Sudbury health unit sounding alarm after cases surge, 1 death

Public Health Sudbury & Districts says it's "sounding the alarm" following a surge in new COVID-19 cases, including several new variants of the virus spreading in the community.

In the last 7 days, 85 new cases of COVID-19 have been reported in the service area, with 32 of these cases reported in one day alone. These numbers do not include the additional 12 cases reported so far for Tuesday, March 2, 2021.

 Dr. Penny Sutcliffe, Chief Medical Officer of the health unit, says this is "heading in a difficult direction."

But officials with the health unit say they're also encouraged by ramped-up efforts to receive and administer vaccines.

"We are working really hard with many, many partners across the districts and within the city to make sure that we have the capacity to get vaccine into arms and that people have the information they need to make decisions about getting immunized," Sutcliffe said.

She added that despite the good news on the vaccine front, one of her biggest concerns is how transmissible the new COVID-19 variants seem to be, and she doesn't want people letting their guard down.

"My colleagues talk about it being like a bushfire," Sutcliffe said. "It goes so quickly that the measures that you would take...what we would normally take with COVID-19 that are effective, really need to be completely strictly 100 percent adhered to to prevent transmission."

In a press release Tuesday, the health unit said that 28 COVID-19 cases have either screened positive or been confirmed for the more transmissible virus mutations, called variants of concern (VOC).

The health unit is also reporting 6 outbreaks, currently, including 4 schools.

As for the vaccine rollout, Sutcliffe said she expects more details on the health unit's website shortly.

"I would commit to you that over the coming days, not weeks, you will see more details on our site," she said.

She said that vulnerable populations, including urban Indigenous, Metis, and First Nation communities, along with residents in long-term care homes, have been immunized.

"Going into next week...we will be ramping up clinics for individuals in the community who are 80 years and over," she said.