With active COVID-19 cases surging with the spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant, the Woodstock- and St. Thomas-area public health agency is planning to increase capacity at its revived mass-immunization clinics.
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With active COVID-19 cases surging with the spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant, the Woodstock- and St. Thomas-area public health agency is planning to increase capacity at its revived mass-immunization clinics.
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“Our staff are actively planning at the moment to put our mass-immunization vaccine clinics into high gear so that the throughput is the maximum we can achieve,” said Dr. Joyce Lock, the region’s medical officer of health. “As well, they are looking at our capacity to offer additional sites beyond our two mass-immunization centers (in Woodstock and St. Thomas).
“So we will be ramping up to the fullest of our capacity.”
The decision by the health unit for the Oxford and Elgin counties region to increase capacity at its clinics comes as the number of local cases skyrocket during an Omicron-driven fourth wave of the pandemic.
While a post-Christmas update wasn’t available on the health unit’s website, the numbers reported on Christmas Eve were concerning.
Health unit officials reported 110 new COVID-19 cases in that Friday update. With only 25 confirmed recoveries, the number of active infections in the region surged from 397 to a record 479.
The health unit also confirmed another COVID-related death in that update – an Elgin County woman in her 70s. That brought the toll since the beginning of the pandemic to 111.
Like the preceding week, the bulk of active cases were located in the region’s two largest urban centers; St. Thomas had 129 active cases while Woodstock had 114.
There were also double-digit case counts in Ingersoll (38), Tillsonburg (29), Zorra Township (29), Blandford-Blenheim (13), East Zorra-Tavistock (12), Norwich Township (12); South-West Oxford (10); Central Elgin (27), Aylmer (22), Dutton-Duniwch (15) and Malahide (11).
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There have now been 6,221 cumulative cases in the region and 5,631 recoveries since the pandemic began in March 2020.
Roughly 30 per cent of active cases in the region were reported in patients 19 and younger. In total, about 75 per cent of active cases were reported in residents younger than 50.
Thirteen people in the region were hospitalized with the virus, including five patients being treated in intensive care.
The region’s lone institutional outbreak – declared at Caressant Care Bonnie Place in St. Thomas in late November – remained active with 11 resident and nine staff infections and two deaths.
Southwestern public health officials continued to encourage residents to get vaccinated against the virus. With the emergence of Omicron, they were also urging people who had previously received two shots of a vaccine to book an appointment for a booster.
“We’ve been rolling out the third dose for quite a while,” Lock said. “” I get a report on every single person who has had a side effect, of a severity that it needs to be noted, and I haven’t had any yet from the third doses. So far I think most people are doing quite well with their third doses. ”
Public health officials recommended booking appointments online at www.covidvaccinelm.ca. New appointments, public health officials added, typically open four weeks in advance of the current date.
The health unit is currently not accepting phone calls for vaccination appointments.
Residents can also join the health unit’s same-day list at www.swpublichealth.ca/samedaylist for a last-minute appointment due to a cancellation or no-show.
As of Dec. 23, 86.8 per cent of Ontario’s eligible population had at least one dose of vaccine while 81.2 per cent had two doses.
In the Southwestern public health region, 81 per cent of residents five and older had one dose of a vaccine while 76.1 per cent had received two doses.