MANITOULIN—Public Health Sudbury and Districts (PHSD) is reporting one new case of COVID-19 in the District of Manitoulin on Friday, March 19, the second active case at this time. This brings Manitoulin District’s total case count to 26 since the pandemic’s spring 2020 start, 24 of which are resolved.
As of Friday’s daily update, the total active case count in the PHSD catchment area stood at 269. The total number of resolved cases is 861, for a total of 1,130 confirmed cases.
Of that total, 231 have screened positive for variants of concern and a further three have had fully-sequenced variant identification.
The new case Friday continues a rise in active cases in the health district, mostly in the City of Greater Sudbury, where there are 262 active cases. A case earlier this week in a construction worker at a Wiikwemkoong job site will not be reflected in the Manitoulin District figures, as that individual commuted from off-Island to the location.
Anyone who is exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms or has concerns that they may have been in contact with a known case should contact the Manitoulin Health Centre COVID assessment centres by calling 705-368-2300 (Little Current site) or 705-377-5311 (Mindemoya site) and following the prompts. Testing is based on a clinical assessment of each person.
PHSD continues to urge residents to follow the standard COVID-19 prevention advice. Frequently wash your hands, reduce your social contacts, only leave the home when absolutely necessary and avoid all non-essential travel.
Although new variants of COVID-19 appear to spread more easily and potentially bring more harm to those who contract them, they spread in the same way as the original virus, meaning preventive measures in place since last spring continue to be effective against the virus.
As of today, March 19, 20,048 people in the PHSD catchment area have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. An additional 1,690 people are fully vaccinated with both doses.
The vaccine criteria continue to gradually expand. Beginning Monday, PHSD-area residents can pre-register for the appointment lottery online at surveymonkey.ca/r/vaccineappointment or by phone at 705-674-2299.
