There have been two more COVID-19 deaths reported in Chatham-Kent.
Chatham-Kent Public Health said a woman in her 90s and a woman in her 80s are the latest fatalities. Their deaths brings the local COVID-19 death toll to 66.
Local officials at the health unit also reported 215 new cases on Wednesday and seven COVID-19 patients in the hospital, but none is in the ICU.
Three new outbreaks are also being reported to bring the total number of active COVID-19 outbreaks to nine. The largest outbreaks are at Oaks Retirement Village in Wallaceburg, which has 37 cases and Copper Terrace Long Term Care Home in Chatham, which has 35 cases. There are also a combined 22 cases at five unidentified group homes and Village on the Thames Retirement Home in Chatham has 13 cases. The Continuing Care Unit at the hospital in Chatham also has 10 cases.
Retiring Chatham-Kent Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Colby told the Board of Health in his COVID-19 update on Wednesday that there have been eight confirmed COVID-19 deaths in the municipality in the last month and nearly 800 new cases. Colby said there may be more deaths to blame on the virus when all of the death certificates are checked.
Dr. Colby said the Omicron BA.2 variant is the most transmissible and contagious yet, but less virulent. He added that the younger age groups, particularly those 20 to 29, are now getting infected with the new strain. He seems to think it's because they have a lower vaccination rate compared to the older age groups, which have a very high vaccination rate. Dr. Colby said there's still a lot of work to do to vaccinate the 5 to 11 age group.
Colby also said COVID-19 levels in Chatham's and Wallaceburg's waste water are increasing compared to Ontario levels, which are decreasing.
He noted that Chatham-Kent has an ongoing problem when it comes to cases per capita and is the sixth highest area in the province in that category compared to being the sixth lowest vaccinated area in Ontario.
Colby cited numbers from the Ontario Science Table as a way of bringing home the fact that vaccines work to immunize the population against COVID-19. He said hospitalizations have dropped by 71 per cent across the province after two doses of the vaccine, ICU occupancy is down by 81 per cent, and COVID-19 deaths have been reduced by 43.5 per cent.
"I implore everyone, take these figures to heart. The disinformation that's out there, the rumours of side effects...every drug, every vaccine has side effects, but compared to death, hospitalization, and ICU occupancy, they're a piffling issue," said an emotional Colby.
