Change in local COVID-19 reporting

Northwestern Health Unit (NWHU) is revising their local COVID-19 data reports to offer more meaningful information to the public. Beginning next week, the website statistics for COVID-19 will be updated every two weeks and the reports will better show trends and risk.

One of the major changes will be no longer reporting raw case numbers based on PCR testing which is only available to a small percentage of the people who have COVID-19. Instead, NWHU will publish wastewater surveillance data. “Wastewater surveillance is a way to test community wastewater for the presence of the COVID-19 virus. As fewer people get PCR tested for the virus, this data is a better indicator of COVID-19 rates and trends in our area,” says Dr. Kit Young Hoon, Medical Officer of Health at NWHU.

NWHU will continue to provide information on outbreaks, hospitalizations, deaths, and vaccine coverage rates. To view local COVID-19 data, visit www.nwhu.on.ca .

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Media Contact
Dr. Kit Young Hoon
Medical Officer of Health
Northwestern Health Unit
jbegg@nwhu.on.ca