Jump to: Hospitalizations – Outbreaks – Schools – Vaccinations and Testing – Ontario – Elgin and Oxford – Huron and Perth – Sarnia and Lambton
Health officials in London and Middlesex reported 29 new cases of coronavirus on Thursday.
The Middlesex-London Health Unit also declared a community outbreak after at least 22 people who attended post-secondary gatherings last week tested positive for the coronavirus.
The updates come as the world marks the one year anniversary of COVID-19 being declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization.
The region’s pandemic case tally stands at 6,369, of which 6,026 cases have resolved, an increase of 17 from the day before.
At least 185 virus-related deaths have been reported during the pandemic, most recently on Monday.
As of Thursday, 158 cases were considered active in the region. The locations of the active locations have not been made public.
At least 187 cases and two deaths have been reported so far this month in London-Middlesex, which remains in the orange-restrict level of the province’s COVID-19 response framework.
Of the 29 new cases reported Thursday, at least 22 are from London while one each are from Lucan Biddulph, Middlesex Centre and Southwest Middlesex. Four are pending location data.
The ages of those infected skews younger, with 21 under the age of 40. Six are 19 or younger, eight are in their 20s, seven are in their 30s, one is in their 40s, four are in their 50s, two are in their 60s, and one is in their 70s.
The health unit says 17 cases are pending exposure source data, while five have been linked to close contact and four to outbreaks. Three have no known link.
No new screened variant positive cases have been reported. A total of 22 have been found in London-Middlesex, with four confirmed to involve the B.1.1.7 variant, first detected in the U.K. The rest remain under genomic sequencing.
Dr. Chris Mackie, the region’s medical officer of health, said Thursday that the health unit has recorded 15 cases of variants of concern over the last two weeks, with the percentage of variant cases increasing week-over-week.
“The other thing that’s driving cases is the increase in the number of close contacts that each person has. Our average right now is about six per person,” Mackie said.
“That’s enough to generate increased spread in our community. We want to see the close contacts-per-case declining, and that’s what will make a big difference here.”
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A prime example of higher contacts generating increased spread came earlier in the day Thursday when the health unit declared a community outbreak after at least 22 people who attended post-secondary gatherings at private homes last week tested positive for the coronavirus.
Officials say they’re aware of at least 10 post-secondary student gatherings between March 2 and March 6 that have been linked to the outbreak, adding that investigation is continuing to determine the number of close contacts involved.
In a statement, Western University said the community outbreak involved 22 students, most of whom live off-campus. Three students live on-campus and are self-isolating outside of residence.
Mackie said the community outbreak did not involve variants, and did not appear to have any connection to an outbreak that has been active at Western University’s Essex Hall student residence since March 2, adding it seems to be associated with off-campus parties.
“We know that there were some fraternity, sorority sort-of organisations involved. We don’t have the details at this point in terms of exactly where all of these gatherings were and … the number of students involved (with each gathering),” he said.
News of the outbreak comes less than a week before St. Patrick’s Day, a day which has local health officials pleading with the public to continue adhering to coronavirus pandemic guidelines amid the growing presence of more contagious variants.
The province’s Science Advisory Table said Thursday that Ontario’s ability to control the spread of variants over the next few weeks will determine if there will be a third wave of infection, adding that people must stick to masking and physical distancing despite the ramp-up in vaccinations.
Mackie says local health officials have been readying for an anticipated third wave of the pandemic since the second wave began to ebb earlier this year.
“The things that are causing this third wave to kick into gear are really the same things that have been causing the COVID pandemic since the beginning … and that is close contacts indoors,” Mackie said.
“It’s so important as we look forward to St. Patrick’s Day next week, to Easter a few weeks after that, that people plan to have safe, small, outdoor gatherings … This third wave is just beginning and it will continue likely until May or June, as we saw the first wave tapering off last year.”
Despite the community outbreak and concerns over St. Patrick’s Day, Mackie said the health unit was not considering a Section 22 order to clamp down on large parties as has been done by officials in Kingston.
