COVID patients hit ‘all-time new highs’
Six more Niagara deaths reported, as public health works to increase vaccine uptake
Niagara Health hospitals are again struggling with an unprecedented surge of COVID-19 patients while reporting six more deaths of patients with the coronavirus.
Meanwhile, public health officials are expanding vaccination efforts.
The hospital system said the latest patient deaths, all Niagara residents, occurred between Friday and Sunday. The number of patients being treated for the virus increased to 164, including 23 in intensive care.
Forty-seven Niagara residents in hospital with COVID-19 have died this month.
Niagara acting medical officer of health Dr. Mustafa Hirji said Niagara Heath is seeing “all-time new highs in terms of COVID cases in the hospital.”
This as vaccine uptake dropped to its lowest point in weeks on Sunday. Niagara Region Public Health reported 1,987 doses were administered, only slightly increasing the percentages of people receiving booster shots or their initial vaccines.
The majority of children in the five to 11 age group have yet to get their first dose of vaccine, with 45.2 per cent vaccinated with one dose as of Sunday.
Most residents 50 and younger have yet to receive their booster dose.
As demand for vaccines at the mass clinic at Niagara Falls Convention Centre continues to decline, now at about one-third its capacity, public health began to set up vaccine clinics in other locations, such as at École Franco-Niagara in Welland on Monday, in the hopes of increasing vaccine uptake.
“We’re not very busy, and it’s giving us an opportunity to move a lot of staff over to doing fourth doses in long-term-care and retirement homes to give really vulnerable people more protection.”
Hirji said public health is planning additional pop-up clinics as well as a few more at schools in other communities.
“That’s what is going to be needed to get vaccine coverage up because sadly people aren’t coming out to our clinic at the Niagara Falls Convention Centre as much,” he said.
“I’d imagine it’s going to be fewer than 10 clinics (at schools) in total, because there’s just not the ability to get to a few hundred schools to do vaccinations. What we’re trying to do is target a few schools in areas where there’s lower uptake where we would probably want to do a pop-up clinic anyway to help with coverage there.”
He said tentative plans are in place for a similar clinic to be held in a south Niagara community.
Hirji, however, said he is not expecting to see a large number of children vaccinated while at school.
“Most parents are going to want to be there when their child is vaccinated, so I don’t think it’s that convenient an opportunity to go vaccinate younger children, particularly,” he said. “I know the province is really pushing for it so we’re going to do a few clinics to see how it goes. Hopefully, we’ll at least get someone vaccinated while we’re there.”
Hirji said its not just an issue of getting parental permission, which can be done over the phone. He said it can be hard for a young child who may be frightened about getting the vaccine.
“Having a parent there is really important to just calm the child down and make them feel safe, help coax them through the whole experience” he said.