COVID-19

Leadership of the Northwestern Health Unit says it’s still too early to say if the sixth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic has reached the region yet, but staff are considering implementing regional restrictions to curb a potential surge of cases.

During her bi-weekly conference with regional media members, Medical Officer of Health for the NWHU, Dr. Kit Young Hoon, says local COVID-19 case counts are continuing to increase, but hospitalization numbers are remaining stable.

Although there is an increase in COVID-19 cases, Health Minister Jason Copping remains hopeful about the outcome of the most recent rise in cases.

“There are increases in virus circulation and hospital admissions but they are smaller and moving more slowly than we saw in the initial Omicron wave,” said Copping.

As of April 18th, there are 1,126 people in hospital and 43 people in intensive care. In total there have been 4,190 deaths caused by COVID-19. The average positivity rate of PCR tests is 29.6 per cent.

Health Minister Jason Copping and chief medical officer Dr. Deena Hinshaw provided another COVID-19 update.

PCR test positivity ranged from 20.8 per cent to 30.2 per cent from April 12-18.

Wastewater positivity rates remain high but lower than those seen with the BA.1 subvariant.

Copping called the current numbers "mixed."

"There are increases in viral circulation and hospital admissions, but they're smaller and moving more slowly than we saw in the initial Omicron wave."

Helping Hands' first Community Food Drive of the spring is coming up this Saturday, April 23 and they are looking for some volunteers to help with the drive on that day. 

The commitment is from approximately 9:30 am to about 11:30 am. Interested individuals/families/groups can contact April at food@helpinghandscochrane.ca.

Volunteers will be visiting the east-end and central Cochrane areas.

Communities that will be visited will be Riverview, Glenbow, East-end, and Gleneagles. 

The possibility of a return of COVID-19 restrictions, such as masking could become a reality as Ontario continues to battle the 6th wave, which is predominantly driven by the BA.2 variant.

Dr. Kieran Moore, Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health at a media briefing last week said, that residents should be prepared for the possibility of the mask mandate coming back.

The All-Nations Hospital, a project that has been in the works since before the COVID-19 pandemic began, is almost through the first phase of planning.

Ray Racette, Lake of the Woods District Hospital President, and CEO says they prioritized the project through COVID-19.

“We’ve been working on it throughout the pandemic,” says Racette. “We expect to have the first phase of our planning pretty well signed to the extent it can be within the next small number of weeks.”

Mask mandates could be extended for Ontario’s highest-risk settings.

Last week, Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Kieran Moore, said provincial officials were actively discussing a possible extension of Ontario’s COVID-19 mask mandate for public transit settings, shelters, jails, long-term care homes and hospitals, which is currently in effect until April 27.

It’s been almost a month since Ontario removed its mask mandate, which was needed to enter all indoor public settings, and had been in place since August 12, 2020, in our health region.

We spoke with a few Kenora residents about whether they have continued to wear a mask or not.

One elderly woman that was entering a grocery store, said she has continued to wear a mask, though the mandate has been lifted.

Due to a recent outbreak at the Lake of the Woods District Hospital, all visitors are restricted to enter the facility.

On Friday, April 15, 2022, the Lake of the Woods District Hospital (LWDH) activated its pandemic plan in response to two hospital patients testing positive for COVID-19 until further notice. 

Limited exceptions may apply to end of the life patients as well as other extenuating circumstances.

The Northwestern Health Unit says northwestern Ontario is officially in the 6th wave of COVID-19, and staff are seeing increases in local COVID-19 case counts.