The chief of staff is hoping the situation at Bluewater Health is beginning to stabilize.

Dr. Mike Haddad says there are still 35 people in hospital in Lambton with COVID-19, however there are fewer people in the intensive care unit – eight today compared with 10 yesterday.

However he notes in his daily social media update that it has been a difficult two weeks at the hospital with 12 people passing of the virus in the last two weeks.

It is more difficult to tell the scope of the pandemic in Lambton now. The province changed the amount of testing being done, allowing only health care workers, and those who work in long term care and congregate living settings like community living homes to have PCR tests to positively identify the virus.

Today, Lambton Public Health says about 935 people are ill with COVID-19, adding that number could be four to five times higher.

Several outbreaks in long term care are growing, including at Trillium Villa in Sarnia where 21 residents ad 19 staff are ill and Sumac Lodge where 18 residents and 12 staff have tested positive for COVID-19. The outbreak at Fiddicks in Petrolia continues to have six residents and 12 staff members ill.

Across the province, there are now 3,448 people in hospital with COVID-19 compared with 2,467 yesterday and there are 505 people in the ICUs – 83 per cent of those people were admitted specifically for the virus. That compares with 477 yesterday.