There are currently 1,366 patients with the virus in hospitals across the province, up from 1,091 a week ago, according to the health ministry. Today marks the highest number of hospitalizations since February 16, when 1,403 people received care.
Forty-five percent of hospitalized patients were admitted to the hospital for COVID-19-related reasons, and 55 percent were admitted for other reasons, but were also found to be positive for the virus, according to the ministry.
Of the last hospitals, 190 are being treated in the intensive care unit, compared to 173 this time a week ago. On Monday, the Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Kieran Moore said he expects the number of people in the ICU with COVID-19 to continue to rise and could eventually reach 600 at the peak of this wave. The ministry says 64 percent of ICU patients were admitted for COVID-19 and 36 percent were admitted for other reasons and then tested positive for the virus.
Another five deaths last month were added to the COVID-19 county death toll today.
The ministry says one death has been deducted from all deaths, resulting in 12,570 virus-related deaths as of March 2020.
Ontario laboratories tested nearly 14,200 coronavirus tests in the last 24 hours, with a positive rate of 18.7%, compared with 18 percent a week ago.
The ministry confirmed 2,300 more cases today, but health officials say this is still underestimated due to limited testing.
Last week, the head of Ontario’s COVID-19 Scientific Advisory Board said there are more than 100,000 new cases daily based on sewage monitoring tests.
Among the most recent cases reported today, 1,321 of the subjects received three doses of COVID-19 vaccine, 525 received two doses, 326 were not fully vaccinated and 128 had an unknown vaccination status.
To date, 90 percent of Ontario residents aged five and over have received one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, 86 percent have received two doses, and 51 percent have received three doses.
Yesterday, Moore said he has no plans to reinstate the mandatory mask indoors, but strongly recommends wearing face masks amid a sixth wave of the pandemic.
“While we are not going to restore a broad mask order right now, we should all be prepared that we may need to reiterate the requirement to use a mask indoors if a new variation of concern arises if there is a threat to our healthcare system. “During the winter months, when COVID-19 and other respiratory viruses are likely to re-emerge,” he told reporters.
Infectious disease specialist Dr. Isaac Bogoch said the mask order had been lifted too early and that people should continue to wear their masks indoors.
“Precisely because there is no legal obligation to wear a mask, you should wear a mask and we have heard it from the top. I do not know if this will be enough to change the behavior of many people. We certainly know that the mask helps. “It’s not perfect, but it helps,” he told CP24 on Tuesday morning.
The government removes the mandatory mask in most indoor areas by March 21, but the masks are still required in some high-risk facilities, including hospitals, long-term care homes, and transportation, at least until April 27.
The numbers used in this story are in the Ontario Department of Health’s Daily Epidemiological Summary COVID-19. The number of cases for any city or region may differ slightly from that reported by the province, as local units report data at different times.
