Hamilton reporting 11 new COVID deaths, including four people in their 60s

Hamilton's COVID landscape remains bleak, with more new records set Tuesday accompanying 11 new deaths.

Of the new records: 209 new COVID cases reported in one day and 1,714 active cases. The percentage of COVID tests coming back positive jumped to nearly 5 per cent Tuesday, up from 3.4 Monday.

Three of the 11 COVID deaths are linked to outbreaks that previously had no deaths: Blackadar Continuing Care Centre, Aberdeen Gardens Retirement Residence and Juravinski Hospital Unit E3 all reported one death Tuesday.

St. Elizabeth Retirement Residence has one new death, for a total of three, Shalom Village has two new deaths for a total of 17 and Grace Villa has four new deaths for a total of 42.

The 11th death does not appear linked to any outbreaks.

Five who died were in their 80s. Two were in their 70s. Four were in their 60s.

Public health is reporting one new outbreak, with one staff member testing positive at Families 1st, a developmental services home in Stoney Creek.

Five outbreaks are now over, including four school-related outbreaks: Sir Wilfrid Laurier School, St. Thomas More Secondary School, Timothy Christian School and Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic Elementary School. The outbreak at the Carol Anne's Place YWCA shelter is also now over.

Hamilton has recorded a total of 6,788 COVID cases since the pandemic began and 190 deaths. A total of 4,822 cases, or 71 per cent of all cases, are considered resolved. A total of 436 people have been hospitalized. As of Tuesday, 77 people were in hospital.

More to come ...

Katrina Clarke is a Hamilton-based reporter at The Spectator. Reach her via email: katrinaclarke@thespec.com