BARRIE, ONT. Simcoe Muskoka health officials report a 30 per cent drop in confirmed COVID-19 cases over the past three weeks. Past president of the Ontario Medical Association, Dr. Sohail Gandhi, says it s a sign of progress. It s not quite what I d like to see, but at least it s a step in the right direction. Public health officials report 281 COVID-19 tests came back positive since Friday across Simcoe Muskoka. There are currently 1,585 active infections in the region. Still, Dr. Gandhi remains concerned about the rationing of health care. The health unit says there are 51 people in the hospital as of Monday fighting the virus. Of those, Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre in Barrie has 22 COVID-19 positive patients, seven on ventilators. It s unclear how many of these infected patients are transfers from overburdened GTA hospitals.
BARRIE, ONT. The Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit (SMDHU) reports 74 new COVID-19 cases Thursday, plus one new virus-related death of a Simcoe County woman. Public health has recorded 224 COVID-19 deaths, 22 this month alone. Dr. Barry Nathanson, Stevenson Memorial Hospital s chief of staff, said he s never experienced anything like this throughout his career. We ve never had to redeploy human resources the way we have had to do this time. We ve never had to reconfigure resources such as critical care units the way we have had to do this time. We ve never had to outfit children s hospitals for the provision of adult care. We ve never had our skies darkened by helicopters travelling, carrying patients from place to place.
Seniors at Simcoe County-run long-term care homes pushed up their sleeves Saturday to receive their second doses of vaccines to guard against COVID-19.
There was relief and rolled-up sleeves at local long-term care homes Saturday as residents and staff received their first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine