The Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit reported five deaths and three new hospitalizations related to COVID in the latest update published Feb. 25.
The deaths reported today include a woman between 45 and 64 years old and two men over 79 years old from Simcoe County, as well as a woman over 79 years old from Muskoka District. They died between Feb. 16 and 23.
The fifth death reported today was a man over 79 years old from Simcoe County who died on Jan. 13, but his death was not reported by the health unit until today.
The health unit has reported 72 COVID-19 deaths in January and 39 in February.
There are at least 30 people from the region hospitalized because of COVID-19.
Testing has captured 121 new COVID cases in the region since the last update. Since testing is not available to everyone, case counts are underestimated.
Since the start of the pandemic, the local health unit has confirmed 35,023 cases of COVID-19 with 33,280 of those cases recovered and 402 cases ending in death.
Since July 18, 2021, hospitalizations of Simcoe-Muskoka residents over 11 years old have included 225 fully vaccinated people, 23 partially vaccinated, and 202 unvaccinated people. Of those, 56 unvaccinated, fewer than five partially vaccinated, and 31 fully vaccinated people have been admitted to intensive care units.
In the last six months, 85 fully vaccinated people (at least two doses) and fewer than five partially vaccinated have died after contracting COVID. Over the same time period, 57 unvaccinated people have died after contracting COVID-19.
According to health unit monitoring, about 72 per cent of the region's ICU beds are full, and about 35 per cent of ventilator beds are currently occupied. Occupancy rates are highest for the region's acute care beds with more than 92 per cent of them currently full.
About 80 per cent of the over-five-year-old population has been fully vaccinated with two or more doses and 15 per cent of the same population group is unvaccinated. (Percentages now based on 2021 census population data.)
There are 21 active outbreaks in Simcoe-Muskoka, down from 30 on Feb. 18, including 10 in institutional settings (hospitals, long-term care, retirement homes), three in congregate settings (group homes, shelters), and eight at child care centres.
The health unit is no longer reporting case counts associated with individual outbreaks. A list of outbreaks is available on the health unit website here.
