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Local COVID in sixth day of decline
Posted: April 8, 2021
(March 30, 2021)
By: Wayne Lowrie, Brockville Recorder
This handout file illustration image obtained Feb. 27, 2020 courtesy of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and created at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows the coronavirus, COVID-19. PHOTO BY HANDOUT /Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
While the third wave was pushing Ontario’s COVID-19 numbers upward, the local health unit on Tuesday continued a six-day trend of declining totals.
At 89 active cases, Tuesday’s virus numbers were still high, but showed a drop of 15 cases from the previous day as people in Lanark County recovered from outbreaks three and four weeks earlier.
There were seven new COVID cases reported on Tuesday but 22 people recovered from the virus that had been centred in Lanark.
It marks the sixth straight day of declining numbers in the Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit that reached its record height last Thursday at 140 active cases.
Western Lanark, where an outbreak at the Perth Curling Club three weeks ago quickly spread throughout the surrounding community, had 33 active cases on Tuesday, down eight from the previous day.
Eastern Lanark, centre of an earlier outbreak, had eight active cases on Tuesday.
As the Lanark cases subsided, the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville replaced it as the region with the most COVID.
Grenville had 30 of the United Counties’ active cases while Western Leeds reported 10.
Sandwiched in between, the Brockville district recorded six cases, the same as the day before.
One of the active cases lacked precise address information, while another was not considered a community-based case and thus was not captured in the health unit’s geographic data.
One COVID patient was in hospital on a ventilator. Two seniors’ homes – Rideau Ferry Country Home and Perth Community Care – were in outbreak mode after a single virus case at each.
The Upper Canada District School Board reported that none of its schools were in outbreak mode. The outbreaks in its four Lanark County schools last week have been declared over.
The Catholic District School Board of Eastern Ontario had two schools in outbreak. St. Francis de Sales Catholic School in Smiths Falls has been closed because of an outbreak. St. John Catholic Elementary in Perth is in outbreak but remains open.
Academie catholique Notre-Dame in Kemptville, a school in the French Catholic board, remains in outbreak.
In contrast to the local numbers, COVID-19 in Ontario continued to rise. The province reported 2,336 new cases on Tuesday and 14 more deaths.
According to the Ontario Health Coalition, the provincewide numbers are now about double what they were on March 1 when we had a seven-day average of 1,098 cases.
The Ontario rates now are higher than at any point in the first wave that peaked at 571 cases on April 4, 2020.
Education Minister Stephen Lecce said on Tuesday, however, that the spring break will go ahead on April 12 as planned.
Ottawa recorded 144 new cases on Tuesday, continuing a trend of triple-digit increases.
The Eastern Ontario Health Unit also continued its tough battle with COVID, reporting 336 active cases.
North Dundas had 33 cases while South Dundas reported 22.
Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington Public Health had 60 active cases on Tuesday, a decline of nine from the previous day.
