Public Health Sudbury & Districts is reporting ten new COVID-19 cases in residents in its service area (Greater Sudbury, Sudbury District, and Manitoulin District).

One case in an employee of Pioneer Manor, which following an assessment by Public Health, prompted an outbreak declaration.

“It is very concerning to be reporting on another 10 cases and to know that this now brings our total to 22 new cases of COVID-19 in just the last week and a half. However, even more worrisome is that of these 22 new cases, eight are individuals with no known exposure. That’s 36 per cent of new cases with no known source,” said Dr. Penny Sutcliffe, Medical Officer of Health with Public Health Sudbury & Districts, in a press release.

“Cases of COVID-19 that are not linked to travel or to other cases means that there is community spread of the virus. Community spread is one of the measures used by the province’s Command Table to assess how we are doing with reopening. It is something I am very concerned about because no one wants to go backwards,” added Dr. Sutcliffe.

Through contact tracing, Public Health notifies all close contacts directly. If you are not contacted by Public Health, you are not considered a close contact.

Six of the 10 cases are in people age 19 and under. Two of these cases are associated with contact with a travel-related case, one had contact with a case of unknown exposure, and three had unknown exposure.

The other cases include a man in his 40s with unknown exposure, a woman in her 60s with unknown exposure, a man in his 20s with unknown exposure and a woman in her 40s with unknown exposure.