COVID-19: Middlesex-London Health Unit reports 4 cases, 1 death

Jump to: Hospitalizations – Outbreaks – Schools – Vaccinations and testing – Ontario – Elgin and Oxford – Huron and Perth – Sarnia and Lambton

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The Middlesex-London Health Unit (MLHU) reported just four new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, but added another virus-related death to its total.

To date, there have been 14,509 cases, including 116 active cases (a decrease of 13, 14,147 recoveries (an increase of 16) and 246 deaths.

The latest death involves a woman in her 70s, not associated with a long-term care or retirement home. Based on the MLHU’s data on deaths within the past six weeks, she was unvaccinated.

Of the 116 active cases, 41 involve kids aged 11 or under, a cohort that is not yet eligible for vaccination.

Since Sept. 19, the MLHU says all of the variant of concern cases in the region have been the Delta variant except for one case in which they were unable to generate sequencing. Total counts by the type of variant of concern can be found on the health unit’s summary of COVID-19 cases in Middlesex-London page and clicking the “Case Status” tab.

Hospitalizations

London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) was caring for eight inpatients with COVID-19 as of Tuesday.

There were five or fewer inpatients in adult critical care or the intensive care unit.

There were zero inpatients with COVID-19 in Children’s Hospital and, as a result, zero in pediatric critical care.

Five or fewer staff have currently tested positive for COVID-19.

St. Joseph’s Health Care London (SJHCL) reported three non-outbreak cases involving health-care workers.

Outbreaks

The MLHU is not reporting any active outbreaks in the region involving long-term care homes, retirement homes or hospitals.

The MLHU is reporting an outbreak at Wilberforce Public School, declared Oct. 28. The school has closed to in-person learning until at least Nov. 8 due to the extent of the outbreak.

Previously-reported outbreaks at Clara Brenton Public School, declared Oct. 23, and St. Nicholas Senior Catholic School, declared Oct. 24, were both listed as resolved as of Nov. 1.

The MLHU is also reporting an outbreak at Waddling Duck Daycare, declared Oct. 30, involving two cases.

Schools

The following schools have active cases associated with them, according to the MLHU:

• Byron Somerset Public School (one case)
• John P. Robarts Public School (one case)
• Oakridge Secondary School (one case)
• Providence Reformed Collegiate (one case)
• Saunders Secondary School (one case)
• St. Nicholas Senior Catholic School (three cases)
• W. Sherwood Fox Public School (one case)
• Wilberforce Public School (13 cases)

As previously mentioned, there are two cases at Waddling Duck Daycare, where an outbreak has been declared.

The health unit says at least 200 cases have been reported since the start of the school year involving elementary and secondary schools, as well as child-care and early years centres.

Vaccinations and testing

The MLHU released updated vaccination data on Tuesday, covering up to the end of day Oct. 30. 

According to the MLHU’s data, the region is less than a percentage point away from having 90 per cent of the eligible population with at least one dose.

Among those aged 12 and older, 89.2 per cent have had at least one dose while 85.6 per cent are fully immunized.

Among the cohort with the lowest vaccine uptake, those aged 18 to 24, 78.0 per cent are fully immunized.

Those aged 12 to 17 have the highest vaccination rate of anyone under the age of 60, with 87.9 per cent fully vaccinated and 92.9 per cent with at least one dose.

Since Sept. 21, unvaccinated individuals have accounted for 60.1 per cent of all cases (or 345 of 574 cases) and 69.57 per cent of all hospitalizations (16 of 23).

The rest of the cases and hospitalizations involved individuals who were fully vaccinated, partially vaccinated or not yet protected by vaccination.

Of the eight COVID-19-related deaths reported in the last six weeks, four involved people who were unvaccinated, two involved individuals who were fully vaccinated and two involved people who were partially vaccinated.

On the health unit’s website, residents can find information on pop-up clinics, mass vaccination clinics and pharmacies; guidance for anyone vaccinated outside of the province or country; transportation support for those in need; and more.

Anyone looking to be tested for COVID-19 can find information about the locations of testing sites on the health unit’s website.

The latest COVID-19 test positivity rate in the region was 1.8 per cent for the week of Oct. 17, up from 1.1 per cent for the week of Oct. 10.

Ontario

Ontario reported 331 COVID-19 cases Tuesday, of which 156 involved unvaccinated individuals.

