A look at the numbers locally
Algoma Public Health has reported one case of COVID-19 since last week.
The unit states case #62 is unknown and the person is in self-isolation.
The origin is unknown.
Preparing for the vaccine
The arrival of the COVID-19 vaccine in local communities is expected and Public Health Sudbury & Districts is hosting meetings with community partners to ensure the process is in place.
Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Penny Sutcliffe says the agency is leading the planning, and while the process continues to evolve, she says they have held two initial meetings with area leaders for roll-out, one for the Sudbury & Manitoulin Districts, one for Greater Sudbury
She says the talks will focus on the factors that need to be considered and they are working on the decision-making process in regards to who gets the vaccine first.
Plans for vaccine distribution in the Algoma District has yet to be unveiled by Algoma Public Health.
A look at the numbers across the province
The number of new coronavirus infections is down across the province.
Officials report 16-hundred and 77 new cases yesterday, after four straight days where the numbers exceeded 18-hundred.
There were also 16 deaths recorded, ten of them, residents of long-term care facilities.
There are 813 people who are now being treated in hospital, 253 of them in intensive care.
Provincial projections have said that, if the number of COVID-19 patients in I-C-U’s exceeds 350, the treatment of other patients becomes “impossible.”
Vaccine inoculations begin tomorrow
Inoculations against COVID-19 are to begin in two provincial hospitals tomorrow, as the first deliveries of the Pfizer vaccine arrive.
The three-thousand doses will be administered to staff at long-term care homes in Toronto and Ottawa.
There are 249-thousand doses of the company’s vaccine due to arrive in Canada by the end of this month.
The federal government says a total of six-million doses from at least four manufacturers should be in Canada by the end of March.
Vaccine distribution is underway across the United States as well, with the first inoculations as early as today.
York Region and Windsor-Essex are in the Grey-Lockdown zone as of today, joining Toronto and Peel Region.
Shops and malls in York Region extended their hours and saw massive crowds yesterday, as people tried to wrap up their Christmas shopping.
The virus around the world
There have now been 72-million COVID-19 cases around the world since the pandemic began,….with more than 1.6-million deaths.
The United States continues to lead the way, with about 22 percent of the infections and deaths.
The German government is asking its citizens to forego Christmas shopping, just before new lockdown restrictions go into effect on Wednesday.
The country’s economy minister is hoping people spend today and tomorrow stocking up only on necessary items, like groceries.
The new measures are to last until at least January 10th, as the country sees exponential growth in the number of coronavirus cases.
