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Public health officials confirmed the three COVID-related deaths reported Tuesday in the Oxford and Elgin counties region were linked to outbreaks at three area nursing homes.
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The deaths included a woman in her 80s who was a resident at Caressant Care Bonnie Place in St. Thomas, a man in his 80s who was a resident at Secord Trails in Ingersoll and a woman in her 90s who was a resident at Terrace Lodge in Aylmer.
Currently, 13 of the region’s 34 long-term care homes are in some degree of outbreak, Southwestern public health officials said.
The outbreak at Secord Trails in Ingersoll – the region’s worst – had surged to 29 resident and nine staff cases as of Tuesday. The outbreak at Valleyview Nursing Home in St. Thomas had also grown, increasing to 15 resident and 19 staff cases. There were also high case counts at Woodingford Lodge in Woodstock, Chartwell Oxford Gardens in Woodstock and Caressant Care Bonnie Place in St. Thomas.
The three resident deaths brought the local count to 122 since the pandemic began.
Southwestern public health’s Tuesday morning update also confirmed 78 new case and 146 recoveries, dropping the active count from 1,459 to 1,382.
This active case count, though, is becoming increasingly meaningless during the recent Omicron-driven surge, public health officials have warned. With testing and contact-tracing capacity overwhelmed by the sheer number of cases, officials across the province say that counts are now a sharp underestimate of the actual number of active infections.
The number of area residents in hospital with the virus increased slightly from Monday, growing from 22 to 23 patients, including eight in intensive care.
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Outbreaks at Ingersoll’s Alexandra Hospital, with nine patient and two staff cases, and the St. Thomas Elgin General Hospital, with one staff and two patients cases, remained active.
There have now been 8,616 confirmed cumulative cases in the region and 7,112 recoveries since the pandemic began in March 2020.
The region’s two largest urban communities – Woodstock and St. Thomas –continued to have the most cases in the region, with 406 and 389 respectively.
The majority of local COVID cases were confirmed in residents younger than 50, who accounted for about 65 per cent of active infections.
As of Jan. 10, 86 per cent of area residents 12 and older had received one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine while 84 per cent had been administered two doses. For residents five and older, the local vaccination coverage rates dropped to 81.6 per cent with one dose and 76.6 per cent with two.
Southwestern public health has an 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.