GIVE ME A BREAK! 113 SIMCOE-MUSKOKA CASES SATURDAY

Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com

SIMCOE-MUSKOKA — Give me a break!

That’s the shocked response today, as Public Health Ontario (PHO) is reporting another 113 COVID cases in Simcoe-Muskoka.

PHO doesn’t break down numbers for Muskoka and Simcoe. That will come Monday when the Simcoe-Muskoka District Health Unit (SMDHU) reports in cases for Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

But Ontario is on the move as spring break arrives and 3,813 cases and 19 deaths.

That’s positively down from 4,227 — which may have been an adjustment yesterday.

Capital city Toronto is the undisputed leader with 973 of those, down from 1,218 Friday.

Peel also dropped to 669 from 762 a day ago, as did and York, which came in at 442 — 90 below the day before when it came in at 532.

North Bay-Parry Sound flat-lined again at 4, while Sudbury was among the health units that jumped by 7 to 30.

All this and the stay-at-home order doesn’t appear to have put the break on travel and commerce.

People aren’t going hungry.

Grocery stores are reporting brisk business; roads are busy this weekend with inter-regional travel.

Motorcyclists seem to have nothing to do and nowhere to go, but drive around and make unbelievable and annoying noise with nary a parcel in sight.

At least they’re six feet apart and wearing helmet masks.

All that police, bylaw officers and health inspectors can do is plead with people to abide with the rules.

Good luck with that. It worked before (LOL).

Maybe that’s why the provincial alert went out this week.

Did you click you got it?

Well, then, “Big Brother” knows you know and you have no excuse.

Plausible deniability? We think not.

Fear not, though. The knock at the door won’t be police checking up on you.

It’s more likely to be pizza delivery.

Tickets are, however, a public safety option.

This as the province goes begging for hospitals to clear their decks for incoming.

Your loved one could be transferred to make room. First come, first served is no longer a priority for this province.

ICU beds at a premium with 572 occupying them today.

And at least one doctor rep near tears said she fears primary care practioners could have to choose who gets care.

Life and death decisions that pale by daily standards.

And she said the toll is mounting not only on those with COVID, but those brave souls attending them mentally and physically.

Physicians heal thy self is beginning to be a new medical mantra.

Stat!

Premier Doug Ford dropped a bomb shell on health officials trying to vaccinate Ontarians when he apparently mistakenly said young adults could get injected. That was news to injectors.

IN OTHER COVID NEWS …

  • India, the world leader in making vaccines, has had 13.2 million cases, and Saturday 145,384 cases were reported — its fourth straight day above 100,000.
  • Hard-hit Alberta is ramping up rapid COVID tests in schools.
  • Iran, which is in a fourth wave, has begun a 10-day lockdown with 85 per cent of the country in their highest levels of restriction.
  • A New York Times report says Russian case counts are unreliable and residents have no choice but to accept what they already accept as fake news.
Vic Hillman, of Baysville, shows his vaccine receipt at the Sportsplex in Bracebridge this week.

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