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 13 new COVID-19 cases and one new death on Wednesday.
This brings the total number of cases in the region to 13,977, of which 13,585 have been resolved, an increase of 20 from the day before.
A total of 239 deaths have been reported. The death reported Wednesday was a man in his 70s who was fully vaccinated. The second most recent death on Sept. 21 involved a man in his 40s who was partially vaccinated.
The health unit said 153 cases are active in the region (a decrease of seven), with 129 of them in London, eight in Thames Centre and four in Middlesex Centre.
The number of cases involving a variant of concern sits at 4,250, the same as the day before.
The breakdown of known variant cases is as follows:
- 3,384 cases of the Alpha variant
- 736 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
London Health Sciences Centre says it is caring for 15 inpatients with COVID-19 as of Wednesday, an increase of one from Tuesday.
Seven are in adult critical care/the intensive care unit, the same as Tuesday.
There are five or fewer COVID-19 inpatients in Children’s Hospital and five or fewer inpatients in paediatric 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
The MLHU is not reporting any active institutional outbreaks, however there are several outbreaks reported at area schools and child-care/early year centres.
The following schools have active outbreaks:
- École Élémentaire La Pommeraie, declared Sept. 17
- Ekcoe Central School, declared Sept. 25
- Lord Elgin Public School, declared Sept. 26
- Wilfrid Jury Public School, declared Sept. 26
After climbing from six confirmed COVID-19 cases to 11 in a matter of days, Lord Elgin Public School in London, Ont., said Wednesday it is pausing all in-person learning, effective immediately.
“Board administration has determined that school operations pose a challenge with the current number of cases impacting several classes,” the board said in a statement.
The TVDSB said students at the school on Victoria Drive, northwest of Cheapside and McNay streets, will move to virtual learning until an expected return to in-person classes on Oct. 5.
“Schools carry risk, but staying home and cancelling schools also carry risks from a COVID perspective with people gathering outside of the schools,” Dr. Chris Mackie.
“We believe from a health perspective the best thing to do is to have schools open and teaching in person right now.”
Mackie said what’s happening with Lord Elgin Public School is that a lot of cases live in the same close-knit area. He said the spread is likely out of school, but that they are not ruling out the optional for the cases spreading in the school.
“It’s the school that has chosen to close, because of the number of staff in quarantine, it’s not a situation where the outbreak has become so dangers that from a public health perspective,” Mackie said.
“We did expect outbreaks into the fall and we are seeing more activity in schools in terms of COVID diagnoses than we did in the previous wave because the Delta variant is so easily transmissible.”
The following child-care or early years centres have active outbreaks:
- Kidlogic London, declared Sept. 26 (three cases)
The health unit is also reporting one case at Bright Beginnings Pre-School Home Daycare in Strathroy-Caradoc and one case at Chelsea Green Children’s Centre in London but no outbreaks are associated with either child-care centre.
Schools
In addition to the outbreaks listed above, more than a dozen schools have active cases associated with them:
- Clare Brenton Public School (one case)
- École secondaire catholique Monseigneur-Bruyère (one case)
- Ekcoe Central School (one case)
- Holy Family Elementary School (one case)
- Kensal Park Public School (one case)
- Lord Elgin Public School (seven cases, though the TVDSB is reporting nine cases)
- St. Anthony Catholic French immersion School (one case)
- St. Paul Catholic School (one case)
- St. Thomas More Catholic School (one case)
- Westminster Secondary School (one case)
- Wilfred Jury Public School (one case)
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The health unit said at least 67 cases have been reported since the start of the school year involving elementary and secondary schools, and child-care/early years centres.
In post-secondary institutions, no cases or outbreaks have been reported.
Vaccinations and testing
The MLHU released updated vaccination data on Tuesday, showing that as of the end of Sept. 25, over 80 per cent of the eligible population was fully vaccinated.
The MLHU says among those 12 and older, 80.9 per cent are fully vaccinated while 86.5 per cent have had at least one dose.
Middlesex County’s vaccination rate is slightly higher than London’s, with 82.2 per cent fully vaccinated compared to 80.6 per cent fully vaccinated.
Those 18 to 24 continue to have the lowest vaccine uptake, with only 69.4 per cent fully vaccinated.
“People across Ontario including here in London are making the choice to get their first shot after months of hesitation in some cases refusal,” said London Mayor Ed Holder during Wednesday’s COVID-19 media briefing.
Holder went on to say that it does not matter when you made the choice to get vaccinated it’s having an impact.
“Despite all the coverage and despite the vulgarity, those that seek to undermine public health measures are failing, we see it in vaccination rates, we see it in case counts, and we see it in the flattening of the fourth wave,” Holder said.
“There will be more people in London that get their shot today than were at last night’s school protests – that’s what momentum looks like, that s what hope looks like,” Holder said.
On Tuesday night, a group of anti-vaccine protesters interrupted the Thames Valley District School Board (TVDSB) meeting at Louise Arbour French Immersion elementary school.
