March 29, 2021

59 SIMCOE CASES MONDAY AS ASTRAZENECA CRISIS WORSENS

SIMCOE-MUSKOKA — With 59 regional cases today in Simcoe, the big news is a hold on AstraZeneca for those under age 55.

Nearly 4,350 doses of AstraZeneca have been administered to adults 60-64 years by four Family Health Teams.

No COVID cases over the weekend were in Muskoka.

There were 308 new cases reported to the health unit last week, which was nearly 20% higher than the 261 cases reported the week before.

Meanwhile, all local residents born in 1951 can now get vaccinated.

The 70-year-olds are among those in 10 regions who can get injected as of March 29.

Province-wide, Ontario had 2,094 cases, with Toronto leading the way at 618 cases. York dropped 1 to 277, Peel jumped a dozen to 368.

North Bay-Parry Sound had 1 case, Peterborough 7 and Sudbury 17.

This as the province reported a 6.1 per cent positivity rate.

HEALTH UNIT HIGHLIGHTS:

VACCINE: Adults turning 70 years of age or older (born in 1951 or earlier) can get the vaccine. CLICK HERE to book online through the province of Ontario’s online booking system. For support over the phone call the provincial vaccine booking line: 1-888-999-6488 Monday-Sunday 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
NOTE: If you are 70-74 years of age and pre-registered between Thursday March 25 and 8:30 a.m. Saturday March 27, email invitations with a booking code have been sent (check junk folder). If you did not receive an email with the codes, please book through the province directly now.
738 UK variants to date, 18 from Brazil and still 1 from South Africa.
453 more cases awaits second confirmation testing.
More than 86,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered, including nearly 18,000 who have received both of the required doses of the vaccine.
Why haven’t all LTC and retirement residents have been tested? The health unit says 3,000 (95%) long-term care residents and 3,500 (96%) retirement home residents have received their first dose; and the “vast majority” of doses have been Pfizer.
Bearly 1,500 doses of Moderna vaccine have also been administered.

IN OTHER COVID NEWS …

Emotional U.S. CDC director says he’s “scared” about growing cases; and says Pfizer, Moderna 90 per cent effective in states.
Americans now looking ahead 9 months to Christmas as safer holiday bet to celebrate.
‘WHO’s Wuhan report leaves question of coronavirus origins unresolved,’ says New York Times.
Nice. The Ontario government is providing more than $77 million to help long-term care homes adopt advanced technologies to strengthen medication safety. It says modernizing this process will allow for better transmission and handling of prescriptions, more accurate administration of medication and increased security of the drug supply in long-term care homes.

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