MUSKOKA COVID-FREE OVER WEEKEND — BUT BEWARE OF BARRIE

Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com

SIMCOE-MUSKOKA — Barrie remains the hotbed of local COVID cases and epicentre of the UK variant in Ontario.

With 129 regional cases reported since Friday — mostly in Barrie with none in Muskoka — two GTA retirement homes are banning visitors from Barrie where the UK variant is among the highest in Ontario.

While others are calling for the Simcoe County seat to be a no-go for outsiders — notably regular shoppers from Muskoka.

Meanwhile, 11 more people locally died since Friday, bringing the regional number to 150.

Six more people are also in hospital for a total of 39 today.

Over the weekend the families of Roberta Place residents announced they have filed a $50 million class action lawsuit against the home’s owners.

And there are now 19 confirmed cases of the UK variant and 126 people with cases deemed by the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit as “variants of concern.”

Shannex Inc. confirmed Sunday that its Toronto and Mississauga homes are barring visitors from communities deemed “high alert.”

“These new measures are extra precautions we must take in our battle to keep COVID-19 out of our buildings, particularly as we see the new variant in our province,” Shannex communications manager Gillian Costello said in a release.

Provincially, there were 1,969 cases and 36 deaths. Toronto reported 886, Peel 330 and York 128.

In Quebec it was 890 and 32 dead; and in Manitoba 89 cases were reported, with three more dying.

SMDHU NOTES:

  • It’s been almost 10 months since the first single case of COVID was reported by the health unit — March 26. In the intervening time caseloads have gone as high as 87 per day on Jan. 23. With today’s numbers 5,484 have tested positive and 1,196 remain active.
  • To date 19 local cases have been tested positive for the COVID-19 variant of concern UK B.1.1.7 and an additional 126 cases have screened positive (awaiting confirmatory testing)
  • Over 16,501 doses of the Pfizer vaccine have been administered in Simcoe Muskoka; none yesterday, Sunday Jan. 31. This includes 977 individuals who have received both of the required doses of the vaccine. In addition, 2,851 (or 89%) long-term care residents and 2,242 (or 62 per cent) retirement home residents have received their first dose.
  • There have also been 31 new cases reported to the health unit for the current week starting Jan. 31. There were 304 new cases last week (beginning Jan. 24), which the health unit says is more than 30 per cent lower than the 444 cases reported for the week of Jan. 17.
  • Last month 87 Simcoe Muskoka residents died from, over four times higher than the number of deaths in December when there were 19 deaths.

IN OTHER COVID NEWS …

  • A $50-million class action lawsuit has been filed against the owners of Roberta Place in Barrie. Family members claim neglect of care after more than 50 people have died and all but one of the 129 residents got COVID.
  • Muskoka students, parents won’t know until later this week if they are returning to school in-class next Monday.
In just about 10 months Simcoe-Muskoka has gone from one case to 5,484 cases of COVID-19 with a high of 87 cases on Saturday, Jan. 23.

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