Coronavirus: 11 cases, 12 recoveries, 1 new seniors’ facility outbreak in London-Middlesex

Eleven people have tested positive for the coronavirus while 12 have recovered, officials with the Middlesex-London Health Unit reported on Monday.

That brings the region’s total case tally to 1,045, of which 920 people have recovered and 58 have died. The most recent death occurred on Thursday.

With Monday’s update, there are 67 known active cases in the region.

All 11 cases involve people from London, health unit figures show. One is aged 19 or younger, one is in their 20s, five are in their 30s, two are in their 50s and two are in their 60s.

Three contracted the virus through an outbreak, while two became infected through contact with a confirmed case. The six other cases have no known link for their exposure source.

The region’s hospitalized tally rose by two compared to Sunday.

Health officials reported four cases and seven recoveries on Sunday, nine cases and 24 recoveries on Saturday, and five cases and 11 recoveries on Friday.

They also declared an outbreak at a northeast London Starbucks after three staff members tested positive for the virus.

The region has seen a surge in cases since the start of September as health officials continue to grapple with a second wave of the virus.

At least 165 cases have been reported in London and Middlesex just since the start of October. There have been at least 313 since Sept. 1.

While the case spike seen through much of September largely involved people under the age of 30, cases over the last week or two have involved people from various age groups.

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One new outbreak has been declared at a local seniors’ facility in the city, while one outbreak has been declared over, health officials say.

The new outbreak, declared Sunday at Oakcrossing Retirement Living, impacts the facility’s first, third, and fourth floors.

Few other details are known, including how many people have been impacted.

At the same time, the health unit says an outbreak on the fourth floor of Earls Court Village has been declared over. The outbreak was declared Oct. 4.

At least 43 institutional outbreaks have been declared since the pandemic began, including 37 at seniors’ facilities. They’re linked to at least 218 cases involving 110 residents and 108 staff.

They’re also tied to 38 deaths in the region, the most recent on Thursday of last week involving a 91-year-old resident of Extendicare.

At least 15 outbreaks have been declared at seniors’ facilities in the region since mid-September.

Two were declared over the weekend at Westmount Gardens in its Lily area, and at Chartwell London involving the entire facility.

Outbreaks remain active at those two facilities, along with Chelsey Park Long-Term Care (fourth floor), Henley Place LTC Residence (Harris), Craigwiel Gardens (facility), McGarrell Place (Ivey Lane, Harris House, Windermere Way), Extendicare (facility) and Peoplecare Oak Crossing (Juniper, Norway Spruce).

No new cases of the virus were reported involving schools in the London and Middlesex area, health officials said.

The most recent case was reported over the weekend at Sir Frederick Banting Secondary School.

The case was reported Saturday. Neither the health unit nor the Thames Valley District School Board would say whether the case involved a staff member or student.

The province’s school case database, which lists such information, did not have the case listed as of Monday.

At least nine cases have been reported in schools in London and Middlesex since Sept. 21 when the first school-linked case was reported at H.B. Beal Secondary School involving a student.

All but one have been reported just in the last two weeks.

Last week a student case was reported at Northdale Central Public School in Dorchester involving a student.

Days prior, cases were reported involving students at Mary Wright Public School in Strathroy and at Sir Arthur Currie Public School in London, which had already seen one staff case beforehand.

Cases have also been reported at École élémentaire La Pommeraie on Oct. 5 and Oct. 8, both involving staff members, and at Saunders Secondary School on Oct. 7 involving a student.

The outbreak declared Oct. 11 involving London Hall, a student residence building at Western University, was still listed as active as of Monday.

The outbreak declaration came after four students at the residence tested positive for the virus. At least one more case has been reported since then, bringing the outbreak tally to five.

More than 74 Western students have tested positive for the virus since the school year began. An exact figure is unclear as the health unit last released an updated tally nearly two weeks ago.

Staff and students on campus can still get tested at the university’s testing centre.

As of late last week, people looking to get tested at the city’s Oakridge Arena assessment centre can now book an appointment online.

The change was announced on Thursday and comes in addition to the phone-based system that had been operational previously.

A similar appointment system is planned for Carling Heights, which is operating with a time-card system, but a timeline is not known.

Both are continuing to prioritize certain individuals.

Testing of certain asymptomatic people is also still available at three Shoppers Drug Mart locations in London.

The region’s seven-day average for new cases stood at 6.57 on Monday. Looking back to Oct. 5, the 14-day average is 10.28. The region’s incident rate stands at 205.9 per 100,000 people, while Ontario’s is 433.1.

At least 957 cases have been reported in London, while 31 have been in Strathroy-Caradoc.

Elsewhere, Thames Centre’s case count stands at 21, while Middlesex Centre’s is 20, North Middlesex is at eight, Lucan Biddulph seven and Southwest Middlesex one.

People in their 20s remain the largest group of cases by age, making up 24.5 per cent of all cases with 256.

People in their 30s and 50s each account for 137 cases, or 13 per cent, while people aged 19 and under account for 130 cases, or 12.44 per cent.

