Hamilton's weekly average of COVID-19 cases is 7 times higher than where it needs to be: official

Hamilton's seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases is more than seven times higher than where the city's medical officer of health wants it to be.

As of Thursday morning, the average is183 new cases, according to city data.And when looking at the cases per 100,000 people, which is the way public health previously shared the data, the average is 214.

Dr. Elizabeth Richardson has previously said she would ideally like to see the city's weekly average of new cases sit at 25 or lower.

"That's where we really want to be, back in that green zone and continuing to go down," Dr. Elizabeth Richardsonsaid in an interview on Jan. 27 before COVID-19 variants became the majority of new infections.

Hamilton is reporting 128new daily cases of COVID-19 and one more death. That number comes on the heels of a record-setting day on Wednesday.

The city now has a total of 1,645 active cases and151 people in hospital with the virus.

Hamilton's per cent positivity rate is 7.7 per cent. To put that into context, at three per cent, public health can no longer keep up with full contact tracing.

The city's reproductive rate is at 1.28, which means the overall number of new cases in the region is growing.

There have been 15,986 total cases since the pandemic started.

Public health says 350 people who had COVID-19 have died and 85.1 per cent of cases have been marked as resolved.

6 new outbreaks, 2 with variants of concern

There are six new COVID-19 outbreaks according to the city website, including:

• ArcelorMittal Dofasco'sTube Slitter Line with three staff cases (variant of concern was detected).
• Blackadar Continuing Care with two staff cases.
• Blessings Christian Church with six patron cases.
• Dundas Central Elementary School with two staff cases.
• Flynn Canada Ltd. with two staff cases.
• National Steel Car on600 Kenilworth Ave N. with five staff cases(variant of concern was detected).

2 Shopper's Drug Mart employees test positive

Two staff members at the Shoppers Drug Mart on 2110 Rymal Road East have tested positive according to Loblaw.

The company says the last day the team members worked was on April 10 and April 13.

It hasn't been listed as an outbreak on the public health website as of Thursday afternoon.

28.4% of eligible people vaccinated

The city says it has administered160,443 doses of vaccine, which is28.4per cent of those who can get immunized.

Some of the populations with the lowest rates of vaccination include adults receiving chronic home care at eight per cent, adults aged 55 to 59-years-old, and essential caregivers in long-term care and retirement homes at 24 per cent.

The city also recently said it would open up vaccine clinics exclusively forpeople of colour.

Brant

Brantford General Hospital has a COVID-19 outbreak in its B7 Medical Inpatient Unit after two patients and a health-care worker tested positive.

There won't be any more patients or visitors allowed into the unit and the hospital has put safety precautions in place to avoid further spread.

The Brant County Health Unit also declared an outbreak at the Liv Communities sales office located at 1028 Rest Acres Rd. in Paris.

The health unit says three staff members have the virus and adds anyone who visited the officer between April 12-15 can contact public health if they are concerned they may have been exposed.

The office voluntarily closed.

The county of Brant and Brantford are reporting 30 new cases.

Brant currently has 284 active cases and 11 people are in hospital.

The latest update puts the county's overall confirmed case count at 2,473. Fifteen people have died.

There have been 48,718 vaccine doses administered so far in the county.

Haldimand-Norfolk

Health officials in Haldimand-Norfolk reported 22 new cases of COVID-19 and one new death on Thursday.

The issued a release confirming COVID-19 killed aresident who wasliving in the community prior to their passing.

The counties currently have a total of 291 active cases and there have been 2,090 infections since March 2020.

Forty-one deaths have been linked to the virus.

Parkview Meadows Christian Retirement Village has an outbreak with two infected staff members.

There have been 32,959 immunizations.

Halton

Another 133 people in Halton are known to have COVID-19 on Tuesday, fora total of 13,823 casessince the start of the pandemic. Overall, 207people have died and 12,643are marked as resolved.

Of Halton's total cases, 2,590have been a COVID-19 variant.

As for Burlington, 54 more people are known to have COVID-19, for a total of 269 active cases. Since last March, 3,378 people have tested positive for the virus (464were variants), of which 3,057 cases are resolved and 52have died.

A worker at Daniel'sNo Frills at 571 Brant Street has the virus, according to Loblaw.

It says the last day the team member worked was on April 18.

Niagara

There are 208 new coronavirus cases in the Niagara Region. One more person has also died, for a total of 386 deaths.

The region has now recorded a total of 12,676 cases of COVID-19 and 2,179 of those are active.

Niagara public health has so far administered 147,636 vaccination doses, which accounts for 28 percent of the regional population. Niagara Health has administered 75,502 doses.

Six Nations

Six Nations of the Grand Riverhas recorded 21 active cases of COVID-19.There have been 469total cases and 438 are resolved. Ten people have died.

There have been 11B117 cases, and seven more cases that screened positive as avariantof concern require confirmation.

Six Nations is in alert level black of its colour-coded framework.