Hamilton reports 494 new cases of COVID-19, highest daily case count since pandemic began

Hamilton Public Health Services is reporting 494 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, the highest daily case count since the pandemic began.

Record numbers of new cases were also reported on Wednesday and Thursday — 257 and 268 respectively.

Prior to Wednesday, the largest single-day increase was 238, in April.

There are currently 1,379 active cases and a positivity rate of 8.3 per cent.

Fifty-two people are currently hospitalized with COVID-19 — 42 at Hamilton Health Sciences and 10 at St. Joseph's Healthcare.

Over the course of the pandemic 28,276 people have had COVID-19. Of this number 89.7 per cent have been marked as resolved. 

A total of 424 deaths have been linked to the virus since March 2020.

Meanwhile, 999,416 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in the city.

37 active COVID-19 outbreaks

There are 24 cases linked to a Dec. 10, Grey Cup-related event at the Corktown Pub — the largest of the city's 37 reported active outbreaks.

There are 13 cases linked to an outbreak at Our Lady of Peace Catholic Elementary School.

Other outbreaks with 10 or more cases are:

• Hamilton Health Sciences, Juravinski Hospital, Unit 3 — 11 cases.

• Holy Name of Mary Catholic Elementary School — 11 cases.

• St. Patrick Catholic Elementary School — 11 cases.

Record number of cases in Ontario

It was also a record-setting day for COVID-19 cases in Ontario with the province reporting 9,571 new cases.

A spokesperson for Health Minister Christine Elliott said due to the highly-transmissible nature of the Omicron variant, it was expected that case numbers would increase in the winter months. 

"We expect they will continue to increase over the coming days and weeks, as other jurisdictions are seeing similar case rate increases per capita," press secretary Alexandra Hilkene wrote in a statement.

According to Hilkene, while the province's ICUs continue to remain stable, health authorities expect the number of admissions to rise in the coming weeks as Omicron spreads, particularly among the unvaccinated. 

"To date, the effectiveness of vaccines has meant that despite a rapid increase in cases, we have not seen a corresponding increase in hospitalizations and ICU admissions," Hilkene said.

She said Ontario is ready for an increase in hospital and ICU admissions, as the province accelerates the booster rollout.

This week, Dr. Jennie Johnstone, who chairs the Ontario Provincial Testing Expert Strategy Panel, said there's a margin of error with COVID-19 rapid tests, including if the self-tester is using it correctly. 

Johnstone said people getting together for Christmas dinner should instead talk about what would happen if one of them did have COVID. 

"Have an open and frank discussion with your family members or loved ones, and say if, in fact, somebody did have COVID in retrospect, are we OK with that?" she told CBC News.

Johnstone also talked about the testing backlog, how rapid test data is being use, and other questions around testing.