COVID-19 hospitalizations, outbreaks rise again in Waterloo region
CBC
COVID-19 hospitalizations and outbreaks have risen in Waterloo region this week as some experts warn a sixth wave of the virus could be on its way.
There were 31 people with the virus in Waterloo region's three hospitals as of Thursday. That was up from 27 on Monday and up from 12 a week earlier.
It's a trend being seen across the province. Ontario reported 807 people hospitalized with COVID-19 on Thursday. The number of hospitalizations was up from 778 on Wednesday and 661 one week ago.
For now, the increase is manageable in local hospitals, St. Mary's General Hospital president Lee Fairclough said. But they are seeing staff members impacted by this latest surge in cases.
"Many of them have household contacts and so that has also doubled to tripled the number of staff that are either developing COVID or being impacted by COVID again," Fairclough said.
"We've been working very hard, of course, to really try to resume as much service as we can. And in fact, many of the hospitals now are up over 78 per cent in terms of the surgical resumption," Fairclough said. "We're not in the position where we're cancelling services again yet, but we're we're monitoring it very closely."
As of Thursday, there were four people in Waterloo region's intensive care units either with COVID-19 or recovering from it.
There were 14 active outbreaks in the region, double the number since Monday. Of those, six were in long-term care and retirement homes.
The region also saw new COVID-19 cases top 100 on Wednesday and Thursday, and that number is considered to be very low because not everyone with symptoms is eligible to be tested for the virus.
Fairclough said she hopes people will take precautions to curb spread.
"We know what works here," she said, saying people should wear masks, get their booster dose of the vaccine if needed and keep a physical distance from people.
"If we can try to curtail the wave a little bit, it's certainly going to help."
Dr. Peter Jüni, the outgoing head of the COVID-19 Science Advisory Table, says an increase in cases is expected after the province eased public health measures, such as mask mandates and gathering limits.
"We are in the middle of it, however we call it. It's either the resurgence expected after the reopening of the last wave or you can call it the sixth wave," Jüni told CBC News Wednesday morning.
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