At least 56 COVID-19 cases now connected to gatherings involving Laurier, Waterloo students

The number of COVID-19 cases tied to a series of get-togethers in early March by students from the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University, which led to a cluster of cases and two outbreaks, continues to grow, according to the region’s top doctor.

On Thursday, the agency announced it had connected at least 23 COVID-19 cases to a series of get-togethers held by students between March 4 and 7 at three homes in the area.

The students were said to not be wearing masks or following proper social distancing rules.

“We are now seeing secondary spread in multiple settings,” Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang, the region’s medical officer of health said.

“At this time, there are now a total of 56 confirmed cases and two probable cases connected to both the original cluster and secondary spread from the original cluster.”

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She noted that because there are variants of concern involved so Waterloo Public Health expects more cases to be connected to the cluster.

Wang said there are also 52 high-risk close contacts also connected to the case, while noting that this type of spread is not limited to younger people.

She said Waterloo Public Health singled out the cluster, which has led to outbreaks in residences at both universities, because it showed how quickly the virus can spread.

“This is an example of when people were not necessarily gathering in large numbers, but they were gathering with people outside of their immediate households,” Wang explained.

“And then those infected people went back to their own households or had other smaller gatherings and then it spread from there.

“It’s really to illustrate what can what can happen when people still gather, even though they think it’s safer because they’re gathering in smaller numbers, but it can really spread and spread quickly this way.”