5 new coronavirus cases, 2 recoveries in London and Middlesex

Five people have tested positive for the novel coronavirus in London and Middlesex while two people have recovered, officials with the Middlesex-London Health Unit (MLHU) reported on Monday.

The update brings the region’s total case count to 805, of which 684 people have recovered. Fifty-seven have died, most recently on June 12.

There are now at least 64 known active cases in the region.

According to the health unit, Monday’s reported cases involve two people in their 20s, one person in their 30s, one person in their 40s and one person in their 70s.

No cases are listed as being health-care workers, and only one was tied to Western University.

At least 47 cases have been reported over the last week and a half involving the university’s student population.

Health officials reported 11 cases over the weekend — seven on Sunday and four on Saturday. Of those, at least seven involved students of Western University. Eleven of the 13 cases reported on Friday involved students from the university.

A large number of the student-involved cases have been attributed to two of three community outbreaks declared by the health unit over the last week.

One outbreak, involving a house party last weekend that saw dozens of attendees, has been tied to at least 17 infections, while another, “Western Student Outbreak Alpha,” has been linked to at least 17, most of them students.

Western Student Outbreak Alpha is the name given by the health unit to an outbreak first declared on Sept. 13. The outbreak has been largely traced back to three households, a gathering at Lost Love Social House, a downtown nightclub, on Sept. 9, and subsequent gatherings at off-campus residences.

The health unit released a graphic visualizing its contact tracing efforts in the outbreak last week.

Health officials say the number of infections from the outbreaks is likely to stop growing soon, as most of those infected will have already begun to show symptoms and gotten tested.

The third outbreak, which has not been linked to students, involves at least three staff infections at a Walmart store at Fanshawe Park and Hyde Park roads.

The spike in recent cases prompted local city and health officials on Friday to request stricter gathering rules in London. With cases also rising provincewide, the Doug Ford government on Saturday put stricter rules in place across Ontario.

Speaking to the media during Monday’s COVID-19 briefing, London Mayor Ed Holder said city bylaw officers focused their efforts on off-campus neighbourhoods where gatherings have been tied to many student cases.

Health officials have said “virtually all” of the spread among Western students has been driven by parties — either at bars or in private homes.

On Friday and Saturday night, things were quiet, for the most part, including in the downtown core, where turnout to bars and restaurants was scant compared to past weekends.

“Officers attended several establishments along Richmond Row. All of those establishments were 100 per cent compliant with the mask bylaw,” Holder said.

“Over the weekend, bylaw officers also responded to several complaints regarding previously planned backyard weddings. Given that the order issued Saturday was literally a few hours old only, the conversations in those situations focused on warnings and public safety.”

Lengthy lines seen all last week at the city’s two dedicated COVID-19 assessment centres continued Monday morning, with wait times estimated at between three and four hours at both sites as of 11 a.m.

By 2 p.m., both had reached capacity, the health unit said.

On Sunday, the Carling Heights assessment centre — the only one open over the weekend — reached capacity by 12:45 p.m., less than two hours after opening. Health officials say the site saw nearly 800 visits in total on Saturday and Sunday.

According to health unit figures, at least 4,635 visits were recorded at Carling Heights and Oakridge Arena between Sept. 14 and Sept. 20, with average wait times hovering around two to three hours.

In comparison, previous weeks saw 4,297 between Sept. 7 and Sept. 13, and 3,517 from Aug. 31 to Sept. 6.

“If you don’t have symptoms or have contact with a case, please do not go to get tested,” the region’s medical officer of health, Dr. Chris Mackie, said on Monday.

Asked what was being done to boost timely testing access in the city amid the surge in cases and the lengthy wait times, Mackie replied that the Middlesex Hospital Alliance was looking into opening a testing site in the county, and highlighted Western’s on-campus testing trailer.

“There’s also a provincial government announcement pending. We don’t know for sure whether that will affect London or not, but we hope that it does mean that there is an assessment centre added in either London or Middlesex,” he said.

The long game, he added, was making testing more available to those without symptoms and those who have not had close contact with a confirmed case.

In particular, Mackie says such tests could be conducted in primary care clinics, family doctors’ offices, or even pharmacies.

“We wouldn’t necessarily, at this stage, expect primary care, family doctors or pharmacies to be able to test people who have symptoms. That’s a level of risk that, you know, you’d have to redesign your clinic flow — you can’t have people waiting in the same waiting room close together, for example. I don’t see that being in the cards in the short term,” he noted.

“But for those people who don’t have symptoms, they should not be going to the assessment centres. They should have an alternative place to be tested, and we’re hoping that primary care starts taking that up over the next few weeks.”

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Mackie said he doesn’t expect that the Oakridge Arena assessment centre will reopen on weekends as it was when it first opened in April despite the higher local demand for testing.

