London and Middlesex adds 47 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday

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

The Middlesex-London Health Unit (MLHU) reported 47 new COVID-19 cases along with 90 recoveries on Sunday.

The update brings the region’s pandemic case total to 11,596, of which 10,671 have been resolved.

A total of 212 deaths have been reported in the region during the pandemic. The most recent deaths reported Friday involved a man in his 50s and a woman in her 80s, the health unit said. Neither was linked to a seniors’ facility.

Sunday marks the region’s seventh day in a row of case increases under 100, the longest such stretch since late March.

At least 713 COVID-19 cases are active. London-Middlesex has recorded 1,105 cases since the start of the month, along with 12 deaths.

The region’s rolling seven-day case average stands at 71 (May 7-13), down from 87 the seven days prior. At this time last month, the average was 132.

The test positivity rate for London-Middlesex was 6.3 per cent as of the week of May 2, down from 6.7 the week before.

Those testing positive skew younger, with 59 per cent of cases involving people under 40.

The number of confirmed/presumed* variant cases recorded in London-Middlesex has risen to 2,538.

All but one of the newly identified variant cases involves the B.1.1.7 variant, first identified in the U.K. One involves the variant P.1, first detected in Brazil.

The vast majority of local variant cases, 2,512, have involved B.1.1.7. Twenty-five have involved P.1, while one, confirmed last week, involved the variant B.1.617, first detected in India.

Variants have been making up most of the cases seen in the region over the last month, with upwards of three-quarters of cases seen during the week of May 2 being variant-related, health unit data shows.

A total of 298 other cases have been found to have a spike protein mutation consistent with one or more coronavirus variants.

Of those, 167 were found to have the E484K mutation, consistent with the P.1 and B.1.351 variants. They remain under genomic testing to determine the specific variant involved.

Another 131 cases were initially found to have just the N501Y mutation, but since they have not been ruled out for E484K, they are not being presumed B.1.1.7 yet.

A total of 10,439 cases have been confirmed in London since the pandemic began, while 357 have been in Middlesex Centre.

Elsewhere, 326 cases have been in Strathroy-Caradoc, 147 in Thames Centre, 72 in Lucan Biddulph, 56 in North Middlesex, 54 in Southwest Middlesex, 15 in Adelaide Metcalfe and three in Newbury, and 127 cases have pending location information.

Hospitalizations

The number of COVID-19 patients in the care of London Health Sciences Centre stood at 58 as of Friday, the last reported data.

Of those, eight were in acute care and 22 in critical care. Fewer than five staff cases were active.

The update continues what has been a steady decrease in the number of COVID-19 patients being treated by LHSC over the last week.

A record of 100 patients were reported on Friday of last week, which fell to 76 on Monday, 71 on Tuesday, 63 on Wednesday, and now 58.

LHSC has been among several local hospitals that have been receiving patients transferred out of hard-hit Toronto-area hospitals over the last several weeks.

The capacity crunch forced it to open 25 additional critical care beds and to curb non-urgent surgeries as part of a provincial directive. Surgical capacity remains halved, officials say, an amount that isn’t anticipated to go lower.

St. Joseph’s Health Care London says no COVID-19 patients are in its care at any of its facilities, however, four cases are active among the organization’s staff.

In Strathroy, two COVID-19 patients were listed as being in the care of Strathroy Middlesex General Hospital as of May 11, according to provincial data.

At least 613 people have been hospitalized for COVID-19 during the pandemic, including 101 in intensive care.

Outbreaks

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

Four are active as of Sunday, all at seniors’ facilities.

One each is active at Dearness Home (5 East, 5 West), Kensington Village (first-floor long-term care) Kensington Village Retirement (Canterbury) and McGarrell Place (Windermere Way).

Meanwhile, a non-institutional outbreak has been declared after 14 cases were linked to a recent funeral, the health unit said Friday.

Elsewhere, a non-institutional outbreak remains active at Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre, nearly four months after it was declared.

