The latest COVID update from the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit, published May 6, includes one and seven new hospitalizations.
A Muskoka man over 79 years old died on May 4 after contracting COVID-19.
Testing has captured 218 new COVID cases in the region since the last update on May 4. Because testing is not available to everyone, case counts are underestimated.
There are 26 people from the region currently hospitalized because of COVID-19, including three people in the ICU. These totals do not include people who were hospitalized for other reasons and also test positive for COVID-19.
Since the start of the pandemic, the local health unit has confirmed 44,228 cases of COVID-19 with 42,584 of those cases recovered and 474 cases ending in death.
Of the deaths reported by the health unit since March 2020, 415 were COVID-related, 48 deaths were not related to COVID-19 but the person tested positive, and for 11 of them, the cause of death is unknown or pending.
Twenty-nine people from the region died in April after contracting COVID-19, which is up slightly from 25 deaths in March.
To date, 83 per cent of the population aged five years old and up are fully vaccinated with two or more doses, and 18 per cent of the region's total population (including children) is unvaccinated.
There are 36 active outbreaks in Simcoe-Muskoka, even 36 outbreaks on April 29. The current active outbreaks include 21 in institutional settings (hospitals, long-term care, retirement homes), 13 in congregate settings (group homes, shelters), and two at child-care centres.
A list of outbreaks is available on the health unit website here.
According to monitoring of the region's hospitals by the health unit, about 70 per cent of the region's ICU beds are full and about 26 per cent of the ventilator beds are occupied. Acute care occupancy is highest with 93 per cent of the beds in the region currently full.
