The Windsor Essex County Health Unit has reached all long-term care facilities in the region with the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
“There are still some outstanding people because many of our homes have been in outbreak and so not everyone was able to get the vaccine when we were there,” said CEO and Chief Nursing Officer Theresa Marentette. “They have to recover before they can get vaccinated.”
The health unit continues to work with homes experiencing an outbreak and will continue to vaccinate residents as they recover.
The health unit is now moving on to retirement homes. Two retirement homes are expected to be completed on Monday. Marentette is confident they will complete all of the retirement homes before the provincial deadline of January 25, 2021.
“It will take 10 - 14 days, two weeks to be safe, for any type of immunity that we can see on the people who are getting the vaccine at this time,” said Medical Officer of Health Dr. Wajid Ahmed. “We know from the clinical trial data that the vaccine will be more effective once people have received their two doses. So now is not the time for people who have already received their vaccine to think they now are safe. We still have to follow all the measures that we have been talking about in public health.”
On Monday, the health unit reported an additional 142 cases of the virus in the region. There are now 2,728 active cases in the community. Of the active cases, 99 are currently in hospital and 17 of those are receiving treatment in the intensive care unit.
The health unit continues to monitor 45 active outbreaks in the community.
Since March, 72.2 per cent of cases have been resolved.
