COVID update – Maple Country Home and Farm re-opens

Jeff Green | Oct 20, 2021

A COVID outbreak at Maple Country Home and Farm, in Inverary, that was announced October 12, led to the temporary closure of the store by owners Suzanne and Kevin Bovey. While the outbreak has not been declared over yet, the majority of those who were impacted have fully recovered, and the store has now reopened.

“We are OPEN again!” the Bovey’s posted on the store Facebook page on Monday, October 18, adding, “we want to thank all of our customers and friends for being so supportive over the last week, from the calls, texts, offers of food, and just generally being concerned about our well being. The last week was so very stressful and difficult, the worry about our staff, customers and community was overwhelming. We couldn’t have done it without all of you and the wonderful people at KFL&A public health.”

In a demonstration of how quickly the COVID virus is able to spread, a total of 17 cases are associated with the Maple Country outbreak, directly and indirectly, many of them among South Frontenac residents. Fortunately, the outbreak has not resulted in any serious cases requiring hospitalisation. As of Tuesday, October 19, all but 5 of the cases had resolved.

There were 15 new cases in South Frontenac between October 11 and 18, bringing the total for the entire pandemic to 136. That is still well under the infection rate for the City of Kingston or for Central Frontenac Township, on a per capita basis.

Overall, there were 35 active cases in the Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington Region as of October 19. 26 of those cases came from the preceding seven days, and the positive testing rate stood at 0.9% Under the old colour coded system, that would put KFL&A in the yellow zone at this time.

On October 18, 11 new COVID cases were confirmed in KFL&A, covering the preceding week. On Tuesday, October 19, 3 additional cases were confirmed

The vaccination program in the region seems to have slowed again by a little bit, after a bump from the onset of the vaccine passport program earlier in the month.

88.8% of KFL&A residents have had one dose, and with about 720 getting a dose each week, the 90% target will be reached by mid-November, if the rate does not slow.

As for full vaccination, the current percentage is 84.5%, and with about 1150 per week, getting a second dose currently, the 90% threshold will be reached by mid December, if the current rate is maintained.

KFL&A Public Health indicated earlier in the month that they will no longer be tweeting out a report on new cases on weekdays, in order to comply with provincial directives, but that seems to have changed, and the tweets have continued.