The Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit has reported 362 new COVID-19 cases and one death in its Jan. 5 update.
A Barrie man over 79 years old died on Jan. 4 after contracting COVID-19.
Of the two deaths reported in the last two days (an Orillia woman between 65 and 79 years old and the Barrie man over 79 years old) one person was fully vaccinated with two doses and one person was unvaccinated.
Though the health unit is providing updates on local lab-confirmed cases, a notice on its website indicates the case numbers are underestimating COVID transmission in the community. COVID testing is only available for select groups and is therefore not catching all the cases in the community.
According to the health unit, 98 per cent of the cases confirmed in the last week were caused by the omicron strain.
Included in the new cases reported today are 64 unvaccinated, 15 partially vaccinated, and 237 fully vaccinated people.
There are 6,245 active, lab-confirmed cases in the region, but this total doesn't include those who did not get tested.
Thirty-three Simcoe-Muskoka residents are currently hospitalized with COVID-19, and nine are in intensive care units. It is not yet clear if all those hospitalized are being treated for COVID-related illness, or whether they were hospitalized for unrelated reasons.
Fourteen of the hospitalized cases were unvaccinated, five of the nine patients in the intensive care unit are unvaccinated.
Over the last eight weeks, there have been 86 unvaccinated people, eight partially vaccinated, and 33 fully vaccinated people hospitalized with COVID-19 in Simcoe Muskoka. All have been over 12 years old.
Since the start of the pandemic, the local health unit has confirmed 23,531 cases of COVID-19 with 17,262 of those cases recovered and 289 cases ending in death.
A little over 75 per cent of the entire population of Simcoe-Muskoka has been fully vaccinated. Currently, 84 per cent of the population that is five years of age or older has received at least one dose of a COVID vaccine. More than 30 per cent of the over-12 population has had three doses of COVID vaccine.
Because of the high number of cases being reported to the health unit, transmission source is now being listed as either sporadic or outbreak-related. There are 21 cases linked to outbreaks included in today's report, and the rest are listed as "sporadic" cases.
Included in the new cases reported today are 48 youth under 18 years old, 132 people between 18 and 34 years old, 63 people between 35 and 44 years old, 77 people between 45 and 64 years old, 20 people between 65 and 79 years old, and 22 people 80 years old and older.
The new cases reported in Simcoe County today include:
- Collingwood (5)
- Clearview (6)
- Wasaga Beach (7)
- Barrie (111)
- Springwater (14)
- Innisfil (28)
- Bradford (46)
- Orillia (16)
- Oro-Medonte (13)
- Severn (11)
- Ramara (2)
- Midland (10)
- Tiny (7)
- Tay (2)
- Penetanguishene (4)
- Essa (12)
- New Tecumseth (19)
- Adjala-Tosorontio (4)
New cases reported in Muskoka District include:
- Bracebridge (8)
- Gravenhurst (29)
- Huntsville (8)
Breakdown by municipality
The health unit does sometimes remove a case or move them based on further investigation of location data. The chart below reflects updated totals for each municipality as reported by the health unit on Jan. 5.
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| Municipality | Total cases** | Recoveries | Deaths | In Hospital | Last case reported | Cumulative incidence rate* | Weekly incidence rate*** | % of 12+ pop. with two doses of vaccine |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adj-Tosorontio | 376 | 280 | 2 | Jan. 4 | 3,172 | 405 | 77% | |
| Barrie | 8,151 | 5,913 | 136 | 14 | Jan. 4 | 5,313 | 768 | 86.2% |
| Bradford W-G | 3,054 | 2,459 | 41 | Jan. 4 | 6,996 | 701 | 86.2% | |
| Clearview | 291 | 200 | 5 | Jan. 4 | 1,936 | 326 | 84.8% | |
| Collingwood | 511 | 333 | 4 | Jan. 4 | 2,071 | 397 | 90% | |
| Essa | 935 | 682 | 6 | 1 | Jan. 4 | 3,879 | 581 | 75.6% |
| Innisfil | 2,139 | 1,622 | 21 | 3 | Jan. 4 | 5,188 | 640 | 85.2% |
| Midland | 413 | 296 | 7 | 2 | Jan. 4 | 2,256 | 284 | 87.3% |
| New Tecumseth | 2,292 | 1,813 | 19 | 3 | Jan. 4 | 5,413 | 614 | 80.7% |
| Orillia | 892 | 572 | 11 | 1 | Jan. 4 | 2,591 | 506 | 89.8% |
| Oro-Medonte | 585 | 376 | 6 | 2 | Jan. 4 | 2,508 | 514 | 84.4% |
| Penetanguishene | 378 | 265 | 8 | 1 | Jan. 4 | 3,922 | 581 | 90.6% |
| Ramara | 232 | 173 | 1 | 1 | Jan. 3 | 2,219 | 354 | 86.9% |
| Severn | 336 | 164 | 3 | Jan. 4 | 2,241 | 760 | 85.6% | |
| Springwater | 828 | 515 | 2 | Jan. 4 | 3,863 | 844 | 92.2% | |
| Tay | 249 | 178 | 3 | Jan. 4 | 2,220 | 366 | 87.8% | |
| Tiny | 320 | 202 | 2 | 2 | Jan. 4 | 2,340 | 544 | 80.1% |
| Wasaga Beach | 557 | 438 | 5 | 1 | Jan. 4 | 2,350 | 291 | 87% |
~Fully vaccinated means an individual whose second dose was 14 or more days before the onset of COVID-19 symptoms.
*Cumulative incidence rate is the number of cases per 100,000 people reported to date
**Total cases include the number of cases currently recovering at home as well as any that have recovered, died, or are in hospital
***Weekly COVID-19 incidence rate per 100,000 by municipality for week of Dec. 26. N/A indicates fewer than five cases in a week
