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

The Middlesex-London Health Unit (MLHU) reported 13 new coronavirus cases along with 20 recoveries on Valentine’s Day.

The region’s pandemic case tally stands at 6,018 as of Sunday, of which 5,636 have been listed as resolved and 181 people have died. The latest death was reported on Saturday involving a woman in her 80s.

As of Sunday, the health unit says at least 201 coronavirus cases remain active in the London and Middlesex region.

At least 308 new cases have been reported since Feb. 1 along with six deaths.

Of the 13 new cases Sunday, 11 are from London. One case is from Lucan Biddulph and another is pending.

During a media briefing on Friday, Dr. Chris Mackie, the region’s medical officer of health, said the region had seen at least six cases involving coronavirus variants, with two being confirmed earlier in the day.

At least four of the region’s six variant cases have been previously reported and involved the B.1.1.7 variant, first detected in the U.K.

It remains to be seen what variant the two newest cases involve. The process of determining that information takes at least one to two weeks and is done at the provincial level, Mackie said.

No cases have yet to be confirmed locally involving the variant Lineage P.1, which was first detected in Brazil, or the variant B.1.351 — also known as N501Y.V2 — first detected in South Africa, the report says.

The region is set to enter the red-control tier of the province’s colour-coded restrictions framework as of 12:01 a.m. Tuesday.

The move back to red control and away from the provincewide shutdown will see indoor organized public events and social gatherings allowed again, with a maximum of five people.

Under red control, outdoor gatherings with a limit of 25 people are allowed, compared to five under the shutdown.

Attendance limits for religious services, rites or ceremonies such as wedding services and funeral services (at any venue other than a private dwelling, and where physical distancing can be maintained) will be raised to 30 per cent capacity of the room indoors and 100 people outdoors, from a maximum of 10 indoors/outdoors under the shutdown.

Indoor dining is allowed under the red control tier, with an indoor capacity limit of 10 people where physical distancing can be maintained. Outdoor dining is also allowed, but with limitations, such as distanced seating and table limits.

Non-essential retail is also allowed to reopen for in-person shopping but with new capacity limits, in addition to those previously found under red control.

The province says supermarkets, convenience stores and pharmacies will now have a 75 per cent capacity limit, while all other retailers will have a 50 per cent capacity limit.

Capacity limits must be posted publicly, and stores must have passive screening for patrons, the province says.

Full details on the change in restrictions can be found on the province’s website or by viewing the full regulation itself.

The region’s seven-day case average stood at 15.0 as of Friday, down from 23.0.

At least 5,233 cases have been confirmed in the city of London since the pandemic began, while 244 have been in Middlesex Centre.

Elsewhere, at least 201 have been in Strathroy-Caradoc, 96 in Thames Centre, 52 in Lucan Biddulph, 37 in Southwest Middlesex, 32 in North Middlesex, 14 in Adelaide Metcalfe and two in Newbury.

At least 107 cases have pending location information.

Hospitalizations

London Health Sciences Centres does not update case numbers over the weekend.

The number of COVID-19 patients in the care of London Health Sciences Centre rose to 17, the organization reported Friday.

The number of those patients in critical or intensive care stood at seven.

Active staff cases within LHSC stood at fewer than five as of Friday.

Intensive care occupancy rates at University Hospital stood at 85 per cent as of Monday, while at Victoria Hospital the rate was about 75 per cent, according to LHSC’s chief medical officer.

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

One active staff case remains within the organization, linked to an outbreak. Mount Hope Centre for Long-Term Care declared a new outbreak on Thursday.

One case remains active involving a patient of Parkwood’s Mental Health Care Building.

At least 351 people have been hospitalized due to COVID-19 during the pandemic, according to the health unit. At least 66 have needed intensive care.

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Institutional outbreaks

One new institutional outbreak has been declared at Dearness Home and impacts its 3 East unit.

A total of six outbreaks remain active in the region, declared on:

Elsewhere, an outbreak at Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre remains active, however, all inmate cases have been resolved, according to provincial data.

The data showed 22 resolved inmate cases and no active cases as of Wednesday.

At least 21 staff members at the jail also tested positive due to the outbreak, however similar information on active and resolved cases was not available.

Schools

Global News does not update school cases over the weekend.

An outbreak has been declared at Caradoc North Public School in Strathroy-Caradoc after the health unit reported a second case at the school in less than a week.

The Thames Valley District School Board first reported a case at the school on Feb. 8. Few other details have been released.

The outbreak is the second to be declared at a local school in as many days. An outbreak was declared on Wednesday at Clara Brenton Public School after a second case was reported there.

Elsewhere, an active case at Kensal Park French Immersion Public School has resolved. The health unit also removed a case from Arthur Stringer Public School from its active list on Friday for reasons unclear. The case had been confirmed just on Thursday.

