Two more deaths, including a centenarian

Southwestern Public Health announced on Tuesday, Dec. 21, that two more residents in the Elgin, St. Thomas and Oxford area, including a St. Thomas woman who was over 100 years old and an Oxford woman in her 80s, had died as a result of COVID-19.

That brings the total number of fatalities in the area since the pandemic began to 110.

The health unit also reported 35 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, down from an average of just under 43 a day over the weekend.

The number of ongoing cases being tracked by SWPH stands at 318, up from 313 on Monday.

The ongoing case rate for Elgin, St. Thomas and Oxford is 149.9 per 100,000 of population as of Tuesday, up from 148 the previous day. On Tuesday, Dec. 14, the rate stood at 111.1.

Eight persons were hospitalized with COVID-19 as of Tuesday, three of them in intensive care units.

An outbreak at Caressant Care on Bonnie Place long-term care home in St. Thomas as of Tuesday has so far involved 11 residents and nine staff members, with one death.

Area COVID-19 cases include 80 in St. Thomas and area, 16 in Central Elgin, 13 in Aylmer and area, nine in Dutton Dunwich, seven in Malahide, five in Bayham and four each in Southwold and West Elgin.

Across Ontario, 3,453 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed Tuesday. That compared to 1,429 on Tuesday, Dec. 14.