WELLINGTON COUNTY – Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health (WDGPH) is reporting 10 new COVID-19 cases over the weekend (July 16 to 18).
The region’s active case count now sits at 42, down from 52 cases on July 12.
Active cases in the region peaked with a record high of 679 on April 18.
The region’s case rate per 100,000 population has dropped dramatically from 96.8 in the first week of May to 13.8 as of July 17. However, that rate is up from 12.2 reported on July 10.
As of July 15, just under two per cent of COVID-19 tests are returning positive for the virus.
There are five people hospitalized in the region due to COVID-19 as of July 15, with three in intensive care at either Guelph General Hospital or Headwaters Health Care in Orangeville (Wellington County hospitals do not have ICUs).
Variants
On June 10, the province declared the WDGPH region a COVID-19 “hotspot” due to the presence of the Delta variant.
Cases of the Delta variant have made up 1.41% of all confirmed COVID-19 cases in the health region (8,292) as of July 18, according to Public Health Ontario data.
WDGPH estimates the Delta (India) variant as the most prevalent variant of concern (VOC) in the region, representing an estimated 48.8% of VOCs between July 11 and 17. In Wellington County, that estimate is 58.3% for the same time period.
Local trends
Wellington County had four new cases over the weekend, bringing the total active cases in the county to 14, down from 25 on July 12 and 21 a week before that. The record high of 122 was set on April 19.
Active cases in Guelph have declined to 19 and Dufferin County has seven active cases.
A Wellington County man in his 50s has died with COVID-19 since last week’s update, increasing the death toll across the region to 126.
WDGPH previously reported 41 COVID-related fatalities in Wellington County. That number has since changed to 38, due to a change in the algorithm the health unit uses, which now localizes cases and fatalities based on addresses, rather than a general area.
With more accurate address information, four fatalities have been reassigned out of the county to either Dufferin or Guelph.
Municipality-specific active COVID-19 case counts as of July 19, 2021. (WDGPH image)
Vaccines/outbreaks
Since July 12, another 2,923 residents in the WDGPH region received their first dose, bringing the total as of July 19 to 215,169 or 79.8% of the population aged 12 or older with at least one dose.
In Wellington County 73.4% of eligible residents have received at least one dose as of July 12, lagging behind 75.7% in Dufferin County and 85.7% in Guelph.
WDGPH has faced challenges with vaccine rollout in the county and public health staff are actively working on strategies to increase vaccination rates there.
Public health was aiming to have 75% of the overall region’s eligible population at least partially vaccinated “by June” but did not surpass that threshold until June 22.
As of July 19, there are 161,243 eligible residents (59.8%) fully vaccinated, an increase of 22,205 or 16% from the 139,038 fully vaccinated residents reported on July 12.
An additional 25,546 vaccine doses have been administered since July 12, according to WDGPH data. As of July 19, at least 372,424 doses have been administered in the region.
There are currently no facility or childcare centre outbreaks and three workplace outbreaks in the WDGPH region.
