There are at least 23 COVID-19 patients in Hamilton, Brant and Niagara hospitals from other areas in Ontario, according to data from a Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) town hall.
Sharon Pierson, COO and executive vice-president of clinical operations, presented the numbers to HHS staff during a meeting Thursday. Pierson said the province is trying to ensure no health-care system in the province gets too overwhelmed.
The breakdown shows seven regional transfers at HHS, eight transfers at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton, six transfers at Joseph Brant Hospital and three to Niagara Health.
Dr. Dominik Mertz, HHS’s medical director of infection prevention control, outlined provincial and local trends.
In terms of the local situation, Mertz said Hamilton’s case count is similar to what it was in October.
For reference, on this day in October 2020, Hamilton had 113 active cases of COVID-19 and 11 new daily cases.
Hamilton Public Health Services (HPHS) data shows there are 488 people known to have the virus right now, and 46 new cases on Friday. Two more people with COVID-19 have died, according to the data.
Overall, there have been 9,407 infections (confirmed and probable) since the start of the pandemic.
Hamilton’s weekly rate of new cases per 100,000 people continues to drop, and sits at 66.
Pierson said Hamilton hospitals seem to have already peaked in terms of COVID-19 patients, but said occupancy remains high.
There are 70 patients with COVID-19 at HHS and 28 at St. Joe’s. The city is dealing with 33 outbreaks, and multiple outbreaks were declared over on Friday. Those include:
- 6GI a surgical unit at St. Joe’s Charlton campus.
- Harster Greenhouses.
- Sisters of the Precious Blood.
- Good Sheppard Women’s Services.
- Fan-Tastic Scholars Child Learning Centre.
Pierson said most HHS workers have left Grace Villa, the site of Hamilton’s largest and deadliest outbreak, but HHS is still watching it closely.
A total of 263 people have died in Hamilton after getting infected.
There have been total of 20, 379 vaccines had been administered — 5,977 at mobile clinics and 14,402 at the fixed clinic at HHS.
Brant
Brant and Brantford have 40 active cases according to data online. There were eight new cases in the last 24 hours.
There have been 1,371 known cases since March and nine deaths.
There are five people hospitalized with COVID-19.
Haldimand-Norfolk
Haldimand and Norfolk counties are reporting five new cases of COVID-19, with a total of 63 active.
There have been 1,358 known cases throughout the pandemic. Of those, 1,252 have recovered from the virus.
The local public health unit has linked the virus to 38 deaths.
Halton
The number of COVID-19 cases in Halton rose by 66, for a total of 8,674 so far.
Data indicates 394 of those cases are active.
Twelve of the new cases were in Burlington, which has seen 2,273 known cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic. There are 88 active cases in the city.
A total of 171 people across the region have died after being infected with the virus, 43 of them in Burlington.
Niagara
Niagara is reporting 61 new cases of COVID-19.
The region has seen 8,123 known cases over the course of the pandemic, including 904 that are active.
There have been 336 lives lost since the pandemic started in March.
Six Nations
Six Nations of the Grand River has 20 active COVID-19 cases, according to Ohsweken Public Health.
There have been 169 cases reported over the course of the pandemic and two deaths.
A total of 147 cases have been marked as resolved.
