Chatham-Kent has hit a significant vaccination milestone with 81 per cent of residents 60 years of age and older having received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to date.
Chatham-Kent Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Colby reported on Thursday the local public health unit is among the leaders in the province, if not number one in Ontario when it comes to vaccinating that segment of the population.
"This is absolutely epic," said Colby.
There is also a new group of essential workers who cannot work from home that the health unit anticipates will be eligible to book an appointment as early as the week of May 10, 2021 (firm date still to be determined).
They include:
- Essential and critical retail workers (including grocery, food bank and non-clinical pharmacy workers, Service Ontario workers, Service Canada and Passport Canada workers, wholesalers and general goods, restaurant workers, LCBO employees)
- Workers in manufacturing industries directly involved in supporting the COVID-19 response, construction including infrastructure, and other essential businesses and services where facilities are at heightened risk for COVID-19 outbreaks and spread.
- Social workers and other social services staff providing in-person client services (including youth justice workers, Ontario Works, and Ontario Disability Support Program case workers)
- Courts and justice system workers (including probation and parole workers)
- Transportation, warehousing and distribution workers (including public transit workers, taxi drivers, truck drivers supporting essential services, marine and rail cargo, and maintenance, highway maintenance)
- Electricity (including workers employed in system operations, generation, transmission, distribution, and storage)
- Communications infrastructure workers (including cellular, satellite, landline, internet, public safety radio)
- Water and wastewater management workers
- Financial services workers (bank branch staff)
- Veterinarians and veterinary teams
- Waste management workers
- Oil and petroleum workers (including petroleum refineries, storage, transmission, and distribution of crude oil and petroleum products, and the retail sale of fuel)
- Natural gas and propane gas workers (including compression, storage, transmission, and distribution of natural gas and propane)
- Mine workers and Uranium processing workers
Meanwhile, the health unit is starting to call some people back for their second doses of the vaccine. Those who received their first shot between February 22 and 28 can now book an appointment for June 16 - June 19. Dr. Colby said Chatham-Kent is on track with the vaccines and doesn't expect any delays with the second doses.
Colby also said about 200 temporary foreign workers at five farms in Chatham-Kent will have their first dose by the end of the day on Thursday.
As of Thursday, almost 38,000 doses have been administered by the health unit. Dr. Colby previously said that's about 40 per cent of those eligible for a vaccine with a shot.
Also on Thursday, the President and CEO of the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance Lori Marshall reported nine people in the Chatham hospital with COVID-19 and two of them are on ventilators. Marshall said five of the patients are residents of Chatham-Kent, an increase of one from Wednesday, while four are from other areas. She also reported the Intensive Care Unit at the Chatham hospital is 70 per cent full. Marshall said the Chatham hospital has received 10 patient transfers from outside of the area this week but five have been discharged. She said the local hospital anticipates getting one or two patient transfers a day.
Chatham-Kent Public Health reported one new case of COVID-19 on Thursday and five resolved cases to bring the total number of active cases down to 30. A workplace outbreak continues at an undisclosed location. It's the only outbreak listed by the health unit and it has four cases. The total number of people in Chatham-Kent with a COVID-19 variant or related mutation is up to 178.
Walpole Island First Nation has eight active cases and no new deaths.
Dr. Colby reminds the public that the current lockdown is a provincial decision and the local public health unit has no control over it, even though Chatham-Kent has a low number of cases.