Public Health Sudbury and Districts (PHSD) has reported seven new COVID-19 related deaths in the local jurisdiction, partly as a result of a new reporting system it has put in place. This means there is a local accumulated total of 118 deaths in the Sudbury health unit area that have occurred in the past 24 months.
PHSD said the death count comes in light of a new system imposed by the province to try to explain the causes of death.
"As a result, on March 11, five (5) previously unreported deaths have been added to the “Unknown cause of death” category. This category represents fatalities of people who had COVID-19, but for whom the cause of death is still under investigation," said the health unit.
Also in today's COVID summary, the health unit reported 58 confirmed cases of COVID-19 at Sudbury's Health Sciences North (HSN) hospital today. Three of those patients are being treated in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
There are also 16 active outbreaks of COVID declared at local long-term care homes and congregate settings, according to Public Health Sudbury and Districts (PHSD).
PHSD also reported Friday that 121 new cases of COVID have been determined, although this number is expected to be much lower than the actual number of cases in the community at large, since public testing is no longer provided for free. This count takes in new cases for the past two days since the health unit does not normally report cases on Thursdays.
PHSD also said this means that 12,146 total accumulated cases have occurred in the Sudbury jurisdiction since the pandemic was declared in March of 2020. PHSD also reported that 11,746 of those cases have been resolved. This means there are currently 400 active cases in the health unit area.
All across Ontario today there are 238 active COVID-19 cases in Intensive Care Units. More complete details are included on the daily COVID-19 public health summary.
With respect to the possible locations of the new cases, PHSD said 90 new cases were reported to have occurred in the Greater Sudbury area, 16 new cases in the rural Sudbury district and 15 new cases for the Manitoulin district.
PHSD also reported general demographics each day about the age groups for people who are becoming infected.
Epidemiological data showed that the majority of local cases are persons in the 20 to 39 age category with 4,408 total cases (An increase of 55 cases).
The next highest number was 3,071 for the 40-59 age group (An increase of 34).
There were also 2,370 cases for the 19 and under age group (An increase of 10).
Seniors in the 60 to 79 age group amounted to 1,553 cases total (An increase of 16).
People aged 80 and over are currently the lowest category with 733 cases (An increase of seven).
In the Not Specified category, there were 11 cases (A decrease of one).
Note: The numbers above might not correspond to other numbers being reported because the health unit does not report fresh numbers daily, as they happen. Some of the numbers are delayed.
With respect to COVID-19 testing, PHSD said there have been 404,918 total tests carried out locally since the pandemic began; an increase of 867 new tests.
With respect to vaccination numbers, PHSD is now reporting percentages of people vaccinated rather than doses given. The percentage of area residents who are now fully vaccinated translates to 81.2 per cent of all people in the PHSD area.
The Sudbury health unit is reporting a number of outbreaks in the city at several long-term care homes and congregate living homes in the city. There are 18 active outbreaks as of March 11. More details can be found on the daily COVID summary page. Just scroll to the bottom of the summary page to COVID-19 Outbreaks. It also includes locations where outbreaks have been declared over.
Also, at Sudbury's Health Sciences North, there were 58 patients with confirmed COVID-19 at the hospital, the hospital website reported Friday. Three of those COVID patients were in the intensive care unit. There were 12 other patients being investigated (tested) for COVID-19. None of those 12 patients was in the ICU. There are still three separate COVID-19 outbreaks at the hospital.
On the provincial COVID-19 roster today, the Ontario government daily website reported 2,130 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases across the province. The province also reported that 238 COVID patients are in intensive care. Also today, the province could not report on the number of COVID-19 deaths as a new reporting system is being created.
