Public Health Sudbury and Districts (PHSD) has reported 79 new cases of COVID-19 in the local jurisdiction for Dec. 20. This includes cases identified over the weekend when Public Health does not provide updates to the media.
The health unit is also reporting there are now 268 active cases that are being monitored. Also, since the PHSD began tracking COVID-19 cases just over 21 months ago, there have been 4,602 total COVID-19 cases confirmed locally. PHSD also said 4,334 of those cases are now resolved. More complete details are included on the daily COVID-19 public health summary.
As for the possible location of the new cases, PHSD said 55 new cases were reported to have occurred in Greater Sudbury, 11 new cases in the rural Sudbury district and 10 new cases for the Manitoulin district.
With respect to the possible causes of new and recent cases, PHSD reported eight news cases associated with an outbreak, 49 cases of close contact of confirmed cases, 46 cases with no known epidemiological link and two cases that were under investigation.
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 1,561 total cases (An increase of 30 cases).
There were also 1,291 cases for the 19 and under age group (An increase of 25).
The next highest number was 1,055 for the 40-59 age group (An increase of 15).
Seniors in the 60 to 79 age group amounted to 528 cases total (An increase of six).
People aged 80 and over are currently the lowest category with 152 cases (An increase of two).
There was no change in the Not Specified category, which has a total of three cases.
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 343,225 total tests carried out locally since the pandemic began; an increase of 436 tests since the last testing report 24 hours ago.
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 76.2 per cent of people in the PHSD area.
The health unit has also reported there are several active local outbreaks and several recent exposure risks. 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 11 patients with confirmed COVID-19 at the hospital, said the hospital website. Nine of those patients were in the intensive care unit. In addition to this there were nine admitted patients "being tested" for COVID-19. HSN said none of the patients were admitted to the ICU (Intensive Care Unit). HSN has also reported 11 past-positives for COVID-19 and one of those patients was in the ICU.
Health Sciences North has started reporting a new statistic as part of its daily COVID-19 summary.
Along with the number of COVID patients admitted to hospital as well as the number of those who require Intensive Care Unit (ICU) admissions, HSN said it is also reporting what it calls "past positives".
HSN said this refers to patients who were previously admitted with COVID-19, and are no longer COVID positive, but still require hospital care due to their health condition. In reporting this new statistic, HSN also revealed that some of the former COVID positive patients still require care in the ICU.
The numbers are part of the daily COVID case report provided by Sudbury.com every weekday afternoon.
"We are doing this so the community better understands the long-term impacts of COVID-19 on our acute care services, and the long-term impacts that COVID-19 can have for your health," said a statement from HSN.
On the provincial COVID-19 roster today, the Ontario government daily website reported 3,784 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases across the province. Also today, the province reported no new COVID-19 deaths.
