Now 16 Maple Manor deaths linked to COVID-19

Southwestern Public Health reported on Sunday, Jan. 17, that two more deaths of Maple Manor Nursing Home residents in Tillsonburg had occurred, bringing the death toll there connected to the pandemic to 16.

At the nursing home, 81 residents and 51 staff have tested positive for the virus, plus the 16 dead. The latest deaths were of two Oxford women, one 80 and one 96.

Across the Southwestern region of Elgin, St. Thomas and Oxford, 49 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed Sunday, up from 29 the previous day. The total number of cases being tracked by the health unit rose to 370 from 359.

Aylmer and area increased to 37 cases Sunday from 35 Saturday, Bayham to 13 from 11, Central Elgin to 11 from seven, Southwold to nine from six and West Elgin to five from four.

St. Thomas and area remained steady at 68 cases and Malahide at two.

In Oxford, Tillsonburg fell to 86 cases from 100 and Zorra to 10 from 11. Woodstock and area increased to 45 from 43, Norwich to 38 from 32, East Zorra-Tavistock to 17 from 15, Ingersoll and area to 17 from 15 and South-West Oxford to 11 from nine. Blandford-Blenheim remained steady at one case.

The infection rate in the Southwestern region now stands at 174.9 cases per 100,000 of population, up from 169.7.

Across Ontario, 3,422 new cases were confirmed Sunday, up from 169.7 on Saturday.