THUNDER BAY – The Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association is appealing to the province to declare the District of Thunder Bay a COVID-19 hotspot.
Wendy Landry, mayor of Shuniah and NOMA president, said both Thunder Bay and the Northwestern Health Unit are facing unprecedented COVID cases in March.
Thunder Bay, which peaked at 470 on March 7, currently has 362 active cases, while the NWHU has 91.
Landry said the province needs to get a handle on the situation and one way would be to provide more vaccines to both health units in order to help slow the infection rate.
“There’s growing concern from our communities, from the west all the way down to the east, with the numbers that are going up and the variants that are showing up in our communities,” Landry said. “We’re asking the province to not only designate us a hotspot, but get us some extra vaccines in district communities.
“We don’t have the capacity with the hospitals in our region. If we have a really big breakout, we don’t have the ability to house people in the ICUs within our area.”
Landry, who also met recently with the Thunder Bay District Municipal League pointed out a number of COVID-19 patients have already been shipped to southern Ontario hospitals. At one point there were 21 patients in the Thunder Bay Regional ICU and as many as 51 patients admitted to hospital in Thunder Bay.
The case count in the city is also concerning to many people living in outlying communities, who might have to come to Thunder Bay for supplies or medical appointments.
“There’s a growing concern that it is everywhere and people are trying to be prepared, but they still have to come to the city for appointments. And we don’t have enough vaccines available. The west doesn’t have enough vaccines available,” Landry said.
“We want to get ahead of that community spread in all of our communities, so we’re trying to emphasize to the province this is serious.”
On March 10, the province began a pilot program in three southern Ontario communities, allowing select pharmacies to begin administering the AstraZeneca vaccine. Neither Thunder Bay nor communities in the NWHU catchment area were included in the initial roll-out.
Premier Doug Ford on Friday said the program will expand this week from 327 pharmacies to 700 across the province, but has not yet provided details as to which public health units will take part.
