Hamilton sees 113 new COVID-19 cases as province pulls 'emergency brake'

One new death and 113 new cases were reported in Hamilton on Thursday as the provincial government announced it was pulling the 'emergency brake' across Ontario. 

The plan, which does not include a stay-at-home order, comes into effect on Saturday and will be in place for four weeks. 

On Monday, Hamilton was sent back to the "grey-lockdown" zone in the province's colour-coded framework. While the 'emergency brake' being imposed on the province has similar restrictions to that, there are some changes. 

Restaurants aren't able to have indoor or outdoor dining —  take out, delivery, and drive thrus are allowed. Personal care services, which would have been permitted to open in grey as of April 12, will also remain closed.  

Indoor organized public events and social gatherings aren't allowed, and outdoor gatherings are limited to five people. There are exceptions if you live in the same household or live alone. 

The city has seen 12,967 cases since the start of the pandemic. Of these, 857 are active and 316 people have died. The most recent death was someone in their 70s, according to data from the City of Hamilton. 

Premier calls it a 'desperate race' against the virus

Paul Johnson, director of the city's emergency operations centre, said the City of Hamilton has previously called for a more regional approach to addressing the spread of the virus. He said there was concern about people whose communities are in lockdown simply heading next-door to a red zone. 

"At least there's a level playing field here," Johnson said, but added he couldn't imagine what businesses were going through.

In a media briefing on Thursday, Premier Doug Ford said that younger people are more frequently ending up in hospital with the virus. He said the new variants have resulted in a risk of ICU admission that is two times higher, and risk of death that is 1.5 times higher than before. 

He said Ontario was in a "desperate race" with an "extremely fast-moving" virus. 

"We've never had more Ontarians in intensive care than we do today," he said. 

But Ontario NDP Leader and MPP for Hamilton Andrea Horwath said the move didn't include measures that would make a difference, like paid sick days for essential workers. She said the response is "too little, too late."

"This is the same failed approach that led to the variants of concern taking off the way they have, and these are the very things that the government — Ford — was warned about back in February," she said. 

At the time of publishing, St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton (SJHH) was caring for 26 COVID-19 patients and Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) was caring for 70 patients with the virus. 

The pressure to hospital systems, Johnson said, is a compelling reason to take further measures. Along with an increase in COVID-19 patients, he said, are outbreaks in hospitals that put strains on available beds for other patients.

He said SJHH CEO Melissa Farrell and HHS CEO Rob MacIsaac have been concerned over the past weeks about the severity of illness. There's a "delicate balance," he said, to make sure hospitals can do their work. 

"This is about protecting the ability of our healthcare system to respond to all of the things we need in our community, not just COVID-19," he said, noting hospitals don't want to cancel or postpone surgeries or delay people's treatments. 

"This isn't just about picking away at various activities in our community. It's really trying to find out how we can have a community where the health resources that we want to have there for everybody can be there...or else we will find that there are many, many other negative impacts later on."

Hamilton outbreaks

There are 46 outbreaks in Hamilton. The new ones include Carrington Place Retirement Home, Providence Canadian Reformed Church, and St. Thérèse de Lisieux Catholic Elementary School. 

The outbreak at Salvation Army Shelter has been declared as over, with a total of 63 people infected. 

But other outbreaks continue to grow. The one at Mission Services, located at 325 James St. N., has increased to 12 people. Eleven of those are residents and one is a staff member. 

The outbreak at a construction site at 2126 Rymal Road E. now includes 17 people, and the outbreak at Connon Nurseries in Waterdown includes 18 staff.

The workplace outbreaks of Jayne Industries Inc. and Paddock Transportation have also grown. 

Outbreaks that had one more person test positive include HHS Juravinski Hospital Unit F5, Abington Court Retirement Residence, Beth Tikvah Group Home, and Mission Services shelter overflow location. 

A pair of school outbreaks also grew by one case, including Dr. J.E. Davey Elementary School and École élémentaire Pavillon de la jeunesse. 

Two more staff at the St. Joseph's Villa outbreak have the virus. 

Brant

Brant has recorded 24 new cases in the past 24 hours. There are 102 active cases in the county, according to data online. 

There have been 1,823 cases since March 2020 and 14 deaths. Two people are currently hospitalized with COVID-19.

A total of 1,707 cases have been marked as resolved.

There have been 27,308 doses of the vaccine administered. 

Haldimand-Norfolk

The counties of Haldimand and Norfolk have recorded 1,655 cases throughout the pandemic. There are 87 active cases.

There have been 39 deaths that are considered COVID-related, and 1,524 people who have recovered. 

There have been 19,967 doses of the vaccine administered. 

Niagara

Niagara reported 104 new cases of the virus on Thursday. The region has seen 9,788 cases over the course of the pandemic, including 611 that are active and 8,801 that are resolved.

There have been 376 people who have died. 

Twelve cases in the region have been identified as a variant of concern — B117, which originated in the U.K. There are 294 others that screen positive, but are pending confirmation.  

There have been 75,576 doses of the vaccine administered in Niagara.  

The latest number of cases for students who tested positive as part of the Brock University outbreak is 30. That number has fluctuated over the week. 

Including the 30 students who are now reported to have the virus, the university said a total of 64 students are currently isolating in self-contained units. 

Halton

The number of COVID-19 cases in Halton rose by 77 on Thursday for a total of 11,058 so far.

Data indicates 473 of those cases are active and 10,385 are resolved.

Fourteen of the new cases were in Burlington, which has seen 2,772 cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic. There are 108 active cases in the city. 

There have been 200 deaths in the region, of which 49 were in Burlington. 

There have been 82,111 vaccine doses administered as of Wednesday.

Six Nations

Six Nations of the Grand River has recorded 6 active cases of COVID-19 as of Wednesday. There have been 440 total cases, and 425 are resolved. Nine people have died. 

One person with the virus are in hospital. Six Nations was in alert level orange of its colour-coded framework.