104 new COVID-19 cases reported in Waterloo region since Friday
Cluster cases seen where 'precautions have been relaxed or are absent,' says Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang
Waterloo region saw an increase of 104 COVID-19 cases over the weekend, public health reports.
Broken down by days there were:
- 27 cases reported on Saturday.
- 38 cases reported on Sunday.
- 39 cases reported on Monday.
Two additional cases are also reported on the region's dashboard that were moved over from another public health unit and were from dates before the weekend. It brought the total number of new cases reported on Monday to 106.
There were no new COVID-19 deaths reported.
The number of active cases rose to 183 on Monday.
There were nine outbreaks in the region:
- Chartwell Terrace on the Square retirement home where there were three cases in staff members.
- Four outbreaks in schools with two cases at each school.
- One at an agriculture sales workplace with four cases.
- One at a construction workplace with three cases.
- One at a place of worship with two cases.
- One at a retail store with two cases.
Public health officials said in a news release there have been clusters of cases linked to households or social events in private settings that are contributing to the increase of cases.
Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang, the region's medical officer of health, said in a release that it's not unexpected to see case rates rise as restrictions are lifted and people spend more time indoors.
"It is however a reminder that the delta variant will spread rapidly when given the chance, and that getting vaccinated and continuing to practice public health precautions in our interactions with others is of prime importance," Wang said in the news release.
"Through our case and contact investigations we are seeing clusters of cases amongst households, as well as from social events in private settings where precautions have been relaxed or are absent."
Cluster cases spreading to vaccinated people
On Friday during a media briefing, associate medical officer Dr. Julie Emili said those cluster cases are leading to cases in vaccinated people, or "breakthrough cases."
"That's why we want to push the vaccine rate up as much as possible because it tends to limit spread even when you have some spread. And obviously, it limits the number of people that end up in hospital or really sick and and more severe outcomes," Emili said.
The region's vaccination dashboard shows 76.02 per cent of the entire population of Waterloo region have both doses of the vaccine. Children aged 11 and under are not yet eligible for the vaccine.
The region said an estimated 126,000 residents in Waterloo region are not yet immunized or are not yet eligible to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
"In the absence of public health precautions, these individuals remain vulnerable to COVID-19," the region's news release said.