101-year-old Chatham-Kent man dies 'needlessly' from COVID: MOH

Chatham-Kent Public Health building in Chatham, Ont. on Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2020. (Chris Campbell / CTV Windsor)

The Medical Officer of Health reported Thursday, one of the residents who died this week, was an elderly man who was unvaccinated.

“There was a 101-year-old who died, unvaccinated, of COVID. That’s a tragedy,” says Dr. David Colby.

“Our elderly people are such a tremendous resource of knowledge and wisdom and I just hate reading about people dying, especially needlessly when a vaccine could have protected them.”

As of Wednesday, 38 residents of Chatham-Kent have died from COVID-19 and 19 people were in hospital.

“I’m sorry we’re seeing mortality,” Colby told reporters. “John Donne said ‘any mans’ death diminishes me’ and I have sympathy with that.”

A sentiment echoed by the CEO of Chatham-Kent Health Alliance (CKHA) Lori Marshall.

“We definitely send our condolences and thoughts to the families of those individuals who we have lost,” says Marshall.

“Each death in hospital is something that is very hard for staff and physicians to experience; particularly I would say, again, vaccination is the best thing we can do to protect ourselves form that sort of an outcome.”

As of Thursday morning, there were two patients in the ICU with another in the PCU (progressive care unit) at CKHA.

Marshall concedes that is less than the last weeks, but says the hospital system is still under immense pressure.

“I don’t think anyone can argue our capacity (in hospital) is strained,” says Colby.

More happily, Colby says he’s cautiously optimistic the pandemic is improving in Chatham-

Kent.

“We seem to have plateaued, in terms of our best measures we have of COVID incidents,” says Colby “That hasn’t yet been translated into relief of hospitals, yet. But there’s always a lag there.”

Colby expects hospitalizations will settle in a “small number of weeks”.

Colby was reluctant to comment on the easing of restrictions by the Province, because they had not been announced at the time of the CKPH Media briefing.

However, Colby did warn, the easing of restrictions are “not rigid”.

“If our hospitals are overflowing, and there isn’t capacity, this is not a rigid rollout schedule,” says Colby. “The loosening is a plan based on the reality that Ontario is facing.”