For the second consecutive day, there was a slight jump in the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations and hospital worker infections in the London region.
The London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) reported that it has one additional patient with COVID-19 in its care than on Tuesday, for a total of 23 inpatients with the virus. That is still fewer than at this time last week when there were 29 COVID positive inpatients at the LHSC. The number of people with COVID-19 in the intensive care unit remained at five or fewer and Children’s Hospital has five or fewer patients with COVID-19, unchanged from Tuesday.
The LHSC specified that, of the 23 COVID-19 patients at its hospitals, nine are being treated for COVID-19, while 14 were admitted for other reasons but also have the virus.
The hospital network reported on Wednesday that it currently has 172 employees who have tested positive for the virus. That is up from 167 on Tuesday and 155 a week ago.
The Middlesex London Health Unit logged 102 new COVID-19 infections on Wednesday, up from 40 the previous day. It is the first time this month daily case counts have been above 100 in London and Middlesex County. The death toll was unchanged at 356. Resolved cases increased to 32,302, leaving the number of known active cases locally at 659. However, public health officials have said current case numbers are likely an underestimation of the true number of people with the virus due to eligibility changes for lab-based PCR testing.
Southwestern Public Health reported 57 more COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, increasing the local case count since the pandemic began to 11,725. The death toll increased to 154, as another COVID-19 related death was recorded. It is the region’s first COVID-19 death in a week. Resolved cases rose to 11,358 and there are now 213 known active cases in the two counties. The health unit announced on Wednesday that the mass vaccination clinic at the St. Thomas Memorial Area will close its doors in a little over a week. Its last day of operation will be on April 1. After that anyone in need of a shot can go to the health unit head office at 1230 Talbot Street Monday, Wednesday or Friday from 9 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Ontario’s COVID-19 hospitalizations went down on Wednesday.
A total of 611 people infected with the virus are currently in hospitals across the province. That is down 28 from Tuesday. The province did not release the breakdown of people admitted to hospital because of the virus compared to those there for other reasons but who have also tested positive. Technical issues were cited for the data not being issued.
Of those in hospital, 174 are in the ICU, down five from the previous day.
According to public health officials, there were 13 additional deaths related to the virus on Wednesday. One previously reported death was removed as part of a data cleanup. The official death toll now stands at 12,356.
The province recorded 2,149 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, which is considered an underestimate of community spread. Daily case numbers are no longer thought to be a true reflection of spread of the virus in the province as the government has limited who is eligible for a free PCR test.
Ontario’s total case count since the start of the pandemic now sits at 1,143,014.
Resolved cases across the province are up by 2,149 to 1,114,388.
In the last 24 hour period, 18,267 COVID-19 tests were processed. Ontario’s positivity rate data was not released.
The province has administered 31,994,276 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine as of Tuesday night. About 90.8 per cent of Ontarians 12 and older have received both doses of the vaccine. There are more than 7.1 million people in the province who have now received the booster shot.
