WELLINGTON COUNTY – The active COVID-19 case count continues a downward trend across the region after reaching a record-high of 679 on April 19.
With Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health (WDGPH) reporting 129 new cases of the virus over the weekend (May 7 to morning of May 10) the active case count in the region now sits at 394, down from 435 a week prior.
As of May 8, the region’s case rate per 100,000 population is 87.2 (down from 96.8 on May 3) and as of May 6, the amount of tests returning positive for the virus is 5.8 per cent (down from six per cent on May 3).
Since last week’s update, an additional eight people with COVID-19 have been hospitalized, bringing the total to 34. Of those, 15 are in intensive care at either Guelph General Hospital or Headwaters Health Care in Orangeville (Wellington County hospitals do not have ICUs).
Variants
As of May 4, WDGPH reports 74.2 per cent of all COVID-19 cases confirmed the region (seven-day moving average) are variants of concern.
To date there have been 1,634 confirmed cases of the B117 (UK) variant, 17 cases of the P1 (Brazilian) variant and none of the B1351 (South African) variant.
An additional 183 individuals have screened positive for a variant of concern that has not yet been identified.
Local trends
Wellington County had 24 new cases over the weekend and now has 88 active cases, down from 109 a week ago.
Dufferin County had 59 new cases over the weekend and now has 139 active cases, up from 119 a week prior, but still below the 159 seen two weeks ago.
Guelph had 43 new cases over the weekend and now has 162 active cases, continuing the downward trend from 198 cases a week ago, and 318 the week before that.
Active case counts by municipality are included in the table below.
Vaccines/outbreaks
As of May 10, 113,460 residents in the WDGPH region – or 44.4 per cent of the population aged 16 and older – have received at least one vaccine dose.
A total of 119,949 doses have been administered in the region.
On May 5, an outbreak of COVID-19 was declared at Guelph General Hospital on the east units of floors four and seven, according to a May 5 press release.
A Guelph man in his 60s, who was a patient on unit four east, has died from the virus, WGDPH confirmed in an email Monday.
All patients in both units have been tested, with five patients testing positive for COVID-19, according to Guelph General Hospital spokesperson, Perry Hagerman.
Patient-facing staff are in the process of being tested, Hagerman said, with one staff member testing positive for the virus so far. He noted there’s still “a ways to go.”
