THUNDER BAY For the first time since Nov. 5, the Thunder Bay District Health Unit is reporting no new cases of COVID-19.
With 11 previously diagnosed cases being resolved, this dropped the number of active cases in the district to 29 on Tuesday.
It s the lowest caseload since Nov. 14, when the figure was also 29.
The TBDHU reported one fewer patient in hospital receiving treatment for COVID-19 than on Monday.
There are now three patients receiving care, including one in the ICU at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre.
One of the cases involves an individual who had travelled outside Northwestern Ontario.
Four of the cases are in district communities, and three are in the City of Thunder Bay or immediate surrounding townships.
The TBDHU also reported that it has identified four more cases caused by COVID-19 Variants of Concern.
With four previous infections being resolved, the number of active COVID-19 cases in the TBDHU s coverage area has risen to 40, three more than on Saturday when the health unit issued its last report.
Four patients are receiving treatment in hospital, including one in the intensive care unit at Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre.
THUNDER BAY - Local school boards could learn more this week on any possibilities for a regional reopening of schools across the province, but given the state of the pandemic, one local education official is not overly hopeful.
Ian MacRae, director of education with the Lakehead Public School Board, said he anticipates hearing from the province this week as to whether it will be looking at a regional approach to reopening schools before the end of the academic year.
“If they do that, we would be candidates for that, but there will be a lot of discussions prior to that,” he said. “Certainly with the variants of concerns and all the different variables, we are not particularly hopeful.”
Lisa Joubert says changes to local hospital protocols will help children like her daughter Grace receive critical care on weekends. (Submitted photo)
THUNDER BAY – Three years ago, Lisa Joubert had one of the most stressful days of her life, when her daughter was airlifted to southern Ontario to access critical care for her complex heart condition.
This year, the local resident says she received the best Mother’s Day gift she could imagine, after getting the news Friday that Thunder Bay’s regional hospital has finalized a protocol with SickKids to fill a gap in emergency pediatric cardiac care.
Joubert’s youngest child, Grace, was born with a congenital heart defect that has required numerous surgeries and regular monitoring, both locally and at the SickKids hospital in Toronto.
THUNDER BAY - As the number of COVID-19 cases in the district continues to decline, the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre is increasing capacity slightly to allow for more urgent and emergent surgeries and procedures.
“Given the current state of COVID-19, both in the province and in our community specifically and given the fact that we haven’t received any critical care transfers, we are cautiously adding increased capacity back into our system to proportionally balance the need to be ready versus the need to continue urgent and emergent surgeries in our community,” said TBRHSC president and CEO, Rhonda Crocker Ellacott.