Health officials report 12 more deaths, soaring COVID-19 cases

Twelve more residents of Windsor and Essex County have lost their lives to COVID-19 as case counts in the region remain sky-high.

The Windsor-essex County Health Unit on Friday reported 10 of the people whose deaths were reported that morning were residents of long-term care and retirement homes and two lived in the general community.

The long-term care and retirement home residents were a woman in her 50s, a man in his 60s, two women and one man in their 70s, three men and one woman in their 80s, and one woman in her 90s. The community members were a man in his 80s and a man in his 90s.

“All of these deaths, all of these people, their families ... they are not just numbers for us,” said medical officer of health Dr. Wajid Ahmed.

“We care about all of these people. We really want to draw attention to the staggering number of deaths here.”

Since March, 202 people in the region have died from COVID-19. Of those, 65 have occurred since Jan. 1.

Windsor and Essex County again had the highest weekly rate of new infections in the province this week with 348 cases per 100,000 population.

“The cases are coming from everywhere — and it's spreading rapidly,” Ahmed said. He presented pandemic statistics for the local region during the health unit's virtual news conference that morning.

“Anyone you are meeting, anyone you are coming in close contact with, they can be positive for COVID. If you're not taking your precautions, you can contract COVID.”

The health unit reported an additional 201 cases of COVID -19 on Friday.

There are 2,490 active cases of COVID-19 in Windsor-essex. Ninety-three people who have tested positive are in hospital, with 15 of them in ICU.

“The steeper the curve is, that means the worse we are doing,” Ahmed said, showing a graph of the region's cumulative COVID -19 cases. “Starting in November, our curve is getting steeper and steeper every day.”

Cases considered resolved number 6,554, though it is unknown how many of those individuals are experiencing lasting health complications brought on by COVID-19.

Locally, more than 206,000 individuals have been tested for COVID-19 since the pandemic's onset. As of Jan. 2, the percentage of recent tests coming back positive sits at roughly 12 per cent, the highest regional positivity rate in Ontario.

Notably, roughly 40 per cent of those up to age 17 tested in Windsor-essex are positive for the virus, compared to nearly 15 per cent of those ages 18 to 34, 11 per cent of the 65 and older age group, and 13 per cent for 35 to 64.

Only about 21 per cent of lab results for tests are available within the targeted 24-hour window, one of the worst turnaround times in the province. Approximately 75 per cent of test results are available within 48 hours.

While the region's fatality rate (2.1 per cent) remains below the provincial average (2.4 per cent), “we are getting really close, really fast,” Ahmed said, calling the increase “a concern because we were doing much better as a region when it comes to saving lives.”

“But in the last month or so, we have lost so many lives — this is something that's concerning and we should all pay attention to,” he said.

The current effect reproduction of the virus — the R0, which represents how many new infections each Covid-positive person is causing — is 0.91.

“It would be too early to say that we've peaked and we're starting to see a decline,” Ahmed said. “I'd like to see that happening, but we are just going below one,” signifying case counts have slightly declined.

There are 39 active COVID-19 outbreaks at locations across the region.