'COVID-19 is essentially everywhere,' DeMille says as Thunder Bay District case counts continue to climb

The Thunder Bay District is in its worst state than at any point in the COVID-19 pandemic, says the local medical officer of health.

The Thunder Bay District had 462 active cases as of Monday, with the first eight days of March accounting for 412 cases.

Four weeks ago, the area had just 103 active cases.

"There is no sense in sugarcoating it. Things are not looking very good right now," Dr. Janet DeMille said in a video shared publicly on Monday night.

"Cases are at an all-time high in the Thunder Bay District. A significant and uncomfortable amount of cases are being reported every day. We are in lockdown. The schools in Thunder Bay are closed for in-person learning."

Outbreaks were declared at both the Thunder Bay District Jail and Thunder Bay Correctional Centre in early January, with dozens of cases later confirmed at the two facilities.

In February, the health unit declared a COVID-19 outbreak among Thunder Bay's homeless and precariously housed populations.

DeMille had previously said a few weeks ago that about half of the cases at that time were linked to that population.

That's no longer the case, she said.

"Now those other cases, the spread outside of that vulnerable population, is what's driving our case numbers and leading to the ongoing increase in those numbers," DeMille said.

'COVID-19 is essentially everywhere'

Schools in the Thunder Bay area are in the middle of a second week of being closed to in-person learning, after DeMille recommended they move to virtual learning after cases had been associated with several schools, including a handful having outbreaks declared.

While the vast majority of cases have been reported in Thunder Bay and the immediate surrounding area, DeMille said communities throughout the district need to be vigilant.

"COVID-19 is essentially everywhere. It's in many different places, and it's spreading," she said.

"It's in workplaces. It's in daycare. We saw cases in schools. It's in retirement homes, health care settings. It's in the retail outlets where you go shopping, for example, your local grocery store. It's in people's homes and apartment buildings."

The Thunder Bay District has had 33 deaths related to COVID-19.

DeMille stressed the importance of people limiting in-person interactions with others, following public health measures and screening themselves for symptoms every day.

If one person in a household has even a single symptom, all other members of that household should remain at home until there is a negative test result, she added.

"This virus is tricky. It can present really mildly. It may seem like just a cold, but it's not," DeMille said. "We all need to assume that wherever we go, wherever we are, COVID is there."