Active COVID-19 cases in Hamilton reach new high with 43 new cases reported Monday

A total of 43 new cases of COVID-19 were reported in Hamilton on Monday, bringing the total number of active cases to 198, public health says.

Hamilton Public Health Services says this is a new high number for active cases. On May 27, during the Rosslyn Retirement Home outbreak, the peak was 194 active cases.

Over the last three days, 103 new cases of the virus were recorded. Hamilton recorded 17 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday and 43 new cases on Saturday.

Hamilton has seen a total of 1,869 cases since the outbreak began. The virus has killed 48 people, while 1,620 are resolved cases.

'We should be concerned'

Speaking during a media briefing on Monday, Dr. Ninh Tran, associate medical officer of health, said everyone needs to work to bring the numbers back down.

"We should be concerned given not only the number of active cases … but the fact that we've got 25 cases per day and that's an increase from 20 cases per day a week ago or so. It's something we should be concerned about," Tran said. 

"Hopefully we can do what we did a couple weeks ago where we had 25 or more and we brought it back down to 20, we can do it again as long as we follow the recommendations out there"

Tran said people need to "double down" on the public health measures in order to contain the spread of the virus.

"I think we can get back to being in a better spot than we're in now. I do want the citizens to take note and to take the appropriate actions to bring the numbers back down," he said.

Meanwhile, Mayor of Hamilton Fred Eisenberger said the increasing numbers is not a good sign.

'All of the hard work that we've done over the last number of months to get the COVID numbers down and flatten the curve is still very, very important to ensure that we don't lose all the gains that we've made over the last four or five months," Eisenberger said.

"We don't want to be losing that now, so please keep at the masking, the hand washing, the physical distancing  and minimize the number of gatherings that you're doing."

Ontario reports 948 more COVID-19 cases on Monday.

40 cases at Chartwell Willowgrove Long Term Care

As of Monday, 40 residents and staff at Chartwell Willowgrove Long Term Care had tested positive for the novel coronavirus. This is an increase of 16 from the 24 cases reported on Friday.

"It has spread significantly. I think what we understand is that as with outbreaks in congregate settings, it was introduced externally, where someone has it in the community and someone brings it into the facility," Tran said.

"We can't identify any specific infection prevention control issues that's happening at the facility.

"We have done extensive testing to better understand the spread as well as to implement measures in terms of cohorting and isolating."

Numbers likely to increase even further

Meanwhile, Tran said they tested every single person in the facility including all the residents and staff, so the numbers may continue to rise as the results get back

Health authorities have also directed the facility to further limit visitors.

"It's not something any of us want to do because we understand the benefits of visitation but now we're only restricting visitors to those who are visiting someone who is gravely ill or palliative," Tran said. 

"We are working closely with the facility to continue the measures in place … to ensure there is appropriate and adequate staffing in place so that the residents there can still get their care

Senior director communications Janine Reed said Chartwell is working closely with the LHIN and Public Health and following all government directives.

"We know that this is an exceptionally difficult time for everyone and the deep concern this creates for family members," Reed wrote in an email to CBC News.

Reed said they were doing everything possible to minimize the further transmission of the virus including increased staffing levels, heightened infection prevention and control practices, signage, active screening, monitoring and personal protective equipment.

New cases of COVID-19 at Bishop Ryan CCS

There are seven schools with confirmed cases of COVID-19, with the latest to report a new case being Bishop Ryan Catholic Secondary School.

The other schools are:

• St. Thomas More Catholic Secondary.
• St. Marguerite d'Youville Catholic Elementary School
• St. Mary Catholic Secondary School
• Cathedral High School
• St. John Henry Newman Catholic Secondary School
• St. Charles (Young St.)

Brant

The Brant County Health Unit reported four new cases on Monday, with a total of 59 active cases.

Four people are currently hospitalised with the virus, which has so far claimed five lives.

The total number of confirmed cases so far stands at 285 and 221 have been resolved.

Haldimand-Norfolk

Thirty-one people in Haldimand and Norfolk were known to have COVID-19 as of Sunday.

The Haldimand-Norfolk Health Unit website shows the counties have reported 546 cases during the pandemic, with 483 people recovered.

Thirty-two deaths in the area are considered to be related to COVID-19.

Halton

Public health reports 47 people in the Halton region are infected. The total number of people with COVID-19 grew by 18 between Sunday and Monday, with 2,255 infections since the pandemic started.

Thirty-six people have died, with 1,972 cases resolved.

Statistics on the Halton website show there are 53 active cases in Burlington

Niagara 

There are 164 people with COVID-19 in the Niagara region, according to public health.

COVID-19 has infected 1,482 people. There were 26 more cases on Sunday.

Seventy-four people have died and 1,244 cases have been resolved.

Six Nations

A COVID-19 update for Six Nations of the Grand River on Friday showed 13 active cases.

There have been 93 cases of the virus on Six Nations territory, including 80 that are resolved.

One person has died.