Hamilton records 150 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, mayor says lockdown is 'likely'

Hamilton continues to see the number of daily COVID-19 cases rise, with 150 new infections reported on Monday — and the mayor says a lockdown is "likely," even after public health recently added enhanced restrictions to try and slow the spread last week.

"The frustrating part is we see ... retail is doing what it needs to do. The suspicion is it's social activities in our community … all the recommendations we put forward don't matter much if people are just ignoring them," he said in a media update on Monday.

Dr. Elizabeth Richardson, Hamilton's medical officer of health, said public health has been telling the province it is concerned with the number of new infections.

"I'm not sure there are additional measures other than going into lockdown that I can bring in and … there will be, again, a significant concern coming from me about where we sit here in Hamilton and we'll wait to hear what cabinet decides."

Rate of new cases is higher than ever

The city website shows Hamilton's weekly rate of new cases per 100,000 people is now at 104, which is more than double the threshold of the red zone (40 cases per week per 100,000 people).

Residents will have to wait until Friday to find out if Ontario places Hamilton into lockdown, according to Jacqueline Durlov, a spokesperson from Hamilton Public Health Services (HPHS).

City data shows outbreaks and close contact between people have caused half of the cases in the last 10 days.

"People are dying as a result and we're announcing now, the number of deaths every day, not because of old age, not because they're in a long-term care facility, because they contracted COVID … we've got to care about that," Eisenberger said.

There are 799 active cases of COVID-19 locally. There have been 4,312 total infections since the start of the pandemic in March. Of those, 119 people have died, 3,357 cases are resolved and 53 people are in hospital.

Five more people with the virus also died, including:

• Two women in their late 90s staying at Grace Villa.

• A man in his early 70s staying at Grace Villa.

• A man in his early 80s staying at Juravinski Hospital and Cancer Centre.

• A man in his early 60s who died in the community.

Richardson also said hospitals are on "the knife edge" from being overwhelmed by the pandemic and 15 more people have been hired to help keep up with local contact tracing.

Outbreaks continue to grow

Hamilton's largest outbreak at Grace Villa has now infected 172 people, and 41 are new cases. It includes 115 residents and 58 staff.

Nineteen people have died at Grace Villa, which makes it Hamilton's deadliest COVID-19 outbreak. That surpasses Chartwell Willowgrove, where 18 people died. 

The outbreaks at Juravinski have led to eight more infections for a total of 52 cases (25 patients, 25 staff and two visitors).

The Highgate Residence in Ancaster also has an outbreak after a resident tested positive for the virus.

The jump in cases comes as vaccines for the virus landed in Hamilton Sunday evening.

There's still no word on what the local vaccine rollout will look like and Richardson said the province is tightly managing the plan, and the city is waiting on more details from the province.

Niagara hospitals battling outbreaks

Niagara Health, the hospital network in the Niagara region, is dealing with three separate outbreaks.

The newest is at the Brock Unit at Greater Niagara General. One patient and staff member are infected and both cases are "health-care associated."

"Our teams are working diligently to control the spread of the virus and ensure the safety of everyone," Derek McNally, Niagara Health's executive vice president, of clinical services, said in a statement. "The team has worked hard to care for patients and they have developed a plan to continue to safely provide elective surgeries at this time."

The unit is now closed to new admissions or transfers "unless medically necessary."

On Sunday, there was an outbreak declared at the Extended Care Unit at the Welland location, while 16 people (15 patients, one healthcare worker) tested positive because of an outbreak on Unit C at the Greater Niagara General site.

Niagara has seen 2,610 cases so far and two more people have died.

That means 89 people who had the virus have died, while 2,117 cases have been resolved.

There are 358 active cases in the region and 20 outbreaks are ongoing.

Brant

Brant and Brantford have reported 653 confirmed cases over the course of the pandemic, including 99 that were active Monday and 549 that were resolved.

Eighteen new cases have been recorded in the area in the past 24 hours.

Five people who were infected have died. One person remains in hospital.

Haldimand-Norfolk

The Haldimand-Norfolk Health Unit has declared a COVID-19 outbreak at two group homes run by the Norfolk Association for Community Living on Monday.

There have been 734 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Haldimand and Norfolk, including 52 that are active and 644 that are recovered.

One more person with the virus has died, bringing the total to 33.

Halton

Forty-two more cases of COVID-19 were recorded in Halton Friday.

The region had seen 4,552 cases as of Monday, of which 403 were active, while 4,065 were resolved.

Eighty-four people in Halton have died after being infected with the virus.