COVID-19 hospitalizations in London dropped to a low not seen since before the Omicron wave on Tuesday.
The London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) reported it has 20 patients admitted to hospital with the virus. That is down six from Monday and is the lowest hospitalizations have been since 15 were recorded on December 23. The number of COVID-19 positive people in hospital ranged from the low 30 to the low 40s throughout all of May before finally sliding back into the 20s June 1.
LHSC officials specified that 13 of the 20 COVID-19 positive patients currently admitted are being treated for the virus. The remaining seven are being treated for other ailments but have also tested positive for COVID-19.
Admissions to the intensive care unit dropped from six to five or fewer over the past 24 hours. Children’s Hospital has five or fewer COVID-19 positive patients in its care, up from none on Monday. None of those patients are listed in paediatric critical care.
The number of workers who have tested positive saw an increase on Tuesday. The LHSC reported 76 infected staffers, up eight since the previous day. At this time last week there were 72 workers sick.
The Middlesex London Health Unit recorded 17 new COVID-19 infections on Tuesday. That is up from three on Monday. The new infections bring the total case count since March 2020 to 38,331. Daily case tallies have been considered an underestimate of community spread because of limits placed on testing eligibility at the end of last year.
The health unit said there was one additional COVID-19 death in the region. A woman in her 80s who was associated with a long-term care home is the latest person to succumb to the virus. Her death brings the local death toll up to 394. Recoveries rose to 37,627. The health unit said there are 310 known active cases of the virus in the region, down eight from Monday.
The local vaccination rate saw little movement over the past week. The latest figures released by the health unit show 93.9 per cent of area residents aged 12 and older have received one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while 91.9 per cent in the same age bracket have had two doses. Third and fourth doses have been administered to 57.1 per cent and 10.1 per cent of area residents.
As of Saturday, there have been 1,172,410 doses administered locally since December 2020.
Southwestern Public Health, the health unit for Elgin and Oxford counties, does not update its COVID-19 cases dashboard on Tuesdays. Its next update will be released on Wednesday.
There was a rise in COVID-19 hospitalizations in Ontario on Tuesday.
According to public health officials, there are 526 COVID-19 positive inpatients being treated in hospitals across the province. That is up by 96 compared to figures released on Monday. Despite the increase reported Tuesday, hospitalization figures are still lower than this time last week when 808 people were hospitalized with the virus.
The provincial breakdown of hospitalization numbers over the past 24 hours shows roughly 38 per cent were admitted to hospital because of COVID-19. The remaining 62 per cent were admitted for other reasons but tested positive for COVID-19.
The number of COVID-19 positive people admitted to intensive care went down by two to 114. Last Tuesday, there were 140 people in the ICU.
Ontario logged 537 new cases Tuesday. However, the single-day tally is less relevant since the provincial government restricted eligibility for publicly-funded COVID-19 tests. Ontario’s total case count since the start of the pandemic now stands at 1,308,605.
There were four additional deaths from the virus reported over the past 24 hours. All of those deaths occurred within the last month. The total death toll from the virus in Ontario now stands at 13,293.
Public health officials confirmed there were 8,291 COVID-19 tests processed over the past 24 hours. The test positivity rate is now 7.2 per cent, down from 8.3 per cent a week ago.
To date, the province has administered 33,444,802 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, with 91.4 per cent of people 12 and older having received two doses. More than 7.3 million people or 57.1 per cent have received a booster shot.