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

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For the first time in nearly a month, health officials on Thursday reported no COVID-19-related deaths in London and Middlesex.

Thirty-nine new cases were reported, the same as the day before, bringing the region’s pandemic case tally to 5,561. At least 3,771 people have recovered, an increase of seven.

At least 173 people have died, including at least 67 since Jan. 1. Up until Thursday, the region had reported at least one COVID-19-related death for the last 27 days in a row.

In addition, at least 2,150 cases have been reported since the beginning of the month, more than any other during the pandemic.

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As of Thursday, there were at least 1,617 active coronavirus cases in the London and Middlesex area, according to health unit figures.

As was the case Wednesday, no additional information is available about the 39 new confirmed cases due to ongoing updates to the health unit’s reporting dashboard.

The health unit says the process is expected to be completed Friday, and says the new system will also allow officials to provide virtual notifications to those diagnosed with COVID-19.

Hospitalizations

The number of COVID-19 inpatients in the care of London Health Sciences Centre stood at 20 as of Thursday, an increase of three from the day before.

At the same time, eight people are in critical or intensive care with COVID-19, an increase of four from Wednesday, the organization reported.

Active staff cases within LHSC, however, remain unchanged at 16. LHSC is dealing with an ongoing outbreak in its emergency department at University Hospital, tied to 10 staff cases.

At St. Joseph’s Hospital, no COVID-19 patients were reported to be in the care of the facility, St. Joseph’s Health Care London reported.

According to SJHCL, five staff cases remain active within the organization, all linked to an outbreak at Mount Hope Centre for Long-Term Care.

As of Tuesday, at least 334 people have had to be hospitalized for COVID-19 during the pandemic, including 66 who needed intensive care.

Institutional outbreaks

One new institutional outbreak has been declared in the region, the health unit reported late Wednesday.

The outbreak was declared at Kensington Village Retirement in its 5th, 6th, and 7th Avenue areas. It’s not clear how many cases have been linked to the outbreak.

As of late Wednesday, 13 institutional outbreaks were active in London and Middlesex, with 11 at long-term care and retirement homes and two at hospitals.

Two outbreaks remain active at local hospitals. One, in the emergency department of University Hospital, is tied to 10 staff cases. Another outbreak is active in 2 South at Strathroy Middlesex General Hospital.

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A non-institutional outbreak is also still active at Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre, connected to at least 19 inmate cases and 13 staff cases. No new cases were reported Thursday.

Since March, the region has seen at least 93 institutional outbreaks in London and Middlesex, including 67 at local seniors’ facilities.

Seniors’ facilities alone had been linked to at least 340 resident cases and 362 staff cases as of Tuesday. At least 95 have died.

Schools

No new school cases were reported by the Thames Valley District School Board or by the London District Catholic School Board.

As of Wednesday, one case is active, according to TVDSB. It was reported at Chippewa Public School on Sunday.

At least 181 school and child-care centre cases have been reported since the pandemic began.

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Students in London, Ont., area to return to school Monday

London-area students will be returning to in-person learning beginning next week.

The province announced Thursday that students within the Middlesex-London Health Unit will be among some 280,000 students in the province who will return to the classroom on Monday.

Students under the Eastern Ontario Health Unit, Southwestern Public Health, and Ottawa Public Health are also returning to in-person learning.

The move comes on the support of local medical officers of health and with “additional lawers of protection” according to the province.

Previously, local school boards had told 980 CFPL that the province had informed them the earliest return date would be Feb. 11.

“Local PHUs (public health units) continue to have the authority to close schools based on their unique circumstances, and parents may choose to permit their children to continue learning remotely,” the province said in a release.

“In the PHUs that are permitted to return to in-person learning on February 1, before and after school child care programs may also resume on February 1 and emergency child care will end on January 29.”

Vaccinations and Testing

As of Wednesday, local health officials say all high-risk retirement home residents in the region have received their initial doses of the coronavirus vaccine.

It comes after the vaccination of all eligible local long-term care home residents concluded over the weekend.

Just over 6,000 long-term care and retirement home residents have been vaccinated as of Wednesday, in addition to the 10,000 or so staff who were vaccinated at the Agriplex.

Earlier this week, the health unit issued its draft COVID-19 vaccination plan, described as a framework for a coordinated and integrated approach to vaccinating at least three-quarters of eligible recipients in the region in as short a time as possible.

“It’s a first draft, so we’ll receive some feedback from the ministry before finalizing the plan. We’ve also released that plan for public input and comment as well, so we look forward to hearing people’s thoughts there,” Dr. Mackie said Wednesday.

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In meeting its goal, some 377,685 people must be vaccinated with a total of 755,370 doses, the health unit says, something that will be done through the use of mass vaccination and mobile clinics, primary care settings, and pharmacies.

London has one mass vaccination clinic at the Western Fair District Agriplex. The health unit says it’s pursuing locations for three additional clinics, with the goal of administering 3,000 vaccines per day in London-Middlesex.

It’s expected that site selection and acquisition will be completed by the end of next January, with each facility “ready for activation by mid-February 2021.”

In addition to the mass clinics and to the mobile clinics that will target long-term care and retirement home residents, shelters, group homes, and housebound individuals, health officials say primary care settings, in particular, will play a critical role in the program, namely in the third phase of the province’s three-phase rollout.

The document also details the health unit’s communication plans in increasing awareness and confidence of the vaccine and addressing vaccine hesitancy, and the logistics challenges health officials anticipate, namely when it comes to cold storage requirements and getting the vaccine out to more rural areas where people have more limited transportation options.

“It’s not a vaccine that can easily be sent out to all family doctors or pharmacies. The vaccine requires a very high level of cold chain, so you’ve got to have ultra-low temperature freezers to keep the vaccine preserved in order for it to remain viable,” Mackie said.

“That really limits how we can distribute the vaccine. So at this point, we don’t have a great option for widely distributing in many locations, and that will be something that we work on over the next while.”

Mackie said various solutions could also be implemented in bringing people to the vaccine if bringing the vaccine to them isn’t feasible.

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Due to the health unit’s dashboard upgrades, no updated information is available regarding visitation numbers at the city’s two assessment centres. Both are continuing to operate by appointment only.

At least 3.6 per cent of tests came back positive as of the week of Jan. 10, down from 6.1 per cent the week prior. Updated numbers were expected Wednesday, but with the dashboard updates, it’s unclear whether new test positivity data will be released this week.

At least 12,103 tests were conducted the week of Jan. 10, down from 12,901 a week earlier.

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Ontario

Ontario is reporting 2,093 new cases of COVID-19 and 56 more deaths linked to the virus.

Health Minister Christine Elliott says there are 700 new cases in Toronto, 331 in Peel Region, and 228 in York Region.

The province is reporting that 11,910 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine were administered since the last daily update.

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A total of 317,240 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in the province so far.

Ontario says it had previously misinterpreted data on the number of people who received both doses of the vaccine, leading to an incorrect doubling of that figure in earlier updates.

The province now says that 55,286 people have been fully inoculated against COVID-19.

Nearly 64,700 tests were completed since the last daily update.

— This article will be updated with data from neighbouring health units.

— With files from The Canadian Press

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