BARRIE, ONT. The Simcoe Muskoka health unit logged 71 new infections on Friday, for a total of 330 cases for the week. The region s infection rate has slowly trended downward week over week since the province put the stay-at-home order into effect, leaving health officials cautiously optimistic. The situation right now is actually quite encouraging, said Simcoe Muskoka s associate medical officer of health, Dr. Colin Lee. However, the health unit also reported a Simcoe County man, 45 to 64, lost his life Thursday after contracting the virus. The third wave has resulted in more deaths in the region than the first two waves of the pandemic. So far, in 2021, nearly 160 COVID-19-positive residents died.
BARRIE, ONT. One of Simcoe Muskoka s top doctors says while there have been signs of declines in cases, he doesn t believe restrictions will be lifted by the end of the month. The province-wide shutdown that was implemented on April 8 is in effect until at least May 20. With 95 per cent of cases in the region now the B.1.1.7 variant, Dr. Colin Lee, the region s associate medical officer of health, says more time and attention need to be given to reducing case counts further while increasing the number of vaccinated individuals. I think we are probably a good four weeks away before we re more comfortable with saying that this decline is for good and hopefully bring an end to this third and hopefully final wave, he says. We do need to see sort of a steady decline to a very, very low level of cases and the acceleration of vaccine uptake. That s the one-two punch we really need.
RICHMOND HILL, ONT. All Ontario adults in hot spot communities will qualify to book a COVID-19 vaccine by May 3. York Region s medical officer of health, Dr. Karim Kurji, is urging the province to provide more doses. On the week of May 10, we are getting about 50 per cent of that which Peel Region is getting. The region s top doctor says that just doesn t cut it, not with hot spots identified from Vaughan to Richmond Hill and Markham. You have to have targeted vaccine interventions in order to bring down the cases faster. Vaccine clinics are currently working at 60 per cent capacity. Instead of seeing per capita supply increase next month, the region says it will have its vaccine supply slashed by about 30,000 doses a week in mid to late May.
BARRIE, ONT. The recent stay-at-home orders are showing signs of curbing COVID-19 infections in Simcoe Muskoka as the health unit reports a decline in weekly cases. Dr. Colin Lee, the region s associate medical officer of health, said the latest shutdown restrictions are slowing transmission. We may, for the first time, see less cases. We re tracking to have less cases than the last two weeks, but it is still very high. The health unit reports cases dipped about 15 per cent this week over last. Health officials logged 430 cases this week, significantly down from 712 last week and well below the 665 confirmed the week of April 4.