Hamilton’s new COVID cases tilt younger

The city's recent COVID-19 caseload continues to skew toward younger ages.

Over the past 10 days, 20 per cent of Hamilton's new COVID cases have been among people ages 20 to 29.

Another 13 per cent of new cases occurred in children under the age of 10. That's three times the rate for Hamilton children under 10 since the pandemic began.

About 70 per cent of new cases since Aug. 15 have occurred in people under the age of 40.

On a positive note, there are no institutional outbreaks in Hamilton at the moment and there have been no COVID cases occurring in people ages 80 and older in more than two weeks.

Only one new case in the city has required hospitalization over the last week.

The city has recorded a total of 973 COVID cases, including 37 over the past 10 days. There were three new cases on the weekend.

More than 90 per cent of the city's total number of cases are considered resolved.

There have been 45 COVID-related deaths in Hamilton. The city has now gone one month without a COVID death since the last one occurred on July 25.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Hamilton's caseload has skewed younger than the rest of the province.

Ten per cent of the city's cases have been among people under the age of 20 compared to just over six per cent elsewhere in Ontario.

The province reported 105 new cases Monday, bringing the total to 41,507, with 91 per cent of them resolved.

Ontario has now recorded four straight days with more than 100 new cases.

Steve Buist is a Hamilton-based investigative reporter at The Spectator. Reach him via email: sbuist@thespec.com