Public health officials confirmed another COVID-related death in the region while reporting a slight uptick in the local case count.
Public health officials confirmed another COVID-related death in the region while reporting a slight uptick in the local case count.
The death – a St. Thomas man in his 70s – was not related to an institutional outbreak, Southwestern public health officials said.
The health unit for Oxford and Elgin counties also reported 57 new cases but only 45 recoveries, bumping the number of confirmed infections from 203 to 213.
One case was also removed from the local numbers by the health unit,
This active case count 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 remained stable at six, while the number of patients in intensive care dropped from two to one. Among the hospitalized cases in the region, roughly 31 per cent have been treated in the ICU.
There have now been 11,725 confirmed cumulative cases and 11,358 total recoveries in the Southwestern public health region since the pandemic began. The have also been 154 COVID-related deaths in the past two years.
Public health also confirmed two new outbreaks – Park Place Retirement Home in Woodstock, which had five resident cases, and the Aylmer Retirement Residence, which had three resident cases.
The previously announced institutional outbreak involving three staff and 10 resident cases at Chartwell Oxford Gardens in Woodstock was still in effect,
As of March 21, 87.5 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.