2 MORE CASES, 1 MORE DEATH IN MUSKOKA, AS GOLFERS SET TO TEE OFF
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com
SIMCOE-MUSKOKA — Two more Muskoka COVID cases are among 45 in the region Friday on the eve of the long weekend.
This as Muskoka had its fifth death, reported yesterday, of a man aged 45-64 on May 13. The Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit (SMDHU) doesn’t say in which town he lived.
Today’s Muskoka cases are:
- Bracebridge man, 18-34, under investigation, reported May 20, first episode May 19
- Muskoka Lakes man, 18-34, outbreak related, reported May 20, first episode May 18
They bring to 216 the number of local cases this week. Last week there were 341, which was 23% lower than the 445 cases starting May 2.
SMDHU says anyone who received their first COVID-19 immunization at one of the health unit’s community clinics prior to March 17th and does not have a second dose appointment can now book their second dose appointment on the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit website.
This system is ONLY for those who received their first immunization prior to March 17 and did not have a second dose appointment. Those who received their first dose after March 17th and don’t have a second dose appointment need to wait until the provincial system allows second doses booking. If the system has not been updated, SMDHU will email those eligible with instructions.
For more information about COVID-19 and who is eligible for an appointment, please visit our COVID-19 pages at www.smdhu.org.
Also Friday, the province said starting Saturday residents in LTC can start having visitors.
MUSKOKA GOLF COURSES OPENING SATURDAY
This as hundreds of golfers line up to start teeing off tomorrow morning.
Russ McKay at Muskoka Highlands in Bracebridge said Friday afternoon the first foursome is set go off at 6:30 a.m. — rain or shine.
He says the course is green, but could use some rain overnight to help some rough spots.
Otherwise, the greens are in good shape and ready to go.
He says there are a few tee times left tomorrow, the first day of loosening provincial restrictions this long weekend and he expects to top 200+ golfers Saturday and Sunday.
Out at Taboo in Gravenhurst, the first golfer on the course is going it alone at 7:30 a.m. followed by a two-some at 8 a.m., says pro shop worker Remington Fielding.
He says they haven’t got that many bookings so far, but he expects it to get busy.
Meanwhile, Ontario’s daily counts were mostly down, including a total of 1,890 and 27 deaths. Yesterday there were 2,400 cases and also 27 deaths.
Toronto 469 (607), York 165 (181) and Peel 468 (528).
North Bay and Parry Sound rose to 6 from zero a day ago.
The numbers are more important now as the province said Thursday it will use them to help determine the three stages of its re-opening plan.
The key one is the number of Ontarians with their first vaccination, which the province wants to be 60 per cent by June 14 for the first step of looser restrictions to take effect.
As of today, 7,735,148 people have been vaccinated, which is about *50 per cent of the population. (*StatsCanada population 14,755, 211).
Ontario vaccinated a record 158,524 people yesterday.
The province has also just opted to use the second AstraZeneca vaccine for those 60-64.
Another critical number to watch is the case number — including the 7-day average, which today is 2,064 or 99 per 100,000 population. Health officials want to see the latter number below 1,000.
Just by comparison, Quebec vaccinated 107,261 Thursday for a total of 4.7 million Quebecers.
In Manitoba, the overwhelmed province had its second highest number of cases at 594 as it prepared to transfer 20 COVID patients to an Ontario hospital in Thunder Bay. And Premier Brian Pallister is asking Ottawa for more health care workers to help.
HEALTH UNIT HIGHLIGHTS:
- 11,596 total cases to date
- 16 deaths in May, 25 in April, 12 in March.
- 3,496 UK variants, 99 from Brazil, 19 from South Africa, 2 from India
- 713 more cases awaiting confirmation of the VOC
- 289,400+ vaccines have been administered in Simcoe Muskoka
- 269,800+ people living in Simcoe Muskoka have had their first vaccine, which is more than 45% of the population.
IN OTHER COVID NEWS …
- Facebook and Instagram claim to have removed 18 million “misleading” COVID posts and labelled 167 million more as questionable.
- Cremations were up in Ontario last year to almost 81,000, compared to a yearly average of 71,625 between 2017 to 2019, the province says. About a 13 per cent increase.
- Canada will continue to ban all flights from India and Pakistan, even as cases coming in from international travellers are down. They also say they are making posts that question vaccines more difficult to find.
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