Eighth death in area linked to COVID-19

Southwestern Public Health on Friday, Dec. 4, announced the eighth fatality in this region linked to COVID-19 after the death of a man in his 80s.

The health unit released no other information about the man, but did state the Southwestern region, made up of Elgin, St. Thomas and Oxford, had experienced one of its highest single-day increases in confirmed cases.

The number in Aylmer and area doubled overnight to 14 from seven the previous day, and a new case appeared in Southwold. St. Thomas and area decreased slightly to 12 from 13. In Oxford, the number of confirmed ongoing cases in Woodstock and area dipped to 19 from 21, stayed steady at 10 in Ingersoll and area and rose to five from three in Norwich. Zorra rose to four cases from three and Blandford-Blenheim to two cases from one, while Tillsonburg and area remained steady at four and South-West Oxford at one.

The infection rate for the Southwestern region was 34 cases for each 100,000 in population.

Across Ontario, over 1,780 new cases were confirmed on Friday.

Medical Officer of Health Dr. Joyce Lock warned that the rising number of cases, if it continued, could move the Southwestern region from the current Orange-Restrict colour code to Red-Control, which would lead to tighter pandemic restrictions.

She encouraged the public to follow the following three precautions to prevent that:

• Maintain physical distancing and wear a face mask in the workplace, especially in lunchrooms or while on break;
• Limit close contacts to members of your own household, which translates into being closer than two metres to someone for 15 minutes or more;
• And to stay home and seek testing if experiencing even one symptom that might be related to COVID-19.