364 active COVID-19 cases in Hamilton, highest count ever, could mean more restrictions

A packed bar in Hamilton full of people dancing and singing with alcohol flowing well past 11 p.m. without any masks, distancing or contact information for patrons — that scene of sheer recklessness is what Paul Johnson, director of the emergency operations centre, says Hamilton Public Health Services (HPHS) heard about last weekend and saw this weekend.

"I have to scratch my head ... you can't tell me that group of people all have no idea what's going on with coronavirus eight months into our emergency operation and of course now heading into 11 months since we've been talking about this in our community."

"It's a disappointing example, not of businesses trying hard and missing one of the many, many things they needed to do, but a few businesses just don't care ... this was just 'Let's open up and whatever happens, happens,'" he told media on Monday.

He did not name the businesses but said charges were laid.

While most businesses and people are following guidelines, these exceptions come as Hamilton officially has more active cases of COVID-19 now than it has had throughout the pandemic.

Hamilton could move beyond 'orange' zone

At least 364 people are infected as of Monday morning and while public health has already warned Hamilton may have to see more province-imposed restrictions, the city's medical officer of health said the current trends may actually push the city to either add more stringent measures or move to a total lockdown.

"It's a very sobering day," Dr. Elizabeth Richardson said.

"Last week we were reporting at 20 new cases a day and now we're sitting at 43 cases per day and rising ... nothing has changed about the virus. What has changed is what we're doing collectively."

Hamilton is sitting in the Yellow-Protect zone in the province's colour-coded system that determines regional restrictions.

But the new average would position Hamilton into the Orange-Restrict zone, which would shorten the hours businesses can sell alcohol, require screening of customers, disallow the removal of masks and not allow more than 50 people from being in a business among some changes.

Despite that, Richardson said even more restrictions are a possibility given the current trends.

The Red-Control zone, which is implemented when cities see 100 cases per 100,000 cases per week, is one step away from a total lockdown. Only 10 people will be allowed to be indoors at the same time, indoor dining will be shuttered, more restrictions on live music and performance will be implemented and cinemas will close.

Critical city services on the line if workers get sick

Public health already said some community spread is infecting healthcare workers and leading to cases in long-term care and retirement residences.

Now, Johnson says it's also affecting the city's workforce and services like mental health and addictions services or city shelters. If workers get sick, they won't be able to help Hamilton's most vulnerable populations.

"How do we replace these folks? One or two? Maybe. But when you get larger numbers of people that have to isolate or are away it becomes a real challenge to provide critical services," he said.

"The impact of having rising cases in the community is not just about the individual illness, the protection of vulnerable people, but it is about those who work every day to keep critical services going ... we worry if we run into human resource issues and the inability to deliver systems, that has another health impact."

Hamilton not adding more local restrictions yet

Richardson said public health is making more visits to congregate settings and offering more immediate responses to COVID-19 cases there.

Some facilities have extra helping hands from the Local Health Integration Network.

But even with stark warnings about the impact of the pandemic, public health isn't immediately considering new by-laws or widespread measures that would add more restrictions — despite concerns the measures between the province's coloured system are too similar to each other.

"Is it going to be enough ... I keep coming back though, ultimately, it depends on all of us. The province wants us to take back over and be in control ... it is about people not following public health measures."

That said, Richardson stressed people should stay at home as much as possible and if they are around people they don't live with, they should be distancing, mask-wearing, practicing proper hand hygiene, and be outside if possible.

New death and new outbreak

On Monday, HPHS confirmed 67 new COVID-19 cases and one more victim on Monday after confirming more than 100 new cases over the weekend.

It recorded 2,184 confirmed cases since March. Of those 1,764 are resolved according to city data.

Public health says 54 people have died, which means the virus has killed another person since Sunday.

He was a man over the age of 100 from Hamilton Continuing Care, according to city spokesperson Jacqueline Durlov.

Although it appears there may be more deaths than 54 that haven't been recorded on the city's website, with Chartwell Retirement Residences saying the outbreak at Willowgrove Long Term Care has killed a total of five people.

The city also has 19 active outbreaks. The newest outbreak is at Macassa Lodge, a long-term care home that had a previous outbreak in mid-October. The city says a worker there is infected.

There are seven COVID-19 hospitalizations as of Monday, but said that could change if community spread continues.

"You start to see the cases in the community, then you start to see cases in these congregate settings and then what you start to see is the number of people who are more severely ill, the number of people in ICU start to climb and that's absolutely part of what we're trying to prevent against." 

Brant

The county of Brant reported 84 active cases on Monday.

There have also been 344 confirmed cases of COVID-19 during the pandemic.

Five people with the virus have died and two people remain in hospital, but 255 cases are resolved.

There are two active outbreaks affecting retirement homes.

The outbreak at Brucefield Manor Retirement Home has reported 16 residents and five staff with the virus.  

At Riverview Terrace Retirement Home, 10 residents have been infected with the virus, as well as three staff.

Halton

Statistics for Halton Region on Monday showed 434 active COVID-19 cases in the area.

There has been a total of 2,639 cases, which is 61 more than Friday.

Thirty-nine people have died but 2,166 cases are resolved.

Burlington reported 82 active cases.

Haldimand-Norfolk

Haldimand and Norfolk reports 26 active cases of the virus.

It has seen 571 positive cases of the virus since the pandemic began.

Thirty-two people have died of the virus, but 508 cases have been resolved.

Niagara

There have been 1,657 cases of COVID-19 reported in Niagara, which is an increase of 18 since Sunday. 

Data on the region's website says that 1,345 of those cases are resolved and 235 are active.

There have been 77 deaths and there are 15 active outbreaks.