COVID-19 increase: One death and 19 new cases locally

Ford pleads with Ontarians to get a flu shot as numbers rise

Hamilton had its first COVID-19 death in nearly two months at the same time the city is seeing an uptick in cases and a skyrocketing demand for tests.

An 83-year-old woman who travelled internationally died Sept. 20 in hospital, bringing Hamilton’s virus death toll to 46. The city had not seen a COVID-19 death since July 25. The senior is among 12 deaths over the course of the pandemic that haven’t been connected to an outbreak.

The woman’s death comes during a sudden rise of COVID-19 cases in Hamilton. Up until now, the city was not experiencing the increase of infections like other parts of the province — particularly Toronto, Peel and Ottawa.

“I’m concerned,” said Dr. Elizabeth Richardson, Hamilton’s medical officer of health. “Our cases are up.”

Hamilton had 19 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday bringing the total number of confirmed and probable infections to 1,089. Richardson says the city is now averaging eight new cases a day, which is up from five or less since the end of the first wave of the virus.

“It’s primarily related to people socializing and not maintaining their physical distancing, not wearing masks when they should,” said Richardson. “People are tired and no doubt ... To be able to do what we can do, it’s so important we stick by this and follow those public health measures.”

School reopenings are not driving the uptick locally. Instead, it’s socializing among people aged 20 to 40. In the last 10 days, 55 per cent of new cases have been among this group.

“We don’t have a vaccine, we don’t want to go back to lockdown, we want to continue to move forward, we want our kids to be able to go to school, we want people to be able to be working, we want to see our loved ones who we are closest to,” Richardson said about the high stakes of rising cases. “We’d love to get back to many other things, but we need to be very grateful for how far we’ve come with this and continue to be diligent right now so we can keep this under control.”

The uptick comes as Hamilton is seeing a rapid increase in demand for testing that is pushing the city’s four assessment centres to the breaking point. The centres combined are now doing around1,000 tests a day — up from 450 when they first opened and 750 more recently.

“That’s really pushing over and above the limit,” said Richardson. “It’s really overstretching our assessment centres and so we are just trying to manage that.”

The number of people wanting to get tested shot up to 3,000 calls in a 24-hour period from Monday to Tuesday, compared to 2,000 a day over the weekend and 1,000 a day last week.

“It’s huge numbers,” said Richardson. “The calls right now are not a demand we can keep up with.”

Richardson said there are daily meetings about how to satisfy the increasing demand for testing and more sites are being considered. The newly opened site at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton’s West 5th campus has already extended its hours.

Those wanting to get tested need to book an appointment by calling 905-974-9848. Walkins will not be guaranteed an immediate test. Online booking will be available starting Sept 25.

Only about one-third of those looking to get a test in Hamilton have COVID-19 symptoms. Richardson is asking the worried well to wait a few days before making an appointment while the city comes up with a plan to deal with the increased demand.

In addition, Premier Doug Ford said Tuesday that testing in pharmacies should be “up and running by the end of this week” with a further announcement expected soon.

“We’re trying to make some improvements to the system, get things changed and get people booked in a little more easily,” said Richardson. “The most important people to get tested (immediately) are those who are sick, people who are contacts and have been directed to get tested, and those who are needing to get tested to get surgery done or trying to visit people in long-term care.”

Worried that the increasing COVID-19 cases will overwhelm the health-care system, Ford made a plea Tuesday for Ontarians to get their flu shot when it starts to becomes available over the next one to three weeks. To make it easier for the most vulnerable to get immunized, the province is making high-dose flu shots for seniors available in pharmacies for the first time. Children under the age of five still have to go to their family doctor.

“We know that a second wave is coming, we know it will be more complicated than the first wave, we know it will be more challenging on the system,” Ford said. “What we don’t know is how bad it will be, how hard we will get hit.”

Last flu season, public health gave out 110,000 doses of the flu shot to Hamilton physicians and pharmacies.

“That’s good but can ... be even better,” said Richardson.

She said its important for Hamiltonians to get the flu shot so they are “protected against the flu itself, but also to protect the system.”

“The system is stretched and continues to be so today,” she said.