8 CASES IN MUSKOKA, HALF AMONG KIDS UNDER AGE 18

Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com

SIMCOE-MUSKOKA — Less than a week before school and half the 8 COVID cases in Muskoka today are among children aged 0-17.

With the 4 other northern adults they add up to one third of the 24 local cases Friday.

Simcoe had 16 cases as the combined halves of the region totalled 24.

They bring the weekly count to 138 — 9 less than last week.

Muskoka’s cases included:

  1. Gravenhurst boy, 0-17, close contact, reported Sept. 2, first episode Sept. 1
  2. Gravenhurst boy, 0-17, close contact, reported Sept. 2, first episode Sept. 1
  3. Gravenhurst woman, 35-44, close contact, reported Sept. 2, first episode Sept. 1
  4. Gravenhurst man, 35-44, close contact, reported Sept. 2, first episode Sept. 1
  5. Huntsville boy, 0-17, under investigation, reported Sept. 2, first episode Sept. 1
  6. Huntsville woman, 18-34, community acquired, reported Sept. 2, first episode Sept. 1
  7. Lake of Bays man, 18-34, under investigation, reported Sept. 2, first episode Sept. 1
  8. Muskoka Lakes boy, 0-17, close contact, reported Sept. 1, first episode Sept. 1

Delta cases today surpassed 600 and now total 618 as almost all new cases are of the worst variant.

Meanwhile, vaccines are creeping after yesterday’s Muskoka blitz.

There are now 72.1 per cent of residents of Simcoe-Muskoka who have had their first shot and 65.8 per cent who are fully vaccinated.

Two more outdoor pop-up vaccine clinics tomorrow at the Bracebridge Farmers’ Market downtown at Memorial Park, and also up in Huntsville at Rivermill Park.

As Alberta pays the price now for being slow off the mark on vaccines, Premier Jason Kenney is imploring people “for the love of God” to get vaccinated. He’s offering $100 gift cards.

Here in Ontario the message is getting through with 44,000 people vaccinated yesterday, including at least a couple hundred in Gravenhurst. That’s up 8,000 provincially from the day before when Premier Doug Ford announced a Sept. 22 deadline to begin vaccine certification.

Now more than 10 million Ontarians are fully vaccinated says the ministry of health, which is 67.3 per cent and 76.8 per cent a first time.

Today the province also reports that 499 of the 807 COVID cases were people unvaccinated, 68 partially vaccinated, 169 fully vaccinated and the other 60 people their status is unknown.

This as Quebec’s Health Minister Christian Dube stated the obvious that most suspected — and now know — that the corona virus is here to stay at the very least for the foreseeable future.  The province has vaccinated 87.4 per cent of Quebecers 12+ once and 81.3 twice.

After closing all but one mass vaccination clinics (in Barrie) the health unit is moving outdoors to sites like this one of three in Gravenhurst yesterday at Kinsmen Park. Two more outdoor pop-up vaccine clinics are on tomorrow Saturday Sept 4 at the Bracebridge Farmers’ Market downtown at Memorial Park, and also up in Huntsville downtown at Rivermill Park.

HEALTH UNIT HIGHLIGHTS:

  • 12,932 cases to date
  • 138 this week; 147 last week, which was 16% higher than the 127 the week before
  • From December 22nd, 2020 onwards, there have been 130 confirmed COVID-19 cases among vaccinated individuals.
  • 0 deaths in September, 1 in August, 4 in July, 6 in June
  • 4,008 Alpha variants, 168 Gamma, 34 Beta, 618 Delta
  • 661 cases await confirmation of type of variant
  • 841,965 vaccines have been administered
  • 435,850 residents have received at vaccine, which now represents 72% of the population
  • 82% of the population 12+ have had at least one vaccine
  • 78% of youth 12 to 17 have also received had once vaccine

 

IN OTHER COVID NEWS …

  • As Ontario goes back to school Tuesday, Ottawa is opening the doors the same day to foreign travellers.
  • Vaccine passports are overwhelmingly supported nationally, according to a Leger poll that found 56 per cent of Canadians strongly support them and about 25 per mostly in favour. Some 20 per cent oppose them.
  • The Leger poll did see a split in support for students going back to school.
  • Manitoba began its vaccine certification program Friday.
  • B.C. Dr. Steven Fedder calls anti-vax hospital protesters “selfish” and says they are hindering hospitals’ ability to save other people. And he wants the protests halted.
  • A Bangladesh study of 340,000 is getting a lot of press as it claims surgical masks are better than cloth masks. This in a country known for its cotton.
  • During the pandemic some pollution numbers are down, while others are up, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

 

EMAIL: news@muskokatoday.com

28 years of ‘Local Online Journalism’

Twitter: @muskokatoday, Facebook: mclairmont1

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