Jump to: Hospitalizations – Schools – Outbreaks – Testing – Ontario – Elgin and Oxford – Huron and Perth – Sarnia and Lambton
The Middlesex-London Health Unit (MLHU) reported 18 new coronavirus cases along with 20 recoveries on Sunday.
It brings the region’s total case count to 1,468, of which 1,268 have recovered. Sixty-three people have died, most recently on Nov. 7. There are at least 137 known active cases in the region.
At least 1,350 cases have been reported in London since March, followed by 35 each in Middlesex Centre and Strathroy-Caradoc and 28 in Thames Centre. Four other locales have seen fewer than 10 cases each.
People in their 20s have accounted for the largest percentage of cases by age during the pandemic with 377, or about a quarter of the region’s caseload.
People 19 and under are the second-largest age group, accounting for 218 cases.
Hospitalizations
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There has been no change to the number of hospitalizations reported in London and Middlesex. The next update is expected Monday.
There are at least 11 patients with coronavirus in the care of London Health Sciences Centre, the organization reported Thursday. In addition, 15 staff members are currently infected. An internal email circulated Thursday by LHSC CEO Dr. Paul Woods said an additional 55 staff cases were either under investigation or awaiting test results.
Dr. Chris Mackie, the region’s medical officer of health, noted Thursday that the number of hospitalized cases was the highest seen since the second wave began.
“In the first wave, as this moved through long-term care and in this region, to a lesser extent, retirement homes, you definitely saw high levels of hospitalizations and ICU use, which we haven’t reached at this point in London and Middlesex in the second wave,” he said.
St. Joseph’s Health Care London says there are no coronavirus patients in its care as of Sunday.
At least five health-care workers with the organization (staff, physicians, volunteers and students) have tested positive since Nov. 4, the organization says.
At least 150 people have been admitted to hospital in the region since March, including 36 in intensive care.
Schools
The number of school cases in London and Middlesex has risen by one after a new case was reported at Catholic Central High School (CCH).
There have been at least 42 cases linked to schools in London and Middlesex, with 22 at local elementary schools, 17 at secondary schools and three in child care or early years.
Other than the active case at CCH, there are at least four other cases that remain active at local schools, including at Mother Teresa Catholic Secondary School (one case), Providence Reformed Collegiate (one case), Saunders Secondary School (one case) and Sir Arthur Carty Catholic School (one student).
- Sept. 21 at H.B. Beal Secondary School involving a student.
- Oct. 5 and Oct. 8 at École élémentaire La Pommeraie, both involving staff members.
- Oct. 7 at Saunders Secondary School involving a student.
- Oct. 9 and Oct. 12 at Sir Arthur Currie Public School, one involving a staff member, the other involving a student. The cases resulted in an outbreak declaration, which resolved on Oct. 30.
- Oct. 12 at Mary Wright Public School in Strathroy involving a student.
- Oct. 13 at Northdale Central Public School in Dorchester involving a student.
- Oct. 17 at Sir Frederick Banting Secondary School involving a student.
- Oct. 21 at Lambeth Public School involving a student.
- Oct. 25 at Mother Teresa Catholic Secondary School involving a student; at St. Andre Bessette Secondary School involving a student; and at St. Kateri Separate School involving two students.
- Oct. 29 at École élémentaire catholique Sainte-Jeanne-d’Arc involving one staff member; at West Nissouri Public School involving one student; and at A.B. Lucas Secondary School involving one staff member.
- Oct. 31 at Eagle Heights Public School involving one staff member.
- Nov. 2 at Northbrae Public School involving one student.
- Nov. 3 at Wilton Grove Public School in its before/after school program.
- Nov. 4 at Lambeth Public School involving two students.
- Nov 5-8 at Sir Arthur Carty Catholic School involving four students.
- Nov. 7 at Westminster Secondary School involving one student.
- Nov. 7 at St. Nicholas Catholic Elementary School involving one student.
- Nov. 8 at Sir Frederick Banting Secondary School involving one student, and at Oakridge Secondary School involving two students.
