239 CASES OVER FAMILY WEEKEND AS DOG DAYS OF WINTER SLIP IN …
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com
SIMCOE-MUSKOKA — Amid the fallout in courts, Parliament and the Senate from Ottawa protests, local public health reports 67 COVID cases today.
That’s more than twice the 32 Public Health Ontario (PHO) reported on its website Tuesday morning — including 43 Monday, 85 Sunday, 129 Saturday and 164 as we reported Friday.
One woman died over the long weekend in Simcoe. She was 80+ and passed away Feb. 21 due to an outbreak — the region’s 393rd death.
Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit (SMDHU) counts 239 cases over the Family Day weekend, with 43 in hospital (2 overnight) and 8 in ICU as of Monday.
First dose vaccines are now at 80.5 per cent of the total population; second doses are 76.9 per cent and booster shots equal just 44.9 per cent.
This as Tamara Lich was denied bail today after the judge said she may not stay away from the Ottawa protest site where she arrested and charged on the weekend. She is one of the organizers of the Freedom Convoy and is due back in court next Wednesday.
Also this afternoon fellow organizer Patrick King is in bail court where a woman who only met him a month ago offered to put up half her house as surety.
Elsewhere … crypto currency group Nunchuck.io claims it can’t abide by a court order to freeze users’ accounts, saying it only buys and sells bitcoin — but doesn’t have access to their wallets.
And the Queen’s COVID condition appears to be worsening slightly as she has suspended even virtual appointments due to “mild cold-like” symptoms,” says Buckingham Palace. Canada’s monarch is 96 and in the 70th year of her reign, with several celebrations upcoming this spring including marking her coronation and another memorial for last year’s passing of Prince Philip.
That as the U.K. ends all COVID restrictions.
As well, Ontario’s MPPs return to office today for the final session before the June 2 election. Parry Sound-Muskoka’s Norm Miller is among those elected representatives who will soon be making his last appearance in the legislature in spring.
HEALTH UNIT HIGHLIGHTS:
- 34,665 confirmed cases to date
- 67 cases this week
- 692 last week, 9% lower than the 763 cases the week before
- 31 deaths in February, 71 in January
- From July 18 to February 21 the rate of COVID-19 hospitalizations among the unvaccinated vaccine-eligible Simcoe Muskoka population is 4 times higher than it is for those who have received at least two vaccine doses, the rate of COVID-19 ICU admissions is nine times higher and the rate of deaths is 3 times higher.
- 1,267,105 vaccines have been administered
- 496,191 residents have received at least one vaccine, which represents 80% of the total population
- 85% of the population 5+ have had at least one vaccine, including 81% of youth 12 to 17
- 48% of children 5 to 11 have also received at least one dose of vaccine
IN OTHER COVID NEWS …
- What if Hong Kong was wiped off the face of the earth? Its 7.4 million residents are the same number of people who have died in two years of the pandemic. China’s former British protectorate is seeing a rise in cases and will require testing for all starting March 7.
- Quebec students can been seen — and heard — as of March 7 and 14 after school breaks end in different parts of the province and mandatory masking ends.
- Home sweet home for the Depot that is reaping the fourth quarter rewards of DIYs and an ever-soaring housing market.
- Uganda proposed fining or imprisoning the unvaccinated.
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