By Dave Dentinger
April 22, 2020 10:17am

Lambton’s medical officer of health remains cautiously optimistic about how the local COVID-19 case count is trending.

The health unit reported Wednesday morning that the number of confirmed cases increased by two to 150. The number of deaths remained at 14 while the number of people recovered jumped by eight to 62.

Dr. Sudit Ranade told Sue Storr on CHOK (103.9 FM, 1070 AM) that it’s a good sign.

“We were hoping that this trend would continue, we need to see it continue and you’ll hear lots of messaging that we need to carry on with this for a few more weeks to make sure that that’s the way it’s going,” said Ranade. “I think it’s very encouraging, especially when you compare it to what we know what’s happening in terms of the health system and ICU data. These are all encouraging signs.”

Bluewater Health reported Wednesday that the number of confirmed cases in hospital was 13 with just seven suspected of having the virus with tests pending.

Dr. Ranade said the urban/rural split remains 80-20 with more than a quarter of the county’s cases related to seniors’ homes.

“Approximately, let’s say about 40 of the 150 cases are related to the nursing homes or retirement homes, either being residents or staff. It’s not the largest proportion, but it does account for a significant group of people.”

There are two declared institutional outbreaks.

Sarnia’s Landmark Village retirement home has 34 cases, eight staff and 26 residents, with six deaths linked to the facility.

An outbreak was also declared at Lambton County’s Meadowview Villa in Petrolia after a staff member tested positive.

Dr. Ranade said Lambton’s older population, on average, might be part of the reason why the caseload locally seems higher than communities of similar size. He said our proximity to Michigan and London is another possible factor.

“So those are two possibilities, but I don’t think we’ll ever know exactly for sure. It’s very tempting to sort of look at those numbers and say this is the highest zone in the province or this is a hot-zone. It doesn’t mean that the places that don’t appear as issues don’t have problems, and it doesn’t necessarily mean that the places that look like they’re having bigger problems are actually having bigger problems.”

As of Wednesday morning, Lambton Public Health reported that 1,149 tests have been done locally with 87 per cent being negative.

-With files from Sue Storr