The number of new coronavirus cases in London and Middlesex rose by double-digits once again Friday as 13 people, 11 of them Western University students, tested positive for the novel coronavirus in what health unit figures show is the region’s largest single-day increase in cases since May 10.
It marks the first time since April 20 that the region has seen two consecutive days of double-digit increases, and caps off a workweek that has recorded more than three dozen positive infections, many involving university students — an unnerving statistic the region’s medical officer of health has highlighted as evidence of a second local wave of coronavirus.
As of Friday, the region’s total case count now stands at 789, of which 679 people have recovered, a tally unchanged from the day before. At least 57 people have also died, most recently on June 12. There are at least 53 known active cases in the region, according to the health unit.
According to the health unit, all of Friday’s cases are from London and involve 10 people under the age of 19, and three in their 20s.
Of those, 11 cases involve Western University students. As of Friday, the total number of cases that had been reported involving Western students stood at 39, according to Dr. Chris Mackie, the medical officer of health for London and Middlesex.
“The spread of the illness in Western students is virtually all linked to partying in bars and restaurants or in private homes,” Mackie said Friday during an unscheduled media briefing.
“From our community’s perspective, this is a second wave. It’s in a new population at a new time where, even looking across the general community, there isn’t a lot of activity. It’s very unfortunate that this has happened.”
With that in mind, to put a stop to large parties at residences, the health unit, city, and county say they are requesting that the province’s gathering restrictions, announced yesterday for Toronto, Peel and Ottawa, be extended to our region.
The restrictions limit gatherings at private homes to 10 people indoors and 25 outdoors, and increases fines for those caught hosting or attending a party that violates those limits.
“If, for some reason, that doesn’t come about, we’re prepared to issue a class Section 22 order to limit gathering sizes in this community,” Mackie said.
Of the 11 cases from Friday that involve Western students, nine have been tied to a large house party that occurred over the weekend with dozens of attendees. It has since been deemed an outbreak — one of two to be declared this week that are largely associated with university students.
At least 16 cases have been reported in total as a result of the house party outbreak, according to the health unit.
Another Western case has been linked to El Furniture Warehouse, a Richmond Row bar and restaurant that had a reported case last week, while one Western case was not connected to any outbreak.
Of the two cases reported Friday that did not involve Western students, one has been found to be associated with the outbreak declared on Sunday by the health unit. Sunday’s outbreak, dubbed “Western Student Outbreak Alpha” by the MLHU, has seen at least 16 people infected, most of them students.
Health officials on Thursday detailed their contact-tracing efforts in locating and identifying cases in connection to the outbreak, which was largely traced back to three households. A gathering at a downtown nightclub, Lost Love Social Club, on Sept. 9 served as a notable infection point, as did gatherings at student homes in the following days. The nightclub announced over the weekend that it would temporarily shut down to allow staff to self-quarantine.
Several dozen contacts were in isolation and/or were getting tested as a result of the outbreak as of this week.
Click here to see the graphic in full and click here to hear medical officer of health Dr. Chris Mackie explain the graph.
According to Mackie, the other non-Western case reported Friday is tied to an outbreak at a local Walmart — the city’s third community outbreak of the week.
The outbreak was declared on Friday at the Walmart, located at Fanshawe Park and Hyde Park roads, after three staff members recently tested positive.
The spike in student-linked cases at Western has prompted university officials to reverse course on their reopening plans. However, classes on campus will continue and residences will stay open. Students are being warned that the code of student conduct will be utilized if students are found to be putting others’ health and safety at risk through house parties and other large gatherings.
“We’re asking people to stay home and to forego the parties,” said Western president Alan Shepard on Thursday.
“Nobody’s going to die because they’ve skipped a couple of parties, and people put other people’s lives at risk by going out and engaging in conduct that’s really, in ordinary times would be fine, and right now is particularly dangerous.”
Asked Friday if the city would be willing to close down bars and restaurants for a period of time should case numbers keep rising, London Mayor Ed Holder said he wasn’t telling people to avoid bars and restaurants, but instead act responsibly and follow coronavirus guidelines.
“The fact is that bars and restaurants have been open for months now, and if the owners and operators weren’t behaving responsibly, or if these venues were inherently unsafe, we wouldn’t have the extremely low case counts we’ve seen up to this week,” he said.
“If the choice is an unregulated, irresponsible house party with no oversight, no health and safety protocols being followed, or a local restaurant where names and phone numbers of patrons are taken, masks are enforced, proper spacing between tables is in place, plexiglass and hand sanitization and more, the restaurant and bars a far better option.”
Due to the spike in cases and the health unit’s declaration of a community outbreak over the weekend, the city’s two main COVID-19 assessment centres have experienced a surge in turnout this week.
As of Friday afternoon, wait times at both Carling Heights and Oakridge Arena stood around two hours — similar to wait times seen on previous days.
Thursday saw visits at both assessment centres dip slightly. Health officials had stressed that only those showing symptoms, or those told to get tested by a health professional, should visit.
Combined, the two facilities saw 732 clients on Thursday, compared to 829 the day before — the highest single-day number of visitations since the assessment centres opened in April.
