is good, it’s not good enough.

“It’s very challenging to reach that percentage because a large portion of our population is not eligible to be vaccinated,” says Young Hoon, “We are still aiming at this point to have a high vaccination rate, but it’s not possible to reach herd immunity because those under 12 can’t be vaccinated.”

Young Hoon explains where we need to be for that herd immunity.

“To achieve herd immunity we need 85 to 90 percent of the population vaccinated, but it’s hard to reach that because a large part of our population isn’t eligible (to receive the vaccine).”

The second dose vaccination rate in the region is 80.5 percent.

The Health Unit has administered over 124,000 doses of the vaccine to date.

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Active Cases Static Despite New Results

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The Northwestern Health Unit says that even though there are four new cases of COVID-19 within their catchment area as of Thursday morning, the number of active cases remains at eight where it was Wednesday.

Two of the new cases are from the Rainy River district, while there is one new case in each of the Kenora and Sioux Lookout regions.

When it comes to the active cases, there are four in the Rainy River area, two in Dryden/Red Lake, one in Kenora and one in Sioux Lookout.

To date, the Health Unit tells us that there have been 1,153 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the region since the pandemic began.

The Thunder Bay District Health Unit sees another day with no new cases.

Across Ontario, Health Minister Christine Elliott says that there are 677 new cases. She adds that 529 of the cases, or just over 78 per-cent, are in people who are not fully vaccinated or have an unknown vaccine status.

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No New Cases Reported By NWHU

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The Northwestern Health Unit says they have no new cases of COVID-19 to report Tuesday morning.

They tell us that there are currently nine active cases within their catchment area; six in the Rainy River district and three in the Dryden/Red Lake area.

Since the start of the pandemic, the NWHU has administered 113,707 COVID-19 swabs with a test positivity rate of 1.01 per-cent.

On the vaccine front, they say that a total of 119,690 shots have gone into arms.

That translates to 85 per-cent of the 12+ population with at least one dose and 76.7 per-cent with two doses.

Taking a step back and looking at the provincial numbers, Health Minister Christine Elliott says there are 574 new cases of COVID-19 Tuesday across Ontario. Of those, 434 (75.6 per-cent) are in people who are not fully vaccinated or have an unknown vaccine status.

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NWHU Reports Five New COVID-19 Cases

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The Northwestern Health Unit says there are five new cases of COVID-19 here in the region since their last report on Friday.

Three of the new cases come from the Rainy River district, while the other two are from the Dryden Red Lake region.

They’re part of the 12 active cases the NWHU is tracking within their catchment area, all located in either the Rainy River or Dryden/Red Lake areas.

Since they became available, the health unit tells us that they and their partners have administered 119,326 doses of vaccine.

84.7 per-cent of all those eligible (12+) have received at least one dose, while 76.5 per-cent are fully vaccinated.

For the first time in a few days, there’s one new positive test result in the Thunder Bay District making for four active.

Across Ontario there are 610 new cases and two COVID related deaths.

458 cases are in individuals who are not fully vaccinated or have an unknown vaccination status.

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NWHU COVID Vaccination Numbers Going Up

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Improved, but still below the provincial numbers.

That’s the latest update when it comes to COVID-19 vaccine uptake within the Northwestern Health Unit.

The new numbers show that 83.7 per-cent of those 12+ within the catchment area have had at least one dose of vaccine, while 75.3 per-cent are fully vaccinated.

Those numbers are compared to 84.5 per-cent (at least one dose) and 78.2 per-cent (fully vaccinated) for Ontario as a whole.

The numbers from the Thunder Bay District Health Unit are similar to the NWHU (82.5 per-cent with one dose, 74.6 per-cent fully vaccinated), while in Manitoba those numbers sit at 83.6 per-cent (at least one dose) and 78.7 per-cent (fully vaccinated).

To date, the NWHU has administered 117,647 doses of COVID-19 vaccine.

The health unit tells us they are hosting vaccines clinics throughout the week, with all of them taking place at area schools.

The Health Unit says that if you’d like to book an appointment you can click here to use their online booking system or call them at 1-866-468-2240.

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