Province passes 200,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses

A total of 21,714 people have received both shots, health officials report

Ontario is reporting another 3,422 COVID-19 cases and 69 more deaths, according to its latest report released Sunday morning.

The seven-day average is down slightly at 3,143 cases daily, or 151 weekly per 100,000. Ontario’s seven-day average for deaths is at 60.9 daily — the second-worst rate of the pandemic so far, behind only May 6 at the peak of the province’s first wave.

There are 1,570 people currently hospitalized with COVID-19 in the province, including 395 patients in intensive care. There are 293 people on ventilators.

The province’s hospitalization numbers tend to be undercounted on weekends. In its Sunday morning report, the province added that more than 10 per cent of hospitals did not submit data to its daily census, as it often sees on weekends. “We anticipate the number of hospitalized patients may increase when reporting compliance increases,” it says.

Ontario has administered 11,007 doses of the vaccine since its last daily update, with 200,097 vaccines given in total as of 8 p.m. the previous night. The province also says 21,714 people have completed their vaccinations, which means they have had both shots.

The 200,000 milestone comes a day after Ontario’s chief medical officer of health said the province is changing its schedule for second doses of the Pfizer vaccine after the pharmaceutical giant announced a production delay.

Locally, Health Minister Christine Elliott says 1,035 cases are in Toronto, 585 in Peel, 254 in Windsor-Essex County, 246 in York Region and 186 in Niagara.

Meanwhile, 11 more residents in long-term care have died, for a total of 3,123 since the pandemic began, according to the latest report released by the province.

Ontario is reporting that 246 long-term-care homes are in outbreak, the same number as the previous day.

There are 106 more active positive cases among residents than the previous day for a total of 13,210.

Additionally, there are 75 more staff members with an active case, for a total of 5,209.

Since the pandemic began, 10 staff members in Ontario’s long-term-care homes have died due to the virus, according to the province.

This data is self-reported by the long-term-care homes to the Ministry of Long-Term Care. Daily case and death figures may not immediately match the numbers posted by the local public health units due to lags in reporting time.

Meanwhile, an enforcement blitz that uncovered numerous violations of COVID-19 prevention protocols across big-box retailers in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton areas will broaden its scope to include the rest of the province in the weeks ahead, the province’s labour minister said Sunday.

Monte McNaughton said the initial wave of inspectors combing retailers for those eschewing masks and ignoring physical-distancing guidelines found only 70 per cent of sites they visited were adhering to the public health measures intended to curb the spread of the virus. He called the results disappointing, pledging to expand the enforcement efforts to other parts of the province, as well as additional industries at risk from COVID-19 outbreaks.

“We’ll be expanding that in the days and weeks to come across the whole province,” McNaughton said. “We’re going to continue targeting bad actors and we’ll continue issuing fines and close them down if we have to.” The initial blitz involved 50 inspectors fanning out across Toronto, Hamilton and surrounding municipalities to observe the scene at multiple bigbox retailers, which are among the businesses allowed to keep their doors open under Ontario’s current stay-at-home order.