Twenty-sixth death due to COVID-19 reported by KFL&A Public Health

Editorial note: On Saturday, Jan. 15, 2022, the provincial government announced an additional COVID-19 death in the KFL&A region, however, that death was subsequently deemed by KFL&A Public Health as “determined to not be a death with COVID-19 as a contributory cause.“ Because of this, the death will not be included in the local COVID-19 data through KFL&A Public Health, and therefore, has been removed from Kingstonist’s COVID-19 data.

The Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington (KFL&A) region has recorded another death due to COVID-19, bringing the total number of local deaths from the SARS-CoV-2 virus to 26 as of Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2022.

According to provincial data, the newly deceased is a female in her 70s, diagnosed at the end of December, whose method of transmission is still unknown.

This is the fourth death reported by KFL&A Public Health as associated with COVID-19 this year, bringing the total number of deaths in the recent surge of COVID-19 infections which began in late November, 2021, known colloquially as the “fourth wave” to 18.

As a result of this “fourth wave,” a male in his 60s died on Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2021, a female in her 70s died a day later, a female in her 80s died less than a week later, a female in her 70s died shortly thereafter, another male in his 60s died less than a week later, and a fourth male in his 60s died on Tuesday, Dec. 7. Two residents died on the same day shortly thereafter. KFL&A Public Health also reported the death of another female in her 80s in mid-December. A total of six deaths were also recorded by KFL&A Public Health over the Christmas weekend, and a male in his 60s was reported deceased on Jan 5, 2022. On Jan. 12, 2022, KFL&A recorded two additional deaths, a male in his 80s and a female in her 70s.

Due to the changes to case reporting and testing protocols, KFL&A Public Health no longer provides the total number of active COVID-19 cases in the region. Instead, they report the number of high-risk cases, as those cases are still eligible for PCR testing. The Public Health Unit now also only reports on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. As of Friday, Jan. 14, 2022, Public Health reported there were 712 active high-risk COVID-19 cases in the region. Sixteen cases are currently in hospital with 10 in intensive care, and eight on ventilators.

Twenty-five others have now died from COVID-19 in the region since the beginning of the pandemic: three other males aged 90 or over, a female aged 90 or over, two males in their 80s, five females in their 80s, a male in his 70s, three female in their 70s, six males in their 60s, one female in her 60s, a female in her 50s, a male in his 50s, and a male in his 30s.