A lockdown begins Monday in the Thunder Bay area.
The Lakehead region recorded another 29 COVID-19 infections Sunday and 343 active cases.
After one variant case was found in Dryden, Mayor Bill Mauro suggests that makes it even less of a surprise that they are being shutdown for an unknown amount of time.
“That’s another level of concern connected to our numbers. As our numbers are going up, the variants if they are more infectious could dramatically increase the numbers.”
He stresses that would put even more pressure on their healthcare system.
Mauro notes he’s hopeful the lockdown will help lower their case numbers.
While some have asked if the province waited too long to hit the brakes, he’s trying not to second-guess the decision.
“You know they have more medical information certainly than we do. They use that information to make their determination so we will see where we are in the next week or two.”
The Northwestern Health Unit had 27 new cases over the weekend and area communities remain under the Yellow-Protect zone.
Mauro adds more medical staff will soon be arriving to help run the overwhelmed isolation shelter.
As of Saturday, there were 35 patients admitted to Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre who are COVID-19 positive.
Of those, 10 are in the Intensive Care Unit.
Dr. Zaki Ahmed, Chief of Staff and critical care physician says, “If we need to triple our capacity to provide critical care, our plans allow us to do just that. We are ready to respond to our community’s increasing needs during the pandemic.”
A number of steps have been taken at the hospital in order to address increasing numbers of patients who are coronavirus positive including:
-Expanding the dedicated COVID-19 Care Unit to the entire 3A unit. This ensures patients who are COVID-19 positive are cared for in a safe and isolated environment
-Expanding the Intensive Care Unit to provide intensive care to patients in alternate locations within the hospital
-Focusing on more day surgeries and short-stay procedures. This enables health care providers and support staff to work in the areas of highest need
(With Files From Colin Redston)
