Six new COVID-19 cases confirmed in Barrie today

The region's health unit has reported eight new cases of COVID-19 in Simcoe County today, the highest reported in a single day this month. 

Six of the new cases are Barrie residents including two youth under 18 years old - a boy and a girl. There is also a Barrie man between 45 and 64 years old and a Barrie woman between 18 and 34 years old among the new cases. All four of those case transmissions are under investigation. 

The other two new Barrie cases are both women. One is between 35 and 44 years old and the other is between 45 and 64 years old. They are close contacts of other known cases. 

There is also a new case in Bradford West Gwillimbury and in Tiny Township. The Bradford case is a man between 18 and 34 who is a close contact of another known case. The Tiny man is between 45 and 64 years old and the transmission source for his case is still under investigation. 

This is the first case reported in Tiny Township since July 16.

For the last two weeks, the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit has seen a rise in cases in Simcoe County with 23 cases confirmed since Monday - 17 of those are Barrie residents. 

From Aug. 17 to 21, the health unit reported 11 cases, all in Simcoe County. From Aug. 20 to 14, the health unit confirmed just four cases in the region, including one in Muskoka.

"Unfortunately our downward trend has ended," said Dr. Charles Gardner, medical officer of health for the region. 

"The most significant driver for that would be people socializing among family members and larger groups potentially beyond their social circle of ten people," noted the doctor. "Contact investigations are becoming more complicated as time goes on. People are having encounters with larger groups of people. We're tracing seven or more contacts, whereas, a month ago, it would have been three." 

For the month of August, the health unit reports close contact as the most common transmission source for new cases, second only to "under investigation." 

Dr. Gardner is reminding everyone to keep a social circle of no more than 10 people who you are in close contact with, including your household. If you are with anyone outside your social circle, it is recommended you maintain a physical distance of at least two metres at all times, and it's better to be outdoors while socializing outside your circle. 

Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit has now reported a total of 703 coronavirus cases in the region, with 671 of the cases in Simcoe County. Of those, 632 cases are now listed as recovered and 37 people have died.

There are 34 cases of COVID in Simcoe County not reported recovered, including 23 in Barrie, four in Bradford, two in Innisfil, one in Wasaga Beach, two in Essa, one in Tiny Township, and one in Penetanguishene. Two people are hospitalized.

*Incidence rate is number of cases per 100,000 people in the local population.

** Total cases includes the number of cases currently recovering at home as well as any that have recovered, died, or are in hospital.