May 20, 2021

1 GRAVENHURST CASE AS PRE-HOLIDAY HOLIDAY ENDS WITH 59 IN SIMCOE

SIMCOE-MUSKOKA — Consider yesterday a reprieve, respite or pre-holiday holiday.

Or simple statistical anomaly.

Whatever, today’s COVID numbers put to rest Wednesday’s decent descent in cases when there were 51 — all in Simcoe.

So much for that.

This afternoon the health unit reports 60 more (the province said it was 70), but just only one in Muskoka and the rest in Simcoe:

Gravenhurst man, 18-34, under investigation, reported May 19, first episode May 18

For the four days from Sunday to Thursday, the province reported 42, 59, 38, 27 and 70 cases in the region.

Meanwhile, numbers were also up across Ontario, which reported 2,400 and 27 deaths today, compared to yesterday (1,588-19).

Across the province the rising numbers included Toronto 607 (524), York 181 (94) and Peel 528 (335).

Alberta students will finish off the school year in class; while Nova Scotia officially close the doors on June schoolrooms.

Ontario stops providing half its vaccine supply to hot spot.

Manitoba cases climb again to a record 603.

HEALTH UNIT HIGHLIGHTS:

11,554 cases to date
175 cases this week, 341 last week, 444 the week before
15 deaths in May, 25 in April, 12 in March
3,473 UK variants, 96 from Brazil, 19 South Africa, 2 India,
713 more cases await confirmation of the type of variant
282,800+ vaccines have been administered in Simcoe Muskoka
263,750+ people living in Simcoe-Muskoka have received their first vaccine, which represents more than 44% of the total population

IN OTHER COVID NEWS …

UN urging more vaccine for Africa, which has received just 2 per cent of the world’s supply.
Canadians who crossed the U.S. border in Alberta Tuesday for free vaccines from the Blackfeet Tribe must self-isolate for 14 days when they return, says Ottawa.
The Big Apple has taken a bite out of the pandemic by officially re-opening.
Americans applying for employment insurance dropped last week to 444,000. This after many red state governors push to end the $300-a-week federal wage subsidy that Republicans says discourages workers from applying for jobs.
Across the country yesterday, provinces vaccinated 355,652 for a total of 19,444,304. And a full 1,485,830 people (3.9 per cent of the population) have had both shots. Ottawa delivered 202,290 vaccines to provinces and territories yesterday for a total of 21,186,954. The 10 provinces and three territories have used 91.77 per cent of their available vaccine supply.

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