The Northwestern Health Unit is reporting a rise in COVID-19 cases and a climbing test positivity rate, but the number of residents hospitalized due to the virus remained stable Friday.
The NWHU was tracking 407 active cases Friday, up 38 from the day before.
By region, that included 133 in Kenora, 94 in Sioux Lookout, 73 in Fort Frances, 60 in Dryden, and 25 in Red Lake. All other areas had 10 or fewer active cases.
The agency has warned that case numbers, however, will provide only limited insight into the spread of the virus, thanks to the rampant spread of Omicron and provincial regulations limiting testing eligibility.
Those factors are reflected in climbing test positivity rates in the health unit, reaching 25.5 per cent over the past seven days on Friday, up six per cent over the past week (the NWHU did not note on its website how many tests were conducted in that period).
The current positivity rate is more than ten times the NWHU’s average throughout the pandemic of 2.1 per cent.
There were three NWHU residents hospitalized due to COVID-19 Friday, unchanged from the previous day. None of those people were in the ICU, the health unit reported.
