Two Barrie women die after contracting COVID: Health unit

The Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit has reported 53 new COVID-19 cases and two deaths in its first update since Friday published Sept. 20.

Two Barrie women between 45 and 64 years old have died after contracting COVID-19. One of the women died on Sept. 17 and the other died on Sept. 15.

Included in the new cases are 39 unvaccinated individuals, six partially vaccinated people, and eight fully vaccinated people.

There are two school outbreaks in the region, one declared at Fieldcrest Elementary School in Bradford. There are two cases at the school. The other is at Alliston Union Public School. There are four cases and impacted cohorts have been excluded.

The schools are still open, but the impacted cohort(s) have been instructed to self-isolate.

The health unit declares a school outbreak where there is evidence of person-to-person transmission of COVID-19 at the school. 

The new cases reported today are as follows: 

• Collingwood (5): Two youth under 18 years old, two people between 18 and 34 years old, and one person between 45 and 64 years old. Two cases are linked to close contact transmission and the other three are still under investigation. 
• Wasaga Beach (3): One person between 18 and 34 years old, one person between 35 and 44 years old, and one person between 65 and 79 years old, one case is still under investigation and the other two cases are listed as community-acquired (no known link).
• Springwater (1): One person between 35 and 44 years old whose case is still under investigation. 
• Barrie (11): Three youth under 18 years old, five people between 18 and 34 years old, two people between 35 and 44 years old, and one person between 65 and 79 years old. Two cases are listed as community-acquired (no known link) and nine cases are still under investigation. 
• Innisfil (3): Three people between 18 and 34 years old. Two cases are still under investigation and one case is listed as community-acquired (no known link). 
• Bradford (5): Two youth under 18 years old, one person between 18 and 34 years old, one person between 35 and 44 years old, and one person between 45 and 64 years old. One case is linked to close contact transmission, one is listed. as community-acquired (no known link) and the other three cases are still under investigation. 
• Orillia (1): One person between 18 and 34 years old whose case is still under investigation. 
• Ramara (1): One youth under 18 years old whose case is still under investigation. 
• Tiny (1): One person between 65 and 79 years old whose case is linked to close contact. 
• Tay (2): Two people between 18 and 34 years old. One case is listed as community-acquired (no known link), and the other is still under investigation. 
• Midland (1): One youth under 18 years old whose case is linked to close contact. 
• Severn (1): One youth under 18 years old whose case is still under investigation. 
• Essa (2): One youth under 18 years old and one person between 45 and 64 years old. Both cases are still under investigation. 
• New Tecumseth (8): One youth under 18 years old, two people between 18 and 34 years old, two people between 35 and 44 years old, and three people between 45 and 64 years old. Two cases are linked. to close contact transmission and the other six are still under investigation. 
• Muskoka District (8): Four cases in Huntsville, one case in Bracebridge, one case in Gravenhurst, and two in Muskoka Lakes. 

There are currently 232 active cases in the region. 

Eleven people from Simcoe County are hospitalized with COVID-19.

Since the start of the pandemic, the local health unit has confirmed 13,351 cases of COVID-19 with 12,860 of those cases recovered and 259 cases ending in death. 

The health unit has confirmed 5,864 of the region's cases were variant strains. There are 159 lab-confirmed variant cases still active.

The variant case breakdown includes: 

4,007 alpha cases,
168 gamma cases, 
34 beta cases,
994 delta cases,
and 661 cases have screened positive and are awaiting further testing.

According to the health unit, 77 per cent of the population 12 years and older living in Simcoe-Muskoka have received both doses of vaccine and 84 per cent have had at least one dose of a vaccine.

Approximately 26 per cent of the total population of Simcoe-Muskoka (including children) is unvaccinated and 67.6 per cent is fully vaccinated. 

For more on the vaccination status of Simcoe-Muskoka cases and hospitalizations, click here.

Anyone born in 2009 or earlier living in Simcoe-Muskoka region can book their first or second dose of vaccine online via Ontario vaccine booking system. More appointments are added regularly for clinics throughout the region.

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 Sept. 20.

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~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