COVID variants continue to surge in Hamilton as city marks 300th death
Hamilton reported more than 400 presumed cases of highly infectious COVID-19 variants Saturday as the city recorded another triple-digit increase in its total case load.
The city now has 430 presumed cases of variants, which are more contagious and believed to cause more severe illness, and 10 cases confirmed as the B.1.1.7 variant - which originated in the U.K. That's up 70 from the 361 presumed cases and 9 confirmed cases reported Friday.
All COVID-19 cases in Ontario are screened for the variants that were first identified in the United Kingdom, South Africa and Brazil. Cases that screen positive for a variant are then sent to a lab for confirmation. Nearly all of those cases end up being confirmed, according to Hamilton's medical officer of health.
Hamilton recorded 121 new cases on Saturday as well as one new death, marking a total of 300 since the pandemic was declared last March.
The new death was in a resident over the age of 80. Nothing more is known about the deaths as public health no longer shares that information.
Public health reported one new death connected to an outbreak on the F3 (Acute Medicine) Unit of the Juravinski on Saturday - marking the second death in the outbreak that was declared on March 12. As of Saturday, 32 patients and 12 staff members have been infected.
As of Saturday, Hamilton has 30 active outbreaks.
An outbreak at Kingdom Worship Centre, a church on Upper Wellington Street, was declared Thursday after six parishioners tested positive for the virus.
Shalom Village, the site of one the city's deadliest outbreaks, has also been put back into outbreak protocol after a staff member tested positive.
An outbreak has also been declared at Blackadar Continuing Care in Dundas, where one staff member has tested positive.
An active outbreak at the Rygiel Supports for Community Living on the city's west Mountain has quickly grown to 10 cases, up from just one on Friday. The outbreak - which has screened positive for a variant - has infected four residents and six staff members.
Outbreaks at AbleLiving Services on York Boulevard, Red Hill Toyota on Barton Street East, Scharringa Greenhouses in Waterdown, Notre Dame House Youth Shelter on Cannon Street and Central Elementary School on Hunter Street have all been declared over.
Hamilton has recorded a total of 11,734 confirmed and probable cases of COVID since the pandemic began. Of those, 669 are active cases and 10,586 cases, or 90 per cent of all cases, are considered resolved.
Since the start of the pandemic 897 Hamiltonians have been hospitalized.
Fallon Hewitt is a Hamilton-based reporter at The Spectator. Reach her via email: fhewitt@thespec.com