WELLINGTON COUNTY – New and active COVID-19 cases in the region have dropped to levels not seen here since early November.
However, another Wellington County resident, the 32nd since the outset of the pandemic, has died with the virus.
The latest COVID-related death was a long-term care resident at Caressant Care Arthur. The facility has reported 56 resident cases, including 19 deaths, and 63 staff cases since an outbreak was declared there on Dec. 26.
A Feb. 22 update from Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health (WDGPH) showed there were 42 new cases reported on the weekend (Feb. 19 to 21), nine of those in Wellington.
The weekend case count is the lowest recorded in the region since Nov. 9, and active cases in the region are now at 115, the lowest since Nov. 13.
Active cases, down 32% from 167 one week ago, reached a high of 489 on Jan. 11.
WDGPH’s latest case rate per 100,000 population is 26.6 and its test positivity rate is 1.3%. Just one week ago those figures were 39.2 and 1.8% respectively.
The current case and positivity rates would qualify the WDGPH region for the province’s orange and yellow COVID-19 alert levels, respectively.
A few other indicators qualify the region for the green level, but it is expected WDGPH will remain in the red level at least until March 2.
County trends
Wellington County, which has one person hospitalized with COVID-19, recorded nine new cases over the weekend and now has 17 active cases, down from 27 one week ago and a significant improvement from one month ago (Jan. 25), when the county had a record-high 112 active cases.
The county’s seven-day average for daily cases, which is often used to indicate trends, is now 2.29, down from 2.71 one week ago.
There are currently 16 active cases in Dufferin County and 80 in Guelph.
Active case counts by municipality are included in the table below.
Municipality-specific active COVID-19 cases counts as of Feb. 22, 2021. (WDGPH image)
Outbreaks
There are currently nine facility outbreaks in the WDGPH region, including two in Wellington County:
- Caressant Care Fergus, one staff case, declared on Feb. 6; and
- Caressant Care Arthur (long-term care), 56 residents (19 deaths) and 63 staff, declared on Dec. 26.
Outbreaks at Eden House Care Facility in Guelph-Eramosa (one staff case, declared Feb. 6) and Palmerston and District Hospital (six residents, including four deaths, and five staff, declared Jan. 28) were declared over on Feb. 18 and 20 respectively.
Public health defines an outbreak as one or more confirmed cases of COVID-19 within a facility (long-term care home, retirement home or hospital).
An outbreak is declared over 14 days after symptoms began in the most recent case and when no other cases are suspected.
