The Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit is reporting 637 new COVID-19 cases in its latest update published Dec. 30.
That's a record number of new cases reported in a single day, and all but 38 of today's cases were reported to the health unit on Dec. 29. The other 38 cases were reported to the health unit between Dec. 24 and 28, but were not published in a case report until today.
Though the health unit is providing updates on local confirmed cases, a notice on its website indicates the case numbers are underestimating COVID transmission in the community.
Because of the rapid spread of the omicron strain across the province, access to testing is limited and people who are experiencing symptoms of COVID or who have been identified as close contacts of other cases are not always able to access testing. Without a confirmed test, their case is not reported by the health unit.
"Confirmed cases underestimate the true number of people with COVID-19 infections in Simcoe-Muskoka," states a notice on the health unit website.
Included in the new cases reported today are 101 unvaccinated, 26 partially vaccinated, and 475 fully vaccinated people.
There are 3,632 active cases in the region.
Twenty-seven Simcoe-Muskoka residents currently hospitalized with COVID-19, and 11 patients are in an ICU.
Over the last eight weeks, there have been 89 unvaccinated people, nine partially vaccinated, and 32 fully vaccinated people hospitalized with COVID-19 in Simcoe-Muskoka. All have been over 12 years old.
Since the start of the pandemic, the local health unit has confirmed 20,782 cases of COVID-19 with 16,863 of those cases recovered and 287 cases ending in death.
A little over 75 per cent of the entire population of Simcoe-Muskoka has been fully vaccinated. Currently, 84 per cent of the population that is five years of age or older has received at least one dose of a COVID vaccine.
Because of the high number of cases being reported to the health unit, transmission source is now being listed as either sporadic or outbreak-related. There are 17 cases linked to outbreaks included in today's report, and the rest are listed as "sporadic" cases.
The new cases reported in Simcoe County today include:
- Barrie (184)
- Innisfil (45)
- Springwater (35)
- Essa (23)
- Oro-Medonte (16)
- Collingwood (35)
- Clearview (14)
- Wasaga Beach (9)
- Bradford (50)
- Orillia (30)
- Severn (19)
- Ramara (7)
- Midland (12)
- Tiny (7)
- Tay (9)
- Penetanguishene (10)
- New Tecumseth (56)
- Adjala-Tosorontio (14)
- Two cases are listed with location information pending.
New cases reported in Muskoka District include:
- Bracebridge (11)
- Gravenhurst (11)
- Huntsville (32)
- Muskoka Lakes (3)
- Lake of Bays (3)
Breakdown by municipality
The health unit does sometimes remove a case or move them based on further investigation of location data. The chart below reflects updated totals for each municipality as reported by the health unit on Dec. 30.
******
| Municipality | Total cases** | Recoveries | Deaths | In Hospital | Last case reported | Cumulative incidence rate* | Weekly incidence rate*** | % of 12+ pop. with two doses of vaccine |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adj-Tosorontio | 332 | 270 | 2 | Dec. 29 | 2,801 | 312 | 76.9% | |
| Barrie | 7,107 | 5,744 | 134 | 12 | Dec. 29 | 4,633 | 374 | 86% |
| Bradford W-G | 2,765 | 2,426 | 41 | Dec. 29 | 6,334 | 312 | 86% | |
| Clearview | 254 | 185 | 5 | Dec. 29 | 1,690 | 233 | 84.7% | |
| Collingwood | 439 | 317 | 4 | Dec. 29 | 1,780 | 182 | 89.9% | |
| Essa | 816 | 665 | 6 | 1 | Dec. 29 | 3,385 | 286 | 75.4% |
| Innisfil | 1,876 | 1,575 | 21 | 1 | Dec. 29 | 4,550 | 349 | 85% |
| Midland | 357 | 285 | 7 | 2 | Dec. 29 | 1,950 | 169 | 87.1% |
| New Tecumseth | 2,078 | 1,786 | 19 | 2 | Dec. 29 | 4,908 | 298 | 80.6% |
| Orillia | 745 | 549 | 10 | 1 | Dec. 29 | 2,204 | 204 | 89.7% |
| Oro-Medonte | 490 | 365 | 6 | 2 | Dec. 29 | 2,028 | 210 | 84.2% |
| Penetanguishene | 317 | 255 | 8 | 1 | Dec. 29 | 3,289 | 239 | 90.4% |
| Ramara | 202 | 168 | 1 | 1 | Dec. 29 | 1,932 | 77 | 86.8% |
| Severn | 242 | 153 | 3 | Dec. 29 | 1,614 | 187 | 85.4% | |
| Springwater | 700 | 485 | 2 | Dec. 29 | 3,266 | 471 | 92% | |
| Tay | 224 | 173 | 3 | Dec. 29 | 1,997 | 134 | 87.7% | |
| Tiny | 267 | 193 | 2 | 2 | Dec. 29 | 1,989 | 238 | 79.9% |
| Wasaga Beach | 490 | 425 | 5 | 1 | Dec. 29 | 2,067 | 152 | 86.8% |
~Fully vaccinated means an individual whose second dose was 14 or more days before the onset of COVID-19 symptoms.
*Cumulative incidence rate is the number of cases per 100,000 people reported to date
**Total cases include the number of cases currently recovering at home as well as any that have recovered, died, or are in hospital
***Weekly COVID-19 incidence rate per 100,000 by municipality for week of Dec. 19. N/A indicates fewer than five cases in a week
