Health unit reports 364 new COVID cases, 4 more hospitalizations

The latest COVID update from the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit, published April 1, includes four new hospitalizations and zero deaths. 

There are 16 people from the region currently hospitalized because of COVID-19. 

Testing has captured 364 new COVID cases in the region since the last update on March 30. Because testing is not available to everyone, case counts are underestimated. 

This week the health unit confirmed 700 new COVID cases, which is about even with the 714 new COVID cases confirmed during the week of March 20. The current week's count is likely to increase as more test results are sent to the health unit over the weekend.

The health unit has reported 53 deaths in February, and 20 so far in March. 

Since the start of the pandemic, the local health unit has confirmed 38,687 cases of COVID-19 with 37,030 of those cases recovered and 438 cases ending in death. 

Of the deaths reported by the health unit since March 2020, 386 were COVID-related, 42 deaths were not related to COVID-19 but the person tested positive, and for 10 of them, the cause of death is unknown or pending. 

Based on data collected since July in Simcoe-Muskoka, the rate of hospitalization from COVID-19 is four times higher for unvaccinated people than for vaccinated. The rate of admission to an intensive care unit is eight times higher for unvaccinated people, and the rate of death is three times higher for an unvaccinated person versus someone with two or more doses of a vaccine. 

To date, 82 per cent of the population aged five years old and up are fully vaccinated with two or more doses, and 19 per cent of the region's total population (including children) is unvaccinated.

There are 34 active outbreaks in Simcoe-Muskoka, up from 24 outbreaks on March 25. The current active outbreaks include 16 in institutional settings (hospitals, long-term care, retirement homes), 10 in congregate settings (group homes, shelters), seven at child-care centres, and one listed as "other," and specified only as a shelter.

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.

According to monitoring of the region's hospitals by the health unit, about 46 per cent of the region's ICU beds are full and about 23 per cent of the ventilator beds are occupied. Acute care occupancy is highest with 84 per cent of the beds in the region currently full. 

According to Collingwood General and Marine Hospital reporting as of April 1, there are eight 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.

Here's a look at the Ontario COVID update for April 1.