Hamilton reports 30 new COVID-19 cases, reveals location of two large scale vaccination sites

Hamilton public health says it will be opening two large scale COVID-19 vaccination clinics at two city arenas in the near future.

The city’s medical officer of health Dr. Elizabeth Richardson said First Ontario Place and Rosedale arena will be the sites, with the opening dates and what hours they will keep set to be revealed in the coming days.

“It’s only the tip of the iceberg, I’m happy to say, in terms of of what’s going to come,” Richardson said.

“If you look at our overall plan that’s up on our website and look at what we have to roll out over the coming weeks, it will ultimately involve additional sites that occur with additional partners playing a role and we will continue to keep you up to date as that moves forward.”

The news comes off the heels of the province’s announcement on Friday targeting a late June date as the opportunity for any resident to get their first vaccine dose.

Mass vaccination sites are a part of Ontario’s phase two plan which has earmarked 113 large clinics in 26 of 34 public health units, expected to roll out this March.

Queen’s Park is expecting to administer 80 per cent of all provincial vaccinations through mass clinics during phase two and three of it’s plan.

Ontario is also set to launch its online vaccine booking tool next week, March 15th, which will be complemented by a service desk, media announcements, flyers delivered to households and calls from health units.

Richardson said the bookings are something pubic health has been “very much waiting for” after a rocky rollout by the city using it’s own makeshift booking system which was not equipped to handle large call volumes.

“Once it’s ready, we understand that as of the third week of March, those 80 years or older will become eligible, those 75 years and older as of April 15th, May 1st for those who are 70 plus and June 1st for those 65 plus, July 1st for those 60 and older,” said Richardson.

More than 46,000 people have had vaccines does as of Sunday, with over 30,000 getting shots through the Hamilton Health Science (HHS) fixed site, around 3,000 through the St. Joe’s site, and close to 12,000 with the mobile clinic.

Over 900,000 people have received shots across Ontario. Close 276,000 have been fully vaccinated, according to the ministry of health.

Hamilton reported 30 new COVID-19 cases on Monday and four new outbreaks at a school, a hospital and two community outlets.

The city now has six outbreaks in schools as of Monday with the latest declared on the weekend at Queensdale Elementary school which recorded a pair of cased in students.

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The outbreaks at the facilities involve a combined 14 cases in all schools accounting for 51 cases since the beginning of March — 33 at the Hamilton Wentworth District School Board (HWDSB) and 18 with the Catholic school system.

The only outbreak in private school is at Hillfield Strathallan College which has two cases involving a student and a staff member.

The two outbreaks in the community were both in Waterdown – Scharringa Greenhouses on Concession 4 West and the Supercuts location on Dundas Street East.

St. Joseph’s Healthcare says an outbreak at its West 5th campus involves four staff members who are now at home self-isolating.

One outbreak was declared over on Sunday at Extendicare Hamilton which recorded just a single case with a worker over 13 days.

Hamilton has reported more than 290 cases at 30 facilities in current outbreaks, which include eight seniors homes, six shelters, six schools and two hospitals.

Coronavirus variant cases rose by 19 day over day with a total of 125 discovered in the city as of Mar. 8.

Of those, only four variant cases have actually been confirmed, all of which the B.1.1.7 variant that first emerged in the U.K.

There are no confirmed cases for any of the other subtypes of the coronavirus.

Active cases dropped by 22 cases day over day to 409 as of Mar. 7.

Public health says 44 per cent (197) of the city’s 447 new cases in the last 10 days are from people under the age of 29.

Halton Region reported 34 new COVID-19 cases on Monday with active cases dropping by four day over day to 274 as of Mar. 8

The region has had 9,746 total cases since the pandemic began.

Halton has 16 active outbreaks that include 69 cases from two long-term care homes and 86 cases from two retirement homes.

Public health saw variant cases go up by 18 day over day to 138 as of March 9, with 21 confirmed.

The region reported no new deaths on Monday. Halton has had 198 virus-related deaths since the pandemic began.

So far, public health has administered 33,255 COVID-19 vaccines as of Thursday. Close to 10,000 doses have been given out by mobile teams and just over 23,000 from fixed clinics as of March 4.

Niagara public health reported 20 new COVID-19 cases and two more variant cases on Monday.

There are now 64 confirmed total variant cases in the region with four the B.1.1.7 variant that first emerged in the U.K.

There are no confirmed cases for any of the other subtypes of the coronavirus.

Public health is reporting that about 30 per cent of Niagara’s new COVID-19 cases early last week were variants, numbers consistent with the average daily numbers for Ontario according to the ministry of health.

During an update on Monday, Niagara’s acting medical officer of health Dr. Mustafa Hirji said regardless of whether recent cases have been of the variant variety or not, the increase in average daily cases week to week needs to be addressed if the region is to avoid a potential third wave.

Hirji believes that “obviously” part of what’s causing cases to rise in Niagara is the loosening of lockdown measures in recent weeks based on patterns experienced in the two previous pandemic shutdowns in the summer and late fall.

“We need to find a way to either speed up our vaccinations or delay these increases later on so that we have enough time to get vaccines into arms and be able to protect people,” said Hirji

Active cases went up on Monday for the fourth day in a row to 209 as of March 8. The region has had 8,764 cases and 369 deaths since the pandemic began.

Niagara has 17 community outbreaks with three ongoing surges at the Garden City Manor LTCH in St. Catharines, Portal Village retirement home in Port Colborne and Cobblestone Gardens in Thorold.

Hirji said the outbreak at Cobblestone was small and currently “self contained.”

Public health has administered close to 12,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines in Niagara as of March 7.

Haldimand Norfolk reported five new coronavirus cases on Monday and saw active cases creep up to 37 after two days of decline.

Both counties have accounted for 1,464 total COVID-19 cases amid the pandemic and 39 deaths.

The health unit is dealing with just one outbreak at a health-care facility involving one staff case, at the Cedar Crossing retirement home in Simcoe.

A pair of farms in the county are also in outbreaks — EZ Grow Farms in Frogmore and Ryder Farms Inc. in Delhi.

EZ Grow has just one positive case, which is connected to travel from outside of Canada. No details were released about the outbreak at Ryder Farms.

Close to 9,500 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in both counties as of Mar. 8, with about 1,600 people having completed their series of shots.

Haldimand and Norfolk Counties moved back to the orange – restrict level of the province’s COVID-19 response framework on Monday.

The Ford government announced the move Friday, a week after the area had been placed in yellow.

Health officials says an increase in confirmed cases precipitated the move.

The Brant County Health Unit reported eight new COVID-19 cases on Monday with active cases increasing by four after after five days of decline. The region has 42 active cases as of Mar. 8.

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Public health is managing six outbreaks in the community at a nursing home, LTCH, three schools, and two workplaces.

The outbreaks at the John Noble LTCH and the nursing home at St. Joseph’s Lifecare Centre are mild with just single cases among staff members while the outbreaks in the schools involve 17 people.

The outbreak at St. Peter Elementary is the largest with 8 total cases, James Hillier with four and Assumption College with five.

One unnamed food processor has seven cases among staff while a corporate office in the county has 3 total cases.

The county has had 1,528 coronavirus cases and 12 virus-related deaths since the pandemic began last March.

The region has five variant cases which have yet to have their lineage classified.

Public health says more than 10,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in Brant County with over 2,500 people having completed their vaccinations as of March 8.