Public Health Sudbury and Districts (PHSD) has reported 40 new cases of COVID-19 in the local jurisdiction for Dec. 22.
The health unit is also reporting there are now 300 active cases that are being monitored. Also, since the PHSD began tracking COVID-19 cases just over 21 months ago, there have been 4,697 total COVID-19 cases confirmed locally. PHSD also said 4,397 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 29 new cases were reported to have occurred in Greater Sudbury, eight new cases in the rural Sudbury district and three new cases for the Manitoulin district.
With respect to the possible causes of new and recent cases, PHSD reported none of the new cases are associated with an outbreak, however, 11 cases are from close contact of confirmed cases, two cases are travel related, 21 cases have no known epidemiological link and six cases are 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 1,597 total cases (An increase of 12 cases).
There were also 1,310 cases for the 19 and under age group (An increase of 10).
The next highest number was 1,077 for the 40-59 age group (An increase of 13).
Seniors in the 60 to 79 age group amounted to 543 cases total (An increase of seven).
People aged 80 and over are currently the lowest category with 152 cases (no increase).
There was a decrease of two cases in the Not Specified category, which now 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 345,891 total tests carried out locally since the pandemic began; an increase of 618 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 76.3 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. Two of those patients are in the intensive care unit. In addition to this there are five 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 14 past-positives for COVID-19 and two of those patients were 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 3,4,383 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases across the province. Also today, the province reported nine new COVID-19 deaths.
