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 21 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday.
This brings the total number of cases in the region to 13,917, of which 13,505 have been resolved, an increase of 24 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 174 cases are active in the region, with 145 of them in London, nine in Thames Centre and six in Middlesex Centre. Two cases are currently active in Newbury, which has only seen a total of 10 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 4,237, up three from the day before. All three are the Delta variant.
The breakdown of known variant cases is as follows:
- 3,384 cases of the Alpha variant
- 723 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.
Five or fewer are in adult critical care/the intensive care unit.
There are zero COVID-19 inpatients in Children’s Hospital and zero in pediatric critical care.
The number of staff cases remains at five or fewer.
St. Joseph’s Health Care London (SJHCL) is reporting one non-outbreak case involving a health-care worker.
Outbreaks
One outbreak is currently active while another has been marked as resolved.
The outbreak at Earls Court Village was declared Sept. 16 and involved its first and second floors. The outbreak was declared over on Friday.
Meanwhile, the outbreak at Oakcrossing Retirement Living remains active. It was declared Sept. 21 and involves 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 is tied to one active case as of Saturday, down from at least five as of Tuesday.
Schools
At least 20 COVID-19 cases were active at the following schools as of Saturday:
- Catholic Central High School (one case)
- Eagle Heights Public School (one case)
- École élémentaire La Pommeraie (one case)
- École secondaire catholique Monseigneur-Bruyère (one case)
- Ekcoe Central School (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 (three cases)
- 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)
As noted above, there are outbreaks at St. Thomas More Catholic School and École Élémentaire La Pommeraie.
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, outbreak declared)
- l’Escale la Pommeraie in London (one case)
- Robbyn’s Before and After School in Thames Centre (one case)
The health unit said at least 50 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.
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 aged 25 to 29.
Children aged 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.
As for fatal cases, 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.
Ontario
Ontario reported 640 COVID-19 cases on Saturday, bringing the total number of cases in the province to 583,275.
Ten deaths were also announced on Sept. 25, bringing the provincial virus-related death toll to 9,698.
Officials said six of the 10 deaths occurred within the past month, while four occurred more than one month ago and were added due to data cleaning.
A total of 567,994 cases are considered resolved, which is up by 794.
The province indicated that the positivity rate for the last day was 1.9 per cent, which is up slightly from Friday’s report when it was 1.8 per cent, and down from last Saturday’s report, when it was 2.5 per cent.
As of 8 p.m. Friday, 21,614,205 COVID-19 vaccine doses had been administered in Ontario, marking an increase of 47,871. Of those, 17,194 were first doses and 30,677 were second doses.
In Ontario, 85.7 per cent of people aged 12-plus have received at least one vaccine dose and almost 80.1 per cent are fully vaccinated.
Elgin and Oxford
Southwestern Public Health does not update COVID-19 data over the weekend.
On Friday, the health unit reported:
- 4,243 total cases (an increase of two from Thursday)
- 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 does not update COVID-19 data over the weekends.
The following numbers were updated Friday:
- 2,142 cases
- 29 active cases (an increase of two)
- 2,048 recoveries
- 65 deaths
The region has seen 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 were 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 Saturday, Lambton Public Health reported:
- 3,824 cases (an increase of 15)
- 68 active cases (an increase of five)
- 3,686 resolved cases (an increase of 10)
- 70 deaths
Lambton Public Health does not update specific COVID-19 data over the weekends.
As of Friday, 559 variant of concern cases had 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.
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, Sawyer Bogdan and The Canadian Press
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