Niagara Region sees a large spike in COVID cases over the weekend

Niagara Region reported a new record high on COVID-19 cases over the weekend with 218 cases.

There were 126 cases on Saturday and 92 on Sunday, both surpassing the previous highest daily case count of 71 cases seen on Dec. 13. The new record highs over the weekend come after case numbers came in at above 40 every day last week except for Monday.

Niagara reported 82 cases today as the region entered the red tier of the COVID repsonse framework.

Meanwhile, Ontario reported 2,123 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, bringing the seven-day average to 2,276. Premier Doug Ford is expected to speak at 1 p.m. Monday about a province-wide lockdown that starts Christmas Eve. (See story.)

There were 4,673 new cases in Ontario over the weekend with 2,357 new cases reported on Saturday and 2,316 new cases reported on Sunday.

“Ontario is reporting 2,123 cases of #COVID19 and over 54,500 tests completed. Locally, there are 611 new cases in Toronto, 480 in Peel, 192 in York Region and 138 in Windsor-Essex County,” said Christine Elliott, Deputy Premier of Ontario and Minister of Health, on Twitter Monday morning.

Public health units in Ontario also reporting higher case numbers including Waterloo with 94 new cases, Halton Region with 92 cases, Durham Region with 91 new cases, London with 64, Simcoe-and Muskoka with 61. Other public health units reported 50 cases or less.

There were 27 new deaths reported on Saturday in the province and 25 deaths reported on Sunday. There were 17 new deaths reported today. There have been 4,167 COVID-19 deaths in Ontario to date.

There were no new deaths reported over the weekend and three new deaths today in the Niagara Region. In total, 99 people have died from the coronavirus in the region.

915 cases in Ontario hospitals

Ontario has now had 158,053 total cases, with 134,867 cases resolved. There are currently 915 cases in hospitals, with 265 in intensive care and 152 on ventilators.

Hospitalized cases increased by 38, the number of those in intensive care increased by four and patients on ventilators decreased by 16 since yesterday.

The total number of confirmed cases in the Niagara Region as of Sunday is now at 3,121 with 2,371 resolved. Of those cases, there are 651 active cases, increasing by 209 since Friday and 20 active outbreaks, same as Friday.

West Niagara COVID-19 active cases

Note: Population numbers in brackets are Niagara Info’ estimates against growth over 2016 census numbers.

Grimsby 5.8 per 10,000 people (population: 28,500 = 17 cases)
Lincoln 6.1 per 10,000 people (population: 24,500 = 15 cases)
Pelham 4.4 per 10,000 people (population: 17,500 = 8 cases)
Wainfleet 0 per 10,000 people (population: 6,500 = 0 cases)
West Lincoln 7 per 10,000 people (population: 14,500 = 10 cases)

Additional Niagara Region active COVID-19 cases

Fort Erie 8.8 per 10,000 people (population: ~33,000 = 29 cases)
Niagara Falls 38 per 10,000 people (population: ~90,000 = 342 cases)
NOTL 6.4 per 10,000 people (population: ~18,000 = 12 cases)
Port Colborne 4.4 per 10,000 people (population: ~19,000 = 8 cases)
St. Catharines 4.2 per 10,000 people (population: ~133,000 = 56 cases)
Thorold 6.9 per 10,000 people (population: ~20,000 = 14 cases)
Welland 4.9 per 10,000 people (population: ~55,000 = 27 cases)

Learn More:

COVID cases in Niagara schools
Niagara Region’s COVID-19 stats
Ontario’s COVID-19 stats
Federal government’s COVID-19 tracker app