Coronavirus: 10 new cases, 10 recoveries, new seniors’ facility outbreak in London-Middlesex

Ten more people have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, 10 others have recovered, a new outbreak has been declared at a local seniors’ facility, and a new case has been reported at a local French-language elementary school, officials with the Middlesex-London Health Unit reported on Thursday.

The new cases bring the region’s total case count to 932, of which now 811 people have recovered. Fifty-seven people have died due to the virus during the pandemic, a tally unchanged since June 12.

With Thursday’s update, which is the third double-digit case increase this week and the first time since late April that double-digit increases have been reported three days in a row, there are at least 64 active cases in London and Middlesex, the same as the day before.

Of the 10 new cases, all are from London, health unit figures show. As has been the case the last two days, more than half of those infected are under the age of 30. Five of Thursday’s cases involve people aged 19 or younger, while two are in their 20s, one is in their 30s and two are in their 50s.

The exposure source of each case was not immediately clear. The number of cases among health-care workers also rose by two compared to the previous day. No change was reported to the region’s hospital figures.

Health officials reported 11 cases and three recoveries on Wednesday, seven cases and nine recoveries on Monday, and 12 cases and 18 recoveries over the weekend.

Since Sept. 1, at least 200 cases have been reported in London and Middlesex, with 52 reported in just the first eight days of October.

Of the 200 cases, about three-quarters have involved people under the age of 40. At least 69 cases have involved people 19 and under, 65 have involved people in their 20s and 18 have involved people in their 30s.

At least 70 cases since Sept. 1 have been linked to students at Western University, a tally that was last updated a week ago.

The region’s seven-day average for new cases stood at 7.57 as of Thursday. Looking back to Sept. 24, the 14-day average is 7.71. The region’s incident rate stands at 183.6 per 100,000 people, while Ontario’s is 376.4.

Overall, 861 cases have been reported in London, or about 92.4 per cent of all the region’s cases. Elsewhere, Strathroy-Caradoc’s case count has been 29, while Middlesex Centre has seen 17, Thames Centre 12, North Middlesex seven, Lucan Biddulph five and Southwest Middlesex one.

A day after an outbreak was declared over at Peoplecare Oakcrossing, a new one has been reported in a different part of the facility.

The outbreak, declared Wednesday, involves the home’s Juniper and Norway Spruce areas. A previous outbreak, active from Sept. 24 to Oct. 6, was reported in Red Oak.

It’s the seventh outbreak to be reported in the region since mid-September and the third since Sunday.

As of Thursday, five institutional outbreaks remain active in London and Middlesex, including the new outbreak at Peoplecare Oakcrossing.

The other outbreaks are located at Country Terrace (facility-wide), Earls Court Village (fourth floor), Meadow Park Care Centre (blue and yellow units) and Mount Hope Centre for Long Term Care (MV3).

At least 35 institutional outbreaks have been declared in the region during the pandemic, including 29 at seniors’ facilities. They’re tied to at least 201 cases — 108 residents and 93 staff members — and 35 deaths.

Thursday also saw a new case reported involving an elementary or secondary school in the city.

For the second time this week, a case has been reported involving a staff member at École élémentaire La Pommeraie, a French-language elementary school in southwest London.

The health unit says it was made aware of the positive diagnosis Wednesday night, and says the individual had attended the school while infectious. It was not clear whether they were symptomatic.

Health officials say parents, guardians and staff of the school were notified of the case shortly after the health unit learned of it.

The case is the fourth to be reported within London and the sixth to be seen in the London region, including two cases seen in St. Thomas.

Previous cases have involved a student at H.B. Beal Secondary School, a student at Saunders Secondary School and the first staff case at École élémentaire La Pommeraie.

The Beal-linked case has since been deemed resolved, while the La Pommeraie and Saunders cases were reported this week and are still considered active.

In the Saunders case, health officials reported the student had attended class while infectious. It wasn’t clear if the student was symptomatic when they were in class.

With case counts remaining high in London and Middlesex, local city and health officials are stressing the need for people to keep close Thanksgiving contacts limited to those within the same household.

“This is more than advice or even a simple suggestion. It’s the strongest recommendation I can urge, delivered as firmly and directly as I’m able: please stay home this Thanksgiving,” said Mayor Ed Holder during Thursday’s coronavirus media briefing.

“Please, don’t travel out of town. Please, stick to members of your household only. The stakes this coming weekend have never been greater, and we absolute cannot afford to get this wrong.”

The health unit says residents are being asked to avoid close contact with anyone outside of their household and to avoid non-essential travel to COVID-19 hotspots, including the GTA, Ottawa, Montreal, and Quebec City.

“Numbers are creeping up again here in London, while case counts across the province are setting new records. This is serious,” Holder added.

“It’s not enough if some of us do the right thing, or most of us do the right thing. This requires all of us to do the right thing.”

Demand for coronavirus testing in the region remains high, according to the health unit, which says Carling Heights saw two of the highest single-day visit counts of the pandemic this week.

At least 557 people were seen Monday and 529 on Tuesday at the assessment centre, which has continued to operate with a time card system as it has since mid-September.

It’s the first time during the pandemic the facility has recorded client visits above 500.

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At the same time, visits to Oakridge Arena, which switched to a phone-based appointment system this week, reported 85 visits on Monday and 156 on Tuesday, according to health unit figures.

Such an appointment system is expected to be brought in at Carling Heights, though a timeline is not available.

Assessment centres across Ontario began moving from walk-in testing to appointment-only testing as of Tuesday. That move was announced last week by the province.

Certain asymptomatic people are still able to get tested at three Shoppers Drug Mart locations in the city, while students and faculty at Western University can attend a testing clinic located in the on-campus Western Student Recreation Centre.