Hospitalizations remain low in the region. The overall tally of non-ICU hospitalized cases rose by two from Sunday to Monday.

It’s not clear how many people are currently hospitalized with the virus as such real-time information is not released by either the health unit or London Health Sciences Centre.

LHSC says it will only put out such a tally unless its COVID-19 patient tally rises above five, which it has not.

Overall, 124 people have had to be admitted to the hospital due to the virus, including 33 in intensive care.

Ontario

Provincially, Ontario reported 704 new cases of COVID-19 Monday and four new deaths.

Health Minister Christine Elliott says 244 cases are in Toronto, 168 in Peel Region, 103 in York Region and 51 in Ottawa.

The latest figures come as the province’s chief medical officer of health says trick-or-treating for Halloween is not recommended for children in those four hot spots.

Dr. David Williams says it’s also critical that families not travel outside of their neighbourhoods to celebrate Halloween.

He also says children in other regions of the province should only trick-or-treat with members of their household.

Meanwhile, the province says it conducted 31,864 tests since the last daily report.

In total, 252 people are hospitalized in Ontario due to COVID-19, including 69 in intensive care.

The province also reported 74 new COVID-19 cases related to schools, including at least 48 among students.

Those bring the number of schools with a reported case to 483 out of Ontario’s 4,828 publicly funded schools.

The new figures bring the total of COVID-19 cases in Ontario to 65,075, with 3,050 deaths and 55,978 cases resolved.

Elgin and Oxford

Two people have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, officials with Southwestern Public Health (SWPH) reported on Monday.

The new cases bring the region’s total case count to 293, of which 270 people have recovered. Five people have died, a tally unchanged since early July.

The health unit says there are 18 known active cases in the region. None are in hospital.

Four active cases are in Tillsonburg; three each are in Ingersoll and St. Thomas; two each are in Aylmer, Norwich and Woodstock; and East Zorra-Tavistock and West Elgin have one each.

They involve three people each aged 19 and under and in their 20s and 30s, one person in their 40s, six people in their 50s and two people in their 70s. Nine are female and nine are male.

Two institutional outbreaks remain active in the region. The latest, declared on Saturday at Chartwell Aylmer, came after one staff member at the facility tested positive.

Another outbreak, declared Oct. 5 at Caressant Care on Mary Bucke in St. Thomas, also involves one staff case.

They’re among six outbreaks overall that have been declared during the pandemic.

The five municipalities that have seen the largest case numbers have been Aylmer with 84, St. Thomas with 49, Bayham with 38, Woodstock with 33 and Tillsonburg with 29.

Of the region’s overall case count, 23 people have needed hospitalization, including 11 who have been admitted to intensive care.

The region’s test positivity rate was 0.2 per cent as of the week of Oct. 4. That week saw 4,100 people tested for the virus.

Huron and Perth

The total number of cases reported in Huron and Perth stood at 140 as of Friday, of which 131 people have recovered. Five people have also died, a tally unchanged since April 29.

An update is expected Monday afternoon. No update was issued over the weekend by Huron Perth Public Health.

The health unit says there were at least four known active cases as of Friday.

There were no active institutional outbreaks in the region. A total of eight had been reported, linked to 24 cases and four deaths.

There have also been no cases yet linked to schools.

At least 32 cases in the region have involved people in their 20s, while 25 have been people in their 50s and 22 in their 60s.

The total number of hospitalizations has not changed since late April. A total of five people have needed to be hospitalized.

Some 42,983 tests had been conducted by the health unit as of Oct. 10, the most recent figures available. The week of Oct. 4 to 10 saw 2,614 people tested.

Sarnia and Lambton

One person has tested positive for the coronavirus and four others have recovered, officials with Lambton Public Health (LPH) reported late Sunday night.

The region’s total case count remains at 363, of which 328 people have recovered. Twenty-five people have died, a tally that has remained unchanged since early June.

The health unit says there are currently 10 known active cases and two active outbreaks in the county.

Health unit figures suggest Sunday night’s confirmed case is linked to one of them.

The outbreaks were both declared on Thursday of last week. Three people have tested positive as a result of an outbreak at an unspecified workplace, while two staff members have tested positive from an outbreak at Twin Lakes Terrace, a long-term care home in Sarnia.

The seniors’ facility outbreak is the first to be declared in Lambton since mid-June. Late Saturday, the health unit had reported that only one staff member at Twin Lakes had tested positive.

Twelve outbreaks have been declared during the pandemic, with nine at seniors’ facilities, two at workplaces and one at Bluewater Health hospital.

They’re linked to 114 cases and 16 deaths, however a vast majority of cases, and all 16 deaths, occurred at just two long-term care homes in Sarnia.

Health unit data shows that 77 cases have involved people aged 80 or older, while 53 cases have involved people in their 50s and five have involved people in their 20s.

Bluewater Health says one COVID-19 patient is in its care. The patient, admitted on Oct. 7, is the first with the virus to be admitted to Bluewater Health since late May.

LPH officials say nearly 43,000 people had been tested in the county as of Oct. 10.

— With files from The Canadian Press