For the third time in four days, Waterloo Public Health are reporting a COVID-19-related death in the region, pushing the death toll in the area up to 321, including eight victims this month.
“Today we are reporting one death in our community related to COVID-19. The individual was a female in her 90s,” Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang, medical officer of health, stated.
“I wish to express my deep sympathy to the family of this individual.”
The victim was a resident of the Nithview Home in New Hamburg, where a COVID-19 outbreak, which has been connected to 10 staff members and six residents, was declared on Jan. 5 .
It is one of 64 active COVID-19 outbreaks in the area, with 32 currently being connected to long-term-care homes, 26 connected to congregate settings and the remaining six in effect at hospitals.
There are also currently 99 patients at area hospitals who are suffering from COVID-19, including 15 who are in need of intensive care.
Waterloo Public Health also announced another 583 positive tests for the coronavirus on Thursday, lifting the total number of cases in the area to 33,232.
This lifts the rolling seven-day average number of new daily cases to 556.
The agency warns that due to testing availability, case counts on its dashboard are likely lower than the actual number of cases in Waterloo Region.
Another 94 people were also cleared of the virus, lifting the total number of resolved cases in the area to 25,383.
This means there are now 7,277 active COVID-19 cases in Waterloo Region, up 480 from Wednesday as it moves to another all-time high.
Meanwhile, Waterloo Public Health reports that there have now been 1,166,259 COVID-19 vaccinations done in the area, which is an increase of 7,213 over Wednesday.
A good portion of those continue to involve people getting a booster shot as the number of people who have had three doses has risen by 6.732 to 220,993.
In addition, another 459 area residents got a second dose lifting the total number up to 465,237 which means that 76.87 per cent of area residents are now fully vaccinated.
Elsewhere, Ontario reported 3,630 people are in hospital with COVID on Thursday, though just over half of them were initially admitted due to complications with the virus.
The Ontario government recently released data this week differentiating between those who were admitted to hospital due to a COVID-related illness and incidental admissions.
Of the 3,630 people in hospital with COVID-19, which is up by 182 since yesterday, around 54 per cent of them were admitted because of the virus, while about 46 per cent were admitted for other reasons but tested positive for COVID-19.
Of the hospitalizations, the province also reported, there are 500 people in ICUs, which is down by five from the previous day. Around 82 per cent of those in intensive care were admitted because of COVID, while around 18 per cent were admitted for other reasons.
Hospitalizations for people with COVID in Ontario have reached an all-time high, up from 2,279 reported last Thursday.
Meanwhile, Ontario also reported 9,909 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, though that is an underestimate of the true widespread transmission of the virus due to recent testing restrictions. The provincial case total now stands at 915,940.
The death toll in the province has risen to 10,480 as 35 more virus-related deaths were added from over the past month.
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