In its latest COVID-19 statistics, the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit reported today that there has been one new laboratory-confirmed case of COVID-19 in Huntsville. The case, in a man aged 35 to 44, is community acquired.
It is the 10th case reported in Huntsville and the 31st for Muskoka.
All of the other cases in Huntsville have recovered.
The news comes on the first day that masks are required in all indoor public spacesin Simcoe Muskoka.
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I’m on the side of those who would like a little more information, something useful to allow one to know better if they have been in a risk area.
Saying “community acquired” and stopping there?… you might as well say nothing at all for all the use this is.
We all know that somewhere out there there was a source that infected this person and we also have a pretty good idea that the trackers know more than they have told us. These facts promote a bit of distrust in the system as we are all sort of suspicious that there is more to this story. Not a good thing.
One case? Acquired locally? Inconguous. This was not acquired out of thin air in a field of daisies. There had to be more than one infected person or contaminated place. The lack of information is frustrating. I appreciate that if all locations visited by the person were named, a number of shops etc. would be unfairly avoided when the “carrier” simply had moved along elsewhere. Businesses would be devastated through no fault of their own.
Someone earlier mentioned the issue of people entering shops without masks. I visited the Nutty Chocolatier Sunday evening and while most people who entered did wear masks, one man with a young teen entered without masks. They were at the counter pdq without following the arrows, butting in, and not social distancing at all with the rest of us. This is when you want to get really cross with people who are being so disrespectful to the rest. Everyone just needs to be a little more civilized and a little bit more considerate. This is not a new idea. This has been going on for months. There’s really no excuse for this sort of ignorance. Another opportunity for community spread?
I think it is ridiculous that you can’t say where an infected person has been. Since March, I have been documenting what stores I have been in and what times I was there, in the hope that this information is made public. That way, if you say the infected person was in…such-a-such…location, I can look at my log and know if I have been there or not. Really, how hard is it? What is the point in contact tracing then? I don’t care who the person is, I just care that it is made public of where they have been so people know whether they should go and get tested.
I have been very vigilant in wearing a mask and using hand sanitizer and social distancing but I would still like to know the location.
Funny. There seemed to be no problem announcing all over the need back in March where the person worked who had hepatitis???? Why the big secrecy and privacy issues when it comes to covid???
I am in the high risk group and, as much as I understand wanting to protect ones privacy, if I contracted this virus I would certainly like to have the details of where and how I contracted it revealed. This would protect others from possible contracting it. It should be no shame to admit that you have the virus, unlike other social ailments, it is quite virulant and highly contagious we need to know the details to protect ourselves and others.
We must not get too complacent in Huntsville. This virus could overwhelm us if we do not take adequate precautions.
I visited Walmart and the Beer Store yesterday (Monday 13th) there were at least 20% of customers not wearing masks, the staff told me they can’t refuse entry, so even with a mandatory requirement some people will still disregard the rules. Why can’t the busnesses be allowed to refuse entry to those who choose not to comply and be protected from legal action for doing so. ‘Community acquired’ is a misnomer, privacy in this case should not trump our need to know and protect our vulnerable citizens.
Hi Michael,
We’ve spoken about the health unit’s contact tracing protocols in previous stories. Here’s an overview from the most recent:
The health unit takes “a detailed history for all the cases and we find out where they would have been, and we certainly concentrate on those places where they would have had contact with a person within two metres without a mask or 15 minutes or more,” Dr. Gardner added. If a case had been in close contact with an employee or others, the health unit will follow up with them when they can be identified. The health unit has to date said that it will not release the specific locales where a case has been to protect the identity of the infected person. “We’ve not yet been in the situation where we felt there was that kind of intense close contact with strangers where you would have to go public and let everybody know about [a location]. That’s certainly a possibility but to date we haven’t had that kind of situation.”
Hi Roy,
We’ve spoken about the health unit’s contact tracing protocols in previous stories. Here’s an overview from the most recent:
The health unit takes “a detailed history for all the cases and we find out where they would have been, and we certainly concentrate on those places where they would have had contact with a person within two metres without a mask or 15 minutes or more,” Dr. Gardner added. If a case had been in close contact with an employee or others, the health unit will follow up with them when they can be identified. The health unit has to date said that it will not release the specific locales where a case has been to protect the identity of the infected person. “We’ve not yet been in the situation where we felt there was that kind of intense close contact with strangers where you would have to go public and let everybody know about [a location]. That’s certainly a possibility but to date we haven’t had that kind of situation.”
I totally agree with Mr I-owe. Whilst privacy should be respected, the term “community acquired” is not useful without more general detail. Without more information it implies that potentially there are other cases in the area as yet not recorded. My wife is asthmatic and it is obviously very important that the more information available the better, together with information as to what steps are being taken to trace contacts.This information could be released without breaking the individual s privacy rights.
http://www.simcoemuskokahealth.org/MicroSites/Media/Health%20Stats/Instant%20Atlas/HealthMAPS_COVID_Dashboard20200713/index.html I hope this link works and it helps with info for you.
How about contact tracing? Who did this person have contact with? Where has he been in Huntsville to spread the virus? Has he been wearing a mask? Where did he get the virus? Huntsville, Toronto, United States? Is this now spreading in Huntsville? Huntsville has had the highest number in all of Muskoka. Why? Bracebridge has had one.
Privacy is great for him but what about all those he was in contact with. Seems to be some holes in the system.
Community acquired does not seem to cover it.
Hi Kim. He is not in hospital. All cases are required to isolate while they recover. Other details are not released to protect privacy.
It would be good to know if the new covid case is in hospital, recovering and isolating at home ?? Was he a resident ? Travelling from somewhere else ?