Jump to: Hospitalizations – Outbreaks – Schools – Vaccinations and Testing – Ontario – Elgin and Oxford – Huron and Perth – Sarnia and Lambton

Four people have died and 86 others have tested positive for the coronavirus, officials with the Middlesex-London Health Unit reported on Wednesday.

The update brings the region’s pandemic case tally to 5,233, of which 3,559 have recovered, an increase of 30 from the day before.

To date, at least 160 people have died. Of those, at least 54 have been reported just since the start of January, the most of any month during the pandemic.

The four deaths reported on Wednesday involved a man in his 70s, a man and woman in their 80s, and a man in his 90s, all linked to long-term care homes.

Wednesday marks the 20th straight day that at least one COVID-19-related death has been reported in the region, and the third day in a row that four deaths have been reported by the health unit.

At least 1,862 cases have been reported in the region since Jan. 1, more than any other month. December saw 1,724 cases reported.

Of Wednesday’s 86 new cases, at least 73 are from London while three are from Southwest Middlesex, three are from Strathroy-Caradoc, and two are from Middlesex Centre. Five cases are pending a location.

Those infected skew younger, with people under 40 making up 56 per cent of all cases. At least 13 cases are among people who are 19 or younger, while 22 are in their 20s, 14 are in their 30s, 15 are in their 40s, 12 are in their 50s, six are in their 60s, three are in their 70s, and one is 80 or older.

Sixty-four of the cases have no exposure source information due to contact tracing delays. Eleven are due to outbreak, nine due to close contact, and two have no known link.

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During Monday’s media briefing, Dr. Chris Mackie, the region’s medical officer of health, said the provincewide Boxing Day lockdown may be to thank for a recent dip in cases. At least eight days in the first half of the month saw more than 100 new cases, with one day recording more than 150.

“If people really dramatically changed their activity on Dec. 26, you would see less disease activity showing up about a week after that. And that’s what we’re seeing here in the data. So as of the shutdown, we have seen dramatic declines in the rates in both … Middlesex-London and across Ontario,” he said.

“Most provinces are seeing significant declines over the last couple of weeks. We’re still at very high levels, higher than we were anywhere before December of 2020, but the trend is in the right direction and that makes a big difference.”

It’s unclear whether any new cases of the coronavirus variant, B.1.1.7, first located in the U.K., have turned up locally.

One case has been found so far.

During Monday’s briefing, Mackie said the variant wasn’t a major driver of pandemic waves here, noting that recent provincial testing of some 4,000 positive COVID-19 samples had only 15 come back positive for the variant in Ontario.

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The region’s seven-day case average stands at 73.7 as of Wednesday, down from 80.0 on Tuesday. The 14-day average stands at 92.5, down slightly from 94.5 on Tuesday.

The cumulative incidence rate for London-Middlesex is 1,031.1 per 100,000 people compared to Ontario’s 1,629.9.

In the region, London has recorded by far the most number of cases during the pandemic, 4,522.

Middlesex Centre, which has reported the second highest number of cases, has seen 223, however it’s population size means that smaller number of cases has had a much harder impact.

The health unit says the incidence rate for the municipality is equivalent to 1,318 cases per 100,000 people, compared to London’s 1,117.

Elsewhere, Strathroy-Caradoc has reported 183 cases, Thames Centre 88, Lucan Biddulph 33, Southwest Middlesex 32, North Middlesex 28, Adelaide Metcalfe 13 and Newbury two.

At least 99 cases are pending location data.

Hospitalizations

The number of COVID-19 inpatients currently in the care of London Health Sciences Centre has declined by two to 23.

At the same time, inpatients in critical or intensive care has risen by one to 10.

Active staff cases within LHSC rose by one to 27, the organization said.

At St. Joseph’s Health Care London, meantime, no patients with COVID-19 were in the care of St. Joseph’s Hospital.

At least nine staff with SJHCL are positive with the virus, down from 10 the day before. Eight cases are due to an outbreak at Mount Hope Centre for Long-Term Care.

At least 326 people have been hospitalized for the virus during the pandemic, including 63 who have needed intensive care, health unit figures show.

As of Wednesday, five operating rooms within LHSC are being brought back online, the organization’s chief medical officer said Monday.

Two are being brought back online at University Hospital while three are at Victoria Hospital. As a result, University Hospital will have 75 per cent OR capacity, while Victoria will be at just under 90 per cent.

