Provincial health officials say there are now 1,074 COVID-19 patients receiving treatment in Ontario hospitals, up from 1,091 on Tuesday, but up from 778 a week ago.
Intensive care imports fell to 168 today, from 173 on Tuesday but slightly higher than 165 last Wednesday.
The county says 46 percent of patients treated for COVID-19 were admitted because of the virus and 54 percent were admitted for other reasons. In the ICU, 70 percent of COVID-positive patients were admitted for the virus and 30 percent were admitted for other reasons.
Another 32 virus-related deaths were added to the total of the province, including 22 that occurred more than a month ago and 10 that occurred in the last 30 days. This brings the death toll in the province to 12,511.
Another 3,444 cases were confirmed today by provincial laboratories, but that number is still significantly underestimated due to restrictions on who is eligible for testing.
With 21,553 tests processed in the last 24 hours, officials report a positive rate of 18%, up from 15.1% last week.
Many experts have warned that the increase in transmission to the community marks the beginning of a new wave of pandemics.
Dr Michael Warner, medical director of intensive care at Michael Garron Hospital, urged the county chief medical officer to provide regular updates to the public on the ongoing situation and noted that there were “a few simple things” that could be done to minimize the impact of this last wave.
“In Ontario we are in a sixth wave. I do not know how bad this will be, but it happens. At the moment the government is pretending that it is not happening. The chief health doctor of the province is nowhere to be found. “I do not think the average person in the public is really sure what to do,” Warner said in a video posted on social media on Monday.
“There is no real data except for the sewage that is clearly rising but nothing is being done. There are really no gradual public health measures that can be considered reasonable. “Trials are hard to find and early cures are also hard to find.”
He urged the province to re-impose mask orders on key public spaces, including grocery stores and pharmacies.
“We also need access to early trials so that the early treatments that are available can really be delivered to people in a timely manner,” he said.
Starting this week, the province is administering second boosts to people aged 60 and over, along with selected other groups at higher risk of serious illness.
“The benefit of this fourth installment will probably not be as significant as the benefit of the third installment. “But there is probably some benefit to the data we have so far,” he told CP24 on Wednesday morning. Isaac Bogoch, infectious disease specialist at Toronto General Hospital.
“I think it is fair to say that a fourth dose will be beneficial for people who are at the highest risk of hospitalization. “NACI says that these are people over the age of 80 and of course people who are severely immunosuppressed or are in long-term care facilities and you can consider people a little younger than that.”