As of Friday, nine coronavirus cases are active at seven schools in London and Middlesex. A full list can be found on the health unit’s website.

Overall, 196 school and child-care centre cases have been reported by the health unit.

The MLHU says one case remains active involving Springbank Early Childhood Learning Centre.

Elementary schools and high schools in the region returned to in-person learning last week.

The province announced Thursday that it was postponing March break provincewide until April 12.

Vaccinations and testing

Health officials say they expect to finish administering second doses to long-term care and high-risk retirement home residents by Wednesday.

During Thursday’s media briefing, Mackie said health unit teams were roughly halfway through vaccinating facilities in the region.

“And then hopefully we get a green light soon to be able to start offering additional first doses to retirement homes that have not yet received the vaccine because they’ve been deemed to be lower risk,” he said.

Work is ongoing to convert the Caradoc Community Centre in Mount Brydges into the region’s second mass vaccination clinic to complement the clinic already open at the Western Fair District Agriplex, which reopened on Monday.

A total of at least four clinics are being planned for London-Middlesex, with the aim of vaccinating as many as 3,000 people per day. Details remain scant on the locations or progress of the remaining two clinics.

The province remains in Phase 1 of the government’s three-phase vaccination rollout.

The city’s two main COVID-19 assessment centres remain open and operating by appointment.

The region’s test positivity rate stood at 1.7 per cent as of the week of Jan. 31, down from 2.2 the week before, figures released Wednesday show.

At least 10,060 people were tested during the week of Jan. 31, a slight decrease from the 10,341 tested a week earlier.

Ontario

Ontario reported 981 cases of the coronavirus Sunday, bringing the total number of cases in the province to 285,868.

Forty-two additional deaths were also reported on Sunday, bringing the provincial death toll to 6,693.

A total of 267,128 COVID-19 cases are considered resolved, which is up by 1,235 and is 93.4 per cent of all confirmed cases.

Just over 48,700 additional tests were completed. Ontario has now completed a total of 10,375,912 tests and 15,947 remain under investigation.

Elgin and Oxford

Nine people have tested positive for the coronavirus while another seven have recovered, Southwestern Public Health reported Sunday.

It brings the region’s pandemic case tally to 2,433, of which 2,276 people have recovered and 64 have died.

At least 93 cases are still listed as active in Elgin-Oxford.

Of those, at least 50 are in Woodstock, 15 are in Tillsonburg, eight are in St. Thomas and seven are in Ingersoll. Seven other municipalities have fewer than five active cases.

Currently, no one is listed as hospitalized by the health unit.

Two new school cases have been reported in the region, according to the Thames Valley District School Board.

The cases were confirmed Thursday at Elgin Court Public School in St. Thomas and at Royal Roads Public School in Ingersoll.

The new cases are among four that are active in the region.

One case remains active at Hickson Central Public School, while one is active at Annandale Public School in Tillsonburg, both under the TVDSB. A case at Central Public School in Woodstock was resolved earlier this week. Meantime, one new outbreak has been declared in the region, at a seniors’ facility in St. Thomas.

Officials say the outbreak, declared Thursday at Valleyview Nursing Home, is linked to one staff case. It joins four other outbreaks that have been active in Elgin-Oxford, including one since mid-December.

The region’s active outbreaks were declared on:

• Feb. 11 at Valleyview Nursing Home in St. Thomas (one staff case)
• Feb. 2 at Trillium Retirement Home in Norwich (one resident case, one death)
• Jan. 21 at Caressant Care Retirement Home in Woodstock (53 resident, 23 staff cases, two deaths)
• Dec. 16 at PeopleCare Tavistock (47 resident, 38 staff cases, 10 deaths)

The health unit says a total of 469 cases have been reported in Woodstock during the pandemic, while 421 have been in St. Thomas, 360 in Aylmer and 335 in Tillsonburg.

Elsewhere, 201 cases have been in Norwich, 161 in Bayham, 114 in Ingersoll, 101 in East Zorra-Tavistock, 54 in Zorra, 49 in Blandford-Blenheim, 46 in South-West Oxford, 44 in Central Elgin, 25 in Southwold, 23 in Dutton/Dunwich, 21 in West Elgin and eight in Malahide.

The region’s test positivity rate stood at 1.7 per cent as of the week of Jan. 31, health unit figures released Wednesday show. At least 4,790 people were tested that week.

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Huron and Perth

Huron Perth Public Health does not provide COVID-19 updates on Sundays.

As of Saturday, the region’s pandemic case tally stood at 1,287 with 38 active cases.

At least 2,000 people have recovered.

Forty-nine people have died during the pandemic. Details on the most recent death were not immediately available.