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“The focus of this incremental increase will be on patients that do not require an overnight stay,” said Dr. Adam Dukelow.”

“We will be evaluating our operating capacity daily and we are prepared to decrease that activity if required due to COVID surge. Similarly, where we have capacity, we’ll continue to increase activity.”

Institutional outbreaks

One new institutional outbreak has been declared in the region, the health unit says.

The latest outbreak was declared late Tuesday at Peoplecare Oak Crossing in its Red Oak area. It’s unclear how many people may be impacted by the outbreak.

The outbreak is among at least 15 that are currently active at local long-term care homes and retirement homes.

Meantime, four outbreaks remain active at local hospitals. Three are within LHSC while one is at Strathroy Middlesex General Hospital.

According to LHSC, the outbreak at University Hospital in its emergency department has been linked to eight staff cases, and no patient cases or deaths, unchanged from the day before.

Two outbreaks at Victoria Hospital, in B41 Antenatal and C6-100 Geriatric Behavioural Unit, have also remained unchanged, both tied to fewer than five patient and five staff cases each, and no deaths.

The outbreak at Strathroy General is located in 2 South, according to the health unit. It’s not clear how many cases have been reported in that outbreak.

An outbreak declared on Monday at Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre also remains active. The outbreak was declared after four staff members of the south London jail tested positive for the virus.

No inmates are currently positive with the virus. Two inmates at the jail have tested positive during the pandemic, most recently in October, according to provincial data.

Schools

No new school cases have been reported in the region.

One is currently active, reported on Saturday at Clarke Road Secondary School by the Thames Valley District School Board.

At least 177 cases have been reported at schools and child-care centres since the start of September, the health unit says.

No cases are active at local child-care centres.

Students in the region, and across southern Ontario, will stay in remote learning until at least Jan. 25.

Vaccinations and Testing

Coronavirus vaccinations are being temporarily halted at the city’s vaccination clinic for at least two weeks starting Friday.

The news, announced Wednesday by London Health Sciences Centre and the health unit, comes amid a shrinking local supply of vaccine doses and delays in deliveries of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

On Tuesday, the federal government announced that Canada would not receive any doses from Pfizer next week, and that it can’t tell provinces exactly how many doses to expect over the next month. The U.S. drugmaker is slowing production at its Belgium facility for upgrades that will eventually allow it to produce more doses.

Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin, the military commander co-ordinating the vaccine rollout for the Public Health Agency of Canada, said Canada’s shipments will “pick back up again” the first week of February but he doesn’t expect details until Thursday.

Despite the supply challenges, the health unit says its plans to vaccinate all long-term care home residents by the end of the week will still be completed with the use of remaining stock.

However, due to supply issues, and in keeping with provincial direction to focus vaccination efforts on long-term care, second doses of the vaccine for those not in long-term care who have already received a shot will be rescheduled to 42 days from the date of their initial dose.

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Some 9,516 doses of vaccine have already been administered at the Western Fair clinic since Dec. 23. As of Jan. 11, vaccinations have been solely prioritized for long-term care.

Nearly 1,500 doses have been distributed to long-term care in that time. On Monday, Dr. Chris Mackie, the region’s medical officer of health, said teams from the health unit would be visiting multiple homes in the region this week to finish vaccinating residents.

“Once long-term care home residents are all vaccinated, we will be turning to the residents of high-risk retirement homes, and there are about half a dozen more homes in that category to vaccinate,” Mackie said.

“Three of those homes will be done this week because they’re co-located with long-term care facilities.”

Officials say efforts will be made to get second doses to long-term care residents and staff within 21 to 27 days of their initial dose, should stock be available.

The region’s test per cent positivity rate fell to 3.6 per cent as of the week of Jan. 10, down from 6.1 per cent seen the week prior, new figures released Wednesday show.

At least 12,103 people were tested the week of Jan. 10, down from 12,901 a week earlier, according to the health unit.

London’s two assessment centres continue to see very high demand.

Carling Heights has seen an average of about 420 visits per day over the last seven days. Oakridge Arena, which is closed on weekends, reported an average of 331 visits between Monday and Friday of last week.

Both centres are continuing to operate by appointment only. The centres stopped performing COVID-19 tests for international travel last week.

Ontario

Ontario is reporting 2,655 new cases of COVID-19 Wednesday and 89 more deaths linked to the virus.

