MUSKOKA LAKES MAN, 18-34, AMONG 15 NEW CASES IN REGION WEDNESDAY

Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com

SIMCOE-MUSKOKA — A young Muskoka Lakes man is among 15 COVID cases the health unit is reporting in Simcoe-Muskoka today as the fourth wave is upon us all but officially declared.

The 18-34-year-old is under investigation as to the cause, which was reported Aug. 5 with a first episode Aug. 2.

His case brings to 35 the number of regional cases in the first three days this week.

That’s after 37 cases last week, which was then 32% higher than the 28 cases the prior week of July 25.

The escalating trend within the Simcoe-Muskoka District Health Unit (SMDHU) is about on par with provincial numbers, which again topped 300 — at 324 and with 3 more deaths.

And while the local vaccinations continue to inch upwards with 70 per cent of regional residents now vaccinated at least once and 61.1 per cent twice, the province is now citing the number of today’s cases who have or haven’t been injected.

Of those 324 there were 234 who unvaccinated, 32 who had one shot and 58 who were fully vaccinated.

However, Health Minister Christine Elliott was quick to point out that those who were fully vaccinated and ended up in hospital were as a result of other health complications that added to their illness.

This as Muskoka vaccination clinics continue in Muskoka this week after starting Monday in Gravenhurst.

Today the mass clinic was open in Bracebridge.

Tomorrow and Friday you have to go to Huntsville to get the shot.

Where is COVID going as school approaches, you might well ask? A disjointed picture shows different rules in different provinces and political jurisdictions. But most agree the dreaded fourth wave is well upon us as daily numbers rise even locally.

Meanwhile, Ottawa — which has 22 million un-used vaccines it distributed in cold storage — will provide proof to fully vaccinated Canadians who are travelling abroad.

And Ontario stubbornly refuses to offer same as some other provinces do likewise.

Elliott this week cited complications of setting up a new vaccine passport card system.

No one mentioned there’s already one in place — it’s called an Ontario health card.

But Ontario’s top doc Dr. Kieran predicts up to 1,000 cases a day in Ontario this fall.

Quebec reports 365 cases, which is up by 131.

WEDNESDAY: COVID BY THE NUMBERS … 5 CASES IN SIMCOE-MUSKOKA (15 YESTERDAY) … ONTARIO 324 AND 3 DEATHS (321-2) … TORONTO 72 (96), YORK 31 (30), PEEL 30 (31) … NORTH BAY-PARRY SOUND 1 (0) …  PORCUPINE 0 (0) …

HEALTH UNIT HIGHLIGHTS:

  • 12,453 cases to date
  • 35 new cases since Sunday; 37 last week starting Aug. 1, which was 32% higher than the 28 the week of July 25
  • 0 deaths in August, 4 in July and 6 in June
  • 4,000 Alpha variants, 168 Gamma, 34 Beta, 225 Delta
  • 672 cases await confirmation of VOC
  • 799,562 vaccines have been administered in Simcoe Muskoka
  • 423,310+ residents have received had one shot representing 70% of the population
  • 80% of the population 12 years+ have had one vaccine
  • 70% of youth 12 to 17 years are also once vaccinated
Latest numbers today show trends for the fall that aren’t promising.

IN OTHER COVID NEWS …

  • Simcoe-Muskoka has 15 new cases today — New Brunswick 13. SMDHU has 69 active cases, N.B. 71. The Atlantic province has 70.2 per cent of residents aged 12+ fully vaccinated and 83 per cent once injected.
  • Moderna has completed clinical trials for kids 6-12 that will be released in the fall and handed over the Health Canada for approval and possibly distribution in schools.
  • Quebec, which will begin testing smartphone passports, says students will have to wear masks coming and going from class, but not inside classrooms.
  • 9,418,632 Ontarians are fully vaccinated, which is 72.3 per cent of those 12+. That’s 63.4 per cent of everyone in the province.
  • California with roughly the same population as each of Florida and Texas is doing far better than its sister states. The west coast reports 141.1 cases per 100,000 population per week — half that of Texas’s 297.8 and less than a quarter of Florida’s 653.8. Texas has topped 10,000 hospitalizations the first time since early February.
  • Call it math vaccinations. Litigation is subdividing U.S. school districts as fight or flight sets in where 1+1 doesn’t equal 2 shots — unless you’re on the troubled streets of some cities.
  • First World countries may be having trouble getting enough arms to use up vaccine, but in the Third World where there’s a dearth of doses it may take other drugs to combat COVID. WHO is studying drugs already in use to treat malaria, cancer and diseases of the immune system to see if they help.
  • Hamilton has Ontario’s highest virus rate and among the lowest vaccine uptake.
  • Hawaii is in the wake of Delta onslaught with 500 cases a day; and New Zealand is preparing for the worst by warning of another deep seas lockdown.

 

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