COVID-19 indicators somewhat stable as Windsor-Essex health unit rolls back on reporting

COVID-19 indicators for the Windsor-Essex area show the virus has remained somewhat stable in the community, according to the health unit's latest epidemiological summary on Thursday.

In its weekly summary, the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit (WECHU) reported that the high-risk case rate is dropping. High-risk cases are among those eligible for a polymerase chain reaction(PCR) test in Ontario.

Hospitalizations in Windsor-Essex remained about the same from the week before, but they'vedeclined across Ontario. The number of intensive care patients with COVID-19 in Windsor-Essex increased slightly, while thenumber dropped across Ontario.

There are currently 29 people hospitalized locally with COVID-19, including six people in intensive care.

Local wastewater data showed a decline of viral activity in the region, while the number of active outbreaks stayed relatively unchanged.

On Thursday, WECHU reported that two more people have died due to the disease one man and one woman, both in their 80s, who were not residents of a seniors' home.

Overall, 625 people in Windsor-Essex have died due to COVID-19.

The third-dose vaccine coverage ratein the region for people aged 12 and up is at about 52 per cent, with those aged 12 to 17with the least amount of coverage, at only10.9 per cent.

WECHU slows down on COVID-19 reporting

Over the last few weeks, WECHU has steadily decreasedits availability to the mediaand is no longer releasing COVID-19 statistics on a daily basis.

Dr. Shanker Nesathurai, the acting medical officer of health, has previously explained that the community needs to start learning to live with COVID-19, maintaining precautions and heightening protection in scenarios of increased viral activity.

"We're not out of the pandemic, but we do have to learn to live with COVID," Nesathurai said last month.

Moving forward, WECHUwill give a final COVID-19 update to the media on June 2, election day in Ontario.

The region's local datapage on the WECHU website will be updated with COVID-19 information weeklyon Thursdays.

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