COVID outbreak at Hamilton apartment building nearly doubles
COVID cases at a Hamilton apartment building nearly doubled Friday - with infections jumping to 65 from 34.
The spike in cases at the Village Apartments, located at 151 Queen St. N., is likely due to recent widespread door-to-door COVID testing, said Lori-Anne Gagne, CEO of Victoria Park Community Homes, which manages the building. A total of 530 residents at the building were tested on Tuesday and Wednesday, she said.
Of the 65 cases, one involves a staff member and the rest are residents, according to Hamilton public health's outbreak chart.
Meanwhile, Village residents are still wondering when they'll be prioritized for vaccines, Gagne said.
The information we've received from public health has been somewhat vague," she said when asked if a vaccine clinic for residents was in the works.
Public health will only say they plan to offer vaccine appointments to residents of the Village Apartments and Wellington Place Apartments - the site of another outbreak - that will follow a similar approach" to Rebecca Towers, another outbreak. Rebecca Towers residents age 18 and older are able to attend a walk-in clinic on May 14, 15 and 16 from 7:30 to 8 p.m. at FirstOntario Centre. Residents asked for an on-site clinic but that request went unheeded.
Dates and times will be communicated to residents as details are finalized," said James Berry, public health spokesperson, of the pending Village and Wellington Place vaccination appointments.
Communication problems are manifesting in other ways too.
Gagne said public health told residents they would be called/notified" of their test result following door-to-door testing.
However, our phones were flooded with calls this morning from residents indicating they had not heard anything so we followed up with public health to learn that the residents would have to get their results through an online portal," she said
The outbreak at Rebecca Towers is holding steady at 109 cases, while the Wellington Place outbreak involves 22 cases.
Hamilton recorded new outbreaks Friday at a landscaping company, a health-care services organization and an aluminum die-casting company. Paramount Landscaping Inc., Mohawk Medbuy Corporation and Orlick Industries Ltd. all have two staff cases.
Meanwhile, Hamilton's active case count dipped below 1,000 for the first time in a month.
There are 967 active cases and 118 new COVID cases - though public health has said its daily count has been under-reported for two weeks. The city's seven-day average of new daily cases is 120.
The city is inching closer to a milestone 20,000 total cases. The cumulative count - all cases recorded in Hamilton since the pandemic began - stood at 19,074 on Friday, with 91 per cent of those cases resolved. A total of 373 people with COVID have died. No new deaths were reported Friday.
Three outbreaks are now over. D and D Custom Steel Products Ltd. had six staff cases, as did the Hamilton Fire Department's Station 12, while 3TEC Computer Services had two cases.
There are 128 COVID patients in Hamilton hospitals. St. Joseph's Healthcare is caring for 39 COVID patients, with 26 of those in the ICU, and Hamilton Health Sciences is treating 89 COVID patients, with 33 in the ICU.
Katrina Clarke is a Hamilton-based reporter at The Spectator. Reach her via email: katrinaclarke@thespec.com