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COVID transmissions still high in Simcoe Muskoka

December 16, 2021   ·   0 Comments

The COVID pandemic continues to see a rise in cases in Simcoe Muskoka, reports Dr. Charles Gardner, Simcoe Muskoka Medical Officer of Health.

The region has seen a total of 16,350 cases to date. That’s up 739 cases over the past week.

From November 28 to December 4, 586 cases were reported compared to 499 the previous week.

Active cases of the virus are up at 758 up from 610 the previous week. 

A total of 280 residents who have died from contracting the virus. 

The number of cases in hospital is down slightly to 30 including five who are in the intensive care unit. Those patients range in age from their twenties to nineties.

Of those individuals, 17 were not immunized, nine were fully vaccinated, and five who were partially vaccinated with the first of two doses.

Currently around 85 per cent of residents age 12 and above have received two doses of the vaccine.

For those age five to 11, there have been 10,353 first doses administered so far, with several thousand appointments already made to get the shot.

“We note that the incidents of COVID-19 among those who are not vaccinated is seven times higher, and the hospitalization rate is 15 times higher, compared with people who are fully vaccinated,” Dr. Gardner said. “This is data over the last eight weeks in Simcoe Muskoka. Clearly, it’s very important for people to get vaccinated to have that level of protection. People also need to do the other things to reduce your risk, but the single most important thing you can do is to become vaccinated.”

The Health District remains in “red” status based on an increase in the number of incidents over the past week as well as the number of outbreaks that are occurring.

“We have to struggle as a health unit to respond to the volume of cases,” Dr. Gardner said. “We’re down to 59 per cent of our cases being reached within one day of us being notified – our goal being 90 per cent. We continue to be at a high rate of transmission going much higher than the province as a whole, much higher than any of the health units in the Greater Toronto area.”

By Brian Lockhart
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

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