“It would be wonderful to have infinite resources to test everybody that wants it, but the reality is we don’t have that,” he said.

“Even if we added twice as many staff, you’d likely see a lot more people coming out with lower wait times, and that could easily get overwhelmed as well.”

At least 747 of the region’s cases have been reported in London, while 27 have been in Strathroy-Caradoc and 13 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 7.0 on Monday. Looking back to Sept. 6, the 14-day average is 4.9

The region’s cases per 100,000 rate stands at 158.6 as of Monday, while Ontario’s stands at 315.2. Individually, London itself has a case rate of 184.6, 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 account for 187 of the region’s cases, or about 23.2 per cent, followed by people in their 50s with 114 cases, or about 14 per cent.

People in their 30s and people 80 and above each account for 13 per cent of cases, with 109 and 108, respectively.

One outbreak remained active in the city as of Monday. The outbreak was declared on Sept. 9 on the fourth floor of Chelsey Park Retirement Community. It’s unclear how many cases are linked to the outbreak.

At least 28 institutional outbreaks have been declared, including 22 at seniors’ facilities, that have been tied to 192 cases involving residents and staff, and 35 deaths.

It’s not clear how many, if any, cases are currently hospitalized, as real-time data is not released by the health unit or the city’s largest hospital system.

London Health Sciences Centre only says its COVID-19 patients number five or fewer. St. Joseph’s Health Care London reported no such patients in its care as of Monday.

A total of 115 people have had to be hospitalized, including 32 in intensive care.

Ontario

Provincially, Ontario reported 425 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday along with two new deaths.

Health Minister Christine Elliott says Toronto is reporting 175 new cases, with 84 in Peel Region and 60 in Ottawa.

She says 67 per cent of the new cases are in people under the age of 40.

The total number of cases in Ontario now stands at 47,274, which includes 2,829 deaths and 41,146 cases classified as resolved.

There were also 178 cases newly marked as resolved over the past 24 hours.

The province says it processed 31,753 tests over the previous day.

The recent surge in new diagnoses has prompted the province’s Progressive Conservative government to roll back limits on social gatherings, which had been raised over the summer when case numbers dropped.

Ford, who imposed a cap of 10 physically distanced participants on indoor assemblies and 25 for events taking place outside over the next 28 days, has attributed the recent spike to residents flouting public health advice by meeting in large groups and failing to wear masks or stay at least two metres away from other people.

Elgin and Oxford

No new cases, deaths, or recoveries were reported on Monday by officials with Southwestern Public Health.

The region’s total case count remains at 263, of which 248 people have recovered. Five have died, most recently in early July.

Health officials reported no change on Sunday, Saturday or Friday.

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.

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 Monday.

Four contracted the virus through close contact with a positive case, two through travel and two through workplaces. Two are still under investigation.

Overall, close contact has been linked to 106 cases, followed by 39 from workplaces, 25 through travel, and 13 through social gatherings. Fifty-five are listed as unknown, and 27 are listed as health-care workers.

At least 82 of the region’s cases have been reported in Aylmer, followed by 38 in Bayham, 37 in St. Thomas, 30 in Woodstock, 25 in Tillsonburg and 10 in Dutton/Dunwich.

Aylmer’s case rate is equivalent to 1,094 cases per 100,000 people.

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

Two people have recovered from the novel coronavirus, officials with Huron Perth Public Health (HPPH) reported on Monday.

The region’s total case count remains unchanged at 127, of which now 121 people have recovered and five have died.

There is now one known active case in the region.

The health unit did not release an update over the weekend.

Of the region’s cases, at least 27 have been linked to people in their 20s, followed by people in their 50s with 23, and people in their 60s with 22.

At least 56 per cent of cases involve women and girls, health unit figures show.

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 health unit says at least 32,892 tests have been conducted by the health unit as of Sept. 6. That week saw 1,987 tests completed and a per cent positivity rate of 0.2 per cent.

Sarnia and Lambton

No new cases, deaths or recoveries were reported late Sunday by officials with Lambton Public Health (LPH).

The region’s total case count remains at 344, of which 317 people have recovered and 25 have died. The death toll has not changed since early June.

There are at least two known active cases in the region. Their locations have not been made public.

Health officials reported one new case late Saturday and reported no change late Friday.

Close contact is tied to 135 cases, followed by outbreaks with 113, and travel with seven. Seventy-four cases have their exposure source listed as unknown.

People 80 and up account for 76 cases, while people in their 50s make up 52, and people in their 20s 49. At least 196 cases, or 57 per cent, involve women and girls.

At least 58 people have been hospitalized, most recently in late May.

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.

The total number outbreaks seen in the county during the pandemic remains unchanged at 10. 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 26,376 tests have been received as of late Sunday. At least 1.3 per cent of tests are coming back positive.

— With files from The Canadian Press