COVID-19 has claimed a 16th life in Chatham-Kent.
Chatham-Kent Public Health reported the death on Monday morning. Health unit spokesperson Jeff Moco said a man in his 70s died at the Chatham hospital over the weekend, but the new death is not related to the recent COVID-19 outbreak in the Medicine Unit that was declared over on Thursday.
The health unit also reported four new cases and two resolved cases to bring the total number of active cases to 18. The Chatham-Kent Health Alliance (CKHA) also reported the number of local residents in the hospital with the virus is down to four. CKHA said one COVID-19 patient is in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) on a ventilator. Hospital officials also said the ten bed ICU is half full and the occupancy in the Medical, Surgical, Critical Care Unit is at 84 per cent.
Public health officials added an estimated 63 per cent of the population 12 and older have received at least one dose while around 8 per cent of the eligible population have been given their second dose.
Chatham-Kent Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Colby said on Thursday that the new, more transmissible COVID-19 variant first found in India and called Delta has not been found in Chatham-Kent yet. The Delta variant has started showing up across Ontario and experts have started calling for second doses to be administered quicker to combat it.