According to Tuesday’s report, 44 cases were recorded in York Region, 42 in Toronto, 36 in Peel Region, 23 in Ottawa, 22 in Simcoe Muskoka and 21 in Hamilton.

All other health units had fewer than 20 cases.

Seven more deaths were reported Tuesday.

Among those eligible, 84.6 per cent are fully immunized.

Elgin and Oxford

On Tuesday, Southwestern Public Health (SWPH) reported:

• 4,711 total cases (seven new cases added and two previous cases removed due to data cleanup)
• 88 active cases (a decrease of seven)
• 4,530 resolved cases (an increase of 11)
• 93 deaths to date (an increase of one)
• 1,529 variant of concern cases (an increase of seven, all Delta), with 775 Alpha, 700 Delta and 54 Beta or Gamma

The death involved a woman in her 80s from Elgin County.

This is the second death reported this week. On Monday, SWPH reported a death involving an 85-year-old man from Aylmer.

Of the 88 active cases in the region, 44 were in Elgin County (including 24 in Aylmer) and 44 were in Oxford County (including 22 in Woodstock).

Nine people were hospitalized with COVID-19 with three cases in the ICU as of Tuesday. There are no active institutional outbreaks.

Information on school cases can be found on the websites of the Thames Valley District School Board and the London District Catholic School Board.

The region’s test positivity rate was 3.9 per cent for the week of Oct. 17, up from an adjusted 3.5 per cent for the week of Oct. 10.

On Oct. 31, 83.2 per cent of those aged 12 and older in the region were fully vaccinated while 86.6 per cent have had at least one dose.

Information on where and how to get vaccinated can be found on the health unit’s website.

Huron and Perth

As of Tuesday, Huron Perth Public Health reported:

• 2,343 total cases (an increase of 12 from Friday)
• 28 active cases (a decrease of nine from Friday)
• 2,248 recoveries (an increase of 21 from Friday)
• 67 deaths to date

Among the 28 active cases, 17 were in Perth East. Full case counts by municipality can be found on the health unit’s dashboard.

No one is currently hospitalized with COVID-19 and there are no active cases involving health-care workers, as of Tuesday.

HPPH reported three outbreaks, though there were no long-term care home, retirement home or hospital outbreaks as of Tuesday.

The outbreaks involve:

• Huron Christian School in Clinton, declared Oct. 8 and involving seven student cases.
• Milverton Public School in Perth East, declared Oct. 27 and involving one staff case and 13 student cases.
• an unidentified workplace outbreak

Data on school cases can be found on the websites of the Avon-Maitland District School Board and the Huron-Perth Catholic District School Board.

The region’s test positivity rate was 1.2 per cent for the week of Oct. 17, down from 2.2 per cent for the week of Oct. 10.

HPPH’s vaccine dashboard showed that as of Nov. 1, 81.6 per cent of those aged 12 and older were fully vaccinated while 85.0 per cent have had at least one dose.

Information on how and where to get a vaccine can be found on the health unit’s website.

Sarnia and Lambton

On Tuesday, Lambton Public Health (LPH) reported:

• 4,194 total cases (an increase of nine)
• 43 active cases (an increase of three)
• 4,080 resolved cases (an increase of six)
• 71 deaths to date (unchanged)

The most recent death was reported Oct. 28 and involved someone who was in their 90s.

LPH reported a total of 623 variant of concern cases on Tuesday, unchanged from Monday. Of those, 439 have been Alpha, 166 have been Delta and 18 have been Gamma.

Four COVID-19 patients were in the care of Bluewater Health as of Tuesday.

LPH reported one active outbreak at Queen Elizabeth II Public School in Petrolia, declared Oct. 22 and involving fewer than five cases.

There are also two active workplace outbreaks, declared Oct. 29 and 31, respectively, and each involving two cases. The workplaces involved have not been named.

All active cases at schools within the Lambton Kent District School Board can be found online, as can cases at schools within the St. Clair Catholic District School Board.

The test positivity rate for the week of Oct. 17 was 3.8 per cent, down from 5.2 per cent the week prior.

Among area residents aged 12 and older, 80.3 per cent are fully vaccinated and 83.6 per cent have had at least one dose.

Residents can book and re-book COVID-19 vaccine appointments or find information on vaccine availability at pharmacies using the health unit’s registration page. People can also call the vaccine call centre at 226-254-8222.

Those who are able to get vaccinated on short notice are encouraged to sign up for Lambton Public Health’s daily Vaccine Standby List.

—With files from Global News’ Gabby Rodrigues