Hamilton reports 7 more deaths as Ontario declares 3rd provincial emergency

The City of Hamilton reported 132 new COVID-19 cases and seven more deaths on Wednesday, as the province declareda stay-at-home order for Ontario as well as a third provincial emergency.

Dr. Elizabeth Richardson, the city's medical officer of health, said ahead of the announcement that a stay-at-home order would be "the thing that is most likely to change the transmission in our community and bring case counts down."

"It's a very sombre time in this pandemic as we move forward and see the number of people being hospitalized, particularly in the younger age groups," she said in a general issues committee meeting Wednesday.

The stay-at-home order comes into effect on Thursday, April 8. The province says residents must stay home except for essential purposes, like going to grocery stores and pharmacies, accessing healthcare services, and for work that can't be done remotely.

Non-essential retailers can only operate for curbside pick-up under specific hours, and in-person sales at big box stores will be restricted to certain items, like groceries, cleaning supplies, pharmacy items, and pet care.

The City of Hamilton says its emergency operations centre and public health are reviewing the changes and will give local updates as soon as possible.

According to city data, newly reported deaths include two people in their 80s, three people in their 70s, and two people in their 60s.

The city has seen 13,635 cases, of which 904 are active and 89.4 per cent are resolved.

Paul Johnson said it would be wrong to see the spread of the virusas a "minor annoyance" as the city continues with its vaccination rollout.

"The numbers are not good," he said. "The crisis of this pandemic is still very much with us."

Johnson said it might seem like an "ever-changing landscape" and people might be frustrated, but "the reality is, it's a response to what's going on in our communities."

Richardson said the stay-at-home order would guide how a potential move to online learning would look like for Hamilton schools.

She said she would advise education directors this afternoon to prepare students and teachers as they go home at the end of this week for spring break to pivot to remote learning.

Hamilton hot spots

The province announced on Tuesday that it would expand Phase Two of its vaccination roll outfor adults aged 50 and over in particular postal codes that it's identified as "hot spots." TwoHamilton postal codes will be part of this L8W and L9C,which areon the east and west Mountain.

The online provincial booking system will allow people to book these appointments as of Friday, April 9.

But Richardson said on Wednesday that the city wants Ontario to add three others based on its own analysis:

• L8N (Corktown and Stinson.)
• L8L (the north end and industrial sector, and Beasley to Crown Point West.)
• L9K (Ancaster.)

These three postal codes would include around 10,000 more people, she said. While the province used hospitalizations and deaths to pick its hot spots, she said, the city looked at case rates, per cent positivity rates, and lack of access to care and testing.

The city is also pushing the provincial government to add inner-city pharmacies to its list of locations offering the AstraZeneca vaccine to ages 55 and over. Richardson said inner-city locations were on the list provided to the province, but not included in the end.

Public health is also looking at adjustments they can make locally, she said,should they not be added.

Richardson said the city recently received a delayed shipment of 4,500 doses of the Moderna vaccine. The province also gave900 extra Moderna doses, she said.

She said Hamilton is currently getting usual shipments of around 14,000 Pfizer vaccines and an allotment of 5,000 doses of AstraZeneca for primary care partners.

High-risk conditions, in-patients, home-bound vaccinations

As the province moves into Phase Two, Richardson said Hamilton paramedics will start vaccinating home-bound people the week of April 19.

There will be discussions aboutdatesfor vaccinations in developmental service settings, looking at next week.

Hamilton Health Sciences and St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton will be vaccinating prioritized high-risk medical conditions, in particular a group of blood cancers, patients on dialysis, and those with down syndrome. Hospital in-patients aged 60 and over are also being vaccinated.

There are 46 ongoing outbreaks in the city,

Richardson said that about 50 per cent of new COVID-19 cases in Hamiltonare variants of concern.

Brant

Brant has recorded 21 new cases in the past 24 hours. There are 162 active cases in the county,online data show.

There have been 1,961cases since March 2020and 14 deaths. Five people are currently hospitalized with COVID-19.

A total of 1,785 cases have been marked as resolved.

There have been 29,504doses of the vaccine administered.

Haldimand-Norfolk

The counties of Haldimand and Norfolk have recorded1,724 cases throughout the pandemic. There are 118 active cases.

Thirty-nine deathsare considered COVID-relatedand 1,562people have recovered.

There have been 21,979doses of the vaccine administered.

Niagara

Niagara reported 133 new positive caseson Wednesday. The region has seen10,382cases over the pandemic, including 817 that are active and 9,189resolved.

In total, 376people have died.

There are now 13 confirmed variants of concern, and 384 other casesare pending confirmation.

There have been 92,829 doses of the vaccine administered in Niagara.

Halton

The number of COVID-19 cases in Halton rose by 135 new ones,for a total of11,658 so far.

Data indicate642 of those cases are active and 10,816 are resolved.

Twenty-nine of the new cases were in Burlington, which has seen 2,885 cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic. There are 125active cases in the city.

There have been 200 deaths in the region, of which 49 were in Burlington.

There have been 82,111vaccine doses administered as of their most recent update last week.

Six Nations

Six Nations of the Grand Riverhas recorded sixactive cases of COVID-19 as of Wednesday. There have been 443 total casesand 428 resolved. Nine people have died.

One person who tested positiveis in hospital. Six Nations wasin alert level orange of its colour-coded framework.