The Kingston region’s meteoric rise in COVID-19 cases continues Thursday, with 104 infections reported by KFL&A Public Health.
The region’s active cases have reached 507, a number seemingly unfathomable just over a week ago, when the region reached over the 300 mark for the first time in almost two years.
Case rates are also skyrocketing, with the health unit recording 197 cases per 100,000 people this week.
The death toll stands at 14, but hospitalizations continue to rise, with 31 people in local hospitals, 12 in intensive care units and nine on ventilators.
More than half of the day’s cases, 63, were found in the 18 to 29 age group. This comes the day after Queen’s University announced a COVID-19 outbreak impacting its varsity sports community, which has shuttered varsity training for the time being. The school said all those involved in varsity sports and the outbreak was not directly related to sports competition or on-campus facilities.
It’s unclear how many cases are linked to this outbreak, but the local COVID-19 dashboard lists a sports and fitness outbreak with 10 cases associated started Dec. 7. An outbreak at a food and beverage establishment that was declared Wednesday now has 30 cases associated.
This also comes a day after Dr. Piotr Oglaza announced the presence of one case of the Omicron variant in the region. In an interview with Global News Thursday, Oglaza said 32 other test specimens have been sent off to screen for the new variant of concern.
More than 80 per cent of the day’s cases have no known link of transmission.
As the region sees significant growth in cases, the health unit implemented new health requirements meant to start Saturday that will have most businesses and organizations, save grocery stores and health-care establishments, screen for extra symptoms.
Comments