COVID-19 variants 'particularly worrying,' says Northwestern Health Unit

The confirmation of COVID-19 variants in Dryden and Kenora is "particularly worrying," the Northwestern Health Unit's (NWHU)medical officer of health said Tuesday.

"They do increase the likelihood of transmission," Dr. Kit Young Hoon said. "They can increase the likelihood of being admitted into the intensive care unit, and possibly death.

"Atthis point, we are monitoring the situation closely."

The health unit in northwestern Ontario has confirmed the variant first detected in the U.K. has been found in the Dryden and Kenora areas.

The health unit said one casewas associated with a school in Kenora school, but Young Hoon said she couldn't provide further information related to specific cases, or the status of individuals who have contracted a variant.

Young Hoon said the health unit is treating every case as if it could be a variant, in accordance with Ontario government guidelines.

The NWHUannounced three new cases of COVID-19 in its service area on Tuesday. Young Hoon said there are currently 43 active cases in the health unit's area.

More than 12,000 vaccine doses have also been administered by the health unit, shesaid, noting that vaccine doses are arriving in the region every couple of weeks,although shipments are sometimes delayed.

"Recently, we were dealing with a situation where we expecting of a delay of over a week," Young Hoon said. "That means we needed to stop bookings in order to have enough vaccine, so we did stop booking for a period of time."

"But now ...some more vaccine has arrived, and we're expecting more," she said. "So we've opened up more spots based on the numbers, and the estimates we're given by the province, to allow people to book."

Vaccination appointments for people aged 70 or over who reside in the Northwestern Health Unitservice area can be made through the health unit's website.

More vaccination clinics will be added throughout April.

Some pharmacies in the health unit's service area including Shoppers Drug Mart in Dryden, No Frills in Kenora, and Pharmasave in Fort Frances will soon begin offering the AstraZeneca vaccine to people aged 55 and over, as well. Young Hoon said appointments can be made through the pharmacies themselves.