Maple Manor outbreak over, two deaths elsewhere in Oxford

Southwestern Public Health was reporting almost entirely good news on the COVID-19 front on Tuesday, Feb. 9, with the sad exception of two more deaths linked to the virus, both in Oxford.

One was a man in his 80s and the other a woman in her 70s. She was a resident at Caressant Care Retirement Home in Woodstock, which is experiencing a large-scale outbreak.

Those fatalities bring the number of deaths connected to COVID-19 in Elgin, St. Thomas and Oxford so far to 65.

The health unit announced that a major outbreak at Maple Manor Retirement Home inTillsonburg which had taken 20 lives was now over. No more cases remain active among staff or residents.

Southwestern recorded only two new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, down from six on Monday and the lowest number in months. The health unit is tracking 117 ongoing cases, down from 134.

No communities reported an increase in ongoing numbers. St. Thomas and area dropped to 19 cases Tuesday from 21 Monday, Dutton Dunwich to four from five and Aylmer and area and Bayham from two each to one each.

Central Elgin remained steady at one, Malahide at one and West Elgin at one.

In Oxford, Woodstock and area decreased to 72 cases, most involving the retirement home outbreak, from 77, Ingersoll and area to 11 from 13 and Norwich to three from four.

Zorra remained steady at two and Blandford-Blenheim at one.

The infection rate in the Southwestern region stands at 55.3 cases per 100,000 of population, compared to 63.4 on Monday.

Across Ontario, 1,022 new cases were confirmed on Tuesday, the lowest number since November and down from 1,265 on Monday.