Over 35 new COVID-19 cases found in Niagara this weekend
Niagara’s COVID-19 caseload rose by 37 on the weekend.
Niagara Region Public Health reported 136 confirmed cases of the virus as of noon Sunday. Of the new cases, nine are travel related, five being travel to the United States, said Dr. Mustafa Hirji, Niagara’s acting medical officer of health. Fourteen are contacts of known confirmed cases, nine are community transmissions, and five are still under investigation.
“We’re not yet reporting deaths,” he said, adding that probably will be done starting this week.
Hirji said public health will likely only release the number of total deaths but will not begin identifying which municipalities those deaths or confirmed cases are from.
“We’re trying to give information I think the public deserves to know about, while also balancing that when there are small numbers, it, unfortunately, can compromise privacy because people are able to figure out who individuals are,” he said. “Fortunately, we have not had a large number of deaths in Niagara, at least by an absolute number, so we’re conscious that we can’t give out any kind of breakdowns of those deaths right now.”
Hirji, however, did say COVID-19 is not an isolated problem, and that municipalities across the region have been impacted.
“We have confirmed cases in every munici
pality in Niagara and we have had deaths in multiple municipalities.”
The 136 confirmed cases reflect Niagara residents and of those, 30 have recovered.
“We capture whoever is a Niagara resident and has been diagnosed with COVID-19, so whether they were diagnosed in hospital, long-term care home, in the community through their family physician and, even if someone was say, for example, in Thunder Bay but happened on file to be a Niagara resident, we would still get legally notified about them,” said Hirji.
Outbreaks have been declared at five homes, including Lundy Manor in Niagara Falls; Douglas H. Rapelje Lodge, Royal Rose Place and Seasons First Avenue in Welland; and Albright Manor in Beamsville.
As of Sunday, Niagara Health was reporting the death of seven patients (same number as Friday) who tested positive for COVID-19, however, it does not mean COVID-19 was the cause of death.
The hospital system said it had tested 2,210 patients for COVID-19 — 107 came back positive. That’s up from Friday, when Niagara Health reported 1,939 patients had been tested, with 103 coming back positive. It said 34 patients with the virus have been admitted to date, with 21 currently being treated. That’s up from 25 patients, with 13 being treated, on Friday.
Niagara Health said results may differ from public health due to the timing of collection of the data.