Timiskaming Health Unit seeing high COVID-19 case counts

North Bay -

While it still is among the highest per capita infection rates in Ontario, the Timiskaming Health Unit is starting to see cases trend down.

“Our numbers have come down from our peak,” said Dr. Glenn Corneil, acting medical officer of health.

"We’re also seeing fewer cases that are related to community spread or that are not linked to another high-risk contact, so that’s often a positive sign."

Corneil said he’s optimistic about case counts continuing to drop, despite the fact the region has one of the highest per capita COVID-19 case rates in the province.

“About a week and a half ago, we were the highest per 100,000 in the province where we had over 200 cases per 100,000 we probably peaked at around 230, or 240,” said Corneil.

“Now, we're back down to a 100 per 100,000, so it’s a nice drop, but that’s still a lot of activity for us, for our size and historically this is the biggest surge we have had throughout the pandemic.”

Corneil said when cases were surging, the health unit received help from healthcare workers from across the province.