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Chatham

Two more CK residents die from COVID-19

Two more Chatham-Kent residents have died from COVID-19.

Chatham-Kent Public Health reported on Monday that two men, one in his 70s and the other in his 80s, died at the Chatham hospital. The latest COVID-19 deaths bring the number of Chatham-Kent residents who have died from the virus to 33. There have been six COVID-19 deaths in Chatham-Kent so far in 2022.

The capacity at the hospital in Chatham is slightly better than it was last week. The Chatham-Kent Health Alliance is reporting 25 COVID-19 patients are in the hospital and 11 of them are not vaccinated. Four of the infected patients are in the ICU, with all four on ventilators. Hospital officials said the ICU is 80 per cent full but the Progressive Care Unit is 100 per cent filled. The hospital reported 34 patients with the virus one day last week, which is a pandemic high. By comparison, the hospital had nine COVID-19 patients heading into the Christmas break.

They also reported 87 staff are off work because of COVID-19 or being exposed to it. That's slightly higher than last week's 85 reported on Friday.

The health unit also reported a new COVID-19 outbreak at an unidentified group home in the community. The outbreak was declared on Friday and has seven cases. The other outbreaks are all at retirement or long term care facilities. The older outbreaks have a total of 19 cases.

Another outbreak was declared in dialysis services at Chatham-Kent Health Alliance later on Monday. Hospital officials said two cases have been identified and patients who were exposed are being contacted by public health during the tracing process to tell them what to do next. Several initiatives have been implemented in the dialysis unit until the outbreak is declared over.

Local public health officials reported 363 new cases on Monday, but warn the confirmed cases underestimate the true number of COVID-19 infections in the municipality because the numbers only capture high risk people currently eligible for PCR testing.

On Monday, Ontario reported 12 new deaths caused by the virus. Officials said 2,467 people are hospitalized with the virus, but caution that not all hospitals report on the weekend. There are 438 people in ICU with COVID-19 and 9,706 new cases of COVID-19.

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