Jump to: Hospitalizations – Outbreaks – Schools – Vaccinations and testing – Ontario – Elgin and Oxford – Huron and Perth – Sarnia and Lambton
Eleven new COVID-19 cases have been reported in London and Middlesex, local health officials said on Friday.
They bring the total number of cases confirmed by the Middlesex-London Health Unit to 13,896, of which 13,481 have been resolved, an increase of 38 from the day before.
A total of 238 deaths have been reported, most recently on Tuesday involving a man in his 40s who was partially vaccinated.
The health unit said 188 cases are active in the region, with 143 of them in London, nine in Thames Centre and six in Middlesex Centre. One case is currently active in Newbury, which has only seen a total of nine cases during the pandemic.
The region’s seven-day moving case average is 19 as of Thursday, down from 21.3 a week ago.
The number of cases involving a variant of concern sits at 4,234, up two from the day before, both the Delta variant.
The breakdown of known variant cases is as follows:
- 3,384 cases of the Alpha variant
- 720 cases of the Delta variant
- 124 cases of the Gamma variant
- two cases of the Beta variant
- one case of the Kappa variant
- one case of the Zeta variant
There are also two cases listed using the old code numbers, one described as B.1.617 and another listed as B.1.617.3.
Further information can be found on the health unit’s summary of COVID-19 cases in Middlesex-London.
Hospitalizations
As of Friday, 11 COVID-19 patients were listed as being in the care of London Health Sciences Centre, the same as the day before.
Five of fewer are in adult critical care/the intensive care unit, unchanged from the day before.
Also unchanged is the number of COVID-19 inpatients in Children’s Hospital (none) or in pediatric critical care (none) and the number of staff cases (five or fewer).
St. Joseph’s Health Care London (SJHCL) is reporting one non-outbreak case involving a health-care worker, the same as the day before.
Outbreaks
Two outbreaks are currently active involving seniors’ facilities.
One is located at Earls Court Village, declared Sept. 16 and involving the first and second floors, while the other is at Oakcrossing Retirement Living, declared Sept. 21 and involving the fourth floor.
A new outbreak was declared Thursday involving a local school. St. Thomas More Catholic School has four active cases, according to the health unit.
An outbreak also remains active involving École Élémentaire La Pommeraie, an elementary school. The outbreak was declared late last week and was tied to two active cases as of Friday, down from at least five as of Tuesday.
Schools
At least 24 COVID-19 cases were active at the following schools as of Friday, according to the health unit, an increase of at least one from the day before.
- Ashley Oaks Public School (one case)
- Catholic Central High School (one case)
- Cedar Hollow Public School (one case)
- Eagle Heights Public School (one case)
- École élémentaire La Pommeraie (two cases)
- École secondaire catholique Monseigneur-Bruyère (one case)
- Holy Family Elementary School (one case)
- Jack Chambers Public School (one case)
- Kensal Park Public School (one case)
- Lambeth Public School (one case)
- Lord Elgin Public School (one case)
- Mother Teresa Catholic Secondary School (one case)
- Oxbow Public School (one case)
- Regina Mundi College (one case)
- Sir Frederick Banting Secondary School (one case)
- St. Francis Catholic School (one case)
- St. Rose of Lima Catholic School (one case)
- St. Thomas More Catholic School (four cases)
- Wilfrid Jury Public School (one case)
As noted above, there are outbreaks at St. Thomas More Catholic School and École Élémentaire La Pommeraie.
One case at Cedar Hollow Before and After School in London has now been declared over.
Elsewhere, one outbreak and five COVID-19 cases are active involving the following local child-care and early years facilities:
- Angels Daycares Arva in Middlesex Centre (two cases)
- l’Escale la Pommeraie in London (two cases)
- Robbyn’s Before and After School in Thames Centre (one case)
The lone active child-care outbreak involves Angels Daycares, the health unit said.
The health unit said at least 47 cases have been reported since the start of the school year involving elementary and secondary schools and child-care centres.
In post-secondary, no cases or outbreaks have been reported, however, a union representing workers on university campuses in Ontario is calling for the government to put classroom capacity limits and distancing requirements in place.
Ontario announced earlier this month that it wouldn’t require distancing or class caps when post-secondary institutions resumed in-person learning.
