Health officials are becoming increasingly concerned about the number of COVID-related deaths occurring in the Sudbury and Manitoulin districts.
A spokesperson for the health unit said that over half of all deaths attributed to COVID-19 in Public Health Sudbury and Districts’ service area have occurred since the beginning of December.
There were 37 deaths reported in January alone, which represents 43 per cent of the overall deaths reported since the beginning of the pandemic.
Closer to home, there have been 27 deaths attributed to COVID-19 in the Algoma Public Health region to date. According to data from Public Health Ontario, a total of seven of deaths have been reported in Algoma in 2022, with six of those deaths reported in January alone.
Sudbury Public Health is attributing the increase to the surge in local COVID-19 cases caused by the Omicron variant.
“We have definitely seen more deaths in recent weeks, and that is probably due to the highly transmissible nature of the Omicron variant,” said Dar Malaviarachchi, an epidemiologist at Public Health.
“Even though studies have shown that the Delta variant is associated with more severe outcomes, we are seeing a lot more deaths occur now due to the sheer volume of Omicron cases in the community.”
The epidemiologist added that it is impossible to calculate a COVID-19 death rate at this time because the Ontario government restricted access to publicly funded PCR testing on Dec. 31.
Only those associated with the highest risk settings, including hospitals, long-term care homes, and congregate living facilities, are eligible for PCR testing.
As a result, the number of active COVID-19 cases in the health unit’s service area is an underestimate of the true number of people with the virus.
“Public Health is estimating that the actual number of COVID-19 cases in the community could be five to 10 times higher than what we’re reporting right now in terms of case numbers,” said Malaviarachchi.
The health unit reported 623 known active cases of COVID-19 among individuals associated with high-risk settings on Friday.
That’s why Malaviarachchi said it’s more important than ever for local residents to follow public health measures and get vaccinated against COVID-19.
“We are definitely concerned about COVID-19 cases and the number of deaths we’ve been seeing in recent months,” he said.
“Any death, no matter the cause, is a tragic outcome. It’s also one of the outcomes used to measure the impact of a disease, along with hospitalizations and intensive care unit (ICU) admissions.”
Public Health has reported 92 COVID-related deaths in its service area since the beginning of the pandemic, according to data posted to the health unit’s website.
This includes 87 deaths in Greater Sudbury, one in the Sudbury districts, and four in the Manitoulin district.
Malaviarachchi said that 53 deaths were reported in the health unit’s service area since the beginning of December when Ontario saw a shift in COVID-19 variants of concern from Delta to Omicron.
“Since the pandemic started, we have had four deaths that occurred in people under the age of 50, which represents five per cent of the overall deaths,” said Malaviarachchi, adding this information is current as of Feb. 2.
“Looking at the most recent numbers, we have had two deaths in that age group since the beginning of January.”
The majority of COVID-related deaths in the region have been among individuals aged 80 and older, including 25 (68 per cent) who lost their lives in January.
There have also been 12 deaths among those in their 70s, 13 among those in their 60s, and six among those in their 50s.
“Public Health also keeps track of whether COVID-19 was the underlying cause of death or whether COVID-19 was a contributing factor,” said Malaviarachchi.
“There have been 68 local deaths since the beginning of the pandemic where COVID-19 was the underlying cause. We also had 18 deaths where COVID-19 was not the underlying cause but is considered a contributing factor.”
In those deaths where COVID-19 is considered a contributing factor, the underlying cause of death was often cardiovascular or respiratory disease.
This includes infections like pneumonia and bronchitis.
Last month, there were 25 deaths in Sudbury and districts where COVID-19 was the underlying cause, and 12 deaths where COVID-19 was considered a contributing factor.
A number of COVID-19 deaths in the health unit’s service area have been linked to outbreaks in high-risk settings and in the community.
“There have been 39 deaths in long-term care and retirement homes since the pandemic started in addition to five in hospitals, seven in other outbreak settings, and 35 linked to outbreaks in the community,” he said.
“Since the beginning of December, there were 26 deaths in long-term care and retirement homes which accounts for 55 per cent of all deaths associated with an outbreak.”
Vaccination against COVID-19 continues to be a protective factor against serious illness, hospitalization, and death, added Malaviarachchi.
“We are looking at really high vaccination rates in the Sudbury and Manitoulin districts for people aged 12 and older at 88.4 per cent,” he said.
“That leaves us with only 12.6 per cent of residents aged 12 and older that are not fully vaccinated against COVID-19.”
Since March 2020, 59 (69 per cent) deaths in the health unit’s service area have been among unvaccinated individuals and 26 (30 per cent) have been among those who are fully vaccinated.
Only one death was reported among individuals who are partially vaccinated during that same period.
Malaviarachchi said that there were 20 deaths among fully vaccinated residents and 17 deaths among unvaccinated residents in January.
“The important message is that vaccination makes a difference, especially when we’re talking about the proportion of deaths among vaccinated and unvaccinated populations,” he said.
“People should get vaccinated if they haven’t already, and they should make sure to get their second dose if eligible. That’s even more important as we see an increase in deaths due to the Omicron variant.”
As Ontario continues to lift COVID-19 restrictions throughout the province, Malaviarachchi added that it’s important to continue following public health measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
“I know everyone is probably tired of hearing about it but be careful. If you have symptoms, avoid social gatherings and isolate right away,” he said.
“That’s going to help reduce the spread in the community and it will help protect school-aged children, as well, so that we can keep schools open for as long as we can.”
Public Health Ontario reported 39,720 hospitalizations and 11,711 deaths attributed to COVID-19 throughout the province on Monday.
Ontario’s chief medical officer of health said that more than 1,000 people died in Ontario due to COVID-19 in January.
Colleen Romaniuk is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter at The Sudbury Star. The Local Journalism Initiative is made possible through funding from the federal government.