Seven people have tested positive for the novel coronavirus in London and Middlesex, while two more people have recovered, officials with the Middlesex-London Health Unit (MLHU) reported on Wednesday.
It brings the total number of confirmed cases to 431, including 274 resolved cases, or about 63 per cent of cases, and 42 deaths.
Health unit figures show two of the new cases are linked to local seniors facilities — one at a long-term care home involving a resident and another at a retirement home involving a staff member.
The update comes a day after the health unit reported two deaths, one involving a long-term care home, and one new case. It also comes two days after seven new cases were reported, including six at seniors facilities.
All but one of the cases reported Wednesday is from London. One case was reported in Southwest Middlesex, the municipality’s first, the health unit says.
As of Wednesday, 398 cases have been confirmed in London since the start of the pandemic, while 17 cases have been reported in Strathroy-Caradoc, seven in Middlesex Centre, four in Thames Centre four in North Middlesex and one in Southwest Middlesex.
Of those, at least 133 cases, or nearly 31 per cent, and at least 23 deaths — nearly 55 per cent — have been linked to 12 outbreaks at long-term care and retirement homes.
According to the health unit, 86 cases have been reported in long-term care homes involving 53 residents and 33 staff, while 47 cases have been reported in retirement homes involving 33 residents and 14 staff. Seventeen of the 23 deaths involve long-term care homes, while six involve retirement homes.
It’s unclear how many cases remain active.
The 12 outbreaks at seniors facilities are among 18 outbreaks in total that have been declared at health facilities in the region over the course of the pandemic.
Of those, 11 remain active, nine of them at long-term care and retirement homes, including peopleCare Oakcrossing, Kensington Village Retirement, Kensington Village Long-Term Care Residence, Elmwood Place, Horizon Place, Meadow Park Care Centre, Earls Court Village, Grand Wood Park, Henley Place and Sisters of St. Joseph.
London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) says an outbreak in Victoria Hospital’s geriatric behavioural unit (C6-100), first on declared April 11, remains active as of Wednesday.
Along with the outbreak, LHSC has seen 39 of its staff members test positive with novel coronavirus since the pandemic began. It’s unclear how many cases remain active, whether any involved hospitalizations or where in the hospital system the staff members worked.
According to the health unit, nearly 28 per cent of cases in the region have been tied to health-care workers. Provincially, at least 69 outbreaks have been reported at Ontario hospitals involving 254 patient infections and 40 deaths, and 271 staff infections.
As of Wednesday, University and Victoria hospitals were treating a total of 26 COVID-19 patients, three more than Tuesday, including eight in intensive care, a figure that remained unchanged.
Provincially, Ontario reported 412 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday and 68 more deaths.
That brings the province to a total of 18,722 cases, including 1,429 deaths and 13,222 ones that have been resolved — more than 70 per cent of all cases.
The province had said it would be doing 16,000 tests a day by now, but fewer than 13,000 tests were completed during the previous day.
On Tuesday, Ford blamed some of the province’s regional medical officers of health for Ontario’s inconsistent rate of testing, urging them to do more to increase it.
During his daily briefing, Ford said some weren’t ordering enough tests in their regions but declined to single out which medical officers of health, instead saying: “They know who they are.”
“Start picking up your socks and start doing testing,” Ford said. “I don’t know what the big problem is with them testing. It’s frustrating as anything.”
Ontario had been testing well below its capacity, and earlier this month, Ford called for that to change.
Asked about Ford’s comments during a media briefing Tuesday, medical officer of health for London and Middlesex Dr. Chris Mackie replied that the provincial data Ford was referencing wasn’t entirely accurate.
“The system that is being used to measure the performance of health units is actually not connected with the work that the health units are doing on those cases,” Mackie said, noting that while the health unit passed the 50 per cent mark in long-term care testing last week, provincial data pegged its progress as being 15 per cent.
“Essentially, over the next couple of days, you’ll see that data gap close and you’ll see the performance of all health units more accurately reflected,” he said.
