Windsor's top doctor urges transplant recipients, cancer patients to get COVID-19 booster

Windsor-Essex's acting medical officer of health is urging transplant recipients and people who have been treated for cancer to get COVID-19 booster shots as they're more at risk of dying due to the virus.

"There are really two large groups of people dying. One are unvaccinated people, and a number of those deaths are people in the prime of their life, and many of those deaths are really senseless and preventable," Dr. Shanker Nesathurai told reporters during a media briefing Thursday, after speaking with a colleague at Windsor Regional Hospital on Wednesday night.

"The other group of people that are dying of COVID are people with chronic medical conditions who are vaccinated."

Anyone who has had a liver, kidney, heart or other organ transplant is urged to get a booster vaccination if eligible for it, said Nesathurai. 

"Those people who have had previous cancer treatment — chemotherapy, radiation treatment — people eligible for the boosters should get the boosters, but particularly those who have chronic medical conditions," he said. 

"We particularly want to alert people who have had previous transplants and cancer in the past to get their boosters as soon as possible if they are eligible."

COVID-19 deaths have jumped in recent months, with experts saying it's due to the high rate of infections. More people getting the virus ultimately means more people may become severely ill and need to be hospitalized. 

Nesathurai said Thursday that in January, 53 people have died locally. In December, 27 people lost their lives, and in November it was seven. 

Those who are immunocompromised are especially at risk, he said. 

"Many of the people chronically ill do get their vaccines — the nature of having chronic illness makes you more susceptible," he said.  

"In general, people up to date on vaccination and otherwise healthy are not likely to suffer adverse effects."

Now that Ontario has moved to reopen more business and spaces, Nesathurai said the next few weeks will be critical in measuring the burden of infection COVID-19 will have on the community. 

"The first signals we will start seeing is sometime this weekend, and going into next week, I think it's important for us to monitor what the effects of these relaxations are," he said. 

5 more deaths Thursday

Nesathurai's warning comes amid reporting that five more people in the region have died, according to the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit. 

The health unit provides few details around an individual's death, such as vaccination status or underlying health conditions. 

None of the five who died were residents of long-term care or retirement homes in the community. They were:

• A woman in her 40s.
• A man in his 50s.
• A man and a woman in their 80s.
• A man in his 90s.

As of Thursday, 69 people were in hospital with COVID-19, including 12 in intensive care.

While hospitalizations in the region have started to drop over the last two weeks, only 67 patients were in care as of Wednesday, marking a slight uptick Thursday. 

There were 158 new high-risk cases of COVID-19 reported Thursday, meaning they are among people eligible for a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test in Ontario.

Individuals who are eligible include:

• Hospitalized patients.
• Patients in emergency departments at the discretion of their doctor.
• Patient-facing health-care workers.
• Staff, residents, essential-care providers, and visitors in hospitals and congregate living settings.
• Outpatients for whom COVID-19 treatment is being considered.
• Homeless individuals.
• People from First Nation, Inuit, and Métis communities and individuals travelling into these communities for work.
• Elementary and secondary school staff and students who have received a PCR self-collection kit through their school.

A full list for testing eligibility is available online here.

There are 69 active outbreaks in the community, including at 24 long-term care or retirement homes, nine hospital units, 22 community outbreaks and at 14 workplace settings. 

Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare announced Thursday that outbreaks in three of the hospital's units are over. One unit — 3North — remains in an outbreak. 

COVID-19 in Sarnia-Lambton, Chatham-Kent

Lambton Public Health reported another person has died due to COVID-19. Overall, 110 people have lost their lives due to the virus in Sarnia-Lambton. 

There are currently 288 confirmed, active cases of the virus in Sarnia-Lambton and six active outbreaks. As in Windsor-Essex, people considered among active case counts in Sarnia-Lambton are among those eligible for a PCR test. 

Chatham-Kent Public Health said it would be altering metrics used to track the virus in the community due to changes in testing in Ontario that began Dec. 31. 

Officials say active case counts continue to be an underestimate, including in Windsor-Essex and surrounding regions.

Moving forward, public health will provide trends each week from a surveillance period of Saturdays to Sundays. This report will be updated Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings.

The municipality recorded no new deaths Thursday.  

Nine people were in hospital and there were five COVID-19 outbreaks in Chatham-Kent.