Public Health Sudbury & Districts is reporting its first death due to COVID-19.
The health unit has also reported five new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in residents in their jurisdiction including the death of a man in his 70s due to the coronavirus.
Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Penny Sutcliffe says the man had travelled internationally and passed away in hospital yesterday.
She adds this somber event stresses the seriousness of the situation everyone is facing and we must all take the necessary steps to stay safe.
Dr. Sutcliffe also says the news of an individual with COVID-19 with no travel or exposure history is evidence that people are doing the right thing, but that also means there is evidence that there is now community spread.
Algoma Public Health is also reporting another new case, a man in his 50s who had close contact and is now in self-isolation.
“Everyone is asked to continue to take their role in this pandemic seriously, adds Dr. Sutcliffe. “Each of our actions counts in flattening the curve: stay home, maintain physical distance of two metres when you have to go out, practise meticulous handwashing and respiratory hygiene, and follow any direction specific to your situation.”
Public Health continues to conduct intensive contact tracing for all COVID-19 cases and close contacts. Under provincial legislation, medical officers of health in Ontario are authorized to issue Orders to control communicable diseases. Such orders can include, for example, requiring an individual to be isolated, quarantined, or to submit to an examination by a physician.
If individuals are not following Public Health direction and if Dr. Sutcliffe is of the opinion that this non-compliance poses a risk to public health, an Order may be required under Section 22 of the Health Protection and Promotion Act (HPPA) to protect the public. To date, no such orders have been required in the Sudbury & Manitoulin districts related to COVID-19.
Ontario projections
Premier Doug Ford is hoping that figures to be released later today are a wakeup call for those who aren’t taking the COVID-19 outbreak seriously.
Provincial health officials will be speaking about the models they’re using to project the future number of infections in Ontario.
Several different scenarios will be presented, and Ford says many people will find them disturbing.
But he adds the public deserves to know what he knows and the information may finally prompt people to follow physical distancing guidelines.
The premier says the situation is extremely serious.
Ontario is now reporting almost 28-hundred cases of the coronavirus, an increase of 401.
There were 16 new deaths recorded, including the first in the Sudbury District, bringing the provincial total to 53.
The number of resolved cases has increased to 831, and more than 64-thousand people have been tested.
Canadian projections
The federal government will be releasing data soon on its projections for COVID-19 cases in Canada…..but no timeframe has been confirmed.
The number of infections confirmed across the country has surged past the ten-thousand mark, to more than 11-thousand.
The Public Health Agency of Canada says 64 percent of those infections came through community transmission.
That means the person had not travelled abroad and had not had contact with someone who had been diagnosed with the virus.
