SIOUX LOOKOUT, Ont. – The Northwestern Health Unit reported six new COVID-19 cases Tuesday, with the active case count falling slightly and hospitalizations up.
Four of the new cases were in the Kenora health hub area, the health unit reported, with another two in the Sioux Lookout area. The NWHU will reach out directly to anyone identified as a contact.
There were 76 active cases across the health unit as of Tuesday, declining from a recent high of 88 on Sunday. That count had declined to 44 as recently as March 7, after spiking to 107 in February.
The health unit revamped the way it reports cases on its website Tuesday, providing more detailed location information.
The agency, which serves an area covering nearly one fifth of the province, had come under fire from regional leaders for identifying cases only by four large regions. As of Tuesday, it broke cases down by eight “health hub areas.”
The vast majority of active cases continue to be concentrated in the Kenora (46) and Sioux Lookout (23) areas, with smaller numbers in the Fort Frances (4), Dryden (2), and Atikokan (1) health hubs.
The Red Lake, Rainy River, and Emo hubs had no active cases as of Tuesday.
There were 12 district residents in hospital with the virus, an increase of two since Sunday.
The province announced on Friday the region would move into the Red-Control level in Ontario’s COVID-19 response framework, effective Monday – a rapid shift from its previous Yellow-Protect level.
The NWHU had an incidence rate of 70.9 cases per 100,000 people for the March 6 to 12 period, slightly above the provincial average.
Its testing positivity rate stood at 1.89 per cent for the period of March 8 to 14, on 2,680 tests completed.
A total of 4,215 vaccine doses had been administered in the NWHU as of Tuesday, based on Covax data. The health unit serves a population of 82,231.
The health unit reported two new confirmed cases of the B.1.1.7 variant on Friday, bringing the total number to three.
The NWHU has reported a total of 585 confirmed cases since the pandemic began. Of those, 509 are considered resolved, including one death attributed to the virus.
