COVID spread high and increasing in Hamilton
Highly contagious Omicron subvariant BA.5 is now Hamilton's most prevalent strain as the seventh COVID wave gathers steam.
COVID-19 transmission in Hamilton is high and continuing to increase," stated the city's weekly status update posted Wednesday. The number of reported cases, test positivity, wastewater signal, active outbreaks and new COVID-19 hospitalizations have all increased over the past two weeks."
Despite public health recommending up-to-date vaccinations as the most important way to protect against COVID-19 and its health effects," the data on fourth dose coverage shows low uptake among those most at risk.
Ontarians age 60 and older are advised to get the fourth shot now and have been eligible since April 7. Advice is different for the young and healthy, who may choose to wait for a second booster until fall for a variety of reasons.
A first look at fourth-dose coverage by Ontario research institute ICES shows a vast divide between different ages and parts of the city.
Forward sortation area L9H in Dundas had the highest uptake across all ages 60 and over. In contrast, central and east Hamilton's L8L had the lowest or second worst coverage across the board. L8L stretches from Bayfront Park to Ottawa Street North and from Lake Ontario to as far as King Street East at points.
Just 23 per cent of those age 80 to 84 had a fourth COVID shot in L8L as of July 3 compared to 62 per cent in Dundas.
The worst coverage was for those age 60 to 64, with only nine per cent getting four shots in L8L compared to 30 per cent in Dundas.
For those age 70 to 74, coverage was 20 per cent in L8L versus 54 per cent in Dundas.
Even those most at risk - age 85 and older - had just 53 per cent with four shots in Dundas. The lowest was 21 per cent in L8J in upper Stoney Creek.
City data shows the vulnerability of seniors during the seventh wave, with three more deaths among those age 80 and older reported from July 19 to 26, bringing pandemic fatalities to 584.
Of Hamilton's 33 active outbreaks in high-risk settings Tuesday, 12 were in seniors' homes. There were also 12 outbreaks in group homes, supported independent living and other vulnerable communal housing, five in shelters, three at Juravinski Hospital and one at the Charlton Campus of St. Joseph's Healthcare.
Average daily new infections were up to 98 on July 24 compared to 65 on July 10 and 25 on June 6. Case counts are an underestimate as the general population doesn't have access to PCR testing.
The number of tests coming back positive was up to nearly 18 per cent on July 21 and wastewater samples with COVID-19 detected were also increasing as of July 17.
About two Hamiltonians on average were admitted to hospital each day as of July 21 compared to around one daily on July 7. Hamilton's hospitals were caring for 85 COVID patients Wednesday and had 369 staff self-isolating.
The only COVID metric that has remained stable is intensive care unit admissions.
Joanna Frketich is a health reporter at The Spectator. jfrketich@thespec.com