CUPE Ontario president Fred Hahn said that the universities’ proof-of-vaccination and mandatory masking policies are not enough to stop the spread of the Delta variant of COVID-19.
He said he’s hearing from members that classrooms are packed with sometimes hundreds of people, and he calls that a “recipe for disaster.”
A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Colleges and Universities said previously that schools are able to institute their own, stricter rules.
Vaccinations and testing
Ontario’s vaccine certificate system took effect Wednesday.
Roughly 85.5 per cent of residents in the MLHU’s jurisdiction who are 12 years old and above had gotten at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine as of Sept. 18, according to health unit data released this week.
For two doses, the percentage is 79.4 per cent, the data shows.
Vaccination rates are on par for the city of London and Middlesex County.
Young adults remain the least vaccinated age group, according to the health unit. Only 76.7 per cent of those aged 18 to 24 have gotten one shot, and 66.7 per cent two shots. The rates are 79.1 and 69.8 per cent, respectively, for those 25 to 29.
Children 12 to 17 clock in at 86.7 per cent for one shot and 77.7 per cent for two.
The majority of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths in the region over the last six weeks continues to involve people who were not fully vaccinated, health unit data shows.
Of the cases reported in London-Middlesex since Aug. 13, 82.1 per cent of individuals were either unvaccinated, partially vaccinated or had gotten their second dose less than two weeks prior. Those completely unvaccinated make up the largest percentage: 67.9 per cent.
Looking at those hospitalized in that same time frame, a similar story emerges: 88.2 per cent of hospitalizations involved those not fully vaccinated, with 79.4 per cent of hospitalized individuals not having had a first dose.
For deaths, four of the six deaths reported since Aug. 13 involved someone who had not gotten a first dose, while one involved someone who had gotten both doses but was still within the two-week waiting period. One death involved someone fully vaccinated, the first in the region. The deceased was a woman in her 80s, the health unit said.
The hours of operation at the Caradoc Community Centre mass vaccination clinic in Mount Brydges will be changing starting on Sept. 28.
The Middlesex London Health Unit said starting next Tuesday, the clinic will only be open on Tuesdays and Wednesdays between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.
While the clinic will now be open on a walk-in basis only, Middlesex-London Health Unit staff have been contacting people who had previously scheduled vaccination appointments for times that will fall outside of the clinic’s new hours of operation.
On the health unit’s website, residents can find information on pop-up clinics, mass vaccination clinics and pharmacies; guidance for anyone vaccinated outside of the province or country; transportation support for those in need; and more.
Anyone looking to be tested for COVID-19 can find information about the locations of testing sites on the health unit’s website.
The latest COVID-19 test positivity rate in the region was 2.2 per cent for the week of Sept. 12, the same as the week prior, Sept. 5.
Ontario
Ontario is reporting 727 new COVID-19 cases on Friday as the seven-day average continues to decline. The provincial case total now stands at 582,635.
Of the 727 new cases recorded, the data showed 447 involve unvaccinated people, 56 involve partially vaccinated people, 170 involve fully vaccinated people and for 54 people the vaccination status was unknown.
According to Friday’s report, 144 cases were recorded in Toronto, 83 in Peel Region, 70 in Ottawa, 66 in Hamilton, 54 in York Region, 35 in Durham Region, 33 in Windsor-Essex and 30 in the Eastern Ontario Health Unit.
All other local public health units reported fewer than 30 new cases in the provincial report.
The death toll in the province has risen to 9,688 as 11 more virus-related deaths were recorded, including three from more than a month ago due to data cleanup.
There are more than 10.4 million people fully immunized with two doses, which is 79.8 per cent of the eligible (12 and older) population. First dose coverage stands at 85.6 per cent.
Elgin and Oxford
On Friday, Southwestern Public Health reported:
- 4,243 total cases (an increase of two)
- 40 active cases (a decrease of 10)
- 4,117 resolved cases (an increase of 28)
- 86 deaths (the same as the day before)
- 1,133 variant of concern cases, with 769 Alpha, 310 Delta and 54 Beta or Gamma
The health unit said the death reported Thursday involved a man in his 70s from Elgin County. It’s unclear if the individual had been vaccinated against COVID-19.
