London COVID-19 ICU admissions hold steady

There was a slight rise in COVID-19 hospitalizations in London on Friday, but the number of people admitted to the intensive care unit with the virus saw no change.

The London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) confirmed 20 inpatients with the virus are currently in its care, an increase of one since Thursday. The hospital network noted half of the 20 infected inpatients were admitted for treatment of the virus. The remaining ten came to the hospital for other reasons and tested positive for the virus. With the exception of Thursday, hospitalizations locally have been in the low-to-mid 20s since June 1.

The hospital network has five or fewer patients with COVID listed in intensive care, unchanged from Thursday. Children’s Hospital has five or fewer inpatients with the virus, an increase over the previous day. None of the infected kids are listed in paediatric critical care.

The number of hospital workers testing positive for the virus went down over the past 24 hours. The LHSC said there are currently 59 employees with COVID-19, down one since Thursday. At this time last week, there were 83 infected workers.

An outbreak on University Hospital’s U6 CVT unit is ongoing.

The Middlesex London Health Unit logged another 13 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, up from 16 the previous day. The health unit continues to note that single-day case counts are likely an underestimate of the true number of people in the region with the virus, due to limited testing eligibility. The total number of confirmed infections in the region since the pandemic began is now 38,389.

For the first time in four days, there were no additional deaths linked to the virus. Six deaths were recorded between Tuesday and Thursday, including four on Wednesday. The COVID-19 death toll in London and Middlesex County is 399.

The number of resolved cases rose to 37,748. There are 242 known active cases in the region, down 16 over the past 24 hours

In Elgin and Oxford counties, there were 18 new COVID-19 cases reported Friday. Southwestern Public Health, the health unit for the region, said that brings the local total number of cases to 13,993 with 13,747 resolved. There were no additional COVID-19 deaths locally, leaving the death toll at 169. There are currently 77 known active cases in the two counties.

COVID-19 hospitalizations and ICU admission in Ontario both saw decreases on Friday.

There are currently 536 people in hospitals in Ontario with the virus, down 13 since Thursday. At this time last week, 669 hospitalizations were reported across the province.

Of the 536 people in hospital Friday, roughly 42 per cent were admitted because of the virus, while 58 per cent were admitted for other reasons and tested positive for the virus.

In intensive care units, there are 110 patients with COVID-19, down eight since Thursday.

Ontario logged 835 new cases of COVID-19 over the past 24 hours. Public health officials have cautioned the daily counts are an underestimate of the spread of the virus in the province due to limited PCR testing eligibility.

Ontario’s total case count since the start of the pandemic now stands at 1,311,360.

Public health officials confirmed ten additional deaths over the past 24 hours, pushing the death toll up to 13,324. The province said all of the latest deaths occurred within the last month.

The number of resolved cases are up by 999 to 1,289,514.

In the last 24 hour period, 9,192 COVID-19 tests were processed. Ontario’s positivity rate is now 7.3 per cent, unchanged from a week ago.

To date, the province has administered 33,487,598 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, with 91.4 per cent of people 12 and older having received two shots. More than 7.3 million Ontarians or 57.1 per cent have received a third shot.


Read original story from London Ontario – BlackburnNews.com