Chatham-Kent is reporting the first COVID-19 death of a local person who was fully vaccinated against the virus.
Chatham-Kent Medical Officer of Health Dr. Colby said the death of man in his 90s is the 25th virus-related death in the municipality since the pandemic started.
Chatham-Kent Public Health also reported two new COVID-19 outbreaks on Thursday and Colby said one of them was at a wedding. The outbreak has 15 cases, but Colby noted not all are residents of Chatham-Kent and are not reflected in Thursday's COVID-19 report.
"Nobody wants to rain on anybody's special day, but we have to keep the community safe. We'll be looking at the circumstances very closely to see whether there is a fix to something like that. Our rituals are very important," said Colby. "If I can identify any particular factor associated with anything, I'm going to address it in terms of policy."
The other new outbreak is at Tilbury Area Public School and it has three cases. Chatham-Kent has a total of eight outbreaks with 38 cases combined.
Other COVID-19 numbers reported include a total of 149 active cases after 26 new cases were reported.
The Chatham-Kent Health Alliance (CKHA) also reported that 11 COVID-19 patients are in the hospital. President and CEO Lori Marshall said 10 of them are unvaccinated, six are in the ICU, and five are on ventilators.
Marshall also reported that the hospital had to transfer a COVID-19 patient on a ventilator in the ICU in Chatham to a hospital in Woodstock because of depleted resources. She said it's the first time the hospital in Chatham has had to do that during the pandemic.
Marshall also said six elective surgeries had to be canceled this week because too many beds are occupied with COVID-19 patients. She added none of the cancellations were cancer surgeries.
"It is an indication that we as an organization really cannot function with that number of individuals who are ventilated and COVID positive in our intensive care unit and also provide care and services to other individuals who come to the hospital for other reasons," said Marshall.
CKHA has also adjusted its visitor and caregiver policy. All visitors and care partners entering the Chatham and Wallaceburg hospitals must now provide proof they are fully vaccinated or a negative test.
