THUNDER BAY -- The Thunder Bay District Health Unit says they've confirmed 82 new cases of COVID-19 in Thunder Bay.
There are now 435 active cases in the district.
The District of Thunder Bay is now one shy of February's monthly record of 645 cases, with 644 cases confirmed in the first 12 days of March.
Fourteen of the cases are related to an outbreak at the Walford retirement home. Twenty-two are considered close contact, while 20 others are considered household contact. Thirteen are no known exposure and 13 exposure categories are pending. There have been 35 household contact cases announced on Thursday and Friday. The health unit has only reported them in this manner for the past two days.
A total of 70 cases are considered to have been resolved.
There have now been 413 cases in the past seven days, which works out to be more than 300 per 100,000, a dubious milestone first crossed in the district on Friday.
The 82 new cases are the second highest single-day total yet announced. The health unit last Sunday announced 111 cases, but later said that 70 of those cases should have been counted on Saturday and Sunday, due to an error with the provincial database.
The district is now up to 2,256 cases since last March 27, when the first local case was announced. The vast majority of the new cases are in Thunder Bay and surrounding areas. Three are in First Nations communities and one is in a district community. Fort William First Nation on Thursday declared a state of emergency, announcing they are dealing with 17 cases in the community confirmed since last Friday.
