Thunder Bay's top doctor says district 'doing okay' with COVID cases, but numbers could go either way
CBC
In terms of COVID-19 case counts, the situation in Thunder Bay and its surrounding region appears to be under control as evidence suggests the sixth wave of the pandemic may be peaking in Ontario, but the region's top health official says that could still change.
"We really are starting to see though the increase in cases and outbreaks related to this essentially the second wave of Omicron that the province and the country has been experiencing for the last little while," said Dr. Janet DeMille.
"But it is not anywhere near like what we had in the beginning in January when we had that first Omicron wave."
DeMille is concerned the numbers are trending upwards and said several factors could influence which direction they move.
Those include people's activities, level of mask use, vaccination rates, past infections including those who've recently had infection.
"It's all the interplay of all of these things," DeMille said.
"COVID is still with us," she said. "It's still has significant implications especially for people who are at high risk"
The Thunder Bay District Health Unit has been tracking more outbreaks in high risk settings, which is of concern for DeMille.
"There certainly are implications even if the number isn't super high," she said.
One of the recent outbreaks is at Southbridge Roseview long term care in Thunder Bay.
That was the site of the deadliest outbreak of COVID-19 in northwestern Ontario. In late 2020, 150 residents and staff were infected with the virus and 23 residents died.
"What happened at Roseview before was really very difficult and tragic," DeMIlle said. "We are in a very different place right now in terms of this pandemic and where we're at."
She said the immunization rate at the facility is high, including for the fourth booster doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Because of the high uptick of booster shots in the Thunder Bay area, DeMille said most of the illness experienced by residents in long term care translates to milder symptoms and less hospitalizations.
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