Two Midland residents among 19 new COVID cases Friday

The Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit has reported 19 new COVID-19 cases and zero deaths today for the Aug. 13 update.

This week, the health unit has confirmed 69 new cases, which is up from 37 cases last week and 28 cases the week of July 25. 

There have been zero COVID-related deaths reported in Simcoe-Muskoka in August. 

New cases reported today include: 

• Wasaga Beach (1): One person between 35 and 44 years old whose case is still under investigation. 
• Barrie (5): One youth under 18 years old, three people between 18 and 34 years old, and one person between 45 and 64 years old. Four cases are linked to close contact transmission and the other case is still under investigation. 
• Springwater (1):  One person between 35 and 44 years old whose case is linked to close contact transmission. 
• Innisfil (2): Two people between 45 and 64 years old. Both cases are linked to close contact transmission. 
• Bradford (1): One youth under 18 years old whose case transmission is still under investigation. 
• Midland (2): Two people between 18 and 34 years old. The transmission source for one case is listed as community-acquired (no known link) and the other is linked to close contact. 
• Oro-Medonte (2): One person between 18 and 34 years old and one person between 45 and 64 years old. Both cases are outbreak-related.
• Severn (1): One person between 45 an 64 years old whose case transmission is linked to close contact. 
• Essa (3): One youth under 18 years old, one person between 18 and 34 years old, and one person between 45 and 64 years old. One case is linked to close contact, one is still under investigation, and one is listed as community-acquired (no known link). 
• Muskoka Lakes (1): One youth under 18 years old whose case is still under investigation. 

There are currently 93 active cases in the region. 

There are two active outbreaks, both with two cases each. One outbreak is at a recreational camp in Muskoka and the other is at a food and beverage services location in Simcoe County. 

Two people from Simcoe County are hospitalized with COVID-19, which includes one new hospitalization this week. 

The health unit has confirmed 5,127 of the region's cases were variant strains. There are 53 lab-confirmed variant cases still active.

The variant case breakdown includes: 

• 4,000 alpha cases,
• 168 gamma cases,
• 34 beta cases,
• 249 delta cases, 
• and 677 cases have screened positive and are awaiting further testing.

Since the start of the pandemic, the local health unit has confirmed 12,484 cases of COVID-19 with 12,136 of those cases recovered and 255 cases ending in death.

According to the health unit, 70 per cent of the population 12 years and older living in Simcoe-Muskoka have received both doses of vaccine and 10 per cent have had their first vaccine dose. The remaining 20 per cent is unvaccinated.

Approximately 30 per cent of the total population of Simcoe-Muskoka (including children) is unvaccinated and 61 per cent is fully vaccinated. 

Anyone aged 12 years or older living in Simcoe-Muskoka region can book their first or second dose of vaccine online via Ontario vaccine booking system. More appointments are added regularly for clinics throughout the region.

The health unit does sometimes remove a case or move them based on further investigation of location data. The chart below reflects updated totals for each municipality as reported by the health unit on Aug. 13.

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*Cumulative incidence rate is the number of cases per 100,000 people reported to date

**Total cases include the number of cases currently recovering at home as well as any that have recovered, died, or are in hospital