“We’re well on our way to meet the May 15 deadline to get all of those long term care residents and staff tested in this area.”
According to Dr. Barbara Yaffe, Ontario’s associate chief medical officer of health, public health units are only responsible for long-term care and child-care testing, and the majority of tests being done are from Ontario’s COVID-19 testing centres.
The province said in January that it still intended to move forward on its plan to amalgamate certain health units, a plan that is on hold due to the pandemic.
Elgin and Oxford
Five people have recovered from the novel coronavirus, and no new cases or deaths have been reported, officials with Southwestern Public Health (SWPH) reported on Wednesday.
It keeps the total number of confirmed cases at 60, including 43 recoveries, or about 71 per cent of cases, and four deaths.
Health officials also reported the county’s lone active COVID-19 outbreak was declared over on Tuesday.
The outbreak, declared April 21 at Caressant Care on Bonnie Place in St. Thomas, saw two staff members test positive.
The region’s only other COVID-19 outbreak, at Beattie Manor in western Elgin, was resolved on April 22.
Of the region’s 13 remaining active cases, eight are located in Oxford County, including three in Tillsonburg and one in Woodstock, while five are located in Elgin County, including three in St. Thomas.
According to SWPH, as of Tuesday, 2,834 COVID-19 cases had been administered in the region, with 234 tests awaiting results.
Health unit figures show the percentage of positive tests stands at about 2.3 per cent, down from 2.5 per cent on Monday and down from a peak of 6.4 per cent on April 12.
Huron and Perth
For at least the third day in a row, health officials with Huron Perth Public Health (HPPH) have reported no new cases, deaths or recoveries in the region.
It keeps the total number of confirmed cases in the region at 49, including 34 recovered cases — about 69 per cent of cases — and five deaths.
The number of active outbreaks in the region remained unchanged at four.
The longest active outbreak, at Greenwood Court in Stratford, has seen six residents and 10 staff test positive for the novel coronavirus and four people die. It’s not clear how many cases at the facility remain active. The outbreak was declared in late March.
Outbreaks also remain at Blue Water Rest Home in Bluewater, at Huronview in Huron East and Braemar Retirement Centre in North Huron, where one resident, one staff member and two staff members have tested positive, respectively.
Stratford has seen the highest number of cases at 25, of which 20 have recovered and four have died.
Elsewhere, Huron County has seen 12 cases with nine recoveries, while Perth County has seen 10 cases with four recoveries.
Two cases have been reported in St. Marys. One person later died, while the other has since recovered.
As of Wednesday, 1,766 coronavirus tests had been administered in Huron and Perth. Of those, 134 are pending results, a decrease of 177 from the day before.
Sarnia and Lambton
One death has been reported and one person has recovered from the novel coronavirus, Lambton Public Health (LPH) reported late Tuesday.
The number of confirmed cases remains at 192. Of those, 16 have now died and 122 have recovered, or about 63 per cent of cases.
According to the health unit, the death is the second reported in as many days at Vision Nursing Home, a long-term care facility in Sarnia, where an outbreak has been active since April 23. A resident death was reported there on Tuesday.
Two staff members and four residents have tested positive at the facility, two of whom have now died.
It’s one of four outbreaks that have been reported in the county, of which two remain active, both in Sarnia.
LPH reported late Tuesday night that an outbreak declared April 27 at Sumac Lodge, a long-term care home had been declared over. One staff member had tested positive.
The region’s first and most severe outbreak, at Landmark Village, remains active, according to health officials. At least 30 residents and 10 staff have tested positive at the retirement home since March 26, and six residents have died.
It’s unclear how many cases at the facility remain active.
At least 15 cases remain active at Sarnia’s Bluewater Health among staff members, said a hospital spokesperson on Wednesday. The hospital is awaiting the results of double negative retests, which are expected back this week.
The hospital was treating eight COVID-19 patients as of Tuesday morning, one fewer than Tuesday, along with an additional eight patients who were suspected positive or awaiting tests.
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