One inmate case was active at the jail Wednesday as a result of the outbreak, provincial data shows. The data is the most recent available.

At least 62 inmate cases and 43 staff cases have been reported at the jail as a result of the outbreak, declared on Jan. 18.

It’s not clear if there are any other non-institutional outbreaks active in the London-Middlesex region.

The health unit only reports outbreaks in child-care, education and health-care settings on its website.

Schools

One case has been declared at Bonaventure Meadows Public School by the Thames Valley District School Board.

A total of 352 cases have been reported involving local elementary and secondary schools during the pandemic.

Students are learning remotely, but it’s not clear whether they may return to the classrooms before their year ends next month.

Mark Fisher, director of education for the Thames Valley District School Board, has stated there is a “strong likelihood” students won’t return to class this school year.

Seven cases linked to the local child-care sector are active, all associated with Simply Kids in London.

The facility has had an active outbreak declaration since May 12.

At least 92 cases have been reported during the pandemic involving local child-care and early years settings.

No outbreaks are active involving local post-secondary institutions.

Vaccinations and testing

As of Friday, certain high-risk health-care workers, such as hospital and acute care staff in front-line roles with COVID-19 patients and/or with high risk of exposure, are now eligible to book their second shots.

Other eligible workers include patient-facing healthcare staff involved in the COVID-19 response, such as specimen collectors, vaccine clinic and mobile vaccination teams, those in COVID-19 isolation centres and those in COVID-19 lab services.

Those eligible also include long-term care and retirement home health-care workers, home and community care health-care workers and medical first responders, such as ORNGE, paramedics, and police and firefighters who provide medical first response as part of their regular duties.

More information can be found on the health unit website.

Eligible high-risk health-care workers must book their second appointment by phone. Officials with LHSC and the health unit reported extremely high call volume on Friday.

It comes a day after eligibility for first doses was expanded to all people 40 and older and those turning 40 this year.

People 30 and older will be eligible as of May 20, and all adults 18 and older eligible on May 27, pending provincial confirmation.

Thursday also marked the first day local residents could book a vaccine appointment at the region’s newest clinic, set to open later this month.

The clinic at the Earl Nichols Recreation Centre will open on May 25.

It joins the three others at the Western Fair Agriplex, North London Optimist Community Centre and Caradoc Community Centre. Health officials say they are planning for a possible fifth clinic, but details remain very limited.

Eligible residents are asked to visit the local vaccine booking website or call 226-289-3560 to book an appointment at one of the region’s four vaccination clinics. Online appointments are encouraged.

The expanding eligibility pool comes as the province is anticipating millions of Pfizer doses this month and next.

Roughly 23,000 to 25,000 Pfizer doses are expected to arrive in London-Middlesex next week, health officials say. The vaccine boost is due to the fact that this is the last week the province is allocating 50 per cent of its doses to designated hot spots.

With people 18 and older set to be eligible May 27, the province said Thursday that it would start administering the Pfizer vaccine to children aged 12 to 17 starting the week of May 31.

Some local pharmacies are expected to begin offering Moderna doses next week. Information will be posted to the province’s website.

The MLHU previously told Global News that the Moderna vaccine will also be offered to select primary care providers as part of a pilot project. Details remain limited.

Those looking for a COVID-19 test can still visit the region’s two main assessment centres.

The assessment centres, located at Carling Heights and Oakridge Arena, remain open and operating by appointment.

Ontario

Ontario reported 2,199 COVID-19 cases on Sunday, bringing the total number of cases in the province to 509,316.

Thirty new deaths were also announced, bringing the provincial death toll to 8,485.

A total of 474,175 cases are considered resolved, which is up by 3,079 and is 93.1 per cent of all confirmed cases.

More than 33,100 additional tests were completed. Ontario has now completed a total of 14,770,546 tests and 12,559 remain under investigation.

