The number of deaths related to COVID-19 in London and Middlesex rose to 26 on Thursday after health officials with the Middlesex-London Health Unit (MLHU) reported three new deaths, all involving local seniors’ facilities.
The health unit said two of the deaths were reported at long-term care homes, while one was reported at a retirement home.
Health officials also reported four new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the region, including two linked to long-term care homes — one resident and one staff member.
It brings the total number of confirmed cases in the region to 347. Eight people were also reported to have recovered, bringing that total to 163 — nearly half of all confirmed cases.
Local long-term care and retirement homes account for 42.3 per cent of reported deaths (11) in London and Middlesex, and 26.5 per cent of confirmed cases, with 36 residents and 20 staff testing positive at long-term care homes, and 24 residents and 12 staff testing positive at retirement homes.
Meantime, the total number of COVID-19 outbreaks declared in London and Middlesex since the start of the pandemic now stands at 15 after a second outbreak was declared on Wednesday at Victoria Hospital.
London Health Sciences Centre says the outbreak is in the hospital’s oncology unit on the seventh floor of Zone C (C7-400). Another outbreak at the hospital, declared April 11 in the geriatric behavioural unit (C6-100), remained active as of Wednesday, the health unit said.
London Health Sciences Centre wouldn’t provide any further information on the two outbreaks when contacted Thursday afternoon. University and Victoria hospitals were treating a combined 33 COVID-19 patients Thursday — two more than Wednesday — with 11 in intensive care.
Five local outbreaks have been marked as resolved, two of them on Thursday — Seasons Strathroy, declared April 1, and Mount Hope Centre for Long Term Care, declared April 9. Outbreaks at Sprucedale Care Centre, University Hospital’s inpatient cardiology unit, and Chelsey Park have also been declared over.
At least 10 outbreaks have been declared at local long-term care and retirement homes, six of which remain active, including Earls Court Village, Grand Wood Park, Henley Place, Horizon Place, Kensington Village, and Meadow Park Care Centre.
They’re among at least 135 outbreaks that have been declared so far at long-term care homes across Ontario, where at least 1,933 residents and 889 staff have tested positive, and where 358 residents and one staff member have died.
On Wednesday, the province issued new guidance to public health units for all residents and staff at long-term care homes across Ontario to be tested.
Other local outbreaks remain active at Sisters of St. Joseph and St. Joseph’s Hospice.
Provincially, Ontario reported 634 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday and 54 more deaths, bringing the total number of cases in the province to 12,879, a 5.2 per cent increase over Wednesday.
The total includes 713 deaths and 6,680 cases that have been resolved.
Meanwhile, the province has extended a number of pandemic emergency orders that had been set to expire.
The orders mean the closure of parks and recreational areas, non-essential workplaces and restaurants will continue until at least May 6. The extension also keeps in place restrictions that limit staff to working in only one long-term care or retirement home.
Nationally, the number of cases across the country stood at nearly 41,000 as of early Thursday afternoon, including nearly 14,500 recovered cases and more than 2,000 deaths.
Elgin and Oxford
Two more people have tested positive while two more people have recovered, officials with Southwestern Public Health (SWPH) reported Thursday.
It brings the total number of cases confirmed in Elgin and Oxford counties to 53, and the number of recovered cases to 18. The number of deaths remained unchanged at four.
Two outbreaks have been reported in the region since the start of the pandemic, one of which has since been declared over.
The outbreak at Beattie Manor in western Elgin was declared on March 27 after a resident tested positive. It was declared over Wednesday afternoon, according to SWPH.
An active outbreak remains at Caressant Care on Bonnie Place, a long-term care facility in St. Thomas. That outbreak was declared on Tuesday after a health-care worker tested positive.
Of the region’s 31 active COVID-19 cases, 16 have been reported in Oxford County, including four each in Blandford-Blenheim and Woodstock, while 14 have been reported in Elgin County, including six in St. Thomas.
Fourteen active cases were reported in Oxford on Wednesday, and 15 were reported in Elgin.
As of Thursday, 1,564 COVID-19 tests had been administered in Elgin and Oxford, 107 more than Wednesday, with 417 awaiting results.
Huron and Perth
No new cases or deaths were reported Thursday by officials with Huron Perth Public Health, keeping the number of confirmed cases at 39 and the number of deaths at four.
No new recovered cases were reported either, although health officials noted that due to a recording error, Wednesday’s update erroneously stated that 23 people had recovered. The number is 22, officials said.
One new case was reported on Wednesday involving a resident from South Huron.
Of the cases reported in the region, 22 have been in Stratford — 13 alone at Greenwood Court long-term care home.
Six residents and seven staff have tested positive at the facility and three people have died as a result of the outbreak there. It’s not clear how many cases remain active.
The most recent case at the home, confirmed on Tuesday, involved a staff member.
The region’s only other declared outbreak, at Hillside Manor in Sebringville, was declared over on April 14.
So far, nine cases have been reported in Huron County since the start of the pandemic — three in South Huron, two in Bluewater, and one each in Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh, Central Huron, Goderich and Huron East.
Six cases have been confirmed in Perth County, including two each in Perth East and Perth South and one each in North Perth and West Perth, while two cases have been reported in St. Marys — the region’s first two confirmed cases, one of whom later died.
As of Thursday, 1,179 COVID-19 tests had been administered in Huron and Perth, 57 more than Tuesday, with 259 awaiting testing.
Sarnia and Lambton
Nine more people have tested positive while four people have recovered, Lambton Public Health reported Thursday.
It brings the total number of confirmed cases to 159 and the number of recovered cases to 66. Fourteen people have died, a tally that remained unchanged.
Lambton health officials said five of the new cases are linked to an ongoing outbreak at the Landmark Village retirement home in Sarnia — four more residents and one staff member tested positive.
At least 39 cases involving 30 residents and nine staff have been confirmed at the hard-hit facility since an outbreak was declared there late last month. Six of the county’s 14 reported deaths have also been linked to the retirement home.
The outbreak is one of two that have been declared in Lambton. The second, at the county-run Meadowview Villa long-term care home in Petrolia, was declared last week after a staff member tested positive. No new cases have been confirmed since, according to the county.
At least 14 of Lambton’s confirmed cases involve staff members of Sarnia’s Bluewater Health who have tested positive and who are now recovering at home.
Eleven staff members contracted the virus through the community, three more than earlier in the week, while four contracted it through work, said Bluewater spokesperson, Julia Oosterman.
“We’ve been able to trace it back to… patients that they were treating,” she said of the hospital-acquired cases. None work in the hospitals COVID-19 or intensive care units or its emergency department.
The hospital was treating 13 COVID-19 patients as of Thursday morning, the same as Wednesday, as well as seven patients who were suspected positive or were awaiting tests.
As of Thursday, 1,301 COVID-19 tests had been administered in the county, 152 more than Wednesday.
— With files from The Canadian Press