At least 36 cases are active in Huron-Perth. Sixteen of them are in Huron East while five are in Stratford. Seven other municipalities have four or fewer active cases.

No people are currently in hospital, the health unit says.

The province announced Friday that Huron-Perth will return to the orange-restrict tier of the framework of its colour-coded restrictions. The full regulation detailing the tier’s restrictions can be found on the province’s website.

As of Saturday, six outbreaks remain active in the region, with two at long-term care homes, two at retirement homes, one at a hospital and one at a child-care centre.

The four seniors’ facility outbreaks were declared active on:

• Feb. 3 at Hillside Manor in Perth East (one resident, one staff case)
• Jan. 31 at Seaforth Manor Retirement Home in Huron East (12 resident cases)
• Jan. 17 at Seaforth Manor Nursing Home in Huron East (43 resident, 21 staff cases, five deaths)
• Jan. 7 at Caressant Care Retirement Home in North Perth (30 resident, 12 staff cases, at least one death)

Elsewhere, the hospital outbreak, which was declared on Jan. 31 at St. Marys Memorial Hospital, is linked to three patient and five staff cases.

The child-care centre outbreak, meantime, is located at Relouw Early Childhood Learning Centre in South Huron. Declared Feb. 6, it’s linked to one student case.

There has been no change to the number of active school cases in the region. Three cases remain active, all involving the Avon-Maitland District School Board.

One case is located at Elma Township Public School, while two are located at Listowel District Secondary School.

No cases are listed as active under the Huron-Perth Catholic District School Board.

At least 532 cases have been reported in Perth County during the pandemic, including 340 in North Perth 133 in Perth East, 31 in Perth South and 28 in West Perth.

Elsewhere, 426 cases have been reported in Huron County, including 97 in South Huron, 94 in Huron East, 50 in Central Huron, 43 in Morris Turnberry, 38 in North Huron, 34 in Howick, 32 in Bluewater, 21 in ACW and 17 in Goderich.

At least 298 cases have been reported in Stratford and 31 in St. Marys.

The region’s test positivity rate stood at 1.1 per cent as of the week of Jan. 31, down from 1.6 the week before, figures released Wednesday show.

Sarnia and Lambton

Lambton Public Health reported eight new COVID-19 cases along with four more recoveries on Sunday.

It brings the region’s pandemic case tally to 1,946, of which 1,817 have resolved and 45 people have died. The most recent death was reported on Thursday.

The update leaves at least 84 active cases in the region. Their locations have not been made public.

Bluewater Health reported Sunday that two COVID-19 patients were in its care.

The province announced Friday that Lambton County will return to the orange-restrict tier of the framework of its colour-coded restrictions.

Lambton Public Health (LPH) is investigating two outbreaks at a Long Term Care and a Retirement Home declared on Feb. 12.

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LPH received the laboratory-confirmed positive COVID-19 test results for one staff member at Trillium Villa Long Term Care Community in Sarnia and one staff member at Landmark Village Retirement Home in Sarnia.

“The individuals who tested positive have been notified of their results,” states Jennifer Beaubien, Family Health Supervisor for Lambton Public Health.

“LPH is continuing to conduct case and contact management as part of the investigation.”

At least nine outbreaks remain active in Lambton, with seven at seniors’ facilities, two at unnamed workplaces and one at Sarnia’s jail.

The outbreaks at long-term care and retirement homes, specifically, were declared on:

• Feb. 13 at Landmark Village Retirement Home in Sarnia (one staff case)
• Feb. 13 at Trillium Villa Long Term Care Community in Sarnia (one staff case)
• Feb. 10 at Country Manor Estates in Lambton Shores (one staff case)
• Feb. 7 at Vision Nursing Home in Sarnia (one staff case)
• Jan. 13 at Vision Rest Home (32 resident, 16 staff cases, three deaths)
• Jan. 8 at Twin Lakes Terrace (LTC) in Sarnia (18 resident, six staff cases, one death)
• Dec. 30 at Village on the St. Clair in Sarnia (28 resident, 15 staff cases, five deaths)

The jail outbreak, declared on Feb. 7, is linked to at least 14 cases among inmates and two among staff members.

The two workplace outbreaks, meantime, are connected to three and four cases, respectively.

No new school cases have been reported in Lambton.

Four cases remain active at North Lambton Secondary School in Forest. Three cases were reported on Thursday. No active cases were listed by the St. Clair Catholic District School Board.

The region’s test positivity rate stood at 1.0 per cent as of the week of Jan. 31, down from 1.5 the week before and 2.3 the week before that, figures released Wednesday show.

— With files from Matthew Trevithick, Sawyer Bogdan, Ryan Rocca, and the Canadian Press