One person has died, nine others have tested positive for the novel coronavirus — six of them at local seniors homes — and eight more people have recovered in the region, the Middlesex-London Health Unit (MLHU) reported Thursday.
It brings the total number of cases in the region to 402, the number of deaths to 37 and the number of recovered cases to 220, or about 54 per cent of cases. At least 145 cases remain active, according to the health unit’s figures.
It comes a day after the health unit reported four deaths and nine new cases in the region.
According to the MLHU, the latest death was not linked to long-term care or retirement homes and involved a man in his 80s who was in hospital. No other information has been released.
Health unit figures show four cases involve long-term care home staff, one involves a long-term care home resident, and one involves a retirement home resident.
All of the new cases were reported in London, Ont., where a total of 373 cases have been confirmed. Elsewhere, 15 cases have been reported in Strathroy-Caradoc, while four have been reported in Thames Centre and three in North Middlesex.
With Thursday’s update, local seniors facilities account for at least 115 of cases confirmed in London and Middlesex, according to the MLHU, with 73 cases reported at long-term care homes involving 48 residents and 25 staff.
At local retirement homes, 42 cases have been confirmed involving 30 residents and 12 staff members. A breakdown of cases in each facility has not been released by the health unit.
The total number of outbreaks that have been declared in London and Middlesex remains unchanged from Wednesday at 16, but the number of active outbreaks dropped by one.
An outbreak declared on April 22 in the oncology unit of Victoria Hospital (C7-400) was declared over by the MLHU on Wednesday, according to the health unit’s latest outbreak report.
An active outbreak remains, however, in the hospital’s geriatric behavioural unit (C6-100). The outbreak was declared April 11.
At least 38 staff members with London Health Sciences Centre have tested positive for novel coronavirus, according to the organization. Further details about the cases were not available.
Both University and Victoria hospitals were treating a total of 27 patients for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, on Thursday, a decrease of five from Wednesday, with nine in intensive care — two fewer than the day before.
The ongoing outbreak at Victoria Hospital is among nine outbreaks in the region that were still active as of Wednesday afternoon — seven of them at seniors facilities.
The oldest still-active outbreak in London and Middlesex was declared on March 28 at Henley Place, a long-term care facility.
Twelve cases involving residents have been confirmed at the facility, according to Jill Knowlton, Primacare’s chief operating officer. Six cases have resolved, three residents have died, two are in hospital, and one case remains active at the home.
Elsewhere, outbreaks remain at Grand Wood Park, Kensington Village, Earls Court Village, Meadow Park Care Centre, Horizon Place, Sisters of St. Joseph and Elmwood Place, the site of the most recent outbreak.
A total of 11 outbreaks have been declared at local long-term care and retirement homes since the start of the pandemic. They’re among at least 190 COVID-19 outbreaks that have been declared at long-term care homes across Ontario since mid-January, according to Public Health Ontario.
Ontario announced Thursday it is now allowing hospitals to discharge patients into long-term care homes after transfers were paused on April 16.
People can be readmitted to their long-term care homes if they have tested negative for the coronavirus, provided that facility does not have an active outbreak, and they will be isolated for 14 days.
Provincially, Ontario reported 459 new COVID-19 cases Thursday, and 86 more deaths — the largest daily total so far.
The province has now seen 16,187 cases, an increase of 2.9 per cent over the previous day. That’s higher than the 2.3 per cent growth rate reported Wednesday as the province looks for a consistent two to four weeks of declines before restarting the economy.
The case total includes 1,082 deaths and 10,205 resolved cases, or 63 per cent.
There were 12,928 coronavirus tests completed in Ontario on Wednesday, despite a pledge from the province to reach 14,000 tests a day by then. The government had previously promised to reach 18,900 tests a day by mid-April.
Hospitalizations are up from 977 people to 999, though the number of people in intensive care and the number of patients on ventilators have declined for a fourth straight day.
Elgin and Oxford
No new cases, deaths or recoveries were reported on Thursday by Southwestern Public Health, but the total number of confirmed cases decreased by one to 59.
According to the health unit, the change was due to a database addition error from the day before, in which a case under investigation was erroneously marked as confirmed positive.
Thirty-two cases have been marked as recovered — about 54 per cent of all cases — while four people have died. Twenty-three cases remain active. Health officials say current figures show a doubling of cases every 10 days.
The number of outbreaks also remained unchanged at two, with one remaining active.
The outbreak at Caressant Care on Bonnie Place in St. Thomas, Ont., was declared on April 21 after a health-care worker tested positive. No new cases had been reported as of Wednesday.
The region’s first outbreak, declared March 27 at Beattie Manor, was resolved as of April 22.
