Hamilton reports 14 new COVID deaths, including a man in his 40s

Hamilton reported 14 new COVID deaths in three days, including a man in his 40s.

The city has recently seen a sharp increase in pandemic deaths, with 24 reported since Wednesday.

An average two Hamiltonians a day are now dying of COVID - up from one daily last week.

It is something that we're tracking," said Hamilton's medical officer of health, Dr. Elizabeth Richardson. We'll continue to look for any trends."

Death is a key indicator of the trajectory of the fifth wave since a lack of testing in January has made many other metrics unreliable. Public health is also watching the precarious situation in hospitals.

COVID hospitalizations have climbed to 12 Hamiltonians a day being admitted as of Monday compared to 10 last week. Intensive care unit (ICU) admissions have stayed high at about two a day.

You see first a rise in hospitalizations, then a rise in ICU admissions, then unfortunately what follows on from that can be a rise in deaths," said Richardson. We're watching very closely the numbers in terms of what we see happening and how it compares with what we thought might happen with the number of cases that we understand are going on in our community."

The vast majority of the city's 461 COVID deaths have been seniors, with fewer than four per cent among those ages 30 to 50.

Six Hamiltonians in their 40s have now died of COVID since the latest death reported Monday.

The only information made public is the man caught the virus in an outbreak at the end of December. The outbreak has not been named.

The city used to provide more details about Hamilton COVID deaths, including outbreaks, but stopped on Dec. 17, 2020.

Hamilton Public Health Services does not comment on individual cases to protect the privacy of community members and their loved ones," it said in a statement. Our hearts go out to all those and their loved ones who have been seriously ill or passed away due to the impacts of the COVID-19 virus."

Of the 14 new COVID deaths reported Friday to Sunday, eight are among those age 80 and older. About 63 per cent of pandemic deaths have been among this age.

Four are Hamiltonians in their 70s, which account for another 21 per cent of the city's deaths.

One death is a man in his 60s, bringing this age group to just over 12 per cent of the total.

Provincewide there has been a similar spike in deaths that Ontario's chief medical officer of health, Dr. Kieran Moore, said he is reviewing.

We do look forward to the larger-scale review," said Richardson. As he tracks and sees any patterns across the province with the larger size."

While those age 60 and older account for just 1,441 of the 10,000 active COVID cases in Hamilton, they are vastly overrepresented among deaths.

In contrast, no one younger than 30 has died in Hamilton despite those in their 20s consistently being the age with the highest number of local active cases - currently at 2,564.

Active cases are underestimated as the general population hasn't had good access to PCR or rapid tests for weeks.

We hate to talk about any of these things from a statistical standpoint," said Richardson. These are people who had families, who were loved."

Another way the fifth wave is hitting seniors hard is the 36 active outbreaks in long-term care and retirement homes.

Five of the homes have reported one death: the Clarion Nursing Home with 33 cases, First Place Hamilton with 31 cases, Regina Gardens Long Term Care Residence with 28 cases, the Meadows Long Term Care Home with 31 cases and Victoria Gardens Long Term Care with 19 cases.

In addition, two deaths were reported at the Wellington Nursing Home, which has one of the city's largest ongoing outbreaks with 74 cases.

The biggest ongoing outbreak is at Heritage Green Nursing Home, where 95 have tested positive. Other large outbreaks at seniors' homes include 44 cases at Extendicare Hamilton, 48 cases at Arbour Creek Care Centre and 40 cases at Amica Stoney Creek.

Of the city's 80 ongoing outbreaks, 17 are in group homes, assisted living and community living, while another nine are at shelters, including 48 cases at the Salvation Army Booth Centre and 44 cases at the Good Shepherd Cathedral Boys School.

Two are in jails, including a large outbreak at the Hamilton-Wentworth Detention Centre, where 81 have tested positive.

There is an outbreak at a rehabilitation centre and one at Brenn-B Farms in Freelton, where 16 have been infected.

Hamilton's hospitals have 14 active outbreaks totalling 143 cases.

Outbreaks are also under-reported as the city stopped counting entire categories such as schools and workplaces as it focused on high-risk settings.

Joanna Frketich is a health reporter at The Spectator. jfrketich@thespec.com