According to Mackie, the biggest difference between the expected third wave and previous waves will be the vaccination of the region’s highest-risk populations.
“People in long-term care and retirement homes represented two-thirds of the deaths over the past year of the pandemic. Pretty much everyone who resides in long-term care or retirement home has been vaccinated at this point, and the majority of people who work and visit there as well,” he said.
Mackie adds that while the impact on local hospitals over the last two waves has been manageable, the other big difference with a third wave will be around Ontario’s intensive care capacity.
“Intensive care units are still pretty full from the second wave of COVID patients. Case counts declined by about 60 per cent across the province, but ICU counts only went down by about 25 per cent,” he said.
“If we aren’t able to vaccinate enough high-risk individuals, that could be a really difficult challenge in the ICUs.”
The region’s seven-day case average stood at 19.28 as of Thursday, while the 14-day average was 17.07.
At least 5,555 cases have been confirmed in the city of London since the pandemic began, while 249 have been in Middlesex Centre.
Elsewhere, 208 have been in Strathroy-Caradoc, 96 in Thames Centre, 55 in Lucan Biddulph, 39 in Southwest Middlesex, 33 in North Middlesex, 14 in Adelaide Metcalfe and two in Newbury.
At least 118 cases have pending location information.
Hospitalizations
The number of COVID-19 inpatients hospitalized at London Health Sciences Centre rose by one on Thursday to six.
The number of patients in critical or intensive care remained unchanged, as did the number of active staff cases at LHSC, which both stand at fewer than five.
St. Joseph’s Hospital continued to report no active patient or staff cases at any of its facilities on Thursday.
At least 365 people have required hospitalization for COVID-19 during the pandemic, the health unit says. At least 67 have needed intensive care.
Institutional outbreaks
One institutional outbreak has been declared over in the region, the health unit says.
The outbreak had been declared active on March 2 at Dearness Home in its 4E/4W areas.
It was the second outbreak to be seen at the facility in less than a month after an outbreak from Feb. 13 to March 6 in 3 East.
As of Thursday, five institutional outbreaks remained active in London and Middlesex.
- March 6 at Fox Hollow Retirement Residence (2nd, 3rd, 4th floors)
- March 5 at Meadow Park Care Centre (Pink Unit)
- March 4 at Strathmere Lodge (Bear Creek, Sydenham)
- Feb. 28 at Richmond Woods (facility)
- Feb. 24 at Chartwell Royalcliffe Retirement Residence (facility)
Since the start of the pandemic, at least 107 institutional outbreaks have been declared in the region, with at least 80 at seniors’ facilities.
The health unit says institutional outbreaks have been linked to at least 781 of the region’s cases and 106 of its deaths.
Elsewhere, the health unit says an outbreak at the Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre remains active, however no inmate or staff cases are active at the facility.
The outbreak, declared Jan. 18, has been tied to positive cases involving 29 staff members and 27 inmates.
On Wednesday, a spokesperson with the Ministry of the Solicitor General confirmed to 980 CFPL that no staff cases were active at the jail.
Provincial data shows no inmate cases were listed as active at the jail as of Tuesday, the most recent update available.
Outbreaks remain active for two incubation periods after the last positive test result, or 28 days after the last new case, the health unit says.
Meantime, another non-institutional outbreak is also active at Western University’s Essex Hall residence.
Schools
Two new school cases were reported late Monday in the London-Middlesex region.
The cases were reported at John P. Roberts Public School in London and at Wilberforce Elementary School in Lucan, the Thames Valley District School Board said.
At least 10 school cases remain active in the region, according to the health unit, including three at Bonaventure Meadows Public School where an outbreak declaration remains in place.
Outbreaks also remain active at Sir Arthur Carty Catholic School, which has one active case, and at St. Mark Catholic School, which has none.
A list of active school cases can be found on the health unit’s website.
Thursday marks the second day of voluntary asymptomatic testing by the Thames Valley District School Board. Testing is taking place at Westminster Secondary School between 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Information on testing site updates can be found on the school board website.
