Aylmer and area Southwestern COVID-19 hotspot

Aylmer and area so far during the COVID-19 pandemic has recorded 234 confirmed cases, both ongoing and resolved, far more than the much larger communities of Woodstock and area at 182 and St. Thomas and area at 180.

Trailing behind those three leaders, according to Southwestern Public Health records, are Tillsonburg and area at 129 and Bayham, another small community by population, at 119.

Other Elgin and Oxford communities stood on Monday, Dec. 28, at 94 cases to date in Norwich, 5o in East Zorra-Tavistock, 49 in Ingersoll and area, 37 in Blandford-Blenheim, Zorra at 19, Central Elgin at 18, South-West Oxford at 15, Dutton Dunwich at 11, Southwold and West Elgin at nine each and Malahide at three.

(Most of Malahide is included in Aylmer and area.)

On Monday, Dec. 28, Southwestern was reporting 27 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in its area, down from 39 the previous day.

The health unit was monitoring 263 ongoing cases, up slightly from 246 on Sunday.

Many of those ongoing cases are in nursing and long-term care homes in Oxford County.

In particular, 20 staff cases and 13 resident cases are being tracked at People’s Care long-term care home in Tavistock, and 28 staff and 16 resident cases at Maple Manor Nursing Home in Tillsonburg.

Locally around Aylmer, Terrace Lodge had five ongoing cases involving staff members and Chartwell Aylmer two staff cases.

The infection rate for the Southwestern region stands at 124.8 cases per 100,000 population, up slightly from 123.4 the previous day.

Aylmer and area stood at 52 ongoing cases Monday, down from 54 the previous day, while St. Thomas had risen to 52 cases from 48.

Central Elgin increased to eight cases from seven and while Bayham remained steady at 12 cases and Southwold at five. West Elgin dropped to one from three.

In Oxford, Tillsonburg and area rose to 58 cases from 51, East Zorra-Tavistock to 23 from 20 and South-West Oxford to two from one.

Woodstock and area dropped to 22 from 23, Blandford-Blenheim to nine from 13 and Ingersoll and area to five from nine.

Norwich remained steady at 11 and Zorra at four.