Another big jump in COVID-19 cases has been reported by Lambton Public Health.
The caseload has reached 732 after a daily record of 40 new infections were reported in Wednesday's update. In the last month, there's been 322 new cases reported by the local health unit.
The number of resolved cases is up by 26 to 538. The death toll stands at 28 and the active caseload is up 14 from Tuesday to 166.
Lambton Medical Officer of Health Dr. Sudit Ranade said the increase in cases isn't shocking as every case has more and more contacts than they used to.
"When I say 'contacts', I'm still talking about close contacts, and as a result of people doing more things we find disease in more places," said Dr. Ranade. "We've issued a notification about adult recreational hockey and that there have been positive cases linked to that. The important thing is not necessarily to know whether or not you've been playing in those leagues, the important thing is to remember that every close contact with people brings with it the risk of transmitting COVID."
The local health agency reported two new workplace outbreaks as well as an outbreak at Confederation Central School for a total of 15.
Outbreaks are still being monitored at Trillium Villa and Vision Nursing Home in Sarnia.
Bluewater Health has five positive patients in hospital. The latest is a person over 60-years-old that was admitted on Tuesday according to Communications Chief Julia Oosterman.
Doctor Ranade said we can expect to see more hospitalizations as well as the second wave continues to take hold.
"Cases are more prevalent anyway but because of the spectrum of disease, not all cases require medical attention in fact, most don't and a smaller subset of that require hospital admissions," he said. "What you find is that hospital admissions and mortalities are actually lagging indicators compared to cases. So, you typically find that they start rising later."
Two patients are in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
Shell Canada confirmed to Blackburn News Wednesday that a number of individuals at the Sarnia Manufacturing Centre have tested positive for the virus in the past week.
Media Relations Manager Tara Lemay said in an email the individuals include employees and contractors working on the site and they're monitoring the situation closely.
She said she was not able to share how many individuals were impacted at this time, because the number of cases is in flux and still under review.