Of the 40 active cases in the region, 22 are in Oxford County and 18 are in Elgin County.
Four people with COVID-19 are currently hospitalized, the health unit said, with all three in intensive care (down one from the day before).
Information on school cases can be found on the websites of the Thames Valley District School Board and London District Catholic School Board.
As of Sept. 12, the region’s test per cent positivity rate stood at 2.6 per cent, up from 2.3 per cent a week earlier
Information on where to get vaccinated, vaccine eligibility and booking and cancelling appointments can be found on the health unit’s website.
People can add their names on a weekly basis to the health unit’s same-day vaccination list, also known as the Cancellation List. Select pharmacies in the region are also continuing to offer COVID-19 vaccine shots.
SWPH adds that if anyone needs a copy of their vaccination receipt, they can download it online using their postal code and Ontario health card or call 1-833-943-3900.
Huron and Perth
Huron Perth Public Health data was not immediately available Thursday afternoon. The following numbers were updated Friday for the previous two days:
- 2,129 cases (an increase of 13)
- 29 active cases (an increase of two)
- 2,048/ recoveries (11 new recoveries)
- 65 deaths
- 424 variant of concern cases, according to Public Health Ontario’s most recent epidemiology summary from Wednesday: 279 Alpha, 12 Gamma and 133 Delta.
Fourteen of the region’s active cases are in Perth East, four in North Perth and four in Huron East. Full case counts by municipality can be found on the health unit’s dashboard.
Three COVID-19 patients are in hospital, and one of the region’s active cases involves a health-care worker.
One outbreak is currently active involving a long-term care home. The outbreak was declared on Sept. 17 at Bluewater Rest Home, linked to one resident case and one staff case.
One outbreak is also active involving an unidentified workplace.
Data on school cases can be found on the websites of the Avon-Maitland District School Board and the Huron-Perth Catholic District School Board.
The region’s test positivity rate was 1.8 per cent as of the week of Sept. 12, down from 2.7 the week before.
HPPH’s vaccine dashboard showed that as of Sept. 19, 76.6 per cent of residents aged 12 and older were fully vaccinated while 82.5 per cent have had at least one dose.
Information on how and where to get a vaccine can be found on the health unit’s website. Information on pharmacies offering COVID-19 vaccines can be found on the province’s website.
Sarnia and Lambton
On Thursday, Lambton Public Health reported:
- 3,809 cases (an increase of 13)
- 63 active cases (an increase of four)
- 3,676 resolved cases (an increase of eight)
- 70 deaths (an increase of one)
A total of 559 variant of concern cases have been recorded in the region, up one from the previous day. Of those 439 have been Alpha, 102 have been Delta and 18 have been Gamma.
No COVID-19 patients were reported as being in the care of Bluewater Health on Friday.
One new outbreak has been declared in the region, involving Bkejwanong Children’s Centre. The outbreak is tied to fewer than five cases.
It’s one of two outbreaks currently active. The other also involves a school, Gregory A. Hogan Catholic School, linked to fewer than five cases.
Cases at schools within the Lambton Kent District School Board can be found online, as can cases at schools within the St. Clair Catholic District School Board.
A total of 80.9 per cent of people aged 12 and older in Lambton County have gotten at least one dose of the vaccine while 75.4 per cent are fully immunized, the health unit said.
So far 81.4 per cent of adults and 26.6 per cent of youth have gotten at least one dose. The figure stands at 76.3 per cent and 22.7 per cent, respectively, for the second dose.
The most recent test positivity rate was 2.4 per cent for the week of Sept. 5, up from 0.81 per cent for the week of Aug. 29.
Residents can book and re-book COVID-19 vaccine appointments using the health unit’s registration page. People can also call the vaccine call centre at 226-254-8222.
Information on pharmacies offering COVID-19 vaccines can be found on the province’s website.
Those who are able to get vaccinated on short notice are encouraged to sign up for Lambton Public Health’s daily Vaccine Standby List.
Lambton Public Health is also working with Lambton County Library in an effort to make it easier to obtain vaccine receipts by assisting residents having trouble downloading or printing the receipts.
—with files from Matthew Trevithick, Jacquelyn LeBel, Kelly Wang and The Canadian Press
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