COVID-19: HKPR expands vaccination clinics, alters case tracing, Omicron outbreak at Warkworth prison

A recent surge in COVID-19 cases has prompted the Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit to make changes to its vaccination clinic schedules and case processing.

The health unit notes an increase in demand for vaccination, especially since third booster shot eligibility in Ontario was expanded to residents ages 18 and older on Monday. A third dose can be administered 84 days after a second dose.

On Wednesday the health unit reported 35 new cases and 145 active cases — up from 111 active cases reported on Tuesday and 101 on Monday. There are 52 active cases in the City of Kawartha Lakes, 85 in Northumberland County and eight in Haliburton County. There were 26 new cases reported in Northumberland County, eight in City of Kawartha Lakes and one in Haliburton County over the past 24 hours.

“We have had a significant increase in newly reported cases in the last week,” said Medical Officer of Health Dr. Natalie Bocking during Wednesday’s media information session. “We are fully expecting it to continue to increase. This increase is a reflection of both the Delta variant and Omicron variant.”

For the week of Dec. 13-19, the health unit averaged 16 cases per day versus eight in earlier weeks. In the last 14 days, there have been 230 new cases — 16 per cent of new cases were in the 20-29 age bracket and 15 per cent were in the 50-59 age bracket, Bocking said.

Bocking says there are 17 positive lab reports for the screening test for Omicron and still a “significant number” of Delta cases that are being identified.

As a result, the health unit is adjusting its vaccination clinics as follows:

• An additional 6,500 appointments have been added to health unit-led clinics for the remainder of December. “My understanding is most of the clinics have been booked already,” said Bocking.
• Additional clinics have been added and space expanded at the Cobourg Community Centre. Clinics will be extended from 6 to 9 p.m. until the end of December (excluding Dec. 24-26 and Dec. 31). Clinics will run daily beginning Jan. 1. The clinic will take the entire gym space and aim to fulfill 700 appointments a day, Bocking said.
• Additional clinics have been added to the Lindsay Exhibition. Clinics will run daily beginning Jan. 1.
• Additional clinics have also been added at the Haliburton Legion on Dec. 23 and Dec 30.

All health unit-led vaccination clinics require appointments to be booked through the provincial booking system (covid-19.ontario.ca/book-vaccine). Residents can also call the Provincial Vaccine Contact Centre at 1-833-943-3900 (TTY for people who are deaf, hearing-impaired or speech-impaired: 1-866-797-0007).

The health unit is redeploying some staff to the vaccination clinics, prompting changes to case and contact tracing. Effective immediately, the health unit will:

• Provide a letter to confirmed COVID-19 cases so they can notify their high-risk contacts (HRCs). The letter will contain details on isolation, Section 22 Class order and testing recommendations.
• No longer declare outbreaks in community settings (such as a sports team or restaurant). Outbreaks will continue to be declared in high-risk congregate settings including long-term care homes, retirement homes, shelters, group homes, schools, childcare centres, hospitals and other settings where there is a risk of ongoing exposure.
• No longer complete high-risk contact tracing follow-up, with the exception of those affiliated with a congregate/institutional outbreak or a high-risk congregate setting.

Household members of cases will be asked to self-isolate regardless of their vaccination status. HRCs who are not household members of a case and are fully vaccinated and asymptomatic do not need to isolate.

“We are pleased to see so many of our residents seeking their first, second and third dose of vaccine for COVID-19,” said Dr. Bocking. “Some people may be experiencing challenges in getting an appointment and we want to assure them that we are doing everything we can to get the vaccine to as many people as possible throughout our region. This includes following provincial guidance on case and contact tracing and moving as many of our staff as possible into clinics to provide vaccinations.”

Late Tuesday, the health unit declared an outbreak at Warkworth Institution. As of Tuesday there were 19 confirmed cases — including the Omicron variant — at the medium-sized federal prison about 60 kilometres south of Peterborough.

“Preliminary screening of one of the confirmed cases indicates the Omicron variant,” stated manager of corporate services Chandra Tremblay on Wednesday. “As a result, the health unit is treating this as an outbreak of the Omicron variant and is working with the outbreak team at Warkworth to implement outbreak control measures.”

There are four other active outbreaks:

• Extendicare Port Hope: Declared Monday with three cases reported as of Tuesday — two staff and a resident — with one case confirmed as the Omicron variant.
• BGC Kawarthas: Declared Dec. 17, there have been two active cases at the child care centre in Lindsay
• St. Dominic Catholic Elementary School in Lindsay. Declared Dec. 15. There are four active cases as of 7:45 a.m. Wednesday, according to the Peterborough Victoria Northumberland Clarington District School Board.
• Leslie Frost Public School in Lindsay: Declared late Dec. 11, there were no active cases as of 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, according to the Trillium Lakelands District School Board.

Other data from the health unit on Wednesday:

• Resolved cases: 2,639 — nine more since Tuesday’s update. The resolved cases make up approximately 92.6 per cent of the 2,847 cumulative confirmed cases since the pandemic’s beginning.
• High-risk contacts: The health unit is excluding the data starting Wednesday based on process changes as outlined earlier.
• Hospitalized cases to date: 103 — unchanged since Friday. As of 2:30 p.m. Wednesday there are three hospitalized cases (unchanged since Monday) with two in an intensive care unit (unchanged since Friday). Since the pandemic began, there have been 57 hospitalized cases in the City of Kawartha Lakes, 42 in Northumberland County and four in Haliburton County.
• Deaths: 76 since the pandemic was declared. The latest virus-related death was reported on June 29 in the City of Kawartha Lakes. There have been 58 deaths among people who tested positive for COVID-19 in the Kawarthas, 17 in Northumberland County and one in Haliburton County.
• School cases: See this Global News Peterborough article for the latest on school cases within the health unit’s jurisdiction.