3 MUSKOKA MEN TEST POSITIVE AS ONTARIO FALLS TO 916 COVID CASES

Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com

SIMCOE-MUSKOKA — While Ontario fell below 1,000 COVID cases today, on Friday, Saturday and Sunday one person each day in Muskoka tested positive for the virus.

The three men were from Gravenhurst, Bracebridge and Huntsville.

And they were among 88 weekend cases the health unit reported this afternoon.

The Huntsville man was one of 21 cases yesterday, says Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit. The province said this morning the number was 20.

The Muskoka cases were:

  1. Huntsville man, 18-34, under investigation, reported May 30, first episode May 29.
  2. Bracebridge man, 18-34, close contact, reported May 29, first episode May 25.
  3. Gravenhurst man, 45-64, under investigation, reported May 28, first episode May 23

They bring the total number of pandemic cases in the district to 435, with Huntsville having had the most at 123, followed by Muskoka Lakes Township 104, Bracebridge 87, Gravenhurst 74 and Georgian Bay 27.

This as Ontario reports 916 cases and 13 deaths. (Sunday there were 1,033 cases and 18 deaths. That’s the fewest since 847 on Feb. 17)

Those numbers are key to an announcement on school re-openings expected any day, says Premier Doug Ford. But expect that news to leak tomorrow.

It’s still uncertain which way the government will go. It is consulting medical officers of health who all but Porcupine support a return to in-class lessons.

Teachers’ unions that are pushing back calling for more safety measures citing the Tories’ track record that saw cases rise when it opened too soon in February.

School boards deferred to medical officers.

GTA numbers today showed Toronto at 226 (237), York 85 (80) and Peel 165 (214).

North Bay and Parry Sound remained with single cases the past two days.

Also today, Ontario will begin moving to replace Dr. David Williams, who has been Ontario’s chief medical officer of health since 2016. Dr. Kieran Moore, the widely-respected medical officer of health for Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington, will take over next month from Williams who was to retire this September.

Ontario nursing home workers will now have to provide proof of a vaccine, or “give a documented medical reason for not being vaccinated” or attend a program explaining the risks of not being vaccinated. No word on whether they will be able to keep their jobs if they don’t.

Meanwhile, Manitoba reports 303 cases as it says those who got the AstraZeneca vaccine the first time can follow up with either Pfizer or Moderna for a second shot.

Quebec had 276 cases today.

HEALTH UNIT HIGHLIGHTS:

  • 11,918 cases to date
  • 21 new cases to start the week; 207 last week, which was 32% lower than the 303 cases for the week of May 16.
  • 18 deaths in May, 25 in April, 12 in March. The symptom onset date for all deaths in May was in March or April.
  • 3,726 UK variants, 110 from Brazil, 21 from South Africa and 4 from India
  • 725 other cases are awaiting confirmation of variant
  • 347,800+ vaccines have been administered in Simcoe Muskoka
  • 315,750+ residents of Simcoe Muskoka have received their first vaccine, which is up to more than 52% of the total population.
One person from Muskoka is among 3 new hospitalizations in the region.

IN OTHER COVID NEWS …

  • As the U.S. looks further in to the cause of the coronavirus, the World Health Organization will now no longer identify variants of concern by their country of origin. Instead they will give them a name from the Greek alphabet. The UK variant will be Alpha, South Africa Beta, Brazil Gamma and India Delta.
  • A Paris think tank predicts Canada’s economy to grow at 6.1 per cent this year and 3.8 per cent in 2022. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) also forecast global growth at 5.8 per cent this year.
  • StatsCanada will release Canada’s Q1 GDP numbers tomorrow.
  • At London’s Twickenham rugby stadium today 15,000 people will hopefully be vaccinated as the new Delta VOC grows in the northwest area of the city. A similar blitz with testing and vaccine in the northwest town of Bolton against the same virus is said to have worked.
  • Today World Health Organization director-general Tedros called the vaccine distribution disparity among rich and poor countries a “scandalous inequality.”
  • “There is no diplomatic way to say it: a small group of countries that make and buy the majority of the world’s vaccines control the fate of the rest of the world,” he said. More than three-quarters of the world’s vaccines have been administered in just 10 countries.”
Simcoe-Muskoka COVID cases were down to 20 today, says the health unit, which reported 88 the past three days.

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