Hamilton reports 2,271 new COVID cases in three days as testing rules change
Hamilton's seven-day daily average of new COVID-19 cases jumped by 100 Monday as Ontario announced new restrictions to slow the spread of the highly-transmissible Omicron variant.
The new provincial restrictions, which come into effect first thing Wednesday, include shuttering gyms, banning indoor dining at restaurants, placing a five-person limit on indoor social gatherings and 10 on outdoor gatherings, and sending students attending public and private schools back to online learning for two weeks.
The restrictions are expected to last until Jan. 26 at the earliest. Online schooling is scheduled to end Jan. 17, though the end date may be extended.
I know everyone is tired, especially after a tough holiday season," said Health Minister Christine Elliott at a Monday news conference. But the government says the measures are necessary to slow the spread of COVID and avoid overwhelming hospitals that are already stretched thin.
While the risks for severe illness are lower with Omicron than with the previous variants of concern, it is far more transmissible and hospitalizations are expected to continue to increase placing greater pressure on our health system," said Dr. Kieran Moore, Ontario's chief medical officer of health.
On Monday, Hamilton public health reported 2,271 new COVID cases, which includes cases reported over the weekend and Monday. The seven-day average of new cases is now 717. On Friday, public health reported 818 new cases, with a seven-day daily average of 613. It's not known how many cases were reported each day on Saturday, Sunday or Monday as public health does not provide that breakdown. Daily cases are not reported on weekends.
Additionally, some COVID data is becoming increasingly unreliable; the rules for who can access PCR tests, which confirm if someone has COVID, recently changed - and even before that, test appointments were backlogged and rapid tests were hard to come by. The only people able to access PCR COVID tests, effective Dec. 31, are high-risk individuals who are showing symptoms, employees and residents in vulnerable settings, and staff and students in schools distributing PCR kits.
We also know less about outbreaks. On Christmas Eve, the city announced staff were overwhelmed" and that public health would stop reporting outbreaks in settings like workplaces in favour of focusing on higher-risk settings such as hospitals.
In Hamilton, a total of 43 outbreaks are ongoing.
A new outbreak at the Hamilton-Wentworth Detention Centre was declared Dec. 31. A total of 17 inmates and one staff member have tested positive.
According to public health's website, there is a COVID death connected with an outbreak at Hamilton Health Sciences in the 8S medicine unit. A total of 24 people, including 20 patients and four staff have tested positive in the hospital outbreak.
Since the pandemic began, 427 people have died due to COVID. Public health defines a COVID death as one in which COVID was a contributing or underlying cause of death" in which there is no clear alternative cause of death."
There are 143 COVID-positive patients at Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS), including 20 in the ICU. That's up from 113 patients and 13 in the ICU from Friday. It is not clear how many are vaccinated. St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton was still reporting Friday's numbers at deadline - 57 patients in hospital with COVID and six in the ICU.
At HHS, 516 staff are self-isolating, up from 411 Friday. At St. Joe's, 143 staff and physicians were self-isolating as of Friday.
Katrina Clarke is a reporter at The Spectator. katrinaclarke@thespec.com