Public Health Sudbury and Districts (PHSD) reports 12 new cases of COVID-19 for Wednesday, May 5.
PHSD also said there are now 90 active cases being monitored by public health officials.
Also, since the PHSD began tracking COVID-19 cases just over 14 months ago, there have been 1,987 total COVID-19 cases confirmed locally. PHSD also said 1,897 of those cases have now been resolved.
With respect to where the newest COVID-19 cases might have occurred, the PHSD daily update page reported that 10 cases were found in the Greater Sudbury area, and one case was linked to the wider Sudbury district.
In terms of possible causes of the new and recent cases, PHSD reported 10 cases linked to close contact of a confirmed case, two cases that are associated with an outbreak, two cases with known epidemiological link and two more cases listed as under investigation.
PHSD also reports general demographics each day about the people who are becoming infected.
Epidemiological data showed that the majority of local cases are persons in the 20 to 39 age category with 646 total cases (an increase of two).
The next highest group number was 504 cases for the 40 to 59 age group (an increase of five).
The next highest number was 462 cases for the 19 and under age group (an increase of four).
Seniors in the 60 to 79 age group amounted to 285 cases total (an increase of one), and people aged 80 and over are currently the lowest category with 90 cases (no change). There were also zero cases reported in the "unspecified category".
The numbers above may not completely correspond with the daily case count because PHSD does not always report changes on the day they occur.
In terms of COVID-19 testing, 239,699 tests have been performed in the PHSD region as of May 4. No increase in 24 hours.
As for local vaccinations, PHSD reported a total of 81,740 vaccines given in the entire PHSD area as of May 5 at 4 p.m.
PHSD is also reporting there are now six cases of "confirmed" variants of the COVID-19 virus. No change after several days.
There are 826 cases that are "screened positive" for variants of concern; an increase of nine.
PHSD said additional time is required to genetically-sequence the virus in a positive sample and confirm it as a COVID-19 variant of concern.
OUTBREAKS
PHSD has also reported a new outbreak at Health Sciences North. It was declared May 4 and is confined to the Sixth Floor, South Tower.
The Ministry of Health defines a COVID-19 outbreak in a public hospital as two or more laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases involving patients or staff within a specified area within a 14-day period where both cases could have reasonably acquired their infection in the hospital.
This latest outbreak is the fifth outbreak in the past two months at HSN.
Previous outbreaks were declared:
- April 23, Fourth Floor, South Tower.
- March 16, Seventh Floor, North Tower.
- March 13, Fourth Floor, South Tower.
- March 12, Sixth Floor, South Tower.
Also, at Sudbury's Health Sciences North, as of May 5 there are 15 patients with confirmed COVID-19 at the hospital. As reported on the HSN website, this included eight COVID-19 patients in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
Some of those patients may have been transferred in from hospitals and other healthcare venues in Southern Ontario. In addition to this there are 25 admitted patients "being tested" for COVID-19. One of those patients has been admitted to the ICU at this time.
On the provincial COVID-19 register today, the Ontario government daily website reported 2,941 new confirmed COVID-19 cases across the province. Also today, the province reported 44 new deaths had occurred in the previous 24 hours.