Sharp rise in Hamilton’s recent COVID cases seen in kids, teens
The city's recent COVID-19 caseload has seen an significant spike in cases among children and teenagers.
Just over half of Hamilton's 27 new COVID cases over the past 10 days have involved young people between the ages of 10 and 19.
Hamilton's medical officer of health says the increase is due to the spread of the disease between family members.
It is that close and prolonged contact and usually they're getting it from an adult who's brought it in," said Dr. Elizabeth Richardson. So the adult gets it, the family gets quarantined and then the kids get sick."
There have been 91 new COVID cases recorded in Hamilton during August. That's almost twice as many as July, which saw 52 new COVID cases.
Is it going to keep going up as we continue to reopen or is this just going to be a fluctuation that happens over the months to come?" Richardson said. The thing that really worries me is people getting tired of masking, getting tired of staying home.
We're tired of talking about COVID and everyone's fatigued," she said. But it really needs to be like the seatbelts in your car - these are the things we do right now for safety.
These are the things we need to do right now even if it feels like it's been going on too long."
The number of active cases has also been creeping up in Hamilton during August.
There are now 73 active cases in the city. On July 27, there were only 14.
I don't want to see that trend keep going up and up," Richardson said.
There are bright spots however.
In the past 10 days, there hasn't been a single new COVID case in Hamiltonians over the age of 59. Seniors are at the greatest risk for severe health consequences from coronavirus infection.
There have only been two new hospitalizations due to COVID over the last two weeks.
And Hamilton hasn't recorded any new COVID-related deaths since July 25.
The city's rate of 184 COVID cases per 100,000 people is well below Ontario's rate of 290 cases, and Hamilton's COVID death rate of 8.4 per 100,000 is less than half of Ontario's rate of 19.3 deaths per 100,000 population.
Ontario reported 114 new cases Monday, the fifth straight day there have been more than 110 new daily cases.
Steve Buist is a Hamilton-based investigative reporter at The Spectator. Reach him via email: sbuist@thespec.com