Hamilton residents who have questions about the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic will have a chance to get some answers Thursday night.
The City of Hamilton will hold another virtual town hall at 7 p.m.
The town hall will include Mayor Fred Eisenberger, the city’s medical officer of health Dr. Elizabeth Richardson, and the director of the city’s emergency operations centre, Paul Johnson.
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Residents can submit questions on the city’s website or via its Twitter account, @cityofhamilton.
The town hall will be broadcast live on 900 CHML and streamed live on the City of Hamilton’s YouTube channel.
On Wednesday, the director of Hamilton’s emergency operations centre said the city’s case count per 100,000 as of Wednesday exceeded the province’s maximum for remaining in the red-control level of the province’s new COVID-19 response framework.
“What will happen Friday? We don’t know. It’s the same process. There’s a conversation, but ultimately cabinet will make the decision about what category Hamilton is,” Johnson said.
The director suggested the city could be headed for lockdown — a move to the grey level of the framework.
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On Tuesday, the city’s medical officer of health Dr. Elizabeth Richardson revealed the weekly incidence rate is 83 per 100,000.
Another recent concern for public health has been the omission of information coming from contact tracing interviews. Richardson says some people with COVID-19 who may have been at a social gathering have not been admitting it.
“They may feel a little embarrassed because they don’t want to admit that they were out and socializing because we’ve been saying a lot about that,” Richardson said.
She went on to say it’s potentially “stigmatizing” for some people who may not believe that they’ve transmitted the virus.
“What we’ve been able to do here in Hamilton is identify those places that are having outbreaks so we can work hard to bring them under control,” Richardson said.
Hamilton reports 77 new COVID-19 cases
Hamilton Public Health reported 77 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday. The city has had 662 new cases reported in the last 10 days.
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The number of active cases in Hamilton is 628 as of Wednesday.
Public health says there are 24 active outbreaks at 22 locations in Hamilton as of Dec. 9, including:
- Nine long-term care homes (LTCH) — Baywoods Place, Chartwell Willowgrove, Grace Villa, Hamilton Continuing Care, Heritage Green, Idlewyld Manor, Macassa Lodge, St. Joseph’s Villa (south tower) and Wellington Nursing Home
- One retirement home — The Village at Wentworth Heights
- Three workplaces — Woodward Wastewater Construction Project, O’Neil’s Farm Equipment, and 3 for 1 Glasses
- Four schools — Adelaide Hoodless Elementary, Lawfield Elementary, Sir Wilfrid Laurier Elementary School and St. Mark’s Elementary School
There are also outbreaks at seven other locations, including Canadian Electrical Raceways Inc., La Garderie le Petit Navire daycare, Rygiel Supports for Community Living, CONNECT Communities and three units of the Juravinski Hospital.
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The largest reported outbreaks involve Grace Villa LTCH, which has had 112 COVID-19 cases since Nov. 25, Chartwell Willowgrove LTCH with 93 cases since its outbreak began on Oct. 22, Hamilton Continuing Care, which has had 49 total cases since starting on Oct. 31, Baywood Place with 42 cases since starting Nov. 1 and St. Joeseph’s Villa has had 45 total cases since an outbreak began on Nov. 20.
The city has seen 3,824 total cases during the pandemic. There are now 49 people in hospital receiving treatment for COVID-19.