The province indicated that the positivity rate for the last day was 6.8 per cent, which is up from Saturday’s report, when it was 6.2 per cent, and down from last Sunday’s report, when it was 7.1 per cent.

There have been 107,541 confirmed cases of the B.1.1.7 variant, first discovered in the U.K. (up by 1,498), as well as 677 of the B.1.351 variant which was discovered in South Africa (up by 52), and 1,983 cases of the P.1 variant, first found in Brazil (up by 130).

Elgin and Oxford

Southwestern Public Health does not update case numbers on the weekend.

As of Friday, the region’s pandemic case total stood at 3,632, of which 3,416 have resolved and 78 deaths have been reported, most recently on Thursday.

At least 138 cases were active in the region, the health unit says, including 40 in Woodstock, 25 in St. Thomas and 23 in Tillsonburg.

At least 12 people from the Elgin-Oxford region are in the hospital with COVID-19, including five in intensive care.

The number of variant cases, and cases that have screened positive for a mutation consistent with a variant, stands at 640. At least 98 were active.

The health unit says at least 567 of the cases have either been confirmed or are presumed to be the B.1.1.7 variant, while two cases have been confirmed to be the P.1 variant.

Seventy-one cases have screened positive for the E484K spike protein mutation, which has been associated with the P.1 and B.1.351 variants, detected in Brazil and South Africa, respectively. Those cases are undergoing genomic analysis.

As of Friday, certain high-risk health-care workers are now eligible to book their second shots.

The group includes hospital and acute care staff in front-line roles with COVID-19 patients and/or with a high risk of exposure, patient-facing health-care workers involved in the pandemic response, medical first responders, and long-term care and retirement home workers.

A list of eligible workers can be found on the MLHU website. Bookings for second doses must be made by phone at 226-289-3560.

It comes a day after all adults 40 and older became eligible and days after people 16 and older with at-risk health conditions, and those in Group 2 of people who can’t work from home, became eligible.

Eligible residents are asked to visit the area’s vaccine booking site and are being encouraged to add their name to a same-day vaccination list.

In the N5H postal code, all adults 18 and older are eligible as the area is still a designated COVID-19 hot spot.

Health officials say they’re planning on rolling out more pop-up clinics to the area to increase immunization rates. The N5H area has among the lowest vaccination rate in the province.

More than 80,000 people in SWPH have been vaccinated with at least one dose.

No new school-related cases have been reported and none are active.

No new outbreaks have been declared, however, two remain active.

One is located at Tillsonburg District Memorial Hospital and has been linked with 14 patient and five staff cases, along with one death. Variants are a factor in the outbreak, according to health unit officials.

The other outbreak at Caressant Care Nursing Home in Woodstock is associated with four resident cases, six staff cases and one death, reported on Thursday.

Woodstock has reported the most cases overall with at least 805, followed by St. Thomas with 666, Aylmer with 511 and Tillsonburg with 461.

At least 236 have been in Norwich Township, while 184 have been in Bayham, 178 in Ingersoll, 140 in East Zorra-Tavistock, 91 in Central Elgin, 88 in Blandford-Blenheim, 76 in Zorra, 68 in South-West Oxford, 46 in Dutton/Dunwich, 35 in Southwold, 28 in West Elgin and 18 in Malahide.

The region’s test positivity rate stood at three per cent the week of May 2, down from 3.2 per cent the previous week.

Huron and Perth

Huron Perth Public Health does not update case numbers on the weekend.

As of Friday, the region’s pandemic case tally stood at 1,697, at least 1,559 cases have resolved and 55 deaths have been reported, most recently on Thursday.

At least 83 cases were active in the region, including 26 each in South Huron and Stratford.

Two people are in hospital with COVID-19.

The region’s test positivity rate stood at 3.1 per cent the week of May 2, a notable increase from the one per cent seen a week earlier, data released this week shows. Both weeks saw around 2,500 tests completed.

The number of variant cases, and cases that have screened positive for a mutation consistent with a variant, stands at 197, which is 29 more than the day before. At least 64 of them are active.

