Ontario to expand vaccine rollout to ages 50-plus in hot spots in Hamilton, Halton, Niagara

The Ontario government says some people 50and over in specific "hot spot" postal code areas including in Hamilton, Niagara, and Halton will soon be able to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

As it moves to Phase 2of its vaccination rollout, the province is expanding theage range in neighbourhoods identified as disproportionately impacted by COVID-19.

The postal codes are from 13 different public health units being prioritized.

The selected communities include:

• Hamilton: L8W and L9C, which areon the east and west Mountain.
• Niagara: L2G (Niagara Falls).
• Halton: L9E (Milton).

Phase 2is scheduled to run from April to the end of June.The expansion came on the same day Ontario dropped the eligible age for vaccines in Hamilton to 60 and older.

According to a slide deck provided by the province, vaccinations in hot spot communitiesare slated for April and May.

The province says thosevaccinated will include:

• Peopleaged 60 to 79 in five-year increments.
• In high-risk congregate settings.
• Individuals with high-risk chronic conditions and their caregivers.
• Individualswho can't work from home.
• At-risk populations.

Dr. Elizabeth Richardson said Ontario used hospitalizations and deaths over the course of the pandemic to make this decision.

Richardson noted this focused on older populations, which was more in line with Wave Two, and said public health is "negotiating with the province" on how hot spot areas associated with the third wave can be added.

She also said they've shared public health data on identified hot spots within the city with the province.

But while that was "good news," Richardson said the city was also in an "ongoing wake up call" of growing variants and patients in the ICUs. She said stricter measures are needed to stem the transmission of the virus and "gain control over the third wave of the pandemic."

"It's important that we see the reality of what is facing us as this spread continues," she said.

Hamilton

Two retirement homes and a high school are among the three new outbreaks in Hamilton.

The city says one staff member has tested positive at Dundurn Placeand one resident has tested positive at Kelly's Residence on Proctor Boulevard. The outbreak at St. Thomas More Catholic Secondary School includes two staff members.

There were 119 new cases of COVID-19 in Hamilton reported on Tuesday.

One more person has died, bringing the death toll to323. That person was in their 80s, according to data from the City of Hamilton.

There have been 13,503 cases in Hamilton since the start of the pandemic, of which 860 are active. More than89 per cent are resolved.

Richardson said 114,630 vaccines had been administered at the start of Tuesday, which is 19.3 per cent of the eligible population so far.

There are 48 active outbreaks in the city.The outbreak at a Stoney Creek Arby's, where two staff had tested positive,has been declared over.

St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton is caring for 28 patients with COVID-19and Hamilton Health Sciences is caring for 81.

Dr. Doug Sider with Hamilton Public Health said it's forecasted that the city will take three months to get down to the numbers needed to step into the"red-control zone" of the province's colour-coded framework.

He urged people to control the things they can to realize that an end is in sight.

"The more that we bear down, the more we do the things [we need to do] on a day-to-day basis, the more that we can make sure this curve...inflects downwards, perhaps more quickly than we anticipate," he said.

Brant

Brant has recorded 40 new cases in the past 24 hours. There are 155 active cases in the county,online data show.

There have been 1,941cases since March 2020and 14 deaths. Five people are currently hospitalized with COVID-19.

A total of 1,772cases have been marked as resolved.

There have been 28,850doses of the vaccine administered.

Haldimand-Norfolk

The counties of Haldimand and Norfolk have recorded1,702 cases throughout the pandemic. There are 106 active cases.

Thirty-nine deathsare considered COVID-relatedand 1,552people have recovered.

There have been 21,356doses of the vaccine administered.

Niagara

Niagara reported 73 new positive caseson Tuesday. The region has seen10,254cases over the pandemic, including 799 that are active and 9,079 resolved.

In total, 376people have died.

Twelve cases in the region have been identified as a variant of concern and 337 others have screened positive, but are pending confirmation.

There have been 88,809 doses of the vaccine administered in Niagara.

There are 31 ongoing outbreaks in region. Brock University says 31 students diagnosed with COVID-19 as part of an outbreak in its residenceshave since recovered, as of Monday. Fourteen cases remain active.

The university says 47 students in total are isolating in self-contained units in relation tothe outbreak.

Halton

The number of COVID-19 cases in Halton rose by 102 new ones,for a total of11,523so far.

Data indicate584 of those cases are active and 10,739are resolved.

Eighteen of the new cases were in Burlington, which has seen 2,856cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic. There are 113 active cases in the city.

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

There have been 82,111vaccine doses administered as of their most recent update last week.

Six Nations

Six Nations of the Grand Riverhas recorded seven active cases of COVID-19 as of Tuesday. There have been 443 total casesand 427 resolved. Nine people have died.

One person who tested positiveis in hospital. Six Nations wasin alert level orange of its colour-coded framework.