COVID-19 outbreak declared as 24 cases confirmed at Thunder Bay jail

A COVID-19 outbreak has been declared at the Thunder Bay District Jail.

The Thunder Bay District Health Unit announced the outbreak late Thursday afternoon, with 24 confirmed cases including staff and inmates.

The health unit said in a statementitisworking with the Ministry of the Solicitor General to manage the outbreak.

The declaration comes just over a year after an outbreak was declared at the Thunder Bay correctional facility on Jan. 5, 2021. That outbreak, which lasted for more than two months, led to more than200 correctional staff and inmates being infected with the virus.

Corrections facilities across Canada have seen a spike in cases over the past month, as the highly infections Omicron variant spreads, according to data collected by Justin Pich, a criminologist at the University of Ottawa who has been building a database of figures that includes government data.

In December alone, 1,212 prisoners and staff across Canadacontracted the virus, Pichsaid.

Meanwhile, the Thunder Bay health unit also declared a COVID-19 outbreak in a second area of the Hogarth Riverview Manor long-term care home in Thunder Bay. The latest declaration is for the Spruce Grove Resident Home Area.

Four individuals associated with the home have tested positive, with spread believed to have occurred within the facility.

The health unit reported 62 new COVID-19 cases in the Thunder Bay district on Thursday, with the active case count dropping to 193.

The Northwestern Health Unit announced 37 new cases,