The health unit says at least 235 school and child care centre cases have been reported during the pandemic locally.
As of Thursday, only one active child care centre case was listed as active in the region, located at Bonaventure Meadows Before and After School Program.
In post-secondary, meantime, an outbreak remains active at Western University’s Essex Hall student residence.
Vaccinations and testing
The region’s vaccination campaign continues to move along, with local health officials saying they expect to dole out their 50,000th coronavirus vaccine dose on Friday.
The milestone comes roughly two-and-a-half months after vaccinations first began being administered at the city’s Western Fair District Agriplex vaccination clinic. It and the Caradoc Community Centre clinic have been immunizing members of the public eligible for the vaccine under Phase 1 of the province’s three-phase vaccine rollout.
Bookings can be made via the local online system covidvaccinelm.ca or by calling 226-289-3560 between 8 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. seven days a week.
Dr. Chris Mackie was asked Thursday when the health unit expected to be able to begin rolling out the vaccine to other age groups, including those 75 and older, as has begun in Chatham-Kent.
Mackie replied that he anticipated being able to move to the 75-plus crowd soon, “certainly by the end of the month,” but noted a large number of local health-care workers still need to be vaccinated.
“Because we are a health-care community that serves most of southwestern Ontario, we have a large health-care population to get through,” he said.
“This week we were able to open vaccinations to all of the “very high priority” health-care workers, as well as the “highest priority” health-care workers that had already been eligible in our community. That’s a number in the tens of thousands, so it will take time to process that group.”
Among the health-care workers now eligible are those working in correctional settings, dentistry, hospital-based outpatient clinics, contract nursing agencies, hospices and palliative care settings, pharmacies, shelters, and others.
In addition, the health unit says adults 16 and older who are chronic home care recipients are also now eligible to receive the vaccine.
On Tuesday, health officials announced that second dose appointments were being delayed “up to 112 days from the date the first dose was administered” in a bid to get first shots into more arms.
Mackie said Thursday that the London-Middlesex region was “certainly” in the top five or six spots when it comes to the number of people who have completed a full vaccination regimen.
“We’re definitely in the very top as well in terms of total vaccinations per capita. It’s something I think we all should be proud of, and it’s just the tip of the iceberg, we have so much more work to do.”
He noted the health unit hopes to enter Phase 2 in early April, but stressed that won’t mean everyone listed in Phase 2 will be able to get a vaccine all at once.
“When you’re talking about Phase 2, you’re talking about many tens of thousands, potentially hundreds of thousands (of people),” he said.
“That group starts to get so large that we’ll have to break it down to early, mid, late-Phase 2 and even more granular than that in many cases.”
Last week, the province unveiled an updated vaccination timeline showing Phase 2 being rolled out with shots administered based on risk factors including age, neighbourhood, existing health conditions and inability to work from home.
The region’s two main assessment centres, located at Carling Heights and Oakridge Arena, remain open and operating by appointment.
The Carling Heights site saw an average of 378 daily visits between March 1 and March 5, while Oakridge Arena recorded 322.
The region’s test positivity rate stood at 1.1 per cent as of the week of Feb. 28, up from 0.7 the week before.
At least 8,819 people were tested the week of Feb. 28, down from 10,490 the week prior.
Ontario
Ontario reported 1,092 new cases of COVID-19 Thursday as the province surpassed a million total vaccine doses administered.
Health Minister Christine Elliott said there were 293 new cases in Toronto, 199 in Peel Region, and 79 in York Region.
Ten more deaths were linked to the virus.
A total of 1,019,407 doses of vaccine have been administered in Ontario after 40,610 were given since the last daily update.
More than 60,600 tests were completed since Wednesday’s report.
Meanwhile, Sudbury, Ont., will move into lockdown on Friday after a large spike in COVID-19 cases there.
The government said it’s placing the region in the strictest category of Ontario’s pandemic response framework to curb the spread of more contagious COVID-19 variants and protect health system capacity.
