COVID-19 activity expected to continue to increase in Kawartha Lakes for the next couple of weeks

DAN CEARNS, The Standard

KAWARTHA LAKES: While the seventh wave of COVID-19 spread appears to be plateauing at the provincial level, the Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit (HKPR) is expecting to continue to see high levels of virus activity for a little while longer in their local communities.

“Locally, we’re still seeing an increase in COVID-19 activity, and I anticipate we will continue to see an increase in activity for the next two to three weeks. We tend to be a couple of weeks behind the larger urban centres, given that we’re a more rural region,” medical officer of health, Dr. Natalie Bocking said during a virtual press conference, on Wednesday, August 3rd.

As of press time, HKPR is reporting Kawartha Lakes has 60 current lab-confirmed active cases of COVID-19.

“The number of new lab-confirmed cases [which] were identified in the last seven days has increased, compared to previous weeks,” Dr. Bocking stated. “Our test positivity [rate] is also increasing.”

However, she noted the wastewater surveillance data, while showing an increase in virus activity, is not “as dramatic as we saw in the last wave.”

But, the health unit has been concerned about an increase in hospital admissions, due to COVID-19.

“In the last seven days, there have been eight new hospital admissions, due to COVID-19. This is an increase over previous weekly numbers,” Dr. Bocking explained, at the press conference.

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