Of the region’s 23 active cases, at least seven are in Elgin County, including four in St. Thomas, while 16 are in Oxford, including five in Woodstock.
As of Thursday, 2,443 COVID-19 tests had been administered in Elgin and Oxford, an increase of 88 from Wednesday.
Health unit figures show the number of tests awaiting results has decreased significantly since Wednesday, down from 631 to 392 — a drop of 239.
Huron and Perth
One person has died, one person has tested positive for the novel coronavirus and one person has recovered, Huron Perth Public Health (HPPH) reported Thursday.
It brings the total number of confirmed cases to 46, the number of deaths to five and the number of recovered cases to 34, or about 73 per cent of all cases. Seven cases remain active in the region.
Health unit officials report the new case and death are linked to an outbreak at Greenwood Court, a long-term care facility in Stratford, where six residents and 10 staff have tested positive.
HPPH figures show the new case, reported in Perth East, involves a staff member at Greenwood Court. The facility accounts for 16 of the 24 cases that have been reported in Stratford over the course of the pandemic.
According to the health unit, 18 of Stratford’s cases have since been marked as recovered, but it’s unclear how many can be attributed to Greenwood Court.
Two other outbreaks remain active in the region, including at Blue Water Rest Home in Bluewater, Ont., where one resident has tested positive, and at Huronview in Huron East, Ont., where one staff has tested positive.
Elsewhere, 11 cases have been confirmed in Huron County, including three in South Huron and Bluewater, two in Central Huron and one each in Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh, Goderich and Huron East.
Eight of Huron’s cases have been marked as recovered, but officials did not say where in the county those cases were located.
In Perth, nine cases have been confirmed, including three in Perth East and two each in North Perth, Perth South and West Perth. Seven of them have been marked as recovered.
Two cases, including one death, have been reported in St. Marys. The other case has since recovered.
As of Thursday, 1,557 COVID-19 tests had been administered in Huron and Perth, an increase of 74 from the day before. Of those, 346 are pending results, an increase of 21 from Wednesday.
Sarnia and Lambton
One more person has tested positive for the novel coronavirus and two more people have recovered, officials with Lambton Public Health (LPH) reported late Wednesday.
It brings the total number of confirmed cases in the county to 182 and the number of recovered cases to 89, or about 49 per cent of cases. The number of deaths remained at 14. Seventy-nine cases remain active in the region.
Health unit figures show the new case involves a resident at Vision Nursing Home, a long-term care facility in Sarnia, where four residents have now tested positive in addition to two staff.
An outbreak was declared at the home on April 23 — one of three active outbreaks that remain in the county, all of which are located at seniors facilities in Sarnia.
The outbreaks account for at least 48 of the county’s confirmed cases, or 26 per cent.
The region’s first outbreak, declared on March 26 at Landmark Village, has been linked to 30 cases among residents and 10 cases among staff. Six residents at the retirement home have also died.
The other active outbreak was declared on April 27 at Sumac Lodge, a long-term care home, after a staff member tested positive.
According to LPH figures, health-care workers in Lambton make up at least 26 of all confirmed cases in the county, or 14 per cent.
At least 14 of those cases have been reported at Bluewater Hospital in Sarnia, officials there say. Four staff became infected through work — infections that were later traced back to patients they were treating — while 11 became infected through the community.
None of the staff members had been hospitalized as of Monday, according to a hospital spokesperson, and none of the work-acquired cases involved staff of the COVID-19 or intensive care units or the emergency department.
Few other details are known about those cases, including how many have recovered.
The hospital was treating 11 COVID-19 patients on Thursday, the same number as Wednesday, in addition to 19 patients who were suspected positive and awaiting tests, six more than the day before.
As of Thursday, 2,032 COVID-19 tests had been administered in the county, an increase of 64 from the day before. The number of cases pending results was not available.
Questions about COVID-19? Here are some things you need to know:
Health officials caution against all international travel. Returning travellers are legally obligated to self-isolate for 14 days, beginning March 26, in case they develop symptoms and to prevent spreading the virus to others. Some provinces and territories have also implemented additional recommendations or enforcement measures to ensure those returning to the area self-isolate.
Symptoms can include fever, cough and difficulty breathing — very similar to a cold or flu. Some people can develop a more severe illness. People most at risk of this include older adults and people with severe chronic medical conditions like heart, lung or kidney disease. If you develop symptoms, contact public health authorities.
To prevent the virus from spreading, experts recommend frequent handwashing and coughing into your sleeve. They also recommend minimizing contact with others, staying home as much as possible and maintaining a distance of two metres from other people if you go out.
For full COVID-19 coverage from Global News, click here.
— With files from the Canadian Press
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