Most LTC homes to begin rapid testing

A new outbreak has been declared at Ottawa's Garry J. Armstrong longterm care home after two staffers tested positive for COVID-19.

Residents are in isolation at the city-operated home, according to a memo to city council, though designated caregivers can still visit with additional protective measures in place.

The outbreak was reported one day after the lifting of another one, at Centre d'accueil Champlain. The outbreak at the Vanier long-term care home was declared on Dec. 24, with seven confirmed cases among staff members. No residents were infected in that outbreak.

Ottawa Public Health also listed an outbreak at a group home where a staffer had tested positive. OPH does not identify some institutions for privacy reasons. There are 22 ongoing outbreaks in health-care facilities.

Two outbreaks were declared at childcare installations. The Bishop Hamilton Montessori school reported one staff member reporting positive, while three children tested positive at Cornerstone Children's Centre. There are six ongoing outbreaks in childcare and schools.

And one more community outbreak was declared, for a total of three ongoing outbreaks in Ottawa.

Meanwhile, more than five per cent of positive COVID-19 cases collected last month in a major Ontario study tested positive for highly infectious coronavirus variants of concern, a new report said.

Of 1,880 positive samples from Jan. 20 that were analyzed, 103 (or 5.5 per cent) were confirmed or highly likely to be either the U.K. B.1.1.7 or South African B.1.353 variants.

Sixteen of the 103 cases in the study (1.2 per cent) were linked to community spread and not associated with institutional outbreaks, Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Williams said.

There were 153 confirmed cases of the variants in Ontario, along with dozens of additional highly probable variant cases tied to outbreaks at long-term care homes in Simcoe County.

The B.1.1.7 variant, first discovered in England, is about 50 per cent more transmissible than older “wild” variants of coronavirus present in Ontario.

Scientists have said the B.1.353 variant, first discovered in South Africa, is also more infectious than older variants and may also circumvent some of the immunity provided by some COVID-19 vaccines.

The head of Ontario's COVID -19 Science Table has said the B.1.1.7 variant will become the dominant strain by March.

Ontario's daily test-positivity rate was 2.6 per cent in the last 24-hour period. Hospitalizations and ICU admissions are down, but Williams said those numbers need to be cut in half, at least, for hospitals to return to any normal elective procedures.

“With all this data that's moving around right now, with our (daily case) numbers changing, our volume of testing and per cent positivity changing at the same time the mutations and variants are coming up, we're in a very precarious situation.”

BY THE NUMBERS

Ottawa

39: New confirmed cases, as of Wednesday at 3 p.m.

13,485: Total cases

457: Active cases

0: New deaths

422: Total deaths

29: Currently in hospital

6: In intensive care units

1,389: Swabs processed at Ottawa assessment centres on Wednesday 1.9 per cent: Positivity rate in Ottawa residents between Jan 27-Feb. 2

Ontario

1,563: New confirmed cases, as of Wednesday afternoon

273,660: Total cases* (Numbers may fluctuate as data is reconciled this week.)

152: Confirmed cases with U.K. variant

1: Cases with South African variant 88: New deaths

6,393: Total deaths

1,101: Currently in hospital

323: In ICU

241: On ventilators

6,724: Daily vaccine doses administered as of Tuesday at 8 p.m. 355,055: Total doses administered 80,977: People fully vaccinated