Two Collingwood residents among 44 new COVID cases in region today

The Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit has reported 44 new cases of COVID-19 in the region today. 

Included on the Dec. 22 list of new COVID-19 cases are two Collingwood residents, one Wasaga Beach resident, nine Barrie residents, eight Bradford West Gwillimbury residents, seven Innisfil residents, one Midland resident, and one Orillia resident.

The health unit notes there is a lag in the data presented in the daily updates because of an increase in cases. 

The breakdown of cases provided by the health unit is as follows. All case transmissions are under investigation unless otherwise indicated: 

• Collingwood (2): Two people between 65 and 79 years old. One case is linked to close contact.
• Wasaga Beach (1): One person between 18 and 34 years old. 
• Barrie (9): One youth under 18 (one workplace outbreak, one close contact), four individuals between 18 and 34 years old, two people between 35 and 44 years old, and two six people between 45 and 64 years old. One case is comunity-acquired.
• Bradford West Gwillimbury (8): Four youth under 18, two people between 18 and 34 years old, two people between 45 and 64 years old. One case is reported as community-acquired.
• Innisfil (7): One youth under 18, two people between 18 and 34 years old, one person between 35 and 44 years old, and three people between 45 and 64 years old. One case is linked to close contact. The health unit has declared an outbreak at an Innisfil child care centre. Three cases have been linked to that outbreak.
• Orillia (1): A man over the age of 80 whose case is linked to an institutional outbreak.
• Midland (1): One man between 45 and 64 years old whose case is linked to close contact.
• Severn (1): One man between 45 and 64 years old.
• Tay (1): One man between 18 and 34 years old 
• Penetanguishene (2): Two women between 65 and 79 years old, one case linked to an institutional outbreak. 
• Three cases are listed with location information still pending and there is one new case in Huntsville, one in Bracebridge, one from Adjala-Tosorontio, and five in new Tecumseth. 

The local health unit has now confirmed 3,116 cases of COVID-19 with 2,418 of those cases recovered and 60 cases ending in death. There are  active, 623 lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the region, with the majority of those in Simcoe County.

There are at least 17 people from Simcoe County hospitalized. Dr. Charles Gardner, medical officer of health for Simcoe-Muskoka said today the ages of those hospitalized range from under 10 years old to in their 90s. There are seven people in intensive care units. 

One person is hospitalized with COVID-19 at Collingwood General and Marine Hospital.

There have been 2,978 cases confirmed in just Simcoe County, with 2,311 of those now recovered and 58 deaths. The latest death was a patient at Georgian Bay General Hospital whose case is linked to the ongoing outbreak at the hospital.

*Incidence rate is number of cases per 100,000 people in the local population.

**Total cases includes the number of cases currently recovering at home as well as any that have recovered, died, or are in hospital