WINDSOR, ONT. -- The Windsor-Essex County Health Unit is reporting eight more people have died related to COVID-19 and there are 55 new cases of the virus on Wednesday.
Six of the people who died were in long-term care or retirement homes – four men and one woman in their 80s and a woman in her 90s. Two deaths were from the community – a man in his 60s and a man in his 70s.
“Death is a lagging indicator, so whatever we are seeing is a result of the cases that we have seen at least two or three weeks before,” says medical officer of health Dr. Wajid Ahmed. “So it’s unfortunate that we still have these deaths in the community, but with our most vulnerable residents of long-term care and retirement homes protected, we’ll hope to see that number go down.”
The death toll related to COVID-19 has reached 303 people.
Windsor mayor Drew Dilkens issued a statement about surpassing the grim milestone of 300 deaths.
“I know we are all tired of social distancing, frustrated with lining up at Costco, and unable to visit friends for a simple dinner party,” says Dilkens. “But today, somewhere in our community, there are more than 300 families who would gladly line up for 24 hours just to have one more day with someone they lost to COVID-19.”
Windsor-Essex has had a total of 11,915 confirmed cases of the virus, including 10,679 people who have recovered.
Here’s the breakdown of new cases:
- 12 are related to outbreaks
- 9 are close contacts of confirmed cases
- 3 are considered community acquired
- 31 are still under investigation
WECHU says 933 cases are considered active. There are 92 people with confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the hospital and 12 people are in the ICU.
There are 51 outbreaks in the region, including 19 at LTC and retirement homes, 27 at workplaces and five at hospitals.
