It's been more than a week since a new COVID-19 case was reported in the Timmins area.
Today, the Porcupine Health Unit chief nursing officer Chantal Riopel reminded people to be cautious and that the virus is still circulating in the region.
The last positive test locally was reported Monday, May 11. There have been 65 cases of the virus in the health unit's area. Of those, 55 are resolved and six people have died. There are four known active cases.
“But we do need to be cautious, the virus is still circulating in our communities and we are expecting more cases as the days come along,” said Riopel in today's health roundtable update for the pandemic.
To keep the trend of no new cases going, she said they need everyone's help.
People are still being asked to stay home as much as possible, send one member per family to run errands when possible, wash your hands frequently and maintain physical distancing when you're out. Anyone not feeling well in any way should stay home.
As restrictions lift across the province, she said there are more opportunities for the infection to be transmitted.
"We want to monitor the impact of the changes on the spread of COVID in our community. One of the ways that we want to monitor the situation as the restrictions are lifted is to do increased testing. Increased testing allows us to identify as early as possible anybody who would be positive for COVID and implement measures to ensure that the spread is limited and as well it gives us a good understanding of what the situation of COVID is in our community,” she said.
The symptoms include cough, fever, and difficulty breathing as well as sore throat/hoarse voice, difficulty swallowing, loss of smell or taste, fatigue, muscle aches, runny nose, loss of appetite, diarrhea, and nausea or vomiting.
There are COVID-19 Assessment centres in Timmins, Cochrane, Iroquois Falls, Kapuskasing, Smooth Rock Falls, Hearst and Hornepayne. They are by appointment only and you must be referred by your primary healthcare provider or the health unit.
The PHU COVID-19 hotline is open today from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. It can be reached at 705-267-1181 or 1-800-461-1818.