This is the closest Chatham-Kent has been to normal since the beginning of the global COVID-19 pandemic in March of 2020.
Chatham-Kent Public Health Epidemiologist Laura Zettler gave the board of health a COVID-19 update at its meeting on Wednesday, saying local metrics, such as hospitalizations, new deaths, and new outbreaks have greatly improved over the last month.
Zettler said there have been 175 new cases of COVID-19 reported in Chatham-Kent over the last month, 18 of which are new cases reported over the past week. By comparison, the daily average was 21 a month ago.
"Certainly we're starting to see that decline. Three cases per day on average and we haven't been there for a while," said Zettler.
Zettler said the Chatham hospital reached zero active COVID-19 cases late last week, adding that all of the data points to the municipality being at the tail end of wave 6.
"Our per cent positivity is the lowest it has been since about mid-November of last year. We're sitting at about three per cent and the province is at seven per cent now as well," she said.
Zettler said there were 12 outbreaks a month ago with 100 active cases, but that number is down to two this week with 15 active cases in congregate settings and no new outbreaks reported this past week.
"No new outbreaks were reported this week and we have no activity right now within our long-term care homes and retirement facilities, which is great. The workload there has been able to slow up a little bit over the last several weeks within our facilities," Zettler said.
Zettler said COVID-19 also continues to decline in the local sewage samples and new provincial guidelines are being implemented that relax contact management within local facilities.
On the vaccination front, she reported that 50 per cent of the population have three doses and 33 per cent of those 60-plus have four doses. She noted that Chatham-Kent still lags behind the provincial average when it comes to vaccination rates.
Zettler said several small vaccine clinics will be held throughout June and July. Plans are also underway for a fall booster rollout.
