Aylmer man, 75, dies of COVID-19

Southwestern Public Health reported the death of an Aylmer man, 75, related to COVID-19 on Tuesday morning, Oct. 5.

He is the 87th resident of Elgin, St. Thomas and Oxford area to die so far in the pandemic.

The region has seen a surge of confirmed cases in the last week. The number of ongoing cases being tracked by the health unit stood at 77 on Tuesday, up from 28 a week earlier.

Thirty percent of those current cases Tuesday involved those from newborn to 19 years old.

Three Southwestern residents were hospitalized with COVID-19 Tuesday, one in an intensive care unit.

SWPH recorded nine new confirmed cases on Tuesday, down somewhat from an average of just under 15 a day over the weekend.

Aylmer and area had 21 ongoing cases, down slightly from 22 on Monday, and Central Elgin also decreased, to three from four.

Bayham remained at 11, St. Thomas and area at seven and Southwold at one. Two new cases were found in Dutton Dunwich and one in West Elgin.

In Oxford, Woodstock and area rose to 10 from five, and Ingersoll and area fell to one from two. Tillsonburg and area stayed at seven, Zorra at five, South-West Oxford at three and Blandford-Blenheim and East Zorra-Tavistock at two each.

The infection rate for the Southwestern area stood at 36.4 cases per 100,000 of population on Tuesday, Oct. 5, more than double the 13.2 from a week earlier.

Across Ontario, 429 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed on Tuesday, down from 511 on Monday.