As of Thursday, November 12, there had been a total of 19 deaths in connection with the COVID-19 outbreak at the Prescott and Russell Residence in Hawkesbury. The most recent round of testing at the long-term care facility earlier in the week discovered five new positive cases among residents and three new positive cases among staff members, according to Eastern Ontario Health Unit (EOHU) Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Paul Roumeliotis.
There have been 159 cumulative cases of COVID-19 resulting from the Residence outbreak, which began on October 9. Out of that amount, 97 of the cases were in residents and 62 were among staff members. As of November 12, 66 resident cases were resolved, and 55 employee cases were resolved.
Roumeliotis explained that out of the 19 deaths during the outbreak, 12 were directly as a result of COVID-19 and seven were connected with the outbreak, but not directly resulting from it. Roumeliotis said that the Ontario Ministry of Health is updating the definitions and criteria for what qualifies as a COVID-19 death, and more details are expected from the ministry about those changes.
COVID-19 outbreaks under EOHU jurisdiction also remained in effect on November 12 at Lancaster Long Term Care and the Open Hands group home in Cornwall.
Unattractive modelling
On November 12, the provincial Ministry of Health released new models projecting that if current social behaviour continues, there could be 3,000 to 5,000 new cases of COVID-19 across the province of Ontario each day, leading to over-burdening of hospitals and their intensive care units. Roumeliotis said that if this is to be avoided, there is one easy solution.
“Please stay home, only go out when necessary.”
As of Thursday, the United Counties of Prescott and Russell, the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas, and Glengarry, and the City of Cornwall remain a yellow Protect zone under Ontario’s COVID-19 measures.
Local statistics
There were 170 active cases of COVID-19 across the jurisdiction of the EOHU as of November 12, out of 745 cumulative cases since the pandemic began in March.
Six patients from the EOHU’s jurisdiction remained in hospital due to COVID-19 as of November 12. No patients were in intensive care.
On Thursday, Roumeliotis acknowledged that there had recently been some shifts in COVID-19 case numbers between EOHU municipalities. He explained that cases were reclassified due to them being in different municipalities than they were originally attributed to, and that efforts were made to ensure proper numbers were reflected for the entire territory.
“Our numbers are beginning to stabilize,” said Roumeliotis on Thursday.
He explained that the curve of new cases under EOHU jurisdiction was beginning to level and the local positivity rate as of November 12 was 1.3 per cent among tests recently taken. The rate had been more than two per cent in recent weeks.
As of November 12, 78,033 COVID-19 tests had been performed at the EOHU’s six testing facilities and by paramedics.
Schools and childcare facilities
According to the Government of Ontario list, there were active cases of COVID-19 at the following schools under EOHU jurisdiction on Thursday, November 12. Two or more cases per school is considered an official outbreak.
One student at École élémentaire catholique Saint-Viateur in La Nation
One staff member at École secondaire catholique l’Éscale in Clarence-Rockland
One student at École élémentaire publique Rose des Vents in Cornwall
Three students at École secondaire publique l’Héritage in Cornwall
One student at Bridgewood Public School in Cornwall
One student at Cornwall Collegiate and Vocational School
Two students and one staff member at Eamer’s Corners Public School in Cornwall
One student at St. Lawrence Secondary School in Cornwall
The Government of Ontario list reported active cases of COVID-19 at the following childcare facilities under EOHU jurisdiction on Thursday, November 12. Two or more cases per childcare facility is considered an official outbreak.
One child at A Child’s Secret Garden Daycare in Cornwall
One employee at The Learning Centre-Longue Sault in Long Sault
Two children at Tiny Hoppers Rockland
Across Ontario
There were 14,564 active cases of COVID-19 across Ontario as of November 11, out of a cumulative 89,784 cases, according to the Ministry of Health. There were 1,575, or 1.8 per cent more active cases on November 11 than on November 10.
The Ministry reported that 75,220 or 83.8 per cent of cumulative cases were resolved as of November 11.
There were 431 COVID-19 patients in hospital across Ontario as of November 11. Out of those 431 patients, 98 were in intensive care, and 62 patients were on ventilators.
There had been 3,293 deaths due to COVID-19 across Ontario as of November 11, composing 3.7 per cent of all cumulative cases.
Active COVID-19 cases by EOHU municipality and First Nation, Thursday, November 12, 2020.
Map: Eastern Ontario Health Unit.
