3 SIMCOE CASES TODAY, BUT 7 NEW DELTA VARIANTS THIS WEEK

Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com

SIMCOE-MUSKOKA — Are vaccines private?

Or do you have a right to know if the person next to you — or the store clerk or waiter — been vaccinated once or twice?

That’s the question for today.

As cases climb, vaccinations stall.

Today Ontario numbers jumped to 185 — but with just 3 in Simcoe and none in Muskoka.

Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit reports today 410,421 residents have had one vaccine (67.9%) and 306,911 two (50.8 %).

While getting over that totally-vaxxed hump is the first task, Delta variants are more of a concern as summer approaches its zenith.

Each day total Delta cases rise in Simcoe-Muskoka — 7 since Monday = 105 to date.

Most agree vaccines should be mandatory in LTCs.

In Italy health-care workers have had to be vaccinated since April. In France Sept. 15 is the deadline for those workers. And in Greece you can be fired in that field if you refuse.

Even with Canadians among the world leaders in vaccinations, reluctance is real.

Health units are so concerned about not achieving herd immunity next month they are bending over backwards to twist arms.

So for whom will the school bell toll?

Meanwhile, it’s getting so crazy that an Indonesian man on a domestic flight disguised himself as his wife — complete with fake documents — while wearing a hijab.

It was only when he slipped into the lavatory for a quick change that a flight attendant caught him with his pants up. He was detained, tested and charged after positive test.

In tomorrow’s Olympic opening you will see fewer than 1,000 mostly Japanese in a stadium/TV studio built for 70,000.

No home field advantage there.

HEALTH UNIT HIGHLIGHTS:

  • 12,342 cases to date
  • 10 new cases reported to the health unit this week, 15 last week, which was 29% lower than the 21 cases the first week of July.
  • 4 deaths in July, 6 in June
  • 3,997 Alpha cases, 166 Gamma, 34 Beta and 105 Delta
  • 673 cases await confirmation of VOC
  • 724,050+ vaccines have been administered in Simcoe Muskoka
  • 410,400+ residents have received their first vaccine (68% of the population)
  • 78% of adults 18+ have had at least one vaccine
  • 64% of youth 12-17 have also been injected once
Simcoe Muskoka has had 7 new Delta VOCs this week going from 98 to 105 since Monday.

IN OTHER COVID NEWS …

  • In the U.S. cases tripled the past two weeks, prompting Joe Biden to call vaccines “gigantically important” to Americans denying the truth about corona.
  • The blowback from China over an international investigation in to the origins of the virus has Beijing playing defence against the WHO’s offence. The score now is 0-0.
  • Guinea, which has never won an Olympic medal, won’t again this summer after its 5 athletes were withdrawn by their home team over safety concerns, notably Delta.
  • Possibly emboldened by the Trump era, conspiracy theories defying public health orders are threatening herd immunity in many countries, including Canada.
Summer shopping can be tiring if you’re not used to it after month off the main street. A week in to Step 3 and business is busy if not brisk in Muskoka.

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