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Public Health reveals how many Thorold residents have contracted COVID-19

A deeper look into COVID-19 in Niagara
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Photo: Ludvig Drevfjall/Thorold News

21 Thorold residents have contracted COVID-19, numbers released by the region reveal.

The breakdown of the regions 624 total cases on record since March 13 were made public on Thursday after the regional council ordered Public Health to provide more transparency into the pandemic impact on Niagara.

Similar numbers are found in Fort Erie, Grimsby, Lincoln, Port Colborne, St Catharines, Wainfleet and West Lincoln that fall in the range between 5 and 21.

The municipality with the most cases by far is Welland where at total of 206 cases are found within its population.

154 of the cases in Welland are listed as connected to a health care facility outbreak.

Dr. Mustafa Hirji, acting medical officer of health said that the numbers only reflect where a person who tested positive lives, and not necessarily where transmission occurred.

In Thorold a majority of the 21 positive cases, around 14-15, were found in members of the general public believed to have contracted the virus through close contact with a positive case.

Six are connected to outbreaks, which could either mean a resident of Thorold who is receiving hospital care, or a health care worker.

"The big takeaway from the breakdown is that if you remove health care facility outbreaks from the equation, all municipalities are pretty similar in terms of cases," said Hirji to Thorold News.

Out of Thorolds 21 cases, a vast majority have recovered, following the regional trend that now has 96 active cases.

The numbers are only a snapshot of two weeks back and do not reflect the current spread of the pandemic that has slowed down in the region exponentially over the past two weeks.

Only one new case was recorded in Niagara on Friday.

Public Health said while that is positive, there are still new cases emerging every day in municipalities across the region.

"Nobody is safe. Everyone needs to be taking precautions now that more businesses are open. What is going to keep things under control is our ability to be disciplined," Hirji said, urging anyone with even mild symptoms to get tested.