COVID-19 outbreaks declared at church in Kitchener, daycare in Elmira

Waterloo Public Health announced new COVID-19 outbreaks at a church in Kitchener and daycare in Elmira on Thursday.

There are five cases connected to the outbreak at Apostolic Faith Mission, which pushes it over the threshold for Waterloo Public Health to name the location of an outbreak.

There are two cases connected to the outbreak at the Jacob Hespeler Child Care in Elmira – all daycares or schools that have outbreaks are named.

There are still 12 in the area though, as others at an unnamed gym and Blair Road Public School have come to an end.

Waterloo Public Health also announced a new COVID-19-related death for the second day in a row, lifting the death toll in the area to 307 people.

“Today we are reporting one death in our community related to COVID-19,” Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang, Medical Officer of Health, stated. “The individual was a male in his 50s.”

Wednesday’s death involved a man in his 70s.

2:21 COVID-19 vaccinations begin for kids aged 5 to 11 in Toronto

“I wish to express my deep sympathy to the family and loved ones of these individuals,” Wang stated.

Waterloo Public Health reported another 24 positive tests for the coronavirus, lifting the total number of COVID-19 cases in the area to 20,784.

This puts the rolling seven-day average number of new cases in the area at 30.7. A week ago, that number came out to be 29.3.

Another 24 people were also cleared of the virus, pushing the total number of resolved cases in the region up to 20,245.

This leaves the area with 230 active COVID-19 cases, two less than were reported on Wednesday.

Waterloo Public Health reports that there have now been 916,788 COVID-19 vaccinations done in the area, which is 1,425 more than it reported on Wednesday.

A large portion of that appears to have been people getting their third dose as there have now been 17,600 residents who have done so, 1,138 more than what was announced 24 hours earlier.

There will be a moratorium on third doses starting Friday as the focus turns to vaccinating children between the ages of five and 11.

For comparison, last Thursday saw 711 new cases and the previous Thursday saw 642. All three Thursdays saw similar testing volumes in the 30,000 range.

Of the 748 new cases recorded, the data showed 356 were unvaccinated people, 19 were partially vaccinated people, 329 were fully vaccinated people and for 44 people the vaccination status was unknown.

According to Thursday’s report, 77 cases were recorded in Toronto, 57 in Windsor-Essex, 55 in Simcoe Muskoka, 48 in Peel Region, 45 in Ottawa and 43 in York Region. All other local public health units reported fewer than 40 new cases in the provincial report.

The death toll in the province has risen to 9,985 as four more deaths were reported.