WELLINGTON COUNTY – There are 484 known active cases in the Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health (WDGPH) region as of Feb. 7, with 156 new cases reported over the weekend (Feb. 4 to 6).
As of Monday, Wellington County is home to 125 confirmed cases, of which 42 are new.
There are 125 cases active in Dufferin County and 213 in Guelph.
(Active case totals above may not necessarily match the total active cases reported within the health unit because some cases haven’t yet been assigned to locations within the health region.)
It is important to note provincial changes narrowing the eligibility for who can access publicly-funded testing to confirm COVID-19 cases in the province has resulted in an underrepresentation of how many active cases there truly are in the province.
Rather than focus on case numbers, the province’s top doctor, Kieran Moore, stated on Jan. 3 that the province would watch hospitalization data to gauge the virus’ impact on the health system.
Hospitalizations
The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 in the region (including the three Wellington hospitals as well as those in Orangeville and Guelph) was 30 on Feb. 5, down from 40 reported on Jan. 29.
Of the 30 individuals currently hospitalized in the region, 21 are in acute care and nine are admitted to an ICU in either Guelph or Orangeville. One week ago there were 10 people admitted to an ICU.
According to seven-day moving averages reported by WDGPH, acute care occupancy levels reached 82.7% on Saturday and 85.7% in ICUs.
Vaccination statuses of those hospitalized locally are not disclosed.
Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health COVID-19 data as of Feb. 7, 2022.
However, according to provincial data, as of Monday morning, there are 642 unvaccinated persons hospitalized with COVID-19 across the province, of which 158 are in an ICU.
In contrast, there are 1,438 two-dose vaccinated persons hospitalized across the province, of which 174 are in an ICU.
Considering 84% of eligible Ontarians are vaccinated with at least two doses as of Feb. 4, data from the Ontario Science Table indicates that as of Feb. 5, unvaccinated individuals are six times more likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19 and 12 times more likely to end up in an ICU than those who are vaccinated.
Of the total persons hospitalized in the province, regardless of vaccination status, 54% have been admitted because of COVID-19 related related reasons, with the remaining 46% testing positive for the virus, but admitted for non-COVID-related reasons.
For ICUs, 80% are admitted because of COVID-19, whereas 20% are admitted for other reasons.
Deaths attributed to COVID-19
Because of a lag in data reporting, there are nine new COVID-related deaths reported by WDGPH today.
According to WDGPH spokesperson Danny Williamson, the deaths occurred between Jan. 26 and Feb. 3.
Williamson confirmed in an email that five Wellington County residents at least 70-years-old have had their deaths attributed to the virus. Three Dufferin County residents and one Guelph resident, all over the age of 60, have also died.
As of Feb. 7, the death total has risen to 150 people, including 47 in the county. Last week the death toll was reported to include 139 people, including 42 in the county.
Vaccinations
Since Jan. 31, another 2,278 people have become two-dose vaccinated in the WDGPH region, bringing the total as of Feb. 7 to 252,424 or 85.6% of the population aged five or older.
There are 12,228 people aged five or older in the region who have received a first dose and 145,936 (59% of the eligible population at least 18 years old) who have received a third dose as of Feb. 7.
In Wellington County 84.5% of eligible residents five and over are two-dose vaccinated and 60.6% of those at least 18 and over have received a third dose as of Feb. 7.
Less than 70% of residents in Mapleton are vaccinated, and it remains the only municipality within the county below that threshold.
According to the province’s Advisory Science Table data, as of Feb. 6 there were 400 new cases every day per million people in those unvaccinated, and 161 cases per day in those with at least two doses.
The data concludes there’s a 60% reduction in the risk of contracting a case with two vaccine doses.
The reduction in the risk of being hospitalized with two doses is 83.5%.
Vaccinations among student populations
Across the region, according to WDGPH data as of Feb. 7, there are an estimated 11,036 high school students who are vaccinated with two doses, 247 with only a single dose, and 1,701 students who have not yet received a single dose.
In elementary schools in the WDGPH catchment area, there are an estimated 28,407 students who are now eligible for vaccination, according to WDGPH data as of Feb. 7.
Of that group, 6,306 elementary students are at least vaccinated with a single dose, and 11,817 are two-dose vaccinated.
The remaining 10,284 students have not yet received a single dose.
Outbreaks in health care settings
There are currently two active outbreaks of COVID-19 declared by WDGPH at long-term care homes within Wellington County.
For public health officials to declare an outbreak over, 14 days must pass since the last symptomatic or positive individual is reported.
