The Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit is reporting two new deaths and six more people hospitalized with COVID-19, according to the most recent update on June 21.
Among the latest deaths reported is a Muskoka man over 79 years old and a Simcoe County man between 45 and 64 years old. Both died on June 15.
The health unit reported 30 COVID deaths in April, 22 deaths in May, and five deaths so far in June.
There are 17 people from the region hospitalized because of COVID-19.
Testing has captured 231 new COVID-19 cases in the region since the last update on June 14. Because testing is not available to everyone, case counts are underestimated.
Case counts have remained steady for the past couple of weeks with 193 new cases reported during the week of June 12 and 215 cases reported the week of June 5.
Since the start of the pandemic, the local health unit has confirmed 46,201 cases of COVID-19, with 45,452 of those cases recovered and 501 cases ending in death.
Of the deaths reported by the health unit since March 2020, 432 were COVID-19-related, 59 deaths were not related to COVID-19 but the person tested positive, and for 10 of them, the cause of death is unknown or pending.
To date, 83 per cent of the population aged five years old and up are fully vaccinated with two or more doses, and 18 per cent of the region’s total population (including children) is unvaccinated.
According to monitoring of the region’s hospitals by the health unit, 70 per cent of the region’s ICU beds are full and 35 per cent of the ventilator beds are occupied. Acute care occupancy is highest with 87 per cent of the beds in the region currently full.
Wastewater monitoring in Collingwood, Barrie, Orillia, and Midland shows COVID-19 virus DNA as present in each of the communities, but there's been no increase or decrease noted in the last week.