During the meeting, trustees were set to discuss whether or not to send a letter to the provincial government, urging them to add COVID-19 vaccines to the list of compulsory vaccines for students. The motion was later withdrawn during the meeting.
“All that these protests, phone calls, and online rants do is strengthen our resolve in public health and continue working hard for our community until this pandemic ends,” Dr. Mackie said.
The majority of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths in the region over the last six weeks continue to involve people who were not fully vaccinated, health unit data shows.
Since Aug. 18, only 17.7 per cent of all cases (or 148 of 835 cases) involved those who were fully vaccinated while only 13.9 per cent of all hospitalizations (five of 35) involved individuals who were fully vaccinated.
Of all COVID-19-related deaths reported in the last six weeks, two of seven involved an individual who was fully vaccinated.
The hours of operation at the Caradoc Community Centre mass vaccination clinic in Mount Brydges have changed effective Sept. 28.
The Middlesex London Health Unit said the clinic is now only 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 is reporting 495 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, the second day in a row the count is under 500. The provincial case total now stands at 585,502.
Of the 495 new cases recorded, the data showed 302 were unvaccinated people, 36 were partially vaccinated people, 115 were fully vaccinated people and for 42 people, the vaccination status was unknown.
According to Wednesday’s report, 107 cases were recorded in Toronto, 39 each in Ottawa and Hamilton, 35 in York Region, 33 each in Peel Region and Windsor-Essex, and 32 in Niagara Region.
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 9,723 as eight more deaths were recorded.
There are more than 10.5 million people fully immunized with two doses, which is 80.7 per cent of the eligible (12 and older) population. First dose coverage stands at 86.1 per cent.
Meanwhile, 570,790 Ontario residents were reported to have recovered from COVID-19, which is about 97 per cent of known cases. Resolved cases increased by 760 from the previous day.
Elgin and Oxford
On Wednesday, Southwestern Public Health reported:
- 4,274 total cases (an increase of nine)
- 32 active cases (an increase of four)
- 4,156 resolved cases (an increase of five)
- 86 deaths
- 1,165 variant of concern cases (an increase of 10), with 771 Alpha, 340 Delta (an increase of 10) and 54 Beta or Gamma
Of the 32 active cases in the region, 16 are in Elgin County and 16 are in Oxford County (including eight in Woodstock).
Four people with COVID-19 are currently hospitalized, the health unit said, with two cases in the ICU.
Information on school cases can be found on the websites of the Thames Valley District School Board and the London District Catholic School Board.
As of Sept. 19, the region’s test positivity rate stood at 1.2 per cent, down from 2.6 per cent a week earlier.
As of Sept. 28, 80.4 per cent of those 12 and older in the region were fully vaccinated while 85.7 per cent have had at least one dose.
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 report data over the weekends. On Monday, it reported:
- 2,166 cases (an increase of seven)
- 30 active cases (a decrease of seven)
- 2,071 recoveries (an increase of 14)
- 65 deaths (unchanged)
Among the 30 active cases, 12 are in Perth East and four each are Huron East and West Perth. Full case counts by municipality can be found on the health unit’s dashboard.
Two COVID-19 patients were in hospital. There is currently one active COVID-19 case involving a healthcare worker.
An outbreak is ongoing at Blue Water Rest Home in Bluewater, a long-term care home. The outbreak was declared Sept. 17 and currently involves one case among a resident and two staff cases.
An outbreak was declared Sept. 21 at Listowel District Secondary School in North Perth. There are currently no active cases associated with the outbreak.
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 2 per cent as of the week of Sept. 19, up from 1.8 the week before.
HPPH’s vaccine dashboard showed that as of Sept. 27, 77.8 per cent of those 12 and older were fully vaccinated while 83.2 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 Wednesday, Lambton Public Health reported:
- 3,861 cases (an increase of 22)
- 79 active cases (an increase of 22)
- 3,712 resolved cases (unchanged)
- 70 deaths (unchanged)
As of Wednesday, 561 variant of concern cases had been recorded in the region. Of those, 439 have been Alpha, 104 have been Delta and 18 have been Gamma.
No COVID-19 patients were reported as being in the care of Bluewater Health on Monday.
LPH is reporting active outbreaks at:
- Generations Day Care – Queen Elizabeth Site, declared Sept. 28 and involving fewer than five cases.
- Bkejwanong Kinomaagewgamig Elementary School, declared Sept. 24 and involving fewer than five cases.
- Bkejwanong Children’s Centre, declared Sept. 22 and involving fewer than five cases
- Gregory A. Hogan Catholic School, declared Sept. 20 and involving fewer than five cases
All active 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.
Among those 12 and older, 76.1 per cent are fully vaccinated and 81.4 per cent have had at least one 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 Gabby Rodrigues, Jacquelyn LeBel, Matthew Trevithick and Kelly Wang
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