A COVID-related death from February was added to the local toll after “more information” was provided to the region’s health unit, officials said Monday.
The death – an Oxford County man in his 80s – was related to the outbreak at Tillsonburg District Memorial Hospital that was declared in mid-January and ended about a month later.
The addition of the man’s death bumped the COVID-related death toll in the Southwestern public health region to 155 since the pandemic began about two years ago.
The health unit for Oxford and Elgin counties also reported 94 new cases but only 81 recoveries, resulting in another slight increase – from 266 to 277 – to the number of confirmed infections. One case was also removed by health unit officials from the local numbers.
This active case count, though, reflects only the testing of high-risk patients and settings amid the most recent Omicron-driven wave and is no longer considered an accurate count.
The number of hospitalizations in the region Increased over the weekend, growing to 11, but there were no COVID-related patients in intensive care.
There have now been 11,897 confirmed cumulative cases and 11,465 total recoveries in the Southwestern public health region since the pandemic began.
Public health also confirmed another outbreak – this one affecting 11 residents at Tillsonburg’s Harvest Crossing Retirement Home.
The three outbreaks declared earlier this month –Park Place Retirement Home in Woodstock, which had five resident cases, the Aylmer Retirement Residence, which had four resident and two staff cases, and Chartwell Oxford Gardens in Woodstock, with 10 resident and three staff cases – remained in effect.
As of March 23, 87.6 per cent of area residents 12 and older had received one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine while 86.4 per cent had been administered two doses. For residents five and older, the local vaccination coverage rates dropped to 83.7 per cent with one dose and 81.2 per cent with two.