SIOUX LOOKOUT, Ont. – The Northwestern Health Unit reported six new cases of COVID-19 Saturday, including four in its Sioux Lookout region and two in the Rainy River District.
Follow-up with the infected individuals and any close contacts is underway, the health unit reported.
Some of the health unit’s key COVID-19 indicators have improved dramatically in recent weeks.
The health unit reported 44 active cases as of Friday (the agency doesn’t update its public data on weekends). Of those, 22 were in the Kenora region, 14 in the Sioux Lookout region, and 8 in the Dryden/Red Lake region.
The NWHU’s incidence rate matched the provincial average of 51.3 cases per 100,000 people for the most recent week of Feb. 24 to March 2, according to Public Health Ontario data.
The incidence rate had reached as high as 117.5 for Feb. 12 to 18, the highest in the province at the time.
That surge was largely driven by a major outbreak in Wabaseemoong Independent Nations, which has since slowed.
However, with the neighbouring Thunder Bay District Health Unit now holding that distinction with an incidence rate of 181.4, NWHU medical officer of health Dr. Kit Young Hoon has warned residents to remain cautious.
The NWHU’s testing positivity rate for Feb. 22 to 28, the most recent week reported, was 1.74 per cent on 2,528 tests completed.
The health unit reported no COVID-19 hospitalizations as of Friday
No new cases of three COVID-19 variants of concern tracked by the province have been reported since one case of the B.1.17 variant, or U.K. variant, was announced on Feb. 26 in the Dryden area
The health unit has reported a total of 506 cases since the pandemic began, and one death attributed to COVID-91.
