Fourteen people have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, two people have recovered, and two new outbreaks have been declared at local seniors’ homes, officials with the Middlesex-London Health Unit (MLHU) reported Friday.
It brings the region’s total case count to 839, of which 689 people have recovered. Fifty-seven people have died, a tally unchanged since June 12.
Friday marks the fourth time in a week and a half that the region has reported double-digit case increases in a single day — the others being Sept. 23, Sept. 17, and Sept. 16.
It comes as the region continues to grapple with an increase in cases this month, part of a second wave of the coronavirus, local health officials have said.
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All 14 cases reported Friday are from London, Ont., health unit figures show. Eight cases involve people aged 19 and under, five involve people in their 20s, and one involves someone in their 60s.
So far this month, at least 38 of the 107 cases reported in the region have involved people aged 19 or under, while 46 cases have involved people in their 20s.
Nine of Friday’s cases became infected through close contact, and one through an outbreak. Two cases have their exposure source listed as pending, while two have no known link.
Health officials reported three new cases, one recovery, and one new outbreak on Thursday, and reported 12 new cases and two recoveries on Wednesday. Seven cases and one recovery were reported Tuesday, and five cases and two recoveries on Monday.
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No new cases have been reported at local elementary or secondary schools, according to the province. One case has been reported so far involving a student at H.B. Beal Secondary School.
At least two cases have been reported involving students who are removed from the school system and are learning from home.
“I think it’s really important for all parents to remember that choosing distance learning does not mean that your children are entirely safe from coronavirus,” said Dr. Chris Mackie, the region’s medical officer of health, on Thursday.
The total number of Western University students who have tested positive for the virus remains unclear as health officials say they will refrain from releasing a regular tally.
As many as 50 Western students were previously known to have tested positive over the last two weeks, though that number is likely higher now following the two double-digit increases seen this week.
At least 40 cases in the region, including some who aren’t students, have been linked to two community outbreaks declared last week by the health unit.
An outbreak involving a large house party on the weekend of the 12th has been tied to at least 23 cases, officials said Thursday.
Meanwhile, “Western Student Outbreak Alpha,” the first student-associated outbreak to be declared by the health unit, has been linked to at least 17 cases. The outbreak, declared Sept. 13, has been largely traced back to three households, with a night out at a downtown nightclub and subsequent hangouts at off-campus residences serving as main infection points.
Mackie said Thursday that no new outbreak-linked cases had been reported to the health unit for several days.
No new cases have been reported involving a separate outbreak that was declared at a northwest London Walmart.
WAIT TIME for Carling Heights Assessment Center: The assessment center is at capacity for today. #MLHU #LdnOnt
— MLHealthUnit (@MLHealthUnit) September 25, 2020
The city’s two assessment centres have continued to see significant capacity issues over the last two weeks since the local case tally began to grow. Friday was no different.
Londoners who ventured out to the city’s Carling Heights assessment centre Friday morning found themselves out of luck after the facility reached capacity an hour before it was officially set to open. The news was officially announced by the health unit on Twitter.
On the other side of the city, one Twitter user wrote they had visited the Oakridge Arena assessment centre at 7:45 a.m. only to find it out of capacity and with no more appointment tickets available. The testing centre opens at 9 a.m. during the week.
It marks the first time that both facilities have hit capacity before opening.
On Thursday, both Carling Heights and Oakridge Arena reached capacity before noon for the first time during the pandemic.
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The early closures are being blamed on the unexpected breakdown of testing instruments at London Health Sciences Centre’s (LHSC) testing lab, which limited the centre’s testing abilities.
Health unit figures show that a total of 432 clients were seen at both centres on Thursday, a steep decline from the record 837 that were seen Wednesday, the same day both facilities reported more than 400 client visits each.
In a statement early Friday afternoon, LHSC, which operates the two assessment centres alongside Thames Valley Family Health Team, said the critical repairs created a one-day processing backlog that was expected to be resolved by Monday.
A graph showing the number of people seen at London’s COVID-19 assessment centres.
via Middlesex-London Health Unit
Both centres have been plagued by capacity issues and hours-long wait times since early last week.
Mayor Ed Holder issued a plea to the province Thursday asking them to expand to London its plan to begin COVID-19 testing in pharmacies.
Both Carling Heights and Oakridge Arena now have a ticketing system in place that allows people to return at a later time to get tested. An appointment booking system is expected to be in place early next month.
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Two additional institutional outbreaks have been added to the region’s total while one outbreak has been declared over, the health unit says.
The two outbreaks, both declared on Thursday, are located at Meadow Park Care Centre in its blue and yellow units, and at Peoplecare Oak Crossing in its Red Oak area.
Two active outbreaks also remain at Country Terrace, declared Sept. 23, and at Ashwood Manor Retirement Home, declared Sept. 21. Both outbreaks are facility-wide.
Meantime, the outbreak declared Sept. 9 on the fourth floor of Chelsey Park Retirement Community has been declared over. The outbreak was considered resolved as of Thursday.
It’s unclear how many cases are linked to the five recent outbreaks.
At least 32 institutional outbreaks have been declared in the region, including 26 at seniors’ facilities. They have been tied to 197 cases involving residents and staff and 35 deaths.
“It is not surprising. It is very concerning. We’re working closely with those facilities,” Mackie said Thursday, noting the changing weather means more people inside and more opportunity for the virus to spread.
“There are a lot of things where we have more experience now in terms of infection control expertise in those facilities. Now, the staff all have lots of experience in training, we have better pipelines for personal protective equipment. We’re not going to see the sort of mask shortages, for example, that we did in the spring.”
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The region’s seven-day average for new cases stood at 7.0 as of Friday. Looking back to Sept. 11, the 14-day average is 6.92. The region’s incident rate stood at 165.3 per 100,000 people, while Ontario’s was 326.3.
By age, health unit figures show people in their 20s account for the most number of cases, with 196, or about 23.3 per cent.
People in their 50s make up 116 of the region’s cases, or about 14 per cent, while those in their 30s and those 80 and above make up 13 per cent of cases with 111 and 110, respectively.
Those aged 19 and under make up 69 cases — at least 38 of those are from this month.
No new hospitalizations were reported Friday, but it’s unclear how many, if any, there are in the region. Real-time data is not released by the health unit, and LHSC will only issue a tally if patient cases rise above five.
A total of 115 people have been hospitalized, including 32 who have needed intensive care.
Ontario
Provincially, Ontario reported 409 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday and one new death.
Health Minister Christine Elliott says 65 per cent of the new cases are in people under the age of 40.
She says 204 new cases are in Toronto, while 66 are in Peel Region, and 40 are in Ottawa.
The province is also reporting 29 new COVID-19 cases related to schools, including at least 10 among students.
Those bring the number of schools with a reported case to 198 out of Ontario’s 4,828 publicly-funded schools.
The province says it processed 41,865 tests over the previous day, with another 65,227 under investigation.
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Bars and restaurants in the province are being forced to shut down earlier, and all strip clubs in Ontario are being closed in a bid to curb rising COVID-19 rates in the province.
The government says bars and restaurants will be required to close at midnight, except for takeout and delivery, and will have to stop serving alcohol by 11 p.m.
The province is also ordering all strip clubs to close.
Health Minister Christine Elliott says the tighter regulations will help limit the potential for exposure in places where the risk of transmission is higher.
The move comes after the province changed the rules surrounding social gatherings last week, lowering the number of people permitted at outdoor events to 25 and indoor events to 10.
— Story will be updated with figures from neighbouring health units.
— With files from The Canadian Press