Four outbreaks reported in Hamilton over weekend, including one Sunday at long-term-care home

Hamilton reported one new COVID-19 outbreak Sunday, bringing the city's total number of active outbreaks to 13.

According to the city's public health department, the new outbreak occurred in Hamilton Continuing Care, a long-term-care facility in downtown Hamilton.

One staff member tested positive for the virus, the department reported Sunday.

One case in a long-term-care home is considered an outbreak.

The province's definition of a workplace outbreak is: Two or more laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases with an epidemiological link in the workplace ... within a 14-day period where both cases could have reasonably acquired their infection in the workplace."

There are also 17 new COVID-19 cases in the city, bringing the total to 171 cases as of 12:30 p.m. on Sunday.

On Saturday, the city reported outbreaks in a Lululemon outlet at CF Lime Ridge Mall, a Service Ontario on Dundurn Street and Villa Italia Retirement Residence on the west Mountain.

The Lululemon outbreak is the fourth recent instance of COVID-19 at Lime Ridge Mall.

Last week, two staff members tested positive at a Foot Locker inside the mall.

Many of the stores have since undergone a deep clean, and the mall remains open.

Recent cases have also been discovered in schools and universities across the city.

McMaster University reported its eighth case of COVID-19 on Friday, along with the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board, which reported two new cases of the virus in elementary schools.

A student at Ridgemount Elementary School on the west Mountain tested positive for the virus, according to an Oct. 29 letter sent to families from principal Gord Carey. The student was last in the school on Oct. 27, the letter reads.

A student at Helen Detwiler Elementary School on the Mountain has also tested positive for the virus.

In a letter to families Oct. 29, principal Michael Azzopardi said Hamilton public health has consulted on this case and have assessed that there are no student or staff close contacts related to this case."

The student was not in the building when there would be a risk of exposure," the letter reads.

Jacob Lorinc's reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative. The funding allows him to report on stories about education.