Hamilton asks for patience as residents seek out COVID-19 booster appointments
CBC
As of Monday, Ontarians over the age of 18 are now eligible for a COVID-19 booster dose. However, for those in Hamilton, it could take a few weeks to get an appointment, the city said Monday.
During a media briefing Monday afternoon, Hamilton's medical officer of health, Dr. Elizabeth Richardson, said there are over 320,000 people who are currently eligible for their third dose in the city, but she expects it may take until the end of January to provide appointments for everyone.
"We know it's frustrating right now to book appointments at this time ... We ask that people remain patient and be assured there's going to continue to be new appointments added daily."
In the meantime, with peak holidays approaching and Omicron variant cases on the rise, Richardson encouraged people to reconsider plans and limit gathering in numbers.
"Make some decisions about changing those gatherings," she said, urging Hamiltonians to either reduce the size of them or move them online, "so you can reduce the number of contacts."
Those considered to be high risk, such as those immunocompromised or elderly are "very much encouraged" to not attend family gatherings, she said.
She also urged those who have tested positive for COVID-19 to communicate with their close contacts, as contact tracing may be behind due to high demand.
The briefing comes Monday after Hamilton added more than 500 new cases of COVID-19 over the weekend.
It's a large spike in infection, which saw the number of active cases jump to 870 on Monday, according to the city's website.
The seven-day average for new cases has climbed to 113. No new deaths were reported over the weekend. Hospitalizations also remain low.
Hamilton Health Sciences said on Monday that 21 of its patients were confirmed to have the virus and five or less were in the ICU.
St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton stated seven of its patients had COVID-19 and three people with the virus were in its ICU.
Ontario reported 3,784 new cases and 1,040 new recoveries on Monday. No new deaths were tallied.
The province also said 186,000 booster appointments had been booked through the provincial booking system and 120,000 doses have been administered as of 3pm ET Monday.
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