30 new COVID-19 cases, 1 death reported in Waterloo region on Tuesday
Community now has 5 cases of omicron variant confirmed by public health
There were 30 new cases of COVID-19 and one death reported in Waterloo region on Tuesday.
The latest death of a man in his 80s brought the total number of COVID-related deaths in the region since March 2020 to 310.
Waterloo Region Public Health also confirmed there are now five local cases of the omicron variant.
There were 430 active cases in the region.
There were 14 people in the region's three hospitals who are infectious with the virus and there were four people in the intensive care unit (ICU). The region notes people in the ICU may no longer be infectious with COVID-19 but do require ongoing care.
Meanwhile, Ontario reported 1,429 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, as a leading member of the province's science advisory table estimated that omicron is likely to become the dominant variant at some point Tuesday or Wednesday.
15 active outbreaks
There were 15 outbreaks in the region, two linked to hockey teams in the region:
- 20 cases are connected to the Cambridge Roadrunners Girls Hockey Association.
- 13 cases are connected to the Hespeler Minor Hockey Association.
There were seven outbreaks in schools:
- Southridge Public School in Kitchener with 16 cases over multiple cohorts. The school is closed to in-person learning and is not expected to reopen until 2022.
- St. Vincent De Paul Catholic Elementary School in Cambridge with nine cases over multiple cohorts.
- Sir Adam Beck Public School in Baden with seven cases over multiple cohorts.
- Saint John Paul II Catholic Elementary School in Kitchener with five cases.
- Glencairn Public School in Kitchener with three cases.
- St. Teresa of Avila Catholic Elementary School in Elmira with two cases.
- St. Louis Adult Learning and Continuing Education in Kitchener with two cases.
The other outbreaks were:
- Two in offices: One with three cases, one with two cases.
- An automobile sales and service workplace with four cases.
- A construction workplace with four cases.
- A retail store with four cases.
- Lanark Heights long-term care home with two cases: One in a staff member and one "non-staff" case.
The region's vaccination dashboard showed 75.52 per cent of all people in the community have two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.
The dashboard does not give the total percentage of people with a third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, but does indicate the percentage per age group. For example, 42.89 per cent of people aged 80 and older have received a third dose.