Sudbury region’s case rates increased by 54 per cent between March 3 and March 9, to 75.9 cases per 100,000 people, the province says.
Elgin and Oxford
Six new coronavirus cases were reported Thursday by Southwestern Public Health, bringing the region’s pandemic total to 2,590.
Of those, 2,481 cases have resolved, an increase of seven from the day before, while 67 deaths have been reported, most recently on Feb. 20.
The update leaves at least 42 active cases in Elgin-Oxford, with 14 of them in Aylmer, nine in Woodstock and four in Norwich Township.
At least seven screened variant positive cases have been recorded in the region, with two confirmed to involve the B.1.1.7 variant, according to the province.
The region is in the orange-restrict level of Ontario’s COVID-19 response framework.
At least one new school case was reported Thursday in the region, located at St. Michael’s Catholic School in Woodstock, according to the London District Catholic School Board.
It’s one of two active cases in the region.
One case was confirmed late Tuesday night at Emily Stowe Public School in Norwich, according to the Thames Valley District School Board.
Meantime, no new outbreaks have been declared and none resolved.
Three remain active, located at Arches Transitional Bed Program in Woodstock (one staff case), Maples Retirement Home in Tavistock (one resident case), and Bethany Care Home in Norwich (one resident case).
Vaccination bookings opened Tuesday morning for eligible residents in Elgin and Oxford counties and St. Thomas. Spots were booked up quickly for the week of March 15.
It’s expected that 5,000 new slots will soon be available for the week of March 22.
The health unit says eligible residents should visit covidvaccinelm.ca or call 226-289-3560 on March 15 starting at 8 a.m. to book into the next block of appointments.
More information on the local vaccination campaign can be found on the health unit’s website.
The health unit says a total of 509 cases have been reported in Woodstock during the pandemic, while 437 have been in Aylmer, 432 in St. Thomas and 336 in Tillsonburg.
Elsewhere, 206 cases have been in Norwich, 162 in Bayham, 116 in Ingersoll, 108 in East Zorra-Tavistock, 57 in Zorra, 57 in Blandford-Blenheim, 47 in South-West Oxford, 46 in Central Elgin, 25 in Southwold, 23 in Dutton/Dunwich, 20 in West Elgin and eight in Malahide.
The region’s test positivity rate stood at 0.9 per cent as of the week of Feb. 28, down from 1.6 per cent as of the week before.
At least 3,739 people were tested the week of Feb. 28, down from 4,773 the week before.
Huron and Perth
Five new coronavirus cases were reported Thursday by officials with Huron Perth Public Health.
The five cases, all reported in Stratford, brings the region’s pandemic case tally to 1,371, of which 1,300 cases have resolved, an increase of just one from the day before.
At least 50 deaths have been reported, most recently on March 1.
Health officials also said Thursday that the region had recorded a second presumptive positive variant case.
The case is being sequenced to determine the variant, a process that can take up to two weeks.
At least 21 active cases in the region, with at least 14 in Stratford and four in North Perth.
The region is in the yellow-protect level of Ontario’s COVID-19 response framework.
Health unit officials announced Wednesday that, like London-Middlesex, they would follow provincial guidance and delay second vaccine doses for most people up to 16 weeks to allow more people to receive initial doses.
Those with cancelled appointments will be contacted by the health unit. Long-term care home, retirement home, Elder Care Lodge and Assisted Living facility residents will continue to receive a second dose between 21 to 42 days after their first.
The health unit says it continues to add more appointment slots, and asks those looking to book a vaccination appointment to do so via the health unit’s booking website, or by calling 1-833-753-2098.
More information on the local vaccination campaign can be found on the health unit’s website.
No new school cases have been reported in Huron and Perth.
Two are active, with one at St. Joseph’s Catholic Elementary School and one at St. Michael Catholic Secondary School, both in Stratford.
No new institutional outbreaks have been declared. None are active in the region.
One workplace outbreak is active in Huron-Perth, according to the health unit. The location and name of the workplace has not been released.
