WELLINGTON COUNTY – Public health is reporting 149 new COVID-19 cases in the region over the weekend (Jan. 22 to 24) and the 15th COVID-related death in Wellington County.
A Jan. 25 update from Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health (WDGPH) noted five residents are hospitalized with the virus in Wellington, which had 44 new weekend cases and now has a record-high 112 active cases.
WDGPH spokesperson Danny Williamson confirmed the latest death at Caressant Care Arthur was an 87-year-old woman
The county’s 15th COVID-related death – the 13th in the second wave of the pandemic – is the ninth linked to two concurrent outbreaks at Caressant Care Arthur.
Public health is now reporting 115 total cases at the Arthur facility since the outset of the outbreaks, split between long-term care (43 resident cases, including eight deaths, and 35 staff cases) and the retirement home (25 residents, including one death, and 12 staff).
Caressant Care Arthur has reported 23 new cases and six long-term care deaths in the last week.
On Jan. 13, the province announced North Wellington Health Care, which operates hospitals in Mount Forest and Palmerston, was taking over management of the Caressant Care long-term care portion of the facility to try to get that outbreak under control.
Vaccines/indicators
As of the end of the day on Jan. 24, WDGPH has administered 5,869 COVID-19 vaccines.
Weekend COVID-19 cases reported in the region are down for the second week in a row (176 reported on Jan. 18 and a record 192 on Jan. 11).
There are now 480 active cases across the region, which is up from last Monday’s total of 432 (on Jan. 11 public health reported a record high of 489).
Several regional COVID-19 indicators are still trending in the right direction.
The latest case rate per 100,000 population is 113.6 and the test positivity rate is 4.2%. Two weeks ago those figures were 149.2.6 and 5.9% respectively.
WDGPH’s effective reproductive rate – the average number of people one person with COVID-19 will infect – sits at 0.92. Health experts say the figure needs to be below 1.0 for the number of cases to drop.
The City of Guelph has the most cases in the region (95 new and 304 active, with four hospitalizations).
Dufferin County has 11 new cases, 40 active cases (23 in Orangeville) and two people in hospital.
Municipality-specific active COVID-19 cases counts as of Jan. 25, 2021. (WDGPH image)
Wellington County, outbreaks
Wellington County’s seven-day average for daily cases, which is often used to indicate trends, is now 11.29, down slightly from 11.71 one week ago.
Municipality-specific cases in the county are as follows:
- 44 in Wellington North;
- 21 in Minto;
- 13 in Centre Wellington;
- 11 in Erin;
- 10 in Puslinch;
- seven in Guelph-Eramosa; and
- six in Mapleton.
Many of the Wellington North cases can be attributed to two COVID-19 outbreaks at Caressant Care Arthur, which to-date have affected 68 residents and 47 staff in total.
(Reporting is based on residency, so staff members living outside the township will not be included in Wellington North figures).
There are currently 12 facility outbreaks in the WDGPH region, including four in Wellington County:
- Caressant Care Arthur (retirement home), 25 resident cases (one death) and 12 staff cases, declared on Dec. 12;
- Wellington Terrace Long-Term Care in Aboyne, 11 staff, declared on Dec. 12;
- Caressant Care Arthur (long-term care), 43 residents (eight deaths) and 35 staff, declared on Dec. 26; and
- Morriston Park (long-term care) in Puslinch, one staff, declared on Jan. 15.
Outbreaks were recently declared over at Strathcona Long-Term Care in Mount Forest (one staff, declared on Jan. 7), Caressant Care Harriston retirement home (one staff, declared on Jan. 10) and Caressant Care Harriston long-term care, second floor (one staff, declared on Jan. 12).
