The Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit has reported four new deaths and one new hospitalizations in its latest report published March 16.
The deaths reported today were all Simcoe County residents. A woman between 45 and 64 years old died on March 5. A woman over 79 years old died on March 10. A man between 65 and 79 years old died on March 11, and a man over 79 years old died on March 15.
The health unit has reported 51 deaths in February, and 11 so far in March.
There are 16 people from the region currently hospitalized because of COVID-19, with six patients in intensive care units.
Testing has captured 196 new COVID cases in the region since the last update on Monday, March 14. Because testing is not available to everyone, case counts are underestimated.
Since the start of the pandemic, the local health unit has confirmed 36,778 cases of COVID-19 with 35,622 of those cases recovered and 427 cases ending in death.
Of the 422 deaths reported by the health unit since March 2020, 375 deaths were COVID-related, 40 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.
Based on data collected since July in Simcoe-Muskoka, the rate of hospitalization from COVID-19 is four times higher for unvaccinated people than for vaccinated. The rate of admission to an intensive care unit is eight times higher for unvaccinated people, and the rate of death is three times higher for an unvaccinated person versus someone with two or more doses of a vaccine.
There are 13 active outbreaks in Simcoe-Muskoka, up from 19 outbreaks on March 9. The current active outbreaks include six in institutional settings (hospitals, long-term care, retirement homes), three in congregate settings (group homes, shelters), and four at child-care centres.
The health unit is no longer reporting case counts associated with individual outbreaks. 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 58 per cent of the region's ICU beds are full and about 16 per cent of the ventilator beds are occupied. Acute care occupancy is highest with 85 per cent of the beds in the region currently full.
Here's a look at the Ontario COVID update for March 16.
