The territory served by the Eastern Ontario Health Unit (EOHU) returned to the red zone again on Monday, March 29.  The red zone has the second-highest level of restrictions according to Ontario’s COVID-19 measures.

On March 25, Medical Officer of Health Dr. Paul Roumeliotis stated that based on increasing case numbers and a test positivity rate of 2.8 per cent, the EOHU’s jurisdiction will again be subject to red zone restrictions on business and community activity.

Full details of red zone restrictions are available at https://eohu.ca/en/covid/covid-19-response-framework

There were 332 active COVID-19 cases among residents of the EOHU jurisdiction on Monday, March 29.  On March 29, Roumeliotis said that as of Monday, 205 or 67 per cent of the active COVID-19 cases across the EOHU’s jurisdiction were COVID-19 variants.  The Ontario average for variant cases was approximately 60 per cent on Monday.

There were 35 COVID-19 patients in hospital across the EOHU’s territory as of Friday.  Five of those patients were in intensive care.

The number of deaths resulting from COVID-19 across the area served by the EOHU as of March 29 was 73.

Vaccinations

As of March 29, 22,333 people across the jurisdiction of the EOHU had been vaccinated against COVID-19.

Roumeliotis said that all leftover doses at the conclusion of a vaccination clinic are kept and offered to individuals who are on a waiting list to be vaccinated.  He said that EOHU staff are extremely careful with the use of the Pfizer vaccine, and are able to conserve up to six or seven doses from each bottle, even those the manufacturer states that each bottle has five doses.

No Astra-Zeneca vaccine has yet been provided to pharmacies across the EOHU’s jurisdiction.

Within the EOHU’s jurisdiction, Ontario residents 75 years of age and older may book a COVID-19 vaccine appointment using Ontario’s online booking system. In accordance with the latest recommendations, those booking will be given appointments for first and second doses, 16 weeks apart.

Some public health units have begun offering COVID-19 vaccinations to people aged 70 and older.  On Monday, Roumeliotis said that the EOHU was not yet prepared to begin offering vaccination appointments to individuals aged 70 and older because of restricted capacity to accommodate a greater number of people at existing vaccination sites.  He said that more sites are being added and that vaccinations will be offered to people aged 70 and greater in the coming days.

The EOHU has launched an online pre-registration tool and asking all remaining individuals listed within the province’s Phase 1 priority populations, who have not yet been vaccinated or not yet booked an appointment, to pre-register. Pre-registration facilitates booking appointments quickly and easily as vaccine supply increases and more appointments become available.

Provincial Online Booking System

Ontario’s vaccine booking system has began accepting vaccine bookings for individuals who will be turning 75 or older in 2021 (born in 1941 or earlier). Booking is available at www.Ontario.ca/bookvaccine. Individuals who require assistance with booking can call the Provincial Vaccine Information Line at 1-888-999-6488.

The booking system will screen for eligibility based on age using health card information. Appointments can be made by an individual or with the help of family or an informal caregiver (note: family/informal caregivers born after 1946 cannot book an appointment for themselves at this time, however, they may use the EOHU Pre-Registration tool to pre-register for an appointment).

If you have a family member or provide care to someone who was born in 1946 or before, please encourage them to get vaccinated. Vaccinations will be available BY APPOINTMENT ONLY at vaccine clinics being held across the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas, and Glengarry; the United Counties of Prescott-Russell; and the City of Cornwall. Alternate arrangements will be made for individuals who notify us of barriers preventing them from physically going to a clinic.

EOHU Pre-Registration Tool

Those who are not in the 75+ age group, but who are eligible for the vaccine based on the Phase 1 priority populations, must first pre-register using the EOHU online pre-registration tool at www.EOHU.ca/register.

Once vaccine supply permits, those who have pre-registered will receive a code that will give them access to the provincial booking system.

Please note that pre-registration does not guarantee that you will get an appointment immediately. You may not get your appointment booking code for a week or longer, depending on vaccine supply.

Long-term care outbreaks

According to Roumeliotis, there were a total of 32 confirmed cases of COVID-19 connected with the outbreak at Hawkesbury and District General Hospital (HGH) as of Monday.  Patients accounted for 27 of the cases and five of the cases were in staff.  The COVID-19 outbreak at HGH is in the CCU Wing and East Wing.

The following long-term care and retirement residences also had COVID-19 outbreaks as of March 29:

Heritage Lodge in Vankleek Hill

Le Genesis Retirement Home in Limoges

Sandfield Place Retirement Home in Cornwall

Heartwood Long Term Care in Cornwall

Baldwin House in Cornwall

Chartwell McConnell in Cornwall

Woodland Villa in Long Sault

School and childcare facility cases

There were active cases of COVID-19 connected with the following schools under EOHU jurisdiction as of March 29:

Upper Canada District School Board

One student at Pleasant Corners Public School near Vankleek Hill

One staff member at St. Lawrence Secondary School in Cornwall

One student at Longue Sault Public School in South Stormont

Two students at Morrisburg Public School

Catholic District School Board of Eastern Ontario

Four students at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic High School in Russell

Two students and one staff member at Mother Theresa Catholic School in Russell Township

One student at St. Andrew’s Catholic School in South Stormont

Two students at Our Lady of Good Counsel School in South Stormont

Five students at St. Mary’s Catholic School in South Dundas

Conseil scolaire de district catholique de l’Est ontarien

One student at École intermédiare catholique-Pavillon Hawkesbury

One student at École secondaire catholique régionale de Hawkesbury

One student at École élémentaire catholique St-Joseph in Russell Township

One student at École élémentaire catholique de Casselman, Pavillon St-Paul/Ste-Euphèmie

One student at École élémentaire catholique de l’Ange-Gardien in South Glengarry

Conseil des écoles publiques de l’Est de l’Ontario

One staff member at École élémentaire publique Nouvel-Horizon in Hawkesbury

There were active cases of COVID-19 connected with a childcare facility under EOHU jurisdiction at the following locations as of Friday, March 26:

One staff member at Richelieu Day Care in Cornwall

One child and one staff member at The Learning Centre Longue Sault

One child at Happy Face Morrisburg

Ontario statistics

As of March 29, there were 2,094 new, active cases of COVID-19 across Ontario.  According to calculations based on statistics from the Ministry of Health, there were 18,965 active cases of COVID-19 across Ontario as of Tuesday.

There were 841 COVID-19 patients in hospital across Ontario as of Monday.  Out of those patients, 382 were in intensive care, and 236 patients were on ventilators.

There had been 7,337 deaths due to COVID-19 across Ontario as of March 29.

As of March 29, 2,031,735 COVID-19 vaccine doses had been administered across Ontario and 311,238 Ontario residents had been fully vaccinated.

EOHU COVID-19 case map, March 29, 2021