CORNWALL, Ontario – In his call with the media on Friday, Dec. 11, Dr. Paul Roumeliotis, Medical Officer of Health with the Eastern Ontario Health Unit (EOHU) clarified that all of the 68 active COVID-19 cases in the City of Cornwall, none of them were residents of long-term care facilities.
“Literally, with the exception of Prescott-Russell, long-term care facilities in Cornwall have no residents that are positive. They are staff. It comes from the community and not the homes,” Dr. Roumeliotis said. “We are seeing most of it in the community, outside of long term care. That’s why we are trying to get the community levels down. You aren’t going to get it in a long term care home, you are going to give it in a long term care home.”
Dr. Roumeliotis confirmed that the EOHU region would move from Level Yellow to Level Orange of the provincial COVID-19 pandemic response plan effective midnight on Monday, Dec. 14.
A health unit region is moved from Level Yellow to Level Orange if their rolling average of new weekly cases exceeds 25. The current rolling weekly average of new COVID-19 cases for the EOHU region is 49.5. Dr. Roumeliotis said he expected the Level Orange rating to stay in effect for at least two weeks.
In an open letter to residents, Dr. Roumeliotis stated that the region was in a critical point in the second wave of the pandemic, highlighting not just the health, but also the economic risks that are at stake.
“(W)e are at a critical point in the second wave of this pandemic,” his letter reads. “The EOHU region has experienced a significant increase in COVID-19 cases over recent weeks. As we have seen with other areas of the province, community spread can accelerate rapidly and threaten healthcare capacity in hospitals and other services that we all rely on. Uncontrolled spread can also threaten the local economy by forcing the shutdown of businesses as a last resort to stop the spread of the virus. And as we know too well in our own region, it can have devastating consequences for our most vulnerable residents.”
Dr. Roumeliotis went on to urge residents to celebrate safely over the holidays.
“While we are all experiencing pandemic fatigue and yearning for a return to better days, it is imperative to continue following public health precautions if we hope to keep COVID cases at a manageable level in our community,” he said. “For this reason, I am urging residents to consider ways to celebrate the holidays safely this season. In the holiday spirit of kindness, compassion and generosity towards our community – and in the hopes for a better 2021 – following public health guidelines will be extremely important over the coming weeks so that we don’t experience a post-holiday surge of COVID cases that puts people’s lives, health and livelihood at risk.”
There are currently 292 active COVID-19 cases in the EOHU region, with 1,067 cumulative cases since the start of the pandemic. Eight individuals are hospitalized with COVID-19, one is in an Intensive Care Unit, and there have been 32 deaths.
As stated, there are currently 68 active cases in Cornwall, zero in South Dundas, 17 in South Stormont, 52 in South Glengarry*, six in North Dundas, nine in North Stormont, six in North Glengarry, 29 in Russell, 24 in The Nation, 24 in Casselman, 18 in Clarence-Rockland, four in Alfred & Plantagenet, nine in Champlain, and 25 in Hawkesbury.
*The majority of the cases in South Glengarry are connected to the Al-Rashid Institute near Glen Walter which accounts for roughly 40 cases.
