HAVEN’T HAD COVID YET? CONSIDER YOURSELF LUCKY. MILLIONS OF ONTARIANS HAVE PAST 2 MONTHS

Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com

SIMCOE-MUSKOKA — Stunning news today from the pandemic science table advising the province shows Ontarians who didn’t get COVID the past month were lucky.

The medical panel claimed that based also on wastewater sampling — including in Barrie and Orillia — that an incredible 1.5 to 4 million people may “plausibly” have been infected.

The province’s population was just under 15 million last year.

The numbers peaked Jan. 11. But hospitalizations and ICU admittance are still expected to rise with yesterday’s business reopenings.

This as the science table admits it overestimated the impact of Omicron on hospitals.

Meanwhile, Simcoe-Muskoka’s public health reports 140 confirmed cases this afternoon. Public Health Ontario only reported 82 Tuesday morning.

There were also 7 deaths in Simcoe (none in Muskoka) since yesterday’s last update by the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit:

  1. Male, 45-64, Simcoe, community, DOD – Jan 28
  2. Male, 80+, Simcoe, outbreak, DOD – Jan 23
  3. Male, 80+, Simcoe, outbreak, DOD – Jan 20
  4. Male, 65-79, Simcoe, community, DOD – Jan 30
  5. Male 80+, Simcoe, community, DOD – Jan 24
  6. Male, 65-79, Simcoe, community, DOD – Jan 25
  7. Female, 80+, Simcoe, community, DOD – Jan 30

This as the pandemic becomes epidemic testing will the norm, schools and child care centres will start receiving 3.6 million rapid tests next week.

TUESDAY: PHO CONFIRMED COVID CASES: … 82 IN SIMCOE-MUSKOKA (63 YESTERDAY) … ONTARIO 2,622 AND 63 DEATHS (3,043-31); 3,091 IN HOSPITAL (2,983), 568 IN ICU (583) … TORONTO 606 (603) … YORK 133 (175) … PEEL 334 (431) … NORTH BAY-PARRY SOUND 25 (28) …

 

HEALTH UNIT HIGHLIGHTS:

  • 31,837 confirmed cases to date
  • 147 cases this week
  • 1,265 cases last week, 30% lower than the 1,817 cases reported for the week of January 16.
  • 60 deaths in January, 10 in December
  • From July 18 to January 31 the rate of COVID-19 hospitalizations among the unvaccinated vaccine-eligible Simcoe Muskoka population is 6 times higher than it is for those who have received at least two vaccine doses, the rate of COVID-19 ICU admissions is 11 times higher and the rate of deaths is 4 times higher.
  • 447 cases to date have tested positive for the Omicron (B.1.1.529) variant of concern, and an additional 1,905 cases are considered suspect Omicron (awaiting confirmatory testing).
  • 1,241,970 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Simcoe Muskoka, including doses administered by local pharmacies
  • 494,163 residents have received at least one vaccine, which represents 82% of the total population
  • 86% of the population 5+ have had at least one vaccine; including 82% of youth 12 to 17 years of age
  • 48% of children 5 to 11 have received at least one dose of vaccine
Today the health unit reports 55 people in hospital, including 7 in ICU.

IN OTHER COVID NEWS …

  • Quebec Premier Francois Legault won’t proceed with taxing the unvaccinated. He said today it would further divide the province — and no doubt set a health taxation precedent that would no doubt also divide country. Quebec reported 2,582 cases — just less than Ontario after at one time leading the country for weeks.
  • WHO says medical waste — including overuse of rubber gloves, masks, syringes and protective “moon suits” — is a global threat to health and environment. Today the UN health agency claims tens of thousands of tons of extra medical require urgent attention as the pandemic becomes endemic.
  • Pfizer and its partner BioNTech SE are seeking U.S. approval for a vaccine for infants as young as 6 months.
  • B.C. reports more than a thousand people in hospital (1,048) for the first time, along with 19 deaths and 4,075 cases the past three days.
  • Denmark, where Omicron was evident early, no longer considers COVID a “socially critical disease” as its impact on the country with 6 million people is no longer that big a burden.

EMAIL: [email protected]

28 years of ‘Local Online Journalism’

Twitter: @muskokatoday, Facebook: mclairmont1

Leave comments at end of story

SUBSCRIBE for $25 by e-transferring to [email protected]

Or go online to https://muskokatoday.com/subscriptions