Health unit figures show at least 553 cases have been reported in Perth County during the pandemic, including 348 in North Perth and 138 in Perth East.
Elsewhere, 451 cases have been reported in Huron County, including 100 in South Huron and 99 in Huron East, while at least 335 cases have been reported in Stratford and 32 in St. Marys.
According to new figures released Thursday, the region’s test per cent positivity rate was 1.0 per cent as of the week of Feb. 28, up from 0.8 per cent the week before.
Roughly 2,702 people were tested the week of Feb. 28, down from 3,319 a week earlier.
Sarnia and Lambton
Twenty-eight new coronavirus variants have been reported in Lambton County, Lambton Public Health reported Thursday.
At the same time, health officials said that the number of cases in the county that have screened positive for variants of concern has risen to a total of nine, with two recent cases tied to a local school that has declared an outbreak and temporarily returned to online learning.
The county’s pandemic case tally stands at 2,300, of which 2,102 have resolved, an increase of 13 from the day before. At least 46 deaths have been attributed to the virus, most recently on Feb. 17.
At least 152 cases are active in Lambton. Four people with COVID-19 were listed in the care of Bluewater Health on Thursday.
The region remains in red-control of the province’s COVID-19 response framework.
Information on the local vaccination campaign can be found on the health unit’s website. The health unit says more than 9,400 people have gotten the vaccine.
The health unit says a total of nine cases that have screened positive for a variant of concern have been reported in Lambton County.
All are undergoing genomic sequencing by the province to determine which variant is involved.
Officials say one variant case has been identified to involve an individual who has a permanent address in Lambton but who currently resides outside of LPH jurisdiction.
In addition, three variant cases have been found to be close contacts of one another, while five other variant cases remain under epidemiological investigation by the health unit.
At least two variant cases in the county have been tied to Brooke Central Public School, which saw an outbreak declaration Wednesday after six cases were recently confirmed there, including four on Thursday.
“As a result of the outbreak and identification of VOCs in the school community, Lambton Public Health required the school to transition to online learning for a period of 14 days, at which time it will be re-assessed,” the health unit said in a statement.
The health unit says more reports of variants of concern in the community are expected.
In addition to the four new cases at Brooke Central, at least seven other school cases were reported Thursday at schools in Lambton County.
Three cases were reported at Lambton Central Collegiate and Vocational Institute, which now has a total of four cases, while three cases were reported at St. Peter Canisius Catholic School in Warwick, which has a total of seven active cases.
One case was also reported at North Lambton Secondary School, which has three active cases.
As of Thursday, at least 43 cases are active in the region linked to Lambton schools, according to figures published by both the Lambton Kent District School Board and the St. Clair Catholic District School Board.
Full lists can be found on their respective websites, linked above.
One outbreak has been declared in the region and one has resolved.
The new outbreak is the aforementioned outbreak at Brooke Central Public School which involves six cases, including two linked to variants.
The outbreak that has been resolved was located at Sarnia’s jail.
Declared Feb. 7, it was associated with 47 inmate and five staff cases.
Eight outbreaks are active in the region, including the Brooke Central outbreak, in addition to three at seniors’ facilities, one at a shelter in Sarnia, and one at an unnamed workplace.
The seniors’ facility outbreaks were declared active on:
- March 9 at Landmark Village in Sarnia (one staff case)
- March 7 at Lambton Meadowview Villa in Petrolia (one staff case)
- Feb. 24 at Marshall Gowland Manor in Sarnia (three staff cases).
The outbreak at the shelter in Sarnia, declared Feb. 24 at Good Shepherd’s Lodge, has been associated with six resident and three staff cases, while the unnamed workplace outbreak has been tied to eight cases, declared Feb. 25.
The health unit says the county’s test positivity rate was 3.1 per cent as of the week of Feb. 28, up from 1.7 per cent the week prior.
At least 3,959 people were tested the week of Feb. 28, down from 4,438 a week earlier.
— With files from The Canadian Press
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