The COVID-19 pandemic has claimed the lives of two more people in Chatham-Kent.
The local public health unit reported the new deaths linked to the virus on Tuesday morning. Jeff Moco of Chatham-Kent Public Health said both of the deceased were in the hospital in Chatham. Moco said a man in his 70s died on Monday while a woman in her 50s died on Friday. Twelve Chatham-Kent residents have now died after testing positive for the virus since the start of the pandemic. The number of COVID-19 patients at the Chatham hospital has dropped by four and is down to one.
The death of a sixth person who had COVID-19 was also reported by the public health unit on Monday but the death is not linked to the virus. Public health officials said there are four new cases and four resolved cases since Monday and with the two new deaths, the number of active cases has decreased by two to a total of 71. There are still three workplace outbreaks and two institutional outbreaks. Health officials have not named the workplaces because they said there's no risk to the public. Meadow Park Nursing Home in Chatham is the latest institution in outbreak and has one case, which is all that is required to trigger an outbreak declaration in those settings. That outbreak was declared on Saturday. The outbreak at Hudson Manor Retirement Home in Tilbury that was declared on March 23 remains at three cases.
The number of active cases at Walpole Island First Nation has dropped to 13. Walpole Island had 21 active cases on Thursday. The number of COVID-19 deaths there is still three.
Meantime, Chatham-Kent Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Colby said teachers in Chatham-Kent will start getting vaccinated next week beginning with special education teachers. He added the rest of the teachers will be vaccinated according to the Ontario schedule. The provincial vaccination plan is to include teachers in Phase 2 starting in April.
The local public school board said elementary and secondary school staff are listed in the “First Group of Essential Workers Who Cannot Work from Home” as part of the Ministry of Health’s guidance for Phase 2 Prioritization for COVID-19 Vaccinations.
"The Lambton Kent District School Board (LKDSB) continues to advocate for our staff to be at the forefront of Phase 2 of the vaccination rollout," said LKDSB in a statement on Tuesday afternoon. "We encourage any staff who may have an opportunity to get vaccinated, either through Phase 2 eligibility or based on age-group or other risk factors, to receive the vaccination as soon as they are able to support the overall health and well-being of our communities."
The school board said it continues to work closely with Chatham-Kent and Lambton Public Health and share information about COVID-19 vaccinations with staff as it becomes available. It also continues to implement the health and safety measures in place to mitigate the transmission of COVID-19 to support the safe operation of schools.
To date, nearly 23,600 residents in Chatham-Kent have been vaccinated. Colby said that's about 25 per cent of the total population 16 and over.