Health unit reports 66th area death
The Windsor-essex County Health Unit has reported another local life lost to COVID-19.
A woman in her 70s who was a long-term care home resident died on Monday. She tested positive for COVID-19 and had comorbidities (other health concerns), making her more at risk of severe complications from the disease.
“My thoughts and prayers are with the family at this difficult time,” medical Officer of Health Dr. Wajid Ahmed said Tuesday morning.
Of the region’s 66 recorded COVID -19-related deaths, 49 were residents of long-term care or retirement homes. One was a migrant worker from Mexico who died Saturday. The rest were uncategorized members of the community.
Two long-term care homes remain in outbreak: Chartwell Royal Oak in Kingsville where one resident tested positive and Heron Terrace in Windsor where 70 residents and 34 staff members tested positive.
As of Tuesday morning, Windsor-essex has 977 confirmed cases of COVID -19, up seven from Monday. One of those individuals is a migrant worker employed at an agricultural farm, and the other six are members of the general community.
More than half of all local cases have been resolved (497), and 232 individuals are self-isolating.
In light of expanded testing guidelines approved by the Government of Ontario last week, the health unit no longer will publicize the number of local residents swabbed for COVID-19 or the number of test results pending. Ahmed said several community partners — including hospitals — are now testing staff in-house in large numbers, and not all of that information is being sent to the health unit.
“Most of the information that was being provided was from testing being done at the assessment centres, or by some of our key partners such as primary care providers,” Ahmed said.
“Now that the testing has been expanded broadly with many partners testing, our numbers will not be accurate. We don’t want to misrepresent any information.”
The Ministry of Health is also initiating additional targeted testing to priority workplaces and congregate home settings, he said.
The health unit will still receive notification each time a test comes back positive so its staff can interview those with newly confirmed cases and conduct contact tracing.
As of Monday morning, nearly 19,000 tests had been conducted.
Public testing continued on Tuesday at a drive-thru station set up at the Essex Arena from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., as well as at Windsor Regional Hospital Ouellette Campus and Erie Shores Healthcare in Leamington. First Nations, Metis, and Inuit individuals and their families can also access testing at the Southwest Ontario Aboriginal Health Access Centre in Windsor.