2 MUSKOKA PEOPLE TEST POSITIVE AS VARIANTS ACCOUNT FOR MOST OF CASES

Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com

SIMCOE-MUSKOKA — In the race for public attention COVID, VOCs, vaccines and lockdown criticism are running neck-and-neck at the wire — with injection sites ahead by a nose.

Case counts are the track odds, Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca are the horses and the public is wagering on the latter three.

A close fourth are businesses.

This as Simcoe-Muskoka announced 32 cases today (the province said 36).

Two of them are in Muskoka first reported yesterday and with first episodes Feb. 26.

  • One is a Bracebridge girl under 18, who had close contact.
  • The other is a Huntsville woman, aged 65-79, who is under investigation.

This as the health unit reports 6,525 total COVID cases, with 191 UK variants and 352 suspected VOCs.

That’s an increase of 44 VOCs since yesterday.

VOCs account for most of the local cases, Gardner said, adding both numbers have been up and down since he “advised” the province early last week to issue “more restrictions.”

He said the decision was up to the province, but that his voice was “very influential.”

Gardner talks to Ontario’s chief medical officer of health Dr. David Williams daily to keep him abreast of local numbers and developments that guide final decisions.

Like that workplaces now make up the majority of the cases, compared to LTCs in the first wave and early in the second wave.

And he said the “geographic spread” continues, including three outbreaks in Muskoka among 25 this week and up from 15 last week.

Meanwhile, Gardner said there has been “tremendous interest” in the local vaccine rollout, including more than 10,000 calls Monday. That compares to 300 in a normal day.

This as complaints swirl online about difficulty in accessing the first of two vaccine injections.

He told the media today “we’re doing our best” to cope and said he was confident that’s behind them now.

Yesterday more than 1,000 doses were administered at four clinics, including 225 in Huntsville. The Bracebridge clinic is all booked for tomorrow.

Today’s clinics were in Barrie, Midland and Alliston.

“Bottom line,” says Gardner the lockdown or emergency brake is about how it affects the total number of COVID cases.

“It’s the most common question I get.

“How will it affect the vulnerable?”

Gardner called talk of spreading the two vaccine doses apart by two months “terrific news.”

“It would be immensely helpful,” he said, adding one does have proven “highly effective” elsewhere and that there has been no real “waning” of its potency months later.

And on calls for more clinics, he said right now the health unit is getting about 1,000 doses a day and hopes to eventually get the same 7,000 a day as it now gets in a week.

That would allow more clinics to open in more locations, including in Gravenhurst where Mayor Paul Kelly was very vocal in his request to Gardner yesterday.

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Gardner, who said the toll often gets to him after “14-18-hour days,” said he has gotten more than 200 emails, “mostly opposed” to the lockdown, which is not a more restrictive stay-at-home order.

He said it shouldn’t have come as much of a surprise to many, including municipal and provincial politicians and bureaucrats he meets with weekly (Monday with MPPs and Thursday with CAOs).

And some Barrie businesses aren’t taking the lockdown lying down.

One hundred of them issued a petition on the weekend that urging that the region to stay in the red-control zone.

Spokesperson Emil Kamel, owner of North Swing Golf Lounge in Barrie, called the variant argument is a “fallacy.”

He blames the VOCs on one major outbreak at Barrie’s Roberta Place LTC that he said skewed the total cases.

But top Simcoe politicians aren’t buying in to that.

Barrie Mayor Jeff Lehman and Conservative MPPs Andrea Khanjin (Barrie-Innisfil) and Doug Downey (Barrie-Springwater-Oro Medonte) issued letters supporting “science” while offering lip service to critics.

Bracebridge Mayor Graydon Smith did likewise when he went on the air to question Dr. Charles Gardner’s recommendation.

He said it’s not “appropriate” for Muskoka.

The politicians say they have let the province know local sentiments and asked for modifications to stay-at-home orders.

So far, Gardner and the Ministry of Health are listening, but not responding in kind.

Ed. note: A photo with this story yesterday from Harvey’s/Swiss Chalet was not related to any COVID cases at the restaurant.

HEALTH UNIT HIGHLIGHTS:

  • Simcoe-Muskoka has had 6,569 total cases (the province says 6,493)
  • To date 191 local cases have been tested positive for the COVID-19 variant of concern UK B.1.1.7 and an additional 352 cases have screened positive (awaiting confirmatory testing)
  • Over 43,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Simcoe Muskoka, mostly to health care workers in local hospitals, long-term care and retirement homes. This includes more than 15,000 individuals who have received both of the required doses of the vaccine. In addition, 2,944 (or 92%) long-term care residents and 3,438 (or 94%) retirement home residents have received their first dose.
  • There have been 47 new cases reported to the health unit for the current week. There were 251 new cases reported to the health unit last week (week of February 21st), approximately 10% lower than the 276 cases reported for the week of February 14th.
If as they say statistics don’t lie, judge for yourself.

IN OTHER COVID NEWS …

  • America’s Dr. Anthony Fauci advises against delaying second dose of vaccine, as the U.K. is doing with a 12-week spread. He says science doesn’t support that.
  • Ontario reports 966 cases and 11 deaths across all health units.
  • North Bay-Parry Sound saw no new cases, while Thunder Bay reported 39 (after 55 Sunday and 22 Saturday). Both northern communities are in grey-lockdowns.
  • North Bay-Parry Sound has had 261 cases and Thunder Bay is at 1,679.
  • In Quebec, where Premier François Legault said he is “scared” of the coming weeks due  to the “British variant,” the province reports 588 cases and 8 deaths. That’s a new low since Sept. 24.
  • Manitoba reports 64 cases and 2 deaths.
The health unit began vaccination clinics yesterday at four sites, including Huntsville, which saw 225 bookings. Wednesday there’s another one in Bracebridge. The two Muskoka sites will alternate openings.

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