The latest COVID update from the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit, published April 13, includes 14 deaths and two new hospitalizations.
All 14 of the latest deaths reported were Simcoe County residents, including a man and a woman between 65 and 79 years old, eight men over 79 years old, and four women over 79 years old. Two people died between March 20 and 26, and the other 12 people died between April 2 and 19.
Testing has captured 1,054 new COVID cases in the region since the last update on April 13. Because testing is not available to everyone, case counts are underestimated.
The case data included in the latest update may be incomplete as there are some issues with the provincial lab reporting feed. Some tests collected on the weekend are also still being processed and will be added as they are reported to the health unit.
The health unit reported 54 deaths in February, 25 in March, and 18 so far in April.
There are 16 people from the region currently hospitalized because of COVID-19. This number does not include people who were hospitalized for other reasons and also test positive for COVID-19.
Since the start of the pandemic, the local health unit has confirmed 41,943 cases of COVID-19 with 39,900 of those cases recovered and 462 cases ending in death.
Of the deaths reported by the health unit since March 2020, 401 were COVID-related, 51 deaths were not related to COVID-19 but the person tested positive, and for 10 of them, the cause of death is unknown or pending.
To date, 83 per cent of the population aged five years old and up are fully vaccinated with two or more doses, and 18 per cent of the region's total population (including children) is unvaccinated.
There are 40 active outbreaks in Simcoe-Muskoka, down from 48 outbreaks on April 13. The current active outbreaks include 20 in institutional settings (hospitals, long-term care, retirement homes), 12 in congregate settings (group homes, shelters), and eight at child-care centres.
A list of outbreaks is available on the health unit website here.
According to monitoring of the region's hospitals by the health unit, about 58 per cent of the region's ICU beds are full and about 32 per cent of the ventilator beds are occupied. Acute care occupancy is highest with 84 per cent of the beds in the region currently full.
