COVID-19 in Sudbury & districts: Your weekly update February 18, 2021

Reporting period: Thursday, February 11, 2021, to Wednesday, February 17, 2021.

February 18, 2021 — The following is a summary of how the status of COVID-19 has changed in Public Health Sudbury & Districts’ service area over the last seven days up to end of day February 17, 2021: 29 new cases, 19 cases were resolved, and 2 deaths occurred. Six (6) outbreaks were active, including 3 in long-term care homes, 1 in a retirement home, 1 in a hospital and 1 in a community congregate living setting. There were no active outbreaks in local schools. At end of day February 17, 2021, there were 37 active cases in our service area, and 6 active outbreaks. Ten (10) cases were hospitalized, while the rest were self-isolating.

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been a total of 575 local cases of which 538 are resolved, and 12 people have died in our service area.

Trends in the past seven days

• Of the 29 new cases in our service area, 14 were associated with an outbreak, while 12 were close contacts of confirmed cases. This means that Public Health identified how these people were exposed to COVID-19 and was able to take quick action to prevent further spread. One (1) case was travel-related, while the source of exposure was unknown for 1 case. One (1) case remained under investigation. All 29 cases reside in Greater Sudbury.
• By end of day on February 17, contact tracing information was available for all 29 of the new cases. Through our investigation, we identified 96 people who had high-risk close contacts with these cases. That is an average of 3.0 high-risk close contacts per case, which is the same as last week. Public Health follows up directly and regularly with every high-risk close contact to monitor them for symptoms, ensure they are self-isolating, and make recommendations for testing according to provincial guidance.
• The 7-day incidence rate was 14.6 new cases per 100,000 population (compared to 12.1 for the previous 7 days).
• The percent positivity was 0.46% for the period of February 9 to February 15 (compared to 0.48% for the previous 7 days).
• For the period of February 10 to February 16, the effective reproductive number (Rt) was 1.34 for Northern Ontario, and 0.88 for Ontario overall.
• There were no new local cases involving a COVID-19 variant of concern in the past 7 days.

Stay COVID-safe

• Public Health Sudbury & Districts is currently in the Orange—Restrict level of the COVID-19 Response Framework. Please continue to practise public health measures including avoiding non-essential travel, physical distancing, wearing a mask, and staying home if you feel unwell.
• While our community begins to reopen, continue to take all necessary precautions to keep yourself and others safe from COVID-19. If choosing to dine out, go with members of your household. Stay COVID-safe and keep in mind the top 10 rules to live by.
• Planning on going shopping? Continue to shop in a COVID-safe way by making a shopping list and try to limit the number of stores you visit, shopping locally during non-peak hours, ordering ahead and trying curbside pick-up, and delaying your shopping if you feel unwell.
• With news of the COVID-19 variants of concern, people may be wondering if the approved vaccines will work again these new variants. To date, there is no indication that the vaccines will be less effective against the variants. The Ontario Government has taken action to address the COVID-19 variants of concern with a Six Point Plan to help stop the spread in communities across the Province.
• With Phase 1 of the vaccine program underway in our service area, it is more important than ever to stay vigilant and follow public health guidance. This will help keep our case counts low until we are able to vaccinate a large portion of our community.

What’s new

• With direction recently received from the Ministry of Health, Public Health Sudbury & Districts will soon start offering the next round of COVID-19 vaccinations to those who are at greatest risk of severe COVID-19 illness and the people who care for them. Public Health anticipates receiving vaccine next week to continue with these efforts. As more information is received, timely updates will be provided to help current and future groups of people know when they will be offered the vaccine and how to make appointments.
• The planning efforts needed to bring the COVID-19 vaccine to the community are extensive and Public Health has been working with partners across its service area: in Chapleau, Greater Sudbury, Lacloche Foothills, on Manitoulin Island, and in Sudbury East.
• Working with our partners at the City of Greater Sudbury, the following City facilities have been identified as locations for COVID-19 vaccination clinics: Carmichael Arena, Centennial Arena, Countryside Arena, and Dr. Edgar Leclair Arena. Further details related to clinics will be shared once available.

Message from Dr. Penny Sutcliffe, Medical Officer of Health

I’m really pleased to see businesses re-open in our community and I thank those businesses and customers for their efforts to follow the safety protocols in place. While this is not a green light or a return to normal, it is very encouraging. We do not want to undo the progress we have made so we must all continue to do our part to stay COVID-safe. Public Health will be ready when we receive the next shipment of the COVID-19 vaccine. Until then, we will continue to provide timely updates on our plans and share information about the vaccine. We want everyone to be able to make an informed choice when it’s their turn to be vaccinated.

Regular updates

Visit phsd.ca/COVID-19/data for regular updates about COVID-19 testing, confirmed cases, as well as outbreaks and potential exposures in Greater Sudbury, the District of Sudbury, and the District of Manitoulin. In addition, a detailed epidemiology summary is posted Mondays and Thursdays that includes information about cases over time, case characteristics, probable exposures, case outcomes, testing, and outbreaks in facilities.

For more information or if you have questions, please visit phsd.ca/COVID-19 or call Public Health Sudbury & Districts at 705.522.9200 (toll-free 1.866.522.9200).