COVID VARIANT ‘IS IN MUSKOKA’ — AND IT COULD SPREAD, SO ‘STAY AT HOME’

Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com

SIMCOE-MUSOKA — You may be out of the house — but not out of danger.

One case of the COVID variant “is in Muskoka” and the health unit is awaiting final confirmation after it passed the first detection stage, Dr. Charles Gardner said this afternoon in his weekly briefing.

And he says it could spread.

He said it’s “mostly likely” the UK variant and those connected with the person have been contacted through the health unit’s new augmented protocol.

He wouldn’t say the sex of the person, their age, where they live or how they got it for privacy reasons.

But it’s why Gardner “heavily advises” you stay at home. Even as the region moved down to the “red control zone” today, which last week he advised against.

This as Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit (SMDHU) reports 124 COVID cases today (the province reports 144) over the weekend.

They include three cases in Muskoka’s towns:

  • A man, aged 65-79, in Bracebridge is under investigation with a first episode date of Feb. 13 and a reporting date of Feb. 15.
  • A woman in Gravenhurst, 34-44, is also under investigation with a first episode of Feb. 13 and reported Feb. 14.
  • A man in Huntsville, 45-64, is part of an outbreak with a first episode Feb. 10 and reported Feb. 11.

Gardner added that plans are now in the works for a mass public vaccine immunization clinics rollout in March.

There will be at least one site in each of SMDHU’s six sub regions — including Muskoka — where there is room for lots of parking, or on a bus route and with lots of room for people to space apart with lining up.

Meanwhile, vaccinations will continue with concentration on the 30,000 regional residents aged 80 and older. As well as for additional front-line health personnel.

Gardner added there were 21 new deaths this past week, bringing to 179 the total number — just three of them in Muskoka.

“I’m tired of it,” he said, “but it’s going to be months yet.”

He was buoyed by the cases per 100,000 total of 22.9, which is half what it was last week; and is about half the provincial average. But much lower than in the GTA.

HEALTH UNIT HIGHLIGHTS:

  • To date 153 local cases have been tested positive for the COVID-19 variant of concern UK B.1.1.7 and an additional 131 cases have screened positive (awaiting confirmatory testing)
  • 28,366 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Simcoe Muskoka.
  • This includes more than 12,000 individuals that have received both of the required doses of the vaccine.
  • In addition, 2,942 (92%) long-term care residents and 2,516 (69%) retirement home residents have received their first dose.
  • There have been 49 new cases reported to the health unit for the current week. There were 207 new cases reported to the health unit last week (starting Feb. 7), about 25 per cent lower than the 284 cases the week of Jan. 31.

IN OTHER COVID NEWS …

  • Next up for vaccines in Ontario are those aged 80+ and anyone in high-risk congregate settings like homeless shelters, essential workers including teachers and first responders, and those with chronic health conditions.
  • Google reports Ontario had 16,678 cases the first two weeks of February up to yesterday (sources “Wikipedia and others”)
  • Manitoba reports 167 cases and 4 deaths this afternoon.
Dr. Charles Gardner said today he still “heavily advises” people in Simcoe-Muskoka to stay at home due to the new UK variant now being in Muskoka, even as the province moved the region down in to the red zone Tuesday.

Email mark@muskokatoday.com or news@muskokatoday.com

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