COVID-19: End of 2 more number-supported Ontario public health measures, experts say – Hamilton

Two infectious disease specialists say Ontario’s move to end COVID-19 vaccination protocol testing and its capacity limits is a reasonable step based on what public health data show us between ongoing global pandemic.

Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) Epidemiologist Dr. Dominik Mertz told Global News that despite some provincial wastewater data showing a small increase in coronavirus, current healthcare measurements continue to improve.

“We see that the number of cases continues to fall in hospitals and that helps. “It’s absolutely reasonable to take this next step today,” Mertz told 900 CHML’s Good morning Hamilton.

As of Tuesday, Ontario hospitals are reporting 914 people admitted with COVID-19 and 278 to intensive care units. That’s 65 in hospital, but a drop from one in the ICU compared to Monday.

On the same day last week, there were 1,038 beds with 319 in the ICU.

In Hamilton, the number of patients seeking care from its hospital networks continues to decline, with only 43 COVID-19 patients total in city facilities, a drop of about 36 as of February 22nd.

This is slightly less than the 200 cases less than the 240 cases reported on February 1st.

Both HHS and St. Joe’s are reporting less than five COVID-19 patients each to their ICUs as of Tuesday.

Isolated hospital staff for COVID-19 has also dropped significantly since early February, with only 180 unemployed as of Tuesday. Together, the hospital reported more than 300 workers affected in early February.

The downturn prompted HHS to eliminate its vaccination testing policy for visitors this week and resume some long-awaited procedures such as cancer screening, diagnostic imaging and surgical care.

The scientific director for the Ontario scientific table COVID-19 told about 900 CHML Bill Kelly Show Sewage data have shown a steady “downward slope” on the coronavirus issue since late January, with continuous “flattening” since the release of capacity limits on February 17th.

“So we’ve probably reached the bottom of the valley now … maybe about 15 to 20,000 infections a day,” said Dr. Peter Juni.

“We are only able to detect about 10 percent of those infections, but that is what we see based on sewage.”

Hamilton Public Health reported a weekly case positivity rate of 12.3 percent on Tuesday, which is lower than the 19.1 percent reported on Feb. 1.

The latest report by IC / ES researchers for the week of February 6 showed that the city’s positivity rate fell to 12.12 percent, below the provincial average at the time of 12.51 percent.

Both Juni and Mertz acknowledge that the pandemic is not over and that not everyone has immunity to the virus. Infections are likely to continue and there may still be another wave with the current Omicron variant.

“We can try … to model when the next increase in cases and eventually hospital admissions can happen, but it proves to be very difficult these days because we do not even know how many people have had an Omicron infection, said Mertz.

However, Juni believes the current scenario is “a completely different situation” from easing restrictions about a year ago, when cases were prompted by the Alpha variant due to the lack of high vaccination rates.

He says a combination of two-dose vaccination rates, seven million third-dose Ontarians and about four million COVID-19 infections since December 2021 is likely to equate to “short-term protection” against the current variant.

“We’ll probably see a little revival now,” Juni said.

“What does this mean? We may have a small increase in hospitals and ICUs, but it is very unlikely that this will be at the same level as before.”

Another positive sign for Hamilton is the sharp drop in institutional outbreaks across the city over the past 30 days, dropping from 54 reported on Feb. 1 to just seven as of Tuesday.

The increase was about 1,300 cases earlier that month before falling below 100 as of Monday.

The spread to Alexander Place long-term care home, announced Jan. 1, accounts for most of the current 70 cases.

The number of COVID-19-related deaths in the city fell by almost half a month, comparing data from January and February.

Public health reported 58 deaths between early January and early February. Between February and March, there were just over 30.

Nineteen of the dead in February were people over 80, while 11 were in their 70s, according to city records.

As of Tuesday, more than 1.2 million first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Hamilton, with about 467,000 second doses and 285,000 third doses given as of Monday.

Nearly 88 percent of Hamiltonians 12 years of age and older are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Coverage of the first dose is 90.3 percent. Immunization of the third dose is 52.6 percent.

The city is still slightly behind the provincial average in 92.6 percent first-dose vaccines. Second doses in Ontario are 90.5 percent, with third doses 54.1 percent.

Fifty-two percent of children ages five to 11 have had at least one dose of a vaccine in the city, with second doses at just over 30 percent. The numbers are at the same level as the provincial norms in that age group, which are 54.7 percent and 28.1 percent, respectively.

Young people between the ages of 12 and 17 represent the age group with the second lowest vaccination rate, according to city data. Slightly more than 85 percent have had a single dose, 82 percent have had a second injection, and only eight percent have had a third.

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