Public health officials for Elgin and Oxford counties confirmed two more COVID-related deaths in the agency’s Wednesday morning update.
Public health officials for Oxford and Elgin counties confirmed two more COVID-related deaths in the agency’s Wednesday morning update.
The two deaths – an Oxford County man in his 70s who was infected during an ongoing outbreak at Ingersoll’s Woodingford Lodge and an Oxford County woman in her 100s – bring the toll since the beginning of the pandemic to 158.
The local COVID-19 case count, though, dipped slightly after several weeks of increases in the wake of relaxed public-health measures and the recent prevalence of new Omicron subvariants.
Despite 315 new cases being confirmed by Southwestern public health officials Wednesday, there were 326 recoveries, dropping the count from 441 to 428.
There was a slight uptick in the number of residents hospitalized with the virus, bumping local patients from three to five, including two in intensive care.
There have now been 12,908 confirmed cumulative cases and 11,322 total recoveries in the Southwestern public health region since the pandemic began.
The active case count in the region, though, reflects only the testing of high-risk patients and settings, so is no longer considered an accurate count.
As of April 18, 88 per cent of area residents 12 and older had received one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine while 86.9 per cent had been administered two doses. For residents five and older, the local vaccination coverage rates dropped to 84.2 per cent with one dose and 81.8 per cent with two.
A full, updated list of upcoming vaccination clinics can be found by visiting www.swpublichealth.ca/covid19vaccine.