WELLINGTON COUNTY – There are 418 known active cases in the Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health (WDGPH) region as of Feb. 14, with 121 new cases reported over the weekend (Feb. 11 to 13).
As of Monday, Wellington County is home to 125 confirmed cases, of which 25 are new.
There are 100 cases active in Dufferin County and 180 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.
Hospitalizations
The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 in the region has not been updated since Feb. 9, when there were 25 people hospitalized. Of those, 18 were in acute care and seven were admitted to an ICU in either Guelph or Orangeville.
According to seven-day moving averages reported by WDGPH, also not updated since Feb. 9, acute care occupancy levels reached 82.7% that Wednesday and 91% in ICUs.
Vaccination statuses of those hospitalized locally are not disclosed.
At the provincial level, as of Monday morning, there are 473 unvaccinated persons hospitalized with COVID-19 across the province, of which 117 are in an ICU.
In contrast, there are 1,029 two-dose vaccinated persons hospitalized across the province, of which 150 are in an ICU.
Considering 85% of eligible Ontarians are vaccinated with at least two doses as of Feb. 12, data from the Ontario Science Table indicates that unvaccinated individuals are over six times more likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19 and over 10 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, 53% have been admitted because of COVID-19 related related reasons, with the remaining 47% testing positive for the virus, but admitted for non-COVID-related reasons.
For ICUs, 81% are admitted because of COVID-19, whereas 19% are admitted for other reasons.
Deaths attributed to COVID-19
As of Feb. 14, the death toll has risen to 154 people, including 47 in the county.
Last week the death toll jumped from 139 people region-wide, to 150 people, because of a lag in data reporting.
Six of those deaths were residents of Caressant Care long-term care homes in Fergus and Harriston.
Vaccinations
Since Feb. 7, another 2,039 people have become two-dose vaccinated in the WDGPH region, bringing the total as of Feb. 14 to 254,463 or 86.3% of the population aged five or older.
There are 10,698 people aged five or older in the region who have received a first dose and 148,930 (60% of the eligible population at least 18 years old) who have received a third dose as of Feb. 14.
In Wellington County 85% of eligible residents five and over are two-dose vaccinated and 61.6% of those at least 18 and over have received a third dose as of Feb. 14.
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. 13, there were 333 new cases every day per million people in those unvaccinated, and 127 cases per day in those with at least two doses.
The data concludes there’s a 62% reduction in the risk of contracting a case with two vaccine doses.
The reduction in the risk of being hospitalized with two doses is 84%.
Vaccinations among student populations
According to WDGPH data as of Feb. 14, 85.2% of high school students are vaccinated with two doses and around 1,688 remain without a single dose.
In elementary schools within the health unit’s catchment area, 46.4% of an estimated 28,452 eligible students are two-dose vaccinated. There remain another 10,186 students without a single dose.
Outbreaks in health care settings
There are currently three active outbreaks of COVID-19 declared by WDGPH at long-term care and retirement 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.
