Revamped virus dashboard provides specific data for HN

Data for COVID and other respiratory illnesses has a more detailed look on this week’s Haldimand Norfolk Health Unit’s website.

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The agency has updated its statistics page to include dates and locations of outbreaks, including COVID-19, influenza and RSV.

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Viewers can check either the ‘respiratory virus dashboard’ on the site or the ‘outbreak status dashboard’ at www.hnhu.org.

The site has had “mixed” response, according to the infectious disease team responsible but a new subscription option, where people can get an email about new community outbreaks, already has more than 60 subscribers.

Changes to the site aim to provide more information and transparency to the public while following the Ministry of Health guidelines on viruses and risks.

The data dashboard aims to help Norfolk and Haldimand residents make informed decisions about their health and provides aggregate data for local partners and healthcare professionals.

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The data is updated each Tuesday at about 4 pm but outbreak data will be updated on weekdays as needed.

This week’s posting shows 15 new cases of COVID-19 last week and seven new influenza cases – both numbers lower than the previous week.

One new COVID death was added to a tally that shows 102 people have died of COVID since the pandemic began plus 37 people have died with the virus.

The site now differentiates between the viral load in wastewater in Simcoe, where it was 1,082 last week and Caledonia, where it was 394.

The new format shows outbreaks of COVID (10 cases) and rhinovirus (six cases) at Parkview Meadows in Townsend and Cedarwood Village Long-Term Care in Simcoe ended over the last week.

COVID outbreaks continue at Norfolk Hospital Nursing Home in Simcoe (15 cases) and Norview Lodge Long-Term Care in Simcoe (four cases).

There is also an enteric outbreak of 11 cases at Dover Cliffs Long-Term Care in Port Dover and a small unknown respiratory outbreak at Parkview Meadows in Townsend.

The health unit rates the current respiratory risk as ‘high’ with influenza ‘very high’.

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