Monday’s nasty snowstorm has had a drastic impact on the number of COVID-19 vaccinations in the area.
Waterloo Public Health says 1,192,053 shots have been delivered in the area, an increase of just 1,526. A week earlier the total increased by 5,804 while two weeks ago it went up by 6,881.
Early in the afternoon, the region announced it had stopped accepting walk-ins at most clinics. A short time later it announced that all of the clinics would close by 4 p.m.
In addition, Pinebush Cambridge, the region’s largest clinic is not open to the general public on Mondays and Tuesdays.
Another 1,367 area residents did manage to get a third dose of COVID-19 vaccine, lifting the total in the area to 240,502.
A total of 160 more residents got a second dose, lifting that total to 467,857 as 77.3 per cent of the region’s population that has now done so.
Waterloo Public Health reported another 325 new positive tests for the coronavirus on Tuesday, lifting the total number of cases in the area to 35,431.
This drops the rolling seven-day average number of new daily cases down to 468.9. 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.
No new COVID-19 related deaths were reported on Tuesday, leaving the death toll at 325, including 11 victims this month.
The region says there are now 4,093 active COVID-19 cases in the area, a steep drop from the 8.506 active cases it reported Monday. A spokesperson for the region says it has changed how it handles case due to the recent surge, which has prompted a change in how it counts resolved cases.
Active cases are now considered over after 14 days unless the person involved is hospitalized. That said, the number of resolved cases on the region’s dashboard has only jumped by 89 to 26,042. Global News has sent a query to Waterloo Public Health about the discrepancy.
The number of patients in area hospitals remains unchanged from Monday as it stands at 136, including 17 people who need intensive care.
There are two more active COVID-19 outbreaks in the region bringing the total to 76, including 38 in long-term-care or retirement homes, 28 in congregate settings and nine in hospitals.
Elsewhere, Ontario reported a record of 4,183 people in hospital with COVID on Tuesday, though just over half of them were initially admitted due to virus complications, with 580 in intensive care units.
The province recently began distinguishing between those who were admitted to hospital directly because of COVID, and those who were admitted for other reasons but tested positive for the virus.
This is an increase from 3,220 people in hospital last Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Ontario also reported 7,086 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, 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 963,693.
Of the 7,086 new cases recorded, the data showed 1,087 were unvaccinated people, 245 were partially vaccinated people, 5,439 were fully vaccinated people. For 314 people the vaccination status was unknown.
The death toll in the province has risen to 10,666 as 38 more virus-related deaths were added. One of the deaths occurred more than a month ago, officials noted.
*With files from Gabby Rodrigues