Two more Chatham-Kent residents have lost their lives to COVID-19.
Chatham-Kent Public Health Spokesperson Caress Lee Carpenter said the latest deaths involve a woman in her 90s and a man in his 90s who were both in long-term care homes that are in an active outbreak. Carpenter said further details on the specific location of the homes where the deaths occurred can't be given at this time.
The total death count from COVID-19 is up to 46 after six deaths this week. There have been 19 deaths from COVID-19 so far this month.
The local public health unit is also reporting another outbreak at an unidentified group home with two cases to bring the total number of outbreaks to 12. The largest outbreaks are in long-term care facilities and retirement homes. Village on the Ridge Retirement Residence in Ridgetown has 29 cases, Park Street Place Retirement Home in Dresden has 28 cases, and Hudson Manor Retirement Home in Tilbury has 29 cases.
Chatham-Kent Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Colby previously said local COVID-19 testing is only being done in high-risk settings, such as long-term care and retirement homes.
The Chatham-Kent Health Alliance is reporting 31 COVID-19 patients in the Chatham hospital. Hospital officials said 14 are being treated primarily for the virus while the others were admitted for different illnesses and tested positive for COVID-19. They also said five of the patients are in the ICU with COVID-19.
Colby said the average number of cases per day continues to drop and is at 61 cases a day on Wednesday.
"The numbers are trending in the right direction," said Colby.
Colby reminds the public that the COVID-19 numbers are underestimated because there's a lack of testing and the change in the average number of daily cases is more important.
Ontario reported 92 new COVID-19 deaths on Wednesday, the second-most of the pandemic. Ontario has reported more than 1,000 new deaths from COVID-19 since December 1, 2021 raising the pandemic’s overall death toll in the province to more than 11,000.