- Nov. 9 at Arthur Ford Public School in its before/after school program involving one staff member.
- Nov. 10 at Catholic Central High School involving a student.
In the post-secondary setting, two outbreaks have been declared at Western University. One is at Saugeen-Maitland Hall, its largest residence, where eight residents have tested positive. The other is at Perth Hall, where three residents tested positive.
Institutional outbreaks
Three outbreaks remain active as of Sunday, according to health unit data.
Two are at University Hospital in the facility’s 4IP General Medicine, declared Nov. 10, and 9IP Orthopedics units, declared Nov. 11. Another is at Parkwood Institute Main Building affecting the 2 Perth area. It was declared Friday.
It’s unclear how many people have tested positive as a result of the outbreaks as such information has not been made public by LHSC or the health unit. The organization reported Thursday that 11 patients were in its care with COVID-19, while 15 staff members were currently positive.
Since March, the region has seen at least 48 institutional outbreaks in London and Middlesex, including 40 at local seniors’ facilities.
Seniors’ facility outbreaks alone have been tied to 112 resident cases, 112 staff cases, and 39 deaths.
Meanwhile, although it isn’t an institutional outbreak, a workplace outbreak declared Monday at a new Richmond Row eatery remains active, linked to at least three staff cases.
Testing
Health unit figures show that at least 6,523 people got tested during the week of Nov. 8, about the same as seen the week before. The numbers are the latest available from the health unit.
Both of the city’s assessment centres, Carling Heights and Oakridge Arena are continuing to operate appointment-only. Appointment testing for certain asymptomatic people is also continuing at eight local pharmacies.
The cumulative incident rate for London and Middlesex stands at 289.2 per 100,000 people, compared to Ontario’s 688.7.
Ontario
Ontario reported 1,534 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, bringing the total number of cases in the province to 103,912.
Fourteen more deaths were also announced on Sunday, bringing the provincial death toll to 3,486.
Meanwhile, 87,508 cases are considered resolved, which is 84.2 per cent of all confirmed cases.
Ontario has now completed a total of 5,920,252 tests, while 30,427 remain under investigation.
Elgin and Oxford
One case of COVID-19 was reported by Southwestern Public Health (SWPH) on Sunday.
There are now a total of 484 cases in the region, with 419 recoveries. Five people have died. The death toll has not risen since early July.
At least 60 cases remain active; 21 of them are in Woodstock.
Starting Monday, the region will be moving to the orange-restrict tier of its colour-coded framework.
Officials with SWPH say the decision was based on an increase of cases, more evidence of community transmission, higher test per cent positivity, and an increase in outbreaks.
SWPH has reported at least 159 cases since the start of November, and its test per cent positivity rate stood at 2 per cent as of the week of Nov. 8.
According to the health unit, the move to orange will mean increased restrictions for things such as bars, restaurants, event spaces, sports and fitness activities, retail spaces, personal care services, and other businesses.
More information on what a move to orange-restrict brings can be found on the province’s website.
Three student cases at Assumption Catholic Elementary School in Aylmer have been resolved, and so have three student cases at Northdale Public School in Woodstock, according to the MLHU.
Meanwhile, two outbreaks remain active in the region, located at Bethany Care Home in Norwich (three resident cases and one staff case) and in the Arches Transitional Bed Program (one staff case).
Nine outbreaks in total have been declared since March, linked to 18 cases, of which four have involved residents.
By location, 107 cases have been reported in Aylmer, which has an incident rate of 1,428 cases per 100,000 people.
Ninety-three cases have been in Woodstock, 77 in Bayham, 58 in St. Thomas, and 38 each in Norwich and Tillsonburg.
Elsewhere, 16 cases have been in Ingersoll, 12 in East Zorra-Tavistock and 10 in Dutton/Dunwich. Seven other locations have case counts under 10.
As of the week of Nov. 8, the most recent figures available, the region’s test positivity rate stood at 2 per cent, up from 0.9 the week before. At least 3,082 people were tested for the virus that week.
Huron and Perth
Huron Perth Public Health does not update its case count over the weekend.
