Waterloo Public Health reported four new COVID-19-related deaths on Wednesday, raising the death toll in the region to 365, including 52 victims already in 2022.
“Today we are reporting four deaths in our community related to COVID-19,” Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang, medical officer of health, stated. “The individuals were a male in his 90s, a female in her 90s, a male in his 80s, and a female in her 70s. I wish to express my deep sympathy to the families of these individuals.”
Three of the victims resided at long-term care or retirement homes that are currently under active outbreak: one person from the Columbia Forest Retirement Home in Waterloo, another connected to the Westhill Retirement Home in Kitchener a third involving St. Luke’s Place in Cambridge.
There are currently 61 active COVID-19 outbreaks in the region, including 32 at long-term care or retirement homes, 16 in congregate settings and 13 at the three area hospitals.
A week ago, there were 75 active outbreaks in the region. Most that have come to an end were in congregate settings.
The area hospitals continue to be stretched as they are currently caring for 111 patients suffering from COVID-19, including 22 who are in need of intensive care.
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Waterloo Public Health also reported another 163 positive tests for the coronavirus, lifting the total number of cases in the area to 38,594.
This drops the rolling seven-day average number of new daily cases to 154.7. A week ago, that number was 246, but the numbers are considered an underestimation of actual community caseload since changes to testing availability have decreased the veracity of the totals.
In addition, another 189 people were also cleared of the virus, lifting the total number of resolved cases in the area to 36,082.
This drops the number of active cases in the area to 1,527, whereas last Wednesday that number stood at 2,162.
On the other side of the equation, Waterloo Public Health reports that there have now been 1,268,627 COVID-19 vaccinations, an increase of 1,390 from Tuesday.
Another 1,120 are residents received a third dose of vaccine, lifting the total to 268,627, while another 475 residents got a second jab, lifting that total to 477,936.
Elsewhere, Ontario reported 2,939 people in hospital with COVID-19 on Wednesday, with 555 in intensive care units.
This is down by 152 hospitalizations and a decrease of 13 in ICUs since the previous day. Last Wednesday, there were 4,016 hospitalizations with 608 in ICU.
Meanwhile, Ontario also reported 3,909 new lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, 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 1,039,825.
The death toll in the province has risen to 11,576 as 72 more virus-related deaths were added. Officials noted that three deaths were removed from the cumulative total due to data cleanup and these deaths occurred more than a month ago.
— with files from Global News’ Gabby Rodrigues
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