Dozens of elderly Niagarans still at risk of dying
Local infection rate falling but pandemic deaths continue to rise
Seventy-two.
That’s the number of elderly Niagara residents fighting a COVID-19 infection.
Even as the local infection rate continues to slide downward and the most vulnerable are vaccinated, because of their age, those 72 people are at greatest risk of joining the growing list of Niagara’s pandemic dead.
By late Tuesday afternoon, the number of active COVID-19 cases in the region dropped to 520 — a low not seen since late December when the second wave was well on its way to a crisis point — and Niagara’s public health department had nearly completed three-quarters of the second round of Pfizer vaccine doses for long-termcare residents.
But the local death count, one of the highest in Ontario, is likely to continue to rise, said Niagara’s acting medical officer of health. Six new deaths were recorded Tuesday, and the region has only seen one death-free day in 39 days.
“These are people who are absolutely the most at risk of dying,” said Dr. Mustafa Hirji. “Of those 520 cases, most of them will be younger people, but there is still a large number of those who, unfortunately, are still at risk.”
The number of elderly residents still fighting COVID-19 is the result of the wide community spread of the virus in December and January, which caused a spike of outbreaks and deaths among people aged 80 or older.
January was Niagara’s worse month of the pandemic to date, with 72 per cent of cases and deaths occurring during that month.
No less than 353 people with the virus have died since the pandemic hit Niagara last March.
Niagara’s COVID-19 numbers continued their downward trend Tuesday with only 13 new cases confirmed, a number last
seen in the middle of November. Hirji said the average number of late is in the 20 to 43 new daily case range, so Tuesday’s figure is likely an outlier in the overall trend.
“I think we will get there eventually,” said Hirji, who continues to worry that Niagara’s infection rate, and the presence of novel coronavirus variants in Ontario. He said it makes next week’s economic reopening a very risky proposition.
Hirji said by the end of the day Thursday, the public health department will have completed the second round of shots for long-term-care residents and will move on to the second round of injections for highrisk retirement home residents.
The health department has been very successful at squeezing extra doses out of the Pfizer vials — they are now approved by Health Canada for six doses — so Hirji said more long-termcare residents are being vaccinated than was originally planned for.
Initially, only those residents who had not been previously exposed to the novel coronavirus were being vaccinated. Someone who recovered from the virus will have a degree of immunity, and would be vaccinated at a later date.
However, since public health has been able to stretch the supply, first-round shots have been started for people previously exposed.
“We do not know yet if the vaccine provides better immunity than a natural immunity at this point like vaccines do for diphtheria and HPV, but if it does not, it won’t do any harm,” Hirji said.
What the vaccines will do, however, is provide protection against the virus variants, at least one of which has been able to reinfect people. The Pfizer vaccines appear effective against those strains and vaccinating previously infected residents could protect them against a possible third pandemic wave, and prevent a repeat of second-wave fatalities.
But for those elderly people already infected with COVID-19, the immunization program has come too late. More than 60 per cent of Niagara residents with the virus who have died were older than 80 and 72 people in that demographic are fighting the infection.
There are 25 people, many of them elderly, in Niagara hospitals with COVID-19. There are 22 COVID-19 outbreaks still active in Niagara health-care facilities, including long-termcare homes. The most recent outbreaks were declared on Feb. 4 at Maple Park Lodge in Fort Erie and Feb. 6 at Linhaven Nursing Home in St. Catharines.