The latest COVID update from the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit, published April 27, includes three deaths and 14 new hospitalizations.
Three Simcoe County residents have died after contracting COVID, including a man and a woman between 45 and 64 years old who died April 21, and a man over 79 years old who died April 22.
Twenty-four people from the region have died in April after contracting COVID-19.
Testing has captured 298 new COVID cases in the region since the last update on April 25. Because testing is not available to everyone, case counts are underestimated.
The case data included in the latest update may be incomplete as there are some issues with the provincial lab reporting feed.
Cases have decreased week-over-week with 1,108 new cases reported during the week of April 17-23, which is down 17 per cent from 1,328 cases reported during the week of April 10-16. There have been 293 cases confirmed this week so far.
There are 36 people from the region currently hospitalized because of COVID-19, which is up by 10 people compared to April 25. There are four Simcoe-Muskoka residents in intensive care units because of COVID-19. These totals do not include people who were hospitalized for other reasons and also test positive for COVID-19.
Since the start of the pandemic, the local health unit has confirmed 43,175 cases of COVID-19 with 41,125 of those cases recovered and 468 cases ending in death.
Of the deaths reported by the health unit since March 2020, 410 were COVID-related, 46 deaths were not related to COVID-19 but the person tested positive, and for 12 of them, the cause of death is unknown or pending.
To date, 83 per cent of the population aged five years old and up are fully vaccinated with two or more doses, and 18 per cent of the region's total population (including children) is unvaccinated.
There are 34 active outbreaks in Simcoe-Muskoka, down from 46 outbreaks on April 20. The current active outbreaks include 15 in institutional settings (hospitals, long-term care, retirement homes), 14 in congregate settings (group homes, shelters), and five at child-care centres.
A list of outbreaks is available on the health unit website here.
According to monitoring of the region's hospitals by the health unit, about 67 per cent of the region's ICU beds are full and about 45 per cent of the ventilator beds are occupied. Acute care occupancy is highest with 88 per cent of the beds in the region currently full.
Here's a look at the Ontario COVID update for April 27.
The Collingwood General and Marine Hospital is reporting as of April 27, there are four COVID-positive inpatients at the hospital. This can include people admitted because of COVID and those hospitalized for other reasons who also test positive for COVID.
