Chatham-Kent has one new case of COVID-19, bringing the cumulative total to 364.
The municipality remains with two unresolved cases, the lowest active case count compared to its neighbouring counties.
Windsor-Essex has the highest number of active cases with 76. Sarnia-Lambton sits at three unresolved cases, Middlesex-London remains with nine, and Southwestern Public Health (Oxford- Elgin-St. Thomas) also has two.
On Friday, more than 200 cases were reported province-wide, the highest daily increase since June.
Southwest Ontario sustains low numbers, accounting for only six of Ontario’s new cases.
No plans for CKHA surgeons to work overtime
At a COVID-19 press briefing on Thursday, Premier Doug Ford said his administration is prepared to ask surgeons to start working weekends in order to clear a major backlog for surgeries.
Official data from the Canadian Medical Association Journal estimated approximately 148,000 surgeries were postponed since the March shutdown. Ford said it was as high as 180,000.
The Chatham-Kent Health Alliance said aside from emergency surgeries, there are no plans in place to schedule elective procedures on the weekends to close its gap.
CKHA has accomplished approximately 90 per cent of the volume of surgeries that it did last year compared to this year. More than 10,300 day surgery procedures were conducted in 2019, and 800 knee and hip replacements.
Instead of the reporting of cases (most of which are asymptotic or mild). Why don’t you focus on hospitalizations and deaths. Severity of a disease is measured by toll on our hospital system and deaths, not cases!