18 MUSKOKA CASES ON WEEKEND AMONG 243 ACROSS THE REGION; AND 499 LAST WEEK

Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com

SIMCOE-MUSKOKA — As the world braces for a new variant, it’s 243 weekend cases in this region causing concern locally.

And 18 of them were in Muskoka — including 15 in Huntsville and one each in Gravenhurst, Bracebridge and Georgian Bay.

Ten of those in Huntsville and the one in Bracebridge were aged 0-17.

The vast majority were in Barrie.

The health unit reports 53 of them on Sunday;  while Saturday 107 cases were reported regionally by Public Health Ontario.

They contributed to a 20 per cent jump in Simcoe-Muskoka cases last week — rising to 499 from 415 the previous week.

Monday’s Muskoka cases were:

  1. Huntsville boy, 0-17, under investigation, reported Nov. 28, first episode Nov. 27
  2. Huntsville boy, 0-17, under investigation, reported Nov. 28, first episode Nov. 16
  3. Huntsville woman, 0-17, under investigation, reported Nov. 28, first episode Nov. 18
  4. Gravenhurst woman, 65-79, under investigation, reported Nov. 27, first episode Nov. 26
  5. Huntsville boy, 0-17, under investigation, reported Nov. 27, first episode Nov. 26
  6. Huntsville boy, 0-17, under investigation, reported Nov. 27, first episode Nov. 23
  7. Huntsville boy, 0-17, under investigation, reported Nov. 27, first episode Nov. 26
  8. Huntsville boy, 0-17, outbreak, reported Nov. 27, first episode Nov. 26
  9. Huntsville boy, 0-17, under investigation, reported Nov. 27, first episode Nov. 26
  10. Huntsville boy, 0-17, outbreak, reported Nov. 27, first episode Nov. 26
  11. Huntsville boy, 0-17, under investigation, reported Nov. 27, first episode Nov. 26
  12. Huntsville boy, 0-17, under investigation, reported Nov. 27, first episode Nov. 26
  13. Huntsville man, 18-34, under investigation, reported Nov. 27, first episode Nov. 26
  14. Huntsville woman, 45-64, under investigation, reported Nov. 27, first episode Nov. 23
  15. Huntsville man, 45-64, under investigation, reported Nov. 27, first episode Nov. 26
  16. Bracebridge girl, 0-17, outbreak, reported Nov. 26, first episode Nov. 19
  17. Georgian Bay man, 45-64, under investigation, reported Nov. 26, first episode Nov. 26
  18. Huntsville woman, 35-44, close contact, reported Nov. 26, first episode Nov. 23

Of today’s cases, 155 were unvaccinated, 79 fully vaccinated and 2 partially vaccinated.

To date 10,998 unvaccinated people have tested positive since vaccines became available.

Along with them, 27 remain in hospital, with 2 admitted overnight.

Meanwhile, with 4 Omicron cases in Ottawa, 2 in Hamilton and 1 in Quebec, countries including Canada are acting fast to try and control the spread, so as not to repeat first wave failures in response times.

Countries like Canada are banning and restricting entry from several south African countries, but U.S. President Joe Biden say it’s just residents and visitors from those same original seven countries that are being refused entry for the time being.

Japan has banned all foreign visitors.

That’s in opposition to a World Health Organization request they not ban flights from the southern continent.

Ontario says 375 people who came here from the seven south African cases still need to be tested.

It’s part of a proactive plan by the province to meet the latest mutation head on, which over the weekend saw a spike in demand for booster shots.

However, there remains 350,000 adults over 50 who still aren’t vaccinated.

Ontario’s chief medical officer of health Kieran Moore did say that more than 68,000 kids aged 5-11 have now received their first vaccine since late last week. That’s 6.4 per cent of the one million children eligible for the pint-sized Pfizer dose.

He said people shouldn’t panic, but “remain calm, remain science-driven” until more is known about Omicron.

A full plan will be out next week.

MONDAY: COVID BY THE P.H.0. NUMBERS: … 80 CASES IN SIMCOE-MUSKOKA (81 YESTERDAY) … ONTARIO 788 AND 3 DEATHS (964-1) … TORONTO 106 (129), YORK 48 (60), PEEL 49 (58) … NORTH BAY-PARRY SOUND 4 (3) … PORCUPINE 0 (1) …

A District of Muskoka red letter water notice sits wedged in the door of the closed Oliver’s Coffee in Gravenhurst warning of a boil water advisory.
District worker Sean Kerswell, left, and fellow water works employees were still handing out water today at the Canadian Tire. They’ve given away about 1,000 cases of water and had to top up the water truck a couple of times since Saturday while filling pails of free water.

HEALTH UNIT HIGHLIGHTS:

  • 15,588 cases to date
  • 53 cases this week.
  • 499 last week, which was 20% higher than the 415 cases reported for the week of Nov. 14.
  • From December 22nd, 2020 onwards, there have been 938 confirmed COVID-19 cases among vaccinated individuals.
  • 12 deaths in November, 5 each previous two months
  • From Oct. 3 to Nov. 27 the rate of COVID-19 infection among the unvaccinated vaccine-eligible Simcoe Muskoka population is seven times higher than it is for fully vaccinated population and the rate of COVID-19 hospitalizations is 13 times higher.
  • 4,008 Alpha variants of concern, 169 Gamma, 34 Beta, 2,417 Delta
  • 941,976 vaccines have been administered
  • 468,878 residents have received at least one vaccine, which represents 77% of the total population
  • 88% of the population 12+ have had at least one vaccine
  • 85% of youth 12 to 17 have also received at least one vaccine

There have been almost 11,000 unvaccinated cases since vaccines became available.

IN OTHER COVID NEWS …

  • Nova Scotia has established a help line just for men struggling with job losses, relationship breakdowns, loneliness, anger and anxiety caused by the pandemic.
  • In Newfoundland and Labrador, where they are dealing with torrential fall flooding, 9 cases were reported today.
  • Dutch police arrested a husband and wife who left quarantine to board a plane for their home in Spain.
  • Australia has delayed further opening and relaxing of restrictions for two more weeks.

EMAIL: news@muskokatoday.com

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