One more death linked to the COVID-19 virus has been recorded in Chatham-Kent.
Chatham-Kent Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Colby said an unvaccinated woman in her 50s is the latest to pass away from the virus. It's the third COVID-19 death in the municipality in about a week after zero virus-related deaths since June. The new death brings the total number of local deaths to 20.
Chatham-Kent Public Health reported 105 active cases on Thursday morning after 10 new cases and 14 resolved cases were listed.
Public health officials are also reporting the number of COVID-19 outbreaks locally has dropped by two to six after an outbreak at Dresden Area Central School and an unidentified workplace were declared over earlier this week.
The Chatham-Kent Health Alliance is reporting eight patients in the Chatham hospital with the virus. Hospital officials said seven of those patients are residents of Chatham-Kent and only one is fully vaccinated. Five of the patients are in Intensive Care and three of them are on ventilators.
Dr. Colby said he can't confirm if the latest COVID-19 deaths are tied to the current virus outbreak at Praise Fellowship Church in Chatham. Colby said the health unit is working on a tracing map to connect all the church cases and that epidemiological diagram should be released to the public soon.
"At this time I can neither confirm nor deny that and the reason is that Chatham-Kent is such a small community that any demographic information of that nature would make it very easy for people to zero-in on private medical information," said Colby. "That's the cost of living in a small community. If we were in Toronto, I'd probably be able to say yes to that question."
Colby noted the church outbreak has 24 direct cases and double that in spinoff cases. The other five outbreaks combined have a total of 21 cases.
Meanwhile, the Municipality of Chatham-Kent announced on Thursday that it will continue to waive fares for anyone who is using public transit for travel to or from COVID-19 vaccine appointments and walk-in clinics.
The municipality implemented the policy earlier this summer. It has now been extended until October 31, 2021. Riders must let the bus driver know that they're going to or from a vaccine appointment at the time of boarding.