Waterloo region plans to head into Step 3 along with Ontario, even as stressed hospitals move patients

Waterloo region is expected to move into Step 3 of the provincial reopening plan with the rest of the province next Friday, medical officer of health Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang says.

That news comes as two of Waterloo region's three hospitals have had to send patients to London, Windsor and Hamilton to alleviate pressure caused by a high number of people being admitted with COVID-19.

Dr. Kieran Moore, Ontario's chief medical officer of health, announced on Friday that the province will further lift COVID-19 restrictions on July 16, five days earlier than initially planned. 

"The plan is to move along with the province going forward. The metrics that I was looking for to start moving forward was stabilization of our situation and rising vaccination rates and that's what we see now," Wang said Friday during a media briefing. 

"We will continue to assess, but the plan is to continue to move forward."

In a weekly emailed update, St. Mary's General Hospital president Lee Fairclough said St. Mary's had to send four patients out of region while Grand River Hospital had to send two.

As of Thursday:

• St. Mary's General had 14 COVID-19 positive patients with three in the intensive care unit.
• Cambridge Memorial Hospital had six COVID patients with five in the ICU.
• Grand River Hospital reported seven COVID patients with less than five in the ICU.
• Guelph General Hospital reported three COVID patients, two in the ICU.

There are also additional patients who were hospitalized with COVID-19 who remain in hospital, although they were no longer infectious and were not included in the numbers.

"The hospitals are still in a precarious position," Fairclough said in a release.

On Friday, the Region of Waterloo Public Health dashboard did show a drop in hospitalizations. There were 30 people in hospital, a drop of 12 from Thursday, with 20 people in the intensive care unit.

Wang said as case rates decrease in the region, hospitalizations will also go down.

"It's not unexpected what we're seeing in our hospitals right now, which is the pressure in our hospitals due to the cases that have already occurred and continue to come in," Wang said.

She noted the "overall picture" is showing signs of stabilization and improvement.

Move to Step 2

The region's medical officer of health, Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang, announced on Thursday that the community would move into Step 2 of the provincial reopening plan as of Monday at 12:01 a.m.

When asked why it was OK to move to Step 2 given the high number of hospitalizations, Wang said case numbers had stabilized.

"We will continue to have pressure in our hospital system for a while and the case rates will not drop right away," she said. "There will be cases and clusters and outbreaks of delta, but we are pushing back hard."

Fairclough said hospitals are "hopeful that the increased vaccination rates will begin to show some impact on our daily numbers and cases soon."

80% of adults have 1st dose

The region's vaccine dashboard indicated on Friday that 80 per cent of people aged 18 and over in the region have received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. As well, 48 per cent of people 18 and older have received two doses.

Still, the region hopes to see more doses in arms this weekend. The region has a hockey hub vaccination clinic planned for Bingemans this weekend where officials hope 20,000 people will get their first or second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. 

Shirley Hilton, a deputy chief with the Waterloo Regional Police Service and the lead of the vaccination task force, noted the weekend clinic at Bingemans is in addition to the other regional clinics that will also be running, as well as pharmacies and primary care physicians who offer the vaccine.

Hilton said if the region continues to vaccinate people at the current rate, everyone who is willing and able should be able to get their second dose by the end of July.

46 new cases, 2 deaths

The region reported 46 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday. There were also two deaths linked to the virus: a man in his 60s and a man in his 80s.

There were 307 active cases. 

There were 21 active outbreaks in the region:

• Workplaces: 10.
• Long-term care or retirement homes: Five.
• Hospitals: Three.
• Congregate settings: Two.
• Independent living facilities: One.