The Middlesex-London Paramedic Service’s mobile testing bus is also still operational and will be in Ilderton on Friday.

People in their 20s still account for the largest group of cases by age, with 218 overall during the pandemic.

Local residents in their 30s and 50s make up 124 of the region’s cases each, while people 80 and older account for 112 cases.

Those aged 19 and under make up 108 cases. At least 69 of those have been reported just since Sept. 1.

Real-time hospitalization data remains elusive, but London Health Sciences Centre says the number of COVID-19 patients in its care is five or fewer.

Overall, 117 people have been hospitalized during the pandemic, including 33 who have needed intensive care.

LHSC has not issued an updated tally of COVID-19 patients in its care since mid-June, saying it will only do so if the number rises above five. It has also not reported any staff cases in about as long.

St. Joseph’s Health Care London reported no COVID-19 patients in its care on its website as of Thursday, which it says will be updated when case numbers change.

At least 21 staff members of St. Joseph’s Health Care have tested positive for the virus during the pandemic.

Ontario

Provincially, Ontario reported 797 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, marking a new daily high.

Health Minister Christine Elliott says 265 cases are in Toronto, 182 in Ottawa, 134 in Peel Region and 78 in York Region.

The province says there are four new deaths reported due to the virus Thursday.

It also reported 100 new COVID-19 cases related to schools, including at least 51 among students.

They bring the number of schools with a reported case to 415 out of Ontario’s 4,828 publicly funded schools.

The province says it has a backlog of 58,118 tests and has conducted 48,488 tests since the last daily report.

In total, 206 people are hospitalized in Ontario due to COVID-19, including 47 in intensive care.

The latest figures bring the total of COVID-19 cases in Ontario to 56,742, with 2,992 deaths and 48,308 cases resolved.

Elgin and Oxford

Two people have recovered from the novel coronavirus, officials with Southwestern Public Health (SWPH) reported on Thursday.

The region’s total case count remains at 273, of which 266 people have now recovered. Five people have died due to the virus during the pandemic, most recently in early July.

Both recoveries were reported in St. Thomas, where one active case remains. The region’s other active case is in Central Elgin.

Health officials reported one new case on Wednesday.

Of the two active cases, both involve people 19 or younger, with one female and one male. Neither are in hospital.

An outbreak at a Caressant Care on Mary Bucke in St. Thomas remains active as of Thursday with one staff infection. The outbreak, declared on Monday, is the fifth to be reported in the region during the pandemic.

Prior to this, the most recent outbreak had been at Terrace Lodge in July. Overall, the five outbreaks have been tied to 12 cases involving 11 staff members and one resident.

The coronavirus case involving a student at Mitchell Hepburn Public School in St. Thomas also remains active as of Thursday, according to the Thames Valley District School Board.

The case was reported last Tuesday and came days after a probable case, since resolved, was reported a St. Thomas Community Christian School, a private school in the city.

Overall, people in their 50s have made up 51 of the region’s cases, while people in their 20s are tied to 50 cases. People in their 40s account for 39 cases.

The five municipalities with the highest overall case counts are Aylmer with 82, St. Thomas with 45, Bayham with 38, Woodstock with 30 and Tillsonburg with 25.

The region’s per cent positivity rate was 0.2 per cent for the week of Sept. 27, the most recent data available. Nearly 3,000 tests were conducted that week.

Huron and Perth

One person has tested positive for the novel coronavirus and two others have recovered, officials with Huron Perth Public Health (HPPH) reported on Thursday.

That brings the region’s total case count to 136, of which 126 people have recovered. Five have died due to the virus, a tally unchanged since April 29.

The case, reported in Stratford, involves a person in their 20s, health unit figures show.

There are at least five known active cases in the region.

Health officials reported one case each on Wednesday and Tuesday, and reported four cases and two recoveries on Monday.

A total of 48 cases have been reported each in Huron and Perth counties, while 34 have been in Stratford and six have been in St. Marys.

Four outbreak-related deaths have been reported in Stratford, while one death has occurred in St. Marys.

At least 31 cases have involved people in their 20s, while 25 have been people in their 50s and 22 in their 60s.

Sixteen cases each have involved people 19 and under and people in their 30s.

No hospitalized cases have been reported since late April. Five people have needed to be admitted to hospital during the pandemic.

Some 40,061 tests had been conducted by the health unit as of Sept. 27, the most recent figures available. The week of Sept. 20-26 saw 2,726 tests conducted.

Sarnia and Lambton

No new cases were reported by officials with Lambton Public Health late Wednesday night, keeping the region’s active case count at zero.

The region’s total number of cases remains at 347. Of those, 322 people have recovered and 25 have died. The death toll has not changed since early June.

Health officials reported one recovery late Tuesday, no change late Monday and two recoveries late Sunday.

Health unit figures show people 80 years old and older have made up the largest age group of cases in the county with 76, while people in their 50s rank second with 52 cases.

People in their 20s are the third-largest group by age with 50 cases.

It’s not clear which municipalities in the county have been hit hardest by the virus, as the health unit has refused to release location information, instead providing only a “rural/urban” pie graph — 69 per cent of cases have been in urban areas, while 31 per cent have been in rural areas.

At least 197 cases, or 57 per cent, have involved women and girls, and at least 18 per cent of all cases have been health-care workers.

Hospitalizations have remained flat since mid-June when the last COVID-19 patient was discharged from Bluewater Health in Sarnia. A total of 58 people have been admitted to hospital.

Outbreaks have also remained flat since mid-August, when the most recent outbreak, reported at an unspecified workplace, was declared over. A total of 10 outbreaks have been declared.

According to health officials, 27,811 tests have been received as of Sept. 27, the latest figures available. Only six per cent of the 1,181 cases done the previous week had a turnaround time of within two days.

— With files from The Canadian Press