COVID-19

The Dryden Regional Health Centre has declared its first COVID-19 outbreak, after ‘several’ patients tested positive within the facility.

In response, staff say they will be ramping up infection control protocols as outlined in their Pandemic Plan, to help protect patients, families and staff. They will also be working with the Northwestern Health Unit to determine the cause of the outbreak, and to minimize risks to patients and staff.

The All Nations Health Partners are encouraging residents to be kind, patient and understanding. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused hardships and difficulties for everyone, but especially for healthcare workers. The pandemic has caused burnout and compassion fatigue for medical staff and has exacerbated the already short-staffed healthcare system.  

The Lake of the Woods District Hospital announced on Thursday (May 5, 2022) that another COVID-19 outbreak has been issued within the facility. Two cases of COVID-19 were detected among inpatients when asymptomatic testing was conducted.

Ray Racette, President & CEO of LWDH says it is discouraging to again be in outbreak status.

"We know how extremely hard our team worked to contain and control the last outbreak. However, the fact is, our team’s diligence is what led to the cases being detected.”

Leadership within the Northwestern Health Unit says that COVID-19 data and trends are staying fairly steady week-to-week, as the province is well into the 6th wave of the virus.

During her bi-weekly conference with regional media members, Medical Officer of Health for the NWHU, Dr. Kit Young Hoon, says hospitalizations have remained somewhat stable recently.

“The number of hospitalizations has not seen a substantial change over the last few weeks, which better represents the impact the virus has on our region and our residents,” says Young Hoon.

If it wasn’t bad enough that the northwestern Ontario tourism industry over the last two years has suffered due to the COVID-19 pandemic, now the current weather conditions are causing a problem.

A long-winded winter, that brought over 300 cm of snow, and the current weather conditions, have caused lakes in the area to thaw slower than in years past. The current conditions have forced one local resort owner to push back his opening date a few weeks.

Staff say the COVID-19 outbreak at the Lake of the Woods District Hospital is now under control.

The Lake of the Woods District Hospital activated its pandemic plan on April 15, after two hospital patients tested positive for COVID-19. Visitor restrictions were immediately introduced and remain in place at this time, with limited exceptions for end-of-life patients.

This summer could be the first somewhat normal summer in over two years, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which is very good news for the northwestern Ontario tourism industry.

Back on April 1, 2022, the federal government removed the COVID-19 testing requirements for fully vaccinated travelers entering Canada. Provincially, the majority of COVID restrictions were removed in most indoor public settings back on March 21, 2022.

The Northwestern Health Unit is detailing the benefits of two new anti-viral COVID-19 treatments in Ontario.

Pfizer’s Paxlovid can be used to treat adults with mild to moderate COVID-19 who are at high-risk of progressing to serious disease, including hospitalization or death. It’s the first COVID-19 therapy that can be taken at home, and is intended to be used within five days of symptoms.

The Ontario government has extended its high-risk mask mandate until June 11.

Ontario’s been mask-free in most public settings since March 21 and had plans to end mask requirements in shelters, long-term care homes, retirement homes, public transit, healthcare settings and other congregate settings like jails by April 27.

But on April 22, Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Kieran Moore, announced that Ontario will maintain existing masking requirements until June 11, noting the province will continue to monitor key COVID-19 indicators across Ontario.

The key interest rate for the Bank of Canada has seen the highest increase in more than 20 years after they raised the rate by half a percentage point to one per cent last week.

In a release, the bank said that a lot of factors came into having to raise the rate such as Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, the constant spike in the inflation rate, and increases in oil and natural gas.