WELLINGTON COUNTY – Active COVID-19 cases in the region are up for the first time in six weeks.
Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health (WDGPH) is reporting 68 new COVID-19 cases over the weekend (Feb. 26 to 28).
And another Wellington County resident, an 81-year-old man, has died with the virus. He is the 33rd COVID-related death in the county, with all but two of those deaths occurring since November.
The weekend case count of 68 is still low relative to the record high of 192 on Jan. 11, but the figure is up slightly for the first time following a six-week downward trend.
The same can be said for active cases, now at 169 and up from 115 one week ago, but still far lower than the high of 489 reached on Jan. 11.
WDGPH’s latest case rate per 100,000 population is up to 46.8 and its test positivity rate is 1.8%. One week ago those figures were 26.6 and 1.3% respectively.
County trends
Wellington County, which has one person hospitalized with COVID-19, recorded seven new cases over the weekend and now has 24 active cases. That figure is up from 17 one week ago, but still nowhere close to the record-high 112 active cases recorded on Jan. 25.
The county’s seven-day average for daily cases, which is often used to indicate trends, is now 3.29, up from 2.29 one week ago.
There are currently 21 active cases in Dufferin County and 119 in Guelph.
Active case counts by municipality are included in the table below.
Municipality-specific active COVID-19 cases counts as of March 1, 2021. (WDGPH image)
Outbreaks
There are currently four facility outbreaks in the WDGPH region, three of them in Wellington County:
- Caressant Care Arthur (long-term care), 57 residents (19 deaths) and 63 staff, declared on Dec. 26;
- Royal Terrace Long-Term and Residential Care facility in Palmerston, one staff case, declared on Feb. 24; and
- Wellington Terrace Long-Term Care in Aboyne, two staff cases, declared on Feb. 25.
An outbreak at Caressant Care Fergus – one staff case, declared on Feb. 6 – was recently declared over by WDGPH.
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.