Health Minister Christine Elliott says there are 925 new cases in Toronto, 473 in Peel Region, and 226 in York Region.

She also says there are 179 new cases in Windsor-Essex County and 129 in Niagara Region.

Ontario is reporting that 13,784 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine were administered since the last daily update.

A total of 237,918 doses have been administered in the province.

More than 54,300 tests were completed since the last daily report.

Another 3,714 cases were resolved for a total of 212,897.

Since the novel coronavirus pandemic began there have been 244,932 confirmed cases in Ontario and 5,568 deaths related to the illness.

Elgin and Oxford

One person has died and 14 others have tested positive for the coronavirus, Southwestern Public Health reported Wednesday.

The update brings the region’s pandemic case tally to 2,113, of which 1,773 have recovered, an increase of 67 from the day before.

At least 48 people have died, according to the health unit. Of those, at least 34 have been just this month.

Health officials said the most recent death involved an 83-year-old man from Oxford County who was a resident of PeopleCare, a seniors’ facility in Tavistock that has had a serious outbreak active since mid-December.

At least 292 cases are active in the region as of Wednesday. At least 82 of them are in Tillsonburg, followed by 41 in St. Thomas and 27 in Norwich.

At least 734 cases have been reported by Southwestern Public Health since the start of the month.

No new institutional outbreaks have been declared in the region by the health unit. No outbreaks have been declared over, either.

At at least 11 outbreaks remain active at long-term care and retirement homes in the region, as declared on:

• Jan. 18 at Harvest Crossing Retirement Home in Tillsonburg (one staff case)
• Jan. 16 at Chartwell Oxford Gardens (one staff case)
• Jan. 16 at Seasons Retirement Home in St. Thomas (one staff case)
• Jan. 15 at Dayspring Residence in Tillsonburg (one resident case)
• Jan. 8 at Extendicare Port Stanley (two staff cases)
• Jan. 6 at Trillium Retirement Home (13 resident, five staff cases)
• Jan. 4 at Caressant Care Bonnie Place – St. Thomas (two resident cases and one death)
• Jan. 1 at Woodingford Lodge – Woodstock (two resident, one staff case)
• Dec. 19 at Terrace Lodge in Aylmer (six staff cases)
• Dec. 16 at PeopleCare Tavistock (40 resident, 37 staff cases, eight deaths; one more death than the day before)
• Dec. 12 at Maple Manor Nursing Home (85 resident, 52 staff cases, 17 deaths; two resident cases more than the day before).

At least 22 institutional outbreaks have been declared in the region during the pandemic.

No new school cases have been reported by the Thames Valley District School Board or the London District Catholic School Board. None of their schools have active cases in the region.

It’s unclear whether any school cases are active at other boards, or at private schools. The health unit does not report school cases itself, instead deferring to the province’s online database, which is not being updated amid remote learning.

St. Thomas has reported 372 cases during the pandemic, followed by Woodstock with 341 and Aylmer with 333.

Aylmer’s low population size means its total case count equates to an incidence rate of 4,444 cases per 100,000 people, compared to St. Thomas’ 956.

Elsewhere, 310 cases have been in Tillsonburg, 183 in Norwich, 152 in Bayham, 90 in East Zorra-Tavistock, 86 in Ingersoll, 50 in Zorra, 45 in Blandford-Blenheim, 43 in Central Elgin, 43 in South-West Oxford, 23 in Southwold, 19 in West Elgin, 16 in Dutton/Dunwich, seven in Malahide.

The health unit says the region’s test per cent positivity rate has fallen to 3.2 per cent as of the week of Jan. 10, a notable drop from the 5.9 per cent seen a week earlier.

Health officials say 5,572 tests were conducted the week of Jan. 10, down slightly from the 6,160 the week before.

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Huron and Perth

Two people have died, and 12 others have tested positive, Huron Perth Public Health reported Wednesday.

It brings the region’s pandemic case tally to 1,079, an increase of 11 from the day before. The health unit says one previous confirmed case was reassigned to a different health unit.

At least 900 people have recovered, 11 more than the day before, and 29 have died. Details about the two deaths reported Wednesday were not immediately available.

Of the new cases reported, five are from Huron East, four are from North Perth, two are from Stratford, and one each is from Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh and Bluewater.

The update leaves at least 149 active cases in the region, the health unit says.

