15 staff test positive at bakery, as Hamilton sees 143 new cases and more outbreaks

There are four new outbreaks in Hamilton as of Tuesday, including a bakery facility where 15 people have tested positive, two schools, and a third ongoing ArcelorMittal Dofasco outbreak. 

All 15 people linked to the Aryzta/Oakrun Farm Bakery, an industrial bakery at 1770 Fiddlers Green Road in Ancaster, are staff. 

A spokesperson for Aryzta said they're working with Hamilton Public Health Service and that "all health and safety protocols were — and continue to be — diligently followed."

The statement said all areas of the bakery have been thoroughly cleaned, contact tracing has been done for positive cases, and potentially impacted team members and close contact are quarantining.

The company says it will offer "voluntary COVID-19 testing to all associates weekly."

The latest ArcelorMittal Dofasco outbreak includes three staff in the No. 2 CPCM roll shop. It joins two others, each with two staff infected. 

Three students have tested positive in relation to the Cootes Paradise Elementary School outbreak, and one student and one staff have tested positive linked to the outbreak at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Elementary School. 

Staff and students are on spring break and will be moving to remote learning next week. 

There were 143 new COVID-19 cases reported in Hamilton, which has 1,004 active cases. 

Three more people have died as of Tuesday. According to city data, they were in their 80s and bring total deaths to 337 people. 

The City of Hamilton says 89 per cent of the 14,381 COVID-19 cases over the course of the pandemic have been resolved. St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton is treating 48 patients with the virus and Hamilton Health Sciences is treating 70 others. 

There have been 136,763 doses of the vaccine administered in Hamilton. 

On Monday, the mayors and chairs from the 11 largest municipal governments across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) continued their call for more vaccines.

A media release from the GTHA group says it supports the addition of postal code hot spots for increased access to the vaccine and any further action by the provincial and federal government to increase the vaccine supply. 

"Hamilton's COVID-19 vaccination effort is running smoothly and efficiently. We support the goal of the provincial government to vaccinate 40 per cent of people in Ontario by May 5, but the simple truth is that in order to ramp it up in Hamilton, we need an increased supply of vaccines," said Mayor Fred Eisenberger in the release. 

Brant

Brant has recorded 41 new cases in the past 24 hours. There are 197 active cases in the county, according to its online data.

There have been 2,137 cases since March 2020 and 14 deaths. Seven people are currently hospitalized with COVID-19.

A total of 1,926 cases have been marked as resolved.

There have been 34,135 doses of the vaccine administered. 

Haldimand-Norfolk

There are 184 active cases of COVID-19 in Haldimand and Norfolk, which is 24 more than yesterday. The counties have recorded 1,848 cases throughout the pandemic.

Thirty-nine deaths are considered COVID-related and 1,620 people have recovered. 

There have been 26,533 doses of the vaccine administered.

Niagara

Niagara reported 150 new positive cases on Monday. The region has seen 11,127 cases over the pandemic, including 1,118 that are active and 9,632 resolved.

One more person has died, bringing deaths to 377 people. 

There are 16 confirmed variants of concern, and 896 other cases are pending confirmation. 

There have been 112,226 doses of the vaccine administered in Niagara. 

The Niagara region says Indigenous adults aged 18 and over, and those in their household who are over that age and not Indigenous, can register for three pop-up COVID-19 vaccination clinics. They're offering bookings on April 21, 22 and 28 at MacBain Community Centre in Niagara Falls. 

People can register online through the De dwa da dehs nye>s Aboriginal Health Centre. A media release says registrants will be contacted with their appointment time and date.

The release also is asking people who received their first dose at Fort Erie Native Friendship Centre on March 10 or 11, or at the Niagara Regional Native Centre on March 15, not to register online, as they'll be contacted with appointment details on their second dose.

People unable to access the online form can call the Fort Erie Native Friendship Centre at 905-871-8931 or the Niagara Regional Native Centre at 905-688-6484 to register for an appointment.

Halton

There were 172 new cases in Halton for a total of 12,573 so far.

Of these, 948 cases are active and 11,423 are resolved.

Thirty-five of the new cases were in Burlington, which has seen 3,062 cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic. There are 189 active cases in the city. 

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

Six Nations

Six Nations of the Grand River has recorded one active cases of COVID-19 as of Tuesday. There have been 445 total cases and 434 resolved. A tenth person has died. 

Six Nations was in alert level red of its colour-coded framework.