As the Public Health Sudbury & Districts region approaches nearly 2,000 positive tests for COVID-19 in the past 13 months, a new picture is emerging with respect to how the disease is being transmitted and what groups in our population are becoming infected more than others.
This is all based on the limited numbers published by the Public Health Sudbury and Districts in the daily summaries released by the agency.
Based on the information released at 4 p.m. on Tuesday April 20, there were 1,855 cases of COVID-19 that tested positive since March of 2020.
Of that number, PHSD reported that 1,747 cases occurred in the Greater Sudbury area. Another 70 cases occurred in the wider rural Sudbury district, and 37 cases attributed to the Manitoulin district.
Those numbers total up to 1,844, but no reason is given for the one extra case provided for in the daily total.
The next category that PHSD presented is "probable exposure status of cases", the category which describes how each case was likely contracted.
The majority of cases are listed as close contact of a confirmed case at 1,050 (56 per cent).
Next on the list are cases that were outbreak associated with 471 (25 per cent).
No known epidemiological link is the next most common category with 262 (14 per cent).
The category for travel-related contact is on the list at 65 (3.5 per cent).
Cases that are under investigation are listed at seven (0.37 per cent).
The last number is one that changes often in the daily summaries.
The next set of numbers from PHSD describes the age groups of local residents who have tested positive.
The group with the highest number consistently is the 20 to 39 year group, which totals 608 cases (32.7 per cent).
Next highest number on the list are those in the 40 to 59 age group at 478 cases (25.7 per cent).
They are followed by the group aged 19 and younger which had 420 cases (22.6 per cent).
Older folks aged 60 to 79 accounted for 264 cases (14.2 per cent).
And then the oldest group, listed as 80 years and older reported 85 cases (4.5 per cent).
The age category numbers in the Sudbury district match some of the recent numbers reported by Public Health Ontario (Aug.30, 2020 to Apr.20, 2021) which accounted for 426,407 cases.
The highest numbers were the 20 to 39 age group with 157,565 cases (36 per cent).
Next was the 40 to 59 age group, with 123,658 cases (28 per cent).
The 19 and younger age group reported 65,118 (15 per cent).
The 60 to 79 years group reported 59,724 cases (14 per cent).
The oldest group, aged 80 and older reported 22,939 cases (5.3 per cent).
In both instances, the number groups are in the same order.
Len Gillis is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter at Sudbury.com, covering health care in Northern Ontario. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the federal government.
