This recent death – an Elgin County woman in her 80s – bumped the region’s toll to 117 since the pandemic began. It was also the sixth COVID-related death in the region since the beginning of the year.
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Another COVID-related death in the Oxford and Elgin counties region was confirmed Thursday by public health officials.
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This recent death – an Elgin County woman in her 80s – bumped the region’s toll to 117 since the pandemic began. It was also the sixth COVID-related death in the region since the beginning of the year.
Southwestern public health officials also confirmed 137 new cases in their morning update. With 102 recoveries, the active case count in the region increased again, growing from 1,401 to 1,435.
Public health officials, though, warned the Omicron-driven surge in cases, which has overwhelmed testing and contact-tracing capacity, meant this active case count was an underestimate of the actual number of active infections.
Despite this ongoing surge in cases, there were only 12 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in the region, including four patients being treated in intensive care.
The number of institutional outbreaks declared in the Oxford and Elgin counties region remained steady, with 11 nursing and retirement homes in the region in some degree of outbreak. While most had only a handful of cases, the outbreak at Valleyview Nursing Home in St. Thomas had grown to 10 resident and 17 staff cases. There were also higher case counts at Woodingford Lodge in Woodstock, Chartwell Oxford Gardens in Woodstock and Secord Trails in Ingersoll.
Public health also confirmed the outbreak at Ingersoll’s Alexandra Hospital had grown to four cases.
There have now been 7,965 confirmed cumulative cases in the region and 6,413 recoveries since the pandemic was declared in March 2020.
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The region’s two largest urban communities – Woodstock and St. Thomas – had the most cases, with 454 and 390 respectively. The case counts were also high in Ingersoll, with 106; Tillsonburg, with 73; and Central Elgin, with 74.
Roughly 21 per cent of active cases in the region were reported in patients 19 and younger. In total, almost 70 per cent of active cases were reported in residents younger than 50.
Currently, Southwestern public health is showing 768.5 confirmed cases per 100,000 people.
As of Jan. 4, 85.8 per cent of area residents 12 and older had received one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine while 83.8 per cent had been administered two doses. For residents five and older, the local vaccination coverage rates dropped to 81.3 per cent with one dose and 76.3 per cent with two.
As the Omicron variant drives COVID case counts to all-time highs, the health unit for the Oxford and Elgin counties region urged residents to get fully vaccinated.
Southwestern public health has tan upcoming pop-up clinic scheduled that welcomes walk-ins interested in a first, second or third dose of a vaccine. This clinic offers Pfizer vaccines for residents 29 and younger and Moderna for people 30 and older.
The clinic is set for Thursday, Jan. 13, from 11 am to 6 pm at the Straffordville Community Center at 56169 Heritage Line in Straffordville.