Despite the somewhat lower turnout, Oakridge Arena ran out of capacity by the late afternoon. Both were forced to close early on Wednesday and Tuesday after reaching capacity.
At least 732 of the region’s cases have been reported in London, while 27 have been in Strathroy-Caradoc and 12 in Middlesex Centre. Seven cases have been in Thames Centre, six in North Middlesex, four in Lucan Biddulph and one in Southwest Middlesex.
The region’s seven-day average for new cases stood at 6.71 on Friday, up from 5.0 the day before and 3.57 on Wednesday. Looking back to Sept. 3, the 14-day average is 3.92.
The region’s cases per 100,000 rate stands at 152.5 as of Wednesday, while Ontario’s stands at 305.3. Individually, London itself has a case rate of 174.9, while Strathroy-Caradoc’s is 119.3. Lucan Biddulph and North Middlesex have case rates of 85.0 and 83.7, respectively.
People in their 20s make up the region’s largest age group of cases, accounting for 181, or 23 per cent of the region’s case total. People in their 50s make up 114 cases, while people in their 30s and those 80 and above make up 108 each.
The city’s lone institutional outbreak, located on the fourth floor of Chelsey Park Retirement Community, remained active as of Friday. The outbreak was declared on Sept. 9.
At least 28 institutional outbreaks have been declared, including 22 at seniors’ facilities, that have been tied to 193 cases involving residents and staff and 35 deaths.
Hospitalizations remain low or non-existent in the region. Real-time figures aren’t available, but LHSC says it has COVID-19 patient numbers that are five or fewer.
A total of 115 people have had to be hospitalized, including 32 in intensive care.
Ontario
Provincially, Ontario reported 401 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, a daily increase not seen since early June.
Health Minister Christine Elliott says Toronto is reporting 130 new cases, with 82 in Peel Region and 61 in Ottawa.
She says nearly 70 per cent of the new cases are in people under the age of 40.
The total number of cases in Ontario now stands at 46,077, which includes 2,825 deaths and 40,600 cases classified as resolved.
There were also 176 cases newly marked as resolved over the past 24 hours.
The province says it processed 35,826 tests over the previous day.
Elgin and Oxford
No new cases, deaths, or recoveries were reported on Friday by officials with Southwestern Public Health (SWPH).
The region’s total case count remains at 263, of which 248 people have recovered. Five have died, most recently in early July.
There are at least 10 known active cases in the region — eight are in Woodstock, one is in Bayham and one is in Central Elgin.
Health officials reported one new case on Thursday, four cases on Wednesday, two cases on Monday and one case on Saturday.
According to the health unit, of the region’s 10 active cases, five are in their 20s, two are in their 50s, two are in their 60s and one is in their 80s. Seven are men and three are women.
One was listed as being in hospital as of Friday.
By municipality, Aylmer still has seen the largest number of cases with 82 — an incident rate equivalent to 1,094 cases per 100,000 people. Bayham has reported 38 cases and has a case rate of 513 per 100,000.
Elsewhere, St. Thomas has reported 37 (95.1 per 100,000), while Woodstock has seen 29 (70.9 per 100,000).
Total testing numbers weren’t immediately available, but the health unit says its test per cent positivity rate for the week of Sept. 6, the most recent that is available, was 0.1 per cent.
Huron and Perth
One recovery was reported Friday by officials with Huron Perth Public Health.
The total number of cases in the region stands at 127, of which 119 have recovered and five have died.
At least three cases remain active in the region.
Health officials reported no change on Thursday or Wednesday, one new case on Tuesday and two cases on Monday.
At least 45 cases have been reported in Perth County, with North Perth and Perth East reporting 16 and 15 cases, respectively.
Forty-five cases have also been reported in Huron County, including 14 in Central Huron, 12 in Bluewater and 10 in South Huron.
Thirty-one cases have been reported in Stratford along with four deaths that were linked to an outbreak at Greenwood Court early in the pandemic.
In St. Marys, six cases and one death have been reported.
The region’s test positivity rate was 0.2 per cent as of the week of Sept. 6.
Sarnia and Lambton
No new cases, deaths or recoveries were reported late Thursday by officials with Lambton Public Health.
The region’s total case count remains at 343, of which now 317 have recovered. Twenty-five people have died, most recently in early June.
There is one known active case in the region. It’s not clear where in the county the case is located as the health unit has refrained from releasing location information on cases.
Health officials reported one recovery late Wednesday, two recoveries late Tuesday and one recovery late Saturday.
The total number of hospitalizations and outbreaks seen in the county during the pandemic remains unchanged at 58 and 10, respectively. The last COVID-19 patient to be discharged from Bluewater Health was in mid-June.
The last outbreak to be reported was on Aug. 10 at an unspecified workplace where four people tested positive. It was declared over Aug. 15.
In total, outbreaks are linked to 109 cases and 16 deaths, in large part due to outbreaks at Landmark Village from March to May, and Vision Nursing Home from April to June.
The health unit says at least 25,551 tests have been received as of late Wednesday. At least 1.3 per cent of tests are coming back positive, down from 1.4 the day before.
— With files from The Canadian Press
Comments