Hamilton public health has called 924 contacts of COVID-19 patients in the last month

At least 924 people in Hamilton have made contact with a COVID-19 patient in the last month, shows new numbers from the city's Public Health Services.

That's how many people workers called from May 12 to June 13 as part of contract tracing for COVID-19. When someone is confirmed or suspected to have the virus, workers track down who's been in contact with that person. 

That number includes close and distant contacts, said Dr. Elizabeth Richardson, medical officer of health, during a board of health meeting Tuesday. The majority are close ones though, and public health workers kept in touch with them for two weeks. 

"We are actually following them and their contacts for 14 days," she said. "When you think about how many days they all had to be followed for, and they could have two to 25 more contacts, you can see how the numbers do ramp up."

"On one day alone, we had 75 contacts."

Richardson's team has only started keeping track of the number of people it calls, so there are no numbers dating back to the start of the pandemic in March. Richardson provided them as part of an update on the city's massive COVID-19 effort that started on Feb. 11. 

The city saw its first COVID-19 case on March 11, she said. Within two weeks, there were 35 cases, and a month later, there were nearly 100. 

As of Tuesday, Hamilton has seen 771 known cases (764 confirmed, seven probable). Of those, 42 people have died and 632 have recovered, which means 139 people are known to have the virus right now. Eighteen are in hospital.

When the pandemic started, 304 of public health's 454 workers, and 69 city staff, were redeployed to COVID-19. That's whittled down to 261 public health staff and 40 city workers. That ranges from epidemiologists to people who have answered thousands of questions via Hamilton's COVID-19 hotline, she said. Nine people have come back from retirement.

Richardson said as Hamilton enters stage two of recovery Friday, people still have to wash their hands, wear masks in close quarters, and stay two metres from people outside of their social bubble.

For some, "it will be challenging for people to accept that it's OK to take these incremental steps forward," she said. "What we're looking for is see what happens when they do."

"I'm a little concerned that maybe we've scared them too much," said Lloyd Ferguson, Ward 12 (Ancaster) councillor. "I talk to people now [and] they won't even go to a grocery store yet."

Here's a timeline from Richardson's presentation:

• December: A pneumonia of unknown cause in Wuhan, China is reported to the World Health Organization.
• Jan. 25: Ontario confirms its first case.
• Feb. 11: Hamilton Public Health Services activates its integrated management system team in anticipation of the pandemic. This is the same day WHO announces a new name for the disease: COVID-19.
• March 11: WHO declares COVID-19 to be a pandemic. This is also the day of the first death in Ontario, and the first travel-acquired case of the virus in Hamilton. 
• March 12: Ontario schools are closed. 
• March 13: Hamilton sees its first community-acquired case.
• March 16: Two assessment centres open in Hamilton for people to be tested. 
• March 17: The province declares an emergency.
• March 18: The Canada/U.S. border is closed.
• March 21: Hamilton experiences its first outbreak at a long-term care home (Heritage Green).
• March 24: The first Hamilton resident, a woman who lives at Heritage Green, dies of COVID-19. Meanwhile, the province closes non-essential workplaces.
• April 10: As cases increase exponentially, the city expands testing. At first, results come in slowly because of laboratory backlogs. (Richardson says this is remedied now, and results come back fairly quickly.)
• April 17: The city opens its first drive-thru testing centre.
• April 22: Following provincial orders, the city begins mass testing of staff and residents of long-term care homes.
• May 4: Certain businesses and workplaces are allowed to reopen. Testing begins of all staff at emergency child care centres.
• May 20: Public health officials begin recommending face masks. 
• May 19: Hamilton begins plans to reopen some services as part of stage one of recovery.
• June 12: Some regions of Ontario — excluding Hamilton, Niagara and Haldimand-Norfolk — enter stage two of recovery.
• June 19: Hamilton will enter stage two. There are three stages.

Here's what's happening elsewhere:

Brant

There are nine people known to have COVID-19 in Brant/Brantford right now, up from eight on Monday. Two of those cases are at Telfer Place Retirement Residence in Paris. The health unit declared an outbreak there on Monday.

All told, 120 people have tested positive for the virus, up from 118 the day before. Four people have died.

Haldimand-Norfolk

The area has 265 active cases of COVID-19 right now, many connected to workers at Scotlynn Group in Vittoria. All told, there have been 414 known cases, which is unchanged from Monday. Thirty-one people have died.

Halton

Two more people have tested positive in Burlington since Monday. The city has 28 active cases right now, one more than Monday, and 158 altogether (141 confirmed, 17 probable). Six people have died. 

Halton has 103 active cases right now, and 790 total (711 confirmed, 79 probable) since the pandemic began, up from 787 on Monday. Twenty-four people have died and 663 have recovered.

There is a declared outbreak on June 9 at the Oakwood unit of CAMA Woodlands long-term care home in Burlington.

Niagara

The number of Niagara residents known to have COVID-19 is unchanged at 32. All told, 728 have tested since the pandemic began, which is up from 726 on Monday. Sixty-one people have died. There is an outbreak at Garden City Manor in St. Catharines.