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 eight COVID-19 cases on Thursday, though the total cases to date climbed by only seven to 14,519.
Of that total, there are 95 active cases (a decrease of 17), 14,178 recoveries (an increase of 24) and 246 deaths.
The latest death, reported Nov. 2, involved a woman in her 70s and is not associated with a long-term care or retirement home. Based on the MLHU’s data on deaths within the past six weeks, she was unvaccinated.
Of the 95 active cases, 36 involve kids aged 11 or under, a cohort that is not yet eligible for vaccination.
Since Sept. 19, the MLHU says all of the variant of concern cases in the region have been the Delta variant except for one case in which they were unable to generate sequencing. Total counts by the type of variant of concern can be found by visiting the health unit’s summary of COVID-19 cases in Middlesex-London page and clicking on the “Case Status” tab.
Hospitalizations
London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) was caring for eight inpatients with COVID-19 as of Thursday, a decrease of one from Wednesday.
There were five or fewer inpatients in adult critical care or the intensive care unit.
There were five or fewer inpatients with COVID-19 in Children’s Hospital and five or fewer in pediatric critical care, up from zero COVID-19 patients in Children’s Hospital the day before.
Five or fewer staff have currently tested positive for COVID-19.
St. Joseph’s Health Care London (SJHCL) reported two non-outbreak cases involving health-care workers.
Outbreaks
The MLHU is not reporting any active outbreaks in the region involving long-term care homes, retirement homes or hospitals.
The health unit is reporting an outbreak at Wilberforce Public School, declared Oct. 28. The school has closed to in-person learning until at least Nov. 8 due to the extent of the outbreak.
There is also an outbreak at Waddling Duck Daycare, declared Oct. 30, involving two active cases.
Schools
The following schools have active cases associated with them, according to the MLHU:
- Byron Somerset Public School (one case)
- Saunders Secondary School (one case)
- St. Nicholas Senior Catholic School (two cases)
- W. Sherwood Fox Public School (one case)
- Wilberforce Public School (12 cases)
As previously mentioned, there are two cases at Waddling Duck Daycare, where an outbreak has been declared.
The health unit says at least 200 cases have been reported since the start of the school year involving elementary and secondary schools, as well as child-care and early years centres.
Vaccinations and testing
As of end of day Oct. 30, 89.2 per cent of eligible residents (12 and older) have had at least one dose while 85.6 per cent are fully immunized.
Since Sept. 23, unvaccinated individuals have accounted for 59.31 per cent of all cases (or 325 of 548 cases) and 58.42 per cent of all hospitalizations (13 of 19).
The rest of the cases and hospitalizations involved individuals who were fully vaccinated, partially vaccinated or not yet protected by vaccination.
Of the eight COVID-19-related deaths reported in the last six weeks, four involved people who were unvaccinated, two involved individuals who were fully vaccinated and two involved people who were partially vaccinated.
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 1.6 per cent for the week of Oct. 24, down from 1.8 per cent for the week of Oct. 17.
Ontario
The province reported 438 cases Thursday, of which 227 involved unvaccinated individuals.
According to Thursday’s report, 72 cases were recorded in Toronto, 40 in Niagara, 37 in York Region, 34 in Simcoe Muskoka, 28 in Ottawa, 26 in Peel Region, and 26 in Sudbury. All other health units had fewer than 20.
Five more deaths were also reported across the province.
Among those eligible, 84.8 per cent are fully immunized against COVID-19.
Elgin and Oxford
On Thursday, Southwestern Public Health (SWPH) reported:
- 4,747 total cases (22 new cases added and one previous case removed due to data cleanup)
- 95 active cases (an increase of 10)
- 4,558 resolved cases (an increase of 11)
- 94 deaths to date (unchanged from Wednesday)
- 1,559 variant of concern cases (an increase of 29, all Delta), with 775 Alpha, 730 Delta and 54 Beta or Gamma
The most recent death was reported Wednesday and involved a woman in her 70s from Elgin County. It was the third death reported this week, with SWPH reporting the death of a woman in her 80s from Elgin County on Tuesday and the death of an 85-year-old Aylmer man on Monday.
Of the 95 active cases in the region, 52 were in Elgin County (including 31 in Aylmer) and 43 were in Oxford County (including 19 in Woodstock).
Eleven people were hospitalized with COVID-19 with two cases in the ICU as of Thursday. There are no active institutional outbreaks.
Information on school cases can be found on the websites of the Thames Valley District School Board and the London District Catholic School Board.
The region’s test positivity rate was 3.6 per cent for the week of Oct. 24, up from an adjusted 3.9 per cent for the week of Oct. 17.
On Nov. 2, 83.5 per cent of those aged 12 and older in the region were fully vaccinated while 86.8 per cent have had at least one dose.
Information on where and how to get vaccinated can be found on the health unit’s website.
Huron and Perth
As of Thursday, Huron Perth Public Health reported:
- 2,360 total cases (an increase of six)
- 42 active cases (an increase of eight)
- 2,251 recoveries (unchanged)
- 67 deaths to date (unchanged)
Among the 42 active cases, 25 were in Perth East. Full case counts by municipality can be found on the health unit’s dashboard.
There are three people hospitalized with COVID-19 and there are no active cases involving health-care workers, as of Thursday.
HPPH reported four outbreaks, though there were no long-term care home, retirement home or hospital outbreaks as of Wednesday.
Two of the outbreaks involve schools:
- Huron Christian School in Clinton, declared Oct. 8 and involving seven student cases
- Milverton Public School in Perth East, declared Oct. 27 and involving one staff case and 15 student cases
The other two outbreaks involve workplaces. No further information was provided.
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 2.3 per cent for the week of Oct. 24, up from 1.2 per cent for the week of Oct. 17.
HPPH’s vaccine dashboard showed that as of Nov. 1, 81.6 per cent of those aged 12 and older were fully vaccinated while 85.0 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.
Sarnia and Lambton
On Thursday, Lambton Public Health (LPH) reported:
- 4,209 total cases (an increase of nine)
- 41 active cases (an increase of six)
- 4,097 resolved cases (an increase of three)
- 71 deaths to date (unchanged)
The most recent death was reported Oct. 28 and involved someone who was in their 90s.
LPH reported a total of 627 variant of concern cases on Wednesday, up one from Tuesday. Of those, 439 have been Alpha, 170 have been Delta (an increase of one) and 18 have been Gamma.
Three COVID-19 patients were in the care of Bluewater Health as of Thursday.
LPH reported three active outbreaks in total. One active outbreak is at Queen Elizabeth II Public School in Petrolia, declared Oct. 22 and involving fewer than five cases.
There are also two active workplace outbreaks, declared Oct. 29 and 31. The outbreak declared Oct. 29 involves two cases and the outbreak declared Oct. 31 involves three 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.
The test positivity rate for the week of Oct. 24 was 2.5 per cent, down from 3.8 per cent the week prior.
Among area residents aged 12 and older, 80.4 per cent are fully vaccinated and 83.7 per cent have had at least one dose.
Residents can book and re-book COVID-19 vaccine appointments or find information on vaccine availability at pharmacies using the health unit’s registration page. People can also call the vaccine call centre at 226-254-8222.
Those who are able to get vaccinated on short notice are encouraged to sign up for Lambton Public Health’s daily Vaccine Standby List.
—With files from Global News’ Gabby Rodrigues and Sawyer Bogdan