A total of 120 are confirmed or are presumed to be the B.1.1.7 variant, according to Public Health Ontario.

Details on the remaining variant/mutation-positive cases are limited, but it is likely the cases screened positive for the E484K mutation, which is consistent with the B.1.351 and P.1 variants, and are under genomic analysis.

As of Friday, certain high-risk health-care workers can schedule their second doses, as can essential caregivers of long-term care and retirement homes. More information can be found on the health unit’s website.

Next week, meanwhile, people 30 and older will be eligible to get the vaccine, and all adults 18 and older eligible the week after that.

People 40 and older, and those turning 40 this year, became vaccine-eligible on Thursday, days after eligibility expanded to people 16-years-old and over with at-risk health conditions and those listed under Group 2 of people who can’t work from home.

Those eligible to book an appointment are asked to do so via the local booking system or by calling 1-833-753-2098.

Huron-Perth health officials say roughly 55,000 people have been vaccinated in the region, with 46 per cent of residents having received a first dose.

No new school-related cases have been reported.

Five were reported on Thursday, bringing the number of active school-related cases in the region to seven.

Two each are active at Anne Hathaway Public School, Hamlet Public School and St. Ambrose Catholic Elementary School, while one case is associated with F.E. Madill Secondary School.

As students are learning remotely, there was no school exposure.

Meanwhile, no long-term home or retirement home outbreaks are active in the region.

Three are active at unnamed workplaces, one in the community and one at a congregate living setting. No further information has been provided.

A total of 654 cases have been reported in Perth County, with 402 in North Perth and 155 in Perth East, while 573 have been reported in Huron County, with 144 in South Huron and 107 in Huron East.

Stratford has reported at least 427 in total, while St. Marys has seen 43.

Sarnia and Lambton

Lambton Public Health reported a new COVID-19-related death, five new cases and 11 recoveries on Sunday.

This bring the region’s pandemic case tally to 3,398, of which 3,255 have resolved. At least 57 deaths have been reported.

Officials say 86 cases are active in the region. The locations of the active cases are not made public by the health unit.

Bluewater Health hospital reported 14 COVID-19 patients in their care as of Sunday.

Lambton Public Health does not update detailed information on weekends. The following information was last updated Friday.

A total of 492 cases have been confirmed/presumed to be a variant case, or have screened positive for a spike protein mutation consistent with a variant — nine more than the day before.

Public Health Ontario data shows 345 of the cases have either been confirmed to be or are presumed* to be the B.1.1.7 variant.

Four cases have been confirmed to be the P.1 variant, first identified in Brazil.

Details of the remaining cases are limited.

As of Friday, certain high-risk health-care workers are now eligible to book their second shots.

The group includes hospital and acute care staff in front-line roles with COVID-19 patients and/or with a high risk of exposure, patient-facing health-care workers involved in the pandemic response, medical first responders, and long-term care and retirement home workers.

People with questions about the booking process can contact the health unit’s newly established call centre at 226-254-8222.

Currently, all adults 40 and older are eligible to get the vaccine, along with previously identified groups.

On Tuesday, eligibility opened to include people 16 and older with at-risk health conditions and those listed under Group 2 of people who can’t work from home.

Those eligible to get the shot are being encouraged to book appointments for the vaccine through the health unit’s website.

The region’s two main school boards have paused the reporting of new cases during the remote learning period, so no information is available relating to school-linked cases.

No new outbreaks have been declared in Lambton. Four remain active.

One is active at Bluewater Health hospital in Sarnia, linked to four patient cases and three staff cases.

Elsewhere, an outbreak is active at Afton Park Place, a long-term care home in Sarnia, linked to two resident and seven staff cases.

Two outbreaks are also active at unnamed workplaces, both tied to three cases each.

The health unit says the region’s per cent positivity was two per cent the week of May 2, about the same as the 1.9 per cent seen a week earlier.

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