THUNDER BAY — Data from the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre appears to show the seventh wave of COVID-19 may not be having an impact in the city just yet.
As of Monday morning, the hospital had 25 admitted patients who are COVID-positive, including three in the ICU.
On Saturday, there were 26 COVID-positive patients at TBRHSC, four of whom were in intensive care.
The hospital's COVID caseload has largely remained in the mid-20s range for an extended period.
On June 15, there 33 patients in hospital with the virus.
Last week the Thunder Bay District Health Unit announced it would stop providing thrice-weekly updates on district COVID data, and would only issue weekly reports every Thursday.
Medical Officer of Health Dr. Janet DeMille said that at this point, a weekly report could be more helpful in that it would make it easier to see a developing trend, as opposed to minor fluctuations from day-to-day.
Still, DeMille noted last week that “Looking at the numbers across the province, the wastewater [data] across the province, and hospitalizations, for example, it definitely seems like we’re starting to enter that seventh wave of this pandemic.”
The decision to report data less frequently wasn’t based on COVID being less serious now than in the past, she emphasized.
DeMille urged area residents to carefully consider their personal layers of protection, such as masking in public spaces, saying "we already all know the tools we can use to manage through" the next wave.
