St. Clair County, MI — Lambton County, Ontario
Cumulative confirmed COVID-19 cases as of July 2nd, 2020 at 10:00 AM are as follows:
- State of Michigan: 64,132 confirmed cases; 6,198 deaths
- St. Clair County: 496 confirmed cases; 49 deaths
- Ontario: 35,068 confirmed cases; 2,672 deaths
- Sarnia-Lambton: 285 confirmed cases; 25 deaths
St. Clair County currently has 50 active cases of the virus, and 1% of hospital beds in the county are being used for COVID-19 patients.
Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) Chief Medical Executive and Chief Deputy for Health Dr. Joneigh Khaldun is urging residents not to avoid seeking help in a medical emergency.
Data from Michigan EMS agencies from March 15 to May 23rd, compared to the same period in 2019, show a 43.3% increase in out-of-hospital cardiac arrests and out-of-hospital deaths increased 62%.
Nationally, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported emergency department visits declined by 42% during the early months of the pandemic with a 23% decrease in emergency visits for heart attacks and a 20% decrease for stroke in the 10 weeks following the declaration of a national emergency due to COVID-19.
“Medical emergencies have not gone away during the pandemic and Michigan EMS providers are standing by to help Michiganders safely get the lifesaving help they need,” said Jack Fisher, MAAS president and executive director of Medic 1 Ambulance in Berrien County. “Every minute counts in a medical emergency, and we hope this alarming trend of people avoiding care and dying needlessly doesn’t continue.”
“It is incredibly important that people not delay care, especially if they are having concerning symptoms like chest pain, difficulty breathing or dizziness,” Khaldun said.
There has been no increase in cases of COVID-19 cases or deaths in Sarnia since our last report. The outbreak declared at Bluewater Health is now over and there is only one active outbreak at Afton Place in Sarnia.
The City of Sarnia’s ability to reopen, maintain, and provide Parks & Recreation services and programs has been affected by the COVID-19 Mitigation Strategy. Although green spaces and sports fields are open for limited use, pools, day camps, and bookings for sports fields are not available for the month of July.
Regular city recycling and waste collection started back up on July 1st, and the City wants to remind residents that all personal protective equipment such as gloves and masks, and personal hygiene and sanitary products including wipes and tissues, should be thrown away in the trash and not in the blue recycling bins.
*** It is important to note that WGRT is continuing to report confirmed cases from each area, not total cases which are a combination of confirmed and probable cases. We have chosen to approach the data this way to simplify our reports and to create uniformity in the numbers we are reporting for each region, St.Clair County, Lambton County, Michigan, and Ontario.
Please continue to rely on reputable sources for information on COVID-19:
- Centers for Disease Control: cdc.gov/coronavirus
- State of Michigan: Michigan.gov/coronavirus or Info Hotline 1-888-535-6136 Daily 8:00 am – 5:00 pm or email questions to COVID19@michigan.gov
- St. Clair County Health Department: COVID-19 Info Hotline (810) 966-4163 Mon – Fri, 8:00 am – 4:30 pm or email questions to covid19@stclaircounty.org
- St. Clair County Community Mental Health COVID-19 Support Line (810) 985-8900, available Monday-Friday, 8:30am – 4:30pm
- Lambton Public Health: https://lambtonpublichealth.ca/2019-novel-coronavirus/
- City of Sarnia COVID-19 Hotline: 1-877-4-SARNIA (1-877-472-7642)
Reporting for WGRT – Jessie Wiegand
