While single-day COVID-19 case numbers are beginning to fall due to changes in testing eligibility, the number of hospital staff and patients with the virus continues to go up.
The London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) reported on Wednesday that it has 63 COVID-19 inpatients in its care, up by four from the previous day and by 35 from New Year’s Eve. There are currently 261 hospital workers who have tested positive for the virus, up by 51 from Tuesday and by 109 from December 31.
Where numbers remain steady is in the intensive care unit. On Wednesday there were ten inpatients with COVID-19 in the ICU, the same as the previous day and only one more than on New Year’s Eve.
The outbreak on Victoria Hospital’s Adult Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit has grown with 15 staff and five or fewer patients infected. The only other outbreak at the LHSC is on 7IP Clinical Neurosciences at University Hospital, where five or fewer staff and five or fewer patients have contracted the virus.
The Middlesex London Health Unit logged 307 new infections on Wednesday, the lowest daily case count in the region in eight days. While the drop looks promising, public health officials have said it is likely an underestimation of the true number of people with the virus locally. The reason for this is that eligibility for lab-based PCR testing has been limited since December 31 to individuals who live or work in high-risk settings such as seniors’ facilities and hospitals and those admitted to hospital.
More free rapid COVID-19 tests are slated to be handed out in London Thursday and Friday. The province plans to hold a two-day pop-up at Masonville Place to distribute rapid antigen test kits. They will be distributed on a first-come first-serve basis until supply runs out beginning at 9 a.m. each day.
Since the pandemic began in March 2020, there have been a total of 22,099 confirmed cases in the region.
The local death toll is unchanged at 259 with no additional COVID-19 deaths reported in the city or county since December 29.
Resolved cases rose by 402 to 17,706. There are now 4,134 known active cases in the region, a decrease of 87 since Tuesday.
Arbor Trace Alzheimer’s Special Care Center, Kensington Village, and Oakcrossing Retirement Living in London join the growing list of seniors’ facilities that have declared outbreaks of COVID-19. There are now ongoing outbreaks at 26 area long-term care and retirement residences.
Southwestern Public Health reported 106 more COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, increasing the local case count since the pandemic began to 7,828. The death toll rose to 116 with two additional deaths reported since Tuesday. Resolved cases rose to 6,311. There are now 1,401 active cases in the two counties.
The number of people in hospital with COVID-19 in Ontario continues to grow as 11,582 new infections were logged across the province on Wednesday.
A total of 2,081 people infected with the virus are currently in Ontario hospitals. That is up by 791 patients from Tuesday and is the province’s largest one-day increase in hospitalizations of the pandemic. The number of people being hospitalized amid the Omicron variant fueled fifth wave is quickly nearing those seen during the peak of the third wave last April. At that time there were nearly 2,400 COVID-19 inpatients in hospitals across the province. Where numbers continue to differ is in the number of infected admitted to intensive care units. During the peak of the third wave there were roughly 900 people in the ICU. As of Wednesday, the number requiring intensive care was up 22 to 288.
Of those in the ICU, 202 are not fully vaccinated or have an unknown vaccination status and 86 are fully vaccinated, according to Health Minister Christine Elliott.
As a way to combat staff shortages and capacity issues as admissions rise at hospitals, the province has paused all non-emergent and non-urgent surgeries and procedures.
The number of new COVID-19 cases recorded Wednesday was up slightly from the 11,352 confirmed the previous day but is considerably lower than the record high of 18,445 on Saturday. However, the case decline is not a true reflection of spread of the virus in the province as the government recently moved to limit who is eligible for a free PCR test. Currently, only high-risk individuals who are symptomatic or are at risk of severe illness from the virus can get the test.
Ontario’s total case count since the start of the pandemic now sits at 828,032.
According to public health officials, there were 13 additional deaths related to the virus recorded Wednesday, including that of a person under the age of 20. The official death toll now stands at 10,252.
Resolved cases across the province are up by 11,669 to 683,750. That leaves 134,030 known active cases of the virus in Ontario.
In the last 24 hour period, 59,137 COVID-19 tests were processed. Ontario’s positivity rate is now 26.9 per cent, the same as a week ago before testing eligibility was restricted.
The province has administered 27,750,953 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine as of Tuesday night. There are 11.4 million people in Ontario who have received both doses of the vaccine and are considered fully inoculated. There are 4 million people in the province who have now received the booster shot.