At least 88 active cases, 59 per cent, are in North Perth, followed by 21 in Stratford, and 10 in Huron East. Ten other municipalities have seven or fewer active cases.

One institutional outbreak has been resolved, the health unit says.

The outbreak had been declared active on Jan. 7 at Greenwood Court and was linked to one staff case there. It was the second outbreak at the facility, following an outbreak from March 30 to May 11, 2020 that saw six residents and 10 staff infected. At least four residents later died.

Elsewhere, ten other outbreaks remain active, including seven at long-term care homes, two at retirement homes, and one at a hospital.

Active seniors’ facility outbreaks are as follows, as declared on:

The hospital outbreak, located at Stratford General Hospital, is tied to four staff cases, unchanged from the day before.

Meantime, one new school case has been reported in the region and one has resolved.

The case, reported by the Avon-Maitland District School Board, is located at North Perth Westfield Elementary School, the board says.

It’s among at least 16 cases that remain active at schools in the region, all within the Avon-Maitland board.

Meanwhile, a case at South Huron District High School has resolved.

Cases remain active at:

• Avon-Maitland board employee
• Clinton Public School (two cases)
• Listowel District Secondary School
• North Perth Westfield Elementary School
• South Huron District High School (three cases)
• St. Marys District Collegiate and Vocational Institute (three cases)
• Stratford District Secondary School (three cases)
• Stratford Intermediate School (two cases).

The health unit says at least 476 cases have been reported in Perth County, including 294 in North Perth, while 306 have been in Huron County, 269 in Stratford, and 28 in St. Marys.

According to the health unit, the region’s test per cent positivity rate was 3.1 per cent as of the week of Jan. 10, down from 3.3 per cent a week earlier.

At least 3,949 people were tested that week, down from 4,126 a week earlier.

Sarnia and Lambton

Ten people have tested positive for the coronavirus while another 32 have recovered, Lambton Public Health reported Wednesday.

The update, the smallest single-day increase in the region in weeks, brings the region’s pandemic case tally to 1,685, of which 1,450 have recovered and 33 have died. The two most recent deaths were reported on Monday.

At least 202 cases are currently active in the county. It’s unclear where they are located.

According to Bluewater Health, at least 10 people are currently hospitalized with COVID-19, the same as the day before.

At least 838 cases have been reported so far this month, almost as many as were recorded by the health unit through all of 2020 — 847.

No new institutional outbreaks have been reported and none have been resolved.

At least 10 are currently active at long-term care and retirement homes in the region, declared on:

• Jan. 15 at Marshall Gowland Manor in Sarnia (one staff case)
• Jan. 13 at Vision Rest Home (16 resident, two staff cases)
• Jan. 11 at Landmark Village in Sarnia (two staff cases)
• Jan. 9 at Sumac Lodge in Sarnia (one staff case)
• Jan. 8 at Fiddick’s Nursing Home in Petrolia (one staff case)
• Jan. 8 at Fiddick’s Retirement Home in Petrolia (one staff case)
• Jan. 8 at Twin Lakes Terrace (LTC) in Sarnia (16 resident, four staff cases)
• Jan. 8 at Twin Lakes Terrace (Retirement) in Sarnia (one staff case)
• Jan. 4 at Fairwinds Lodge in Sarnia (five resident, three staff cases; one more staff case than the day before)
• Dec. 30 at Village on the St. Clair in Sarnia (25 resident, 10 staff cases; three and one case more, respectively, than the day before).

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Meantime, an outbreak also remains active at Sarnia’s jail, linked to four staff cases, unchanged from the day before.

No new workplace outbreaks have been declared or resolved. Two are active involving 11 cases. The names or locations of the workplaces have not been made public.

It’s unclear whether any new school cases have been reported during the remote learning period.

Both the Lambton Kent District and St. Clair Catholic District school boards have paused public reporting for the time being.

County politicians and health unit officials will meet Wednesday to discuss the vaccine rollout plan for Lambton in preparation for the first shipments of vaccine. Vaccines are expected to arrive next month.

The region’s test per cent positivity rate fell to 4.5 per cent for the week of Jan. 10, down from 6.2 a week earlier.

At least 4,920 people were tested. A total of 5,548 were tested a week earlier. The Jan. 10 figure is expected to be updated and finalized next week.

A total of at least 86,472 people have been tested in Lambton.

— With files from The Canadian Press