HUNTSVILLE MAN DIES AT MUSKOKA HOSPITAL FROM COVID ILLNESS
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com
MUSKOKA — A man who died at a Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare (MAHC) hospital is among 56 people to have succumbed to COVID.
The health unit’s Dr. Charles Gardner said this afternoon in briefing, Tuesday Dec. 15, that the man was aged 35 to 44.
He is the second death in Muskoka, after a person from Muskoka Lakes also died.
But Gardner couldn’t provide further information, though the health unit website shows a death in Huntsville.
And MuskokaTODAY.com is still awaiting an email response from MAHC in regard to that question.
Meanwhile, Gardner said despite more Muskoka cases the district would likely be in green or yellow zone if it were not tied to Simcoe North and South.
And he said it’s “possible” that Simcoe-Muskoka could get the Pfizer vaccine next week, as the region is now in the red zone.
This as case numbers continue to rise — including in Muskoka and Simcoe North.
There are 165 in the first three days this week.
At the Georgian Bay General Hospital in Midland 21 staff and 16 patients have COVID, according to their website today, in four units.
Gardner called the vaccine “truly remarkable” and an “incredible achievement” that will “move us to more normal lives.”
But he said it likely won’t be until next fall that everyone locally gets vaccinated.
So safety remains job #1 for everyone: wearing masks, washing hands and keeping your distance until then.
However, he expressed continued concern about contact tracing pressures on health unit staff — half of which are working on tracing.
He said they have been forced to “simplify” efforts.
That means the health unit only makes one contact with the person testing positive and is now relying on them — with the health unit’s help — to do the follow-up contacts with the people they came in contact with.
“I know it’s not ideal,” he said, but that it’s all they can do right now as case counts escalate.
He said on the health unit’s website there is information to help people with COVID contact people around them outside their bubble or cohort.
Gardner told MuskokaTODAY.com that he did have reservations about new provincial rules just out that Ontario won’t pay for snowbirds or other international travellers to get the coronavirus swab.
He said a private test is expensive.
And while that alone may not deter those who can afford to travel — or have to leave the province for work or other reasons — he said it is always “wiser” stay home as is his best advice for all residents regardless.
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