People at baby showers, birthday parties and 'car lover's gathering' among 47 COVID charges laid

The City of Hamilton reported 134 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, the fourth day in a row over the 100 mark.

In fact, there have been only two days over the past week in Hamilton where new cases clocked in below that number. 

Two more people, one in their 70s and the other in their 60s, have died. There have been 334 deaths in total of people with COVID-19.

The city has seen 14,238 cases since the start of the pandemic more than a year ago, with 1,028 active cases in Hamilton right now. City data say 88.8 per cent of the total cases have been resolved. 

47 charges laid for social gatherings 

Paul Johnson, the director of the city's emergency operations centre, said there was an "unbelievable number" of calls from residents about illegal gatherings amid the stay-at-home, businesses breaking the rules, and people not wearing masks. 

There were 47 charges laid at residential properties, and 29 violations under the Reopening Ontario Act, which Johnson said would be for outdoor scenarios. 

Johnson said among the charges, there were family gatherings, like baby showers and birthday parties, and also a "car lover's gathering" in someone's garage. There were no commercial charges, he said.

Only a single person or parent, he said, can exclusively connect with one other household.

"Convincing yourself that it's okay to do because everybody else is doing it is a very false narrative," he said, noting that it's a small minority of people choosing to "brazenly" break the rules. 

"Many people are forgoing those opportunities and painfully having to again, for another year, not have those birthday celebrations, those anniversary celebrations...we're all going through it a second time."

He said "we simply have to hold off" on high-risk activities "until it's safe to do so." 

Police and bylaw officers will not be stopping people to find out where they're headed, he said, and are focusing on private gatherings and businesses not following regulations. 

"We are not trying to police everyone's comings and goings," he said.

Though the instances are rare, Johnson said people have called 911 to report COVID-19 related infractions like a party, and urged people not to do this. If they do want to report, he said, residents should call the city at 905-546-2489. 

In a media briefing on Monday, Dr. Elizabeth Richardson stressed people should stay home, especially if they're experiencing symptoms. 

"We know people are tired, we know there are frustrations, but as you continue to see with the scope and scale of what's happening in our province in terms of cases, hospitalizations, people in ICUs, this is very concerning," she said. "It's really important that we pull together to make sure that we're protecting ourselves, our loved ones, and our community as much as possible."

More than 100 patients in hospital

A new outbreak at Harvey's, located at 724 Queenston Rd., was reported on Monday. The city says two staff have tested positive. 

One more person has tested positive as part of the Strathcona Elementary School outbreak, which includes three students.

St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton is treating 35 patients with COVID-19, and Hamilton Health Sciences is caring for 68 others. 

As of April 12, there have been 133,544 doses of the vaccine administered in Hamilton. 

Brant

Brant has recorded 33 new cases in the past 24 hours. There are 184 active cases in the county, according to its online data.

There have been 2,098 cases since March 2020 and 14 deaths. Ten people are currently hospitalized with COVID-19.

A total of 1,900 cases have been marked as resolved.

There have been 33,455 doses of the vaccine administered. 

Haldimand-Norfolk

There are 160 active cases of COVID-19 in Haldimand and Norfolk. The counties have recorded 1,815 cases throughout the pandemic.

Thirty-nine deaths are considered COVID-related and 1,611 people have recovered. 

There have been 26,182 doses of the vaccine administered. The Haldimand-Norfolk Health Unit says it plans to distribute 3,000 or 3,500 more doses this week.

During the health unit's media briefing, Sarah Page, who is charge of the vaccine roll out, acknowledged recent frustration from the community and stressed that people won't be left out of vaccinations. 

"There is not a vaccine shortage where we believe that we will miss anyone, or that anyone will be unable to have the vaccine," she said.  

Meanwhile, for three of seven days last week, ICU beds at Norfolk General Hospital were running at more than 100 per cent capacity. It's the only hospital in the health unit with ICU beds, and it has seven total. 

"We are really seeing a high number of individuals coming through those beds," said Dr. Kate Bishop-Williams, an epidemiologist with the health unit. 

She said in some cases, they're transferring patients to other areas, "which is well within the provincial mandate."

"These numbers that we're reporting are concerning," she said of the case numbers. 

Niagara

Niagara reported 107 new positive cases on Monday. The region has seen 10,980 cases over the pandemic, including 1,062 that are active and 9,542 resolved.

In total, 376 people have died. 

There are 16 confirmed variants of concern, and 793 other cases are pending confirmation. 

There have been 109,731 doses of the vaccine administered in Niagara. 

Halton

There were 161 new cases in Halton for a total of 12,401 so far.

Of these, 879 cases are active and 11,320 are resolved.

Forty of the new cases were in Burlington, which has seen 3,027 cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic. There are 166 active cases in the city. 

There have been 202 deaths in the region, of which 50 were in Burlington. 

There have been 104,297 vaccine doses administered as of their Friday update. 

Six Nations

Six Nations of the Grand River has recorded eight active cases of COVID-19 as of Monday. There have been 445 total cases and 428 resolved. Nine people have died. 

One person who tested positive is in hospital. Six Nations was in alert level red of its colour-coded framework.