Ten people have tested positive and 10 others have recovered, Huron Perth Public Health said Friday.
It brings the region’s total case count to 264, of which 202 have recovered and 14 have died. The most recent death was reported on Wednesday involving a resident of Cedarcroft Place.
The region has recorded at least 99 cases since Oct. 31, more cases than it confirmed between the start of the pandemic and Aug. 10, health unit figures show.
As a result of the spike, driven in part by a significant outbreak at Cedarcroft Place, the region will be moving from the yellow-protect tier to the orange-restrict tier of the province’s colour-coded restrictions framework as of 12:01 a.m. Monday.
“As the number of cases rises across the province and in our area, we must all follow public health measures,” said the region’s medical officer of health, Dr. Miriam Klassen, in a statement.
“To protect our most vulnerable members and our health-care capacity, it’s critical that we stop the community spread across Huron and Perth. Things can change quickly, so we need to be vigilant now to flatten the curve of this second wave.”
The move to orange means increased restrictions for things such as bars, restaurants, event spaces, sports and fitness activities, retail spaces, personal care services, and other businesses.
More information on what a move to orange-restrict brings can be found on the province’s website.
The health unit says it’s critical that people continue to socially distance, to wear face coverings, to avoid non-essential travel, and to stay home if unwell.
At least 48 cases remain active as of Friday. At least 31 of those are at Cedarcroft Place.
Of the 10 cases reported Friday, seven are in Perth East, while two are in Stratford, and one in North Perth.
It does not appear that any are tied to Cedarcroft, a retirement home in Stratford that has been hit hard by an outbreak of the virus, with roughly half of its resident population and one-third of its staff infected.
At least nine residents have died in the outbreak since it was declared on Oct. 27. (One new death that was reported on Thursday by the health unit turned out to be a re-report of Wednesday’s death, health officials later clarified.)
Thirty of the facility’s reported 43 resident cases remained active, while one of the 19 staff cases reported was active as of Thursday, the most recent update given.
To help with staffing, at least two dozen residents have been transferred to local hospitals, while additional health-care workers have been brought in to the facility, including from London Health Sciences Centre.
The Cedarcroft outbreak is the only active institutional outbreak in the region.
At least 12 outbreaks have been declared at 10 facilities in the province since March. They’re linked to 89 cases and at least 12 deaths — including the eight at Cedarcroft and four at Greenwood Court in the spring.
No new school cases were reported, however, at least five remain active as of Friday.
Two cases are active at St. Ambrose Catholic Elementary School and St. Michael Catholic Secondary School, both in Stratford, both involving students.
Two student cases also remain active at Milverton Public School in Perth East, while one is at Shakespeare Public School in Stratford.
Prior to that, one presumptive case was reported Oct. 16 at Stratford’s St. Joseph’s Catholic Elementary School.
By location, Stratford has seen 115 cases reported since March, while Perth County has seen 85 and Huron County 56.
St. Marys has seen eight cases and one death.
Some 54,162 tests had been conducted by the health unit as of Nov. 8, the most recent figures available. The test per cent positivity rate that week was 1.5 per cent. Just over 2,300 people were tested.
Sarnia and Lambton
One new case of COVID-19 was reported early Sunday by officials with Lambton Public Health.
It brings the region’s total case count to 401, of which 358 have recovered and 25 have died. The death toll has not risen since early June.
The health unit says there are 18 active cases in the region.
At least one person remains in hospital at Bluewater Health, according to the organization. Their condition is not known. Three people have been admitted since the end of October, and 61 since March.
As of this week, the region remains in the least-restrictive green-prevent tier of the province’s restrictions framework. It will remain in green into next week.
No new outbreaks have been reported in the region and none are active. A total of 13 have been declared since the pandemic began, linked to 115 cases and 16 deaths. Ten outbreaks have involved seniors’ facilities, two have involved workplaces, and one has been at Bluewater Health.
At least 53,211 people had been tested in the county as of Nov. 14, the most recent figures available. About 2,600 people were tested from Nov. 1 to 7.
— With files from Matthew Trevithick, Ryan Rocca and Sawyer Bogdan
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