Ontario exceeds 400 COVID patients in ICU, just under 2,500 hospitalized

Ontario is reporting yet another increase in COVID-19 patients in intensive care, with just over 400 admitted in the last 24 hours.

Hospitalizations in the province are now at 2,419 with 412 individuals in the ICU – up 80 per cent compared to one week ago. The seven-day rolling average of COVID-19 related patients in the ICU is 322.

Ontario recorded 11,959 new cases on Sunday and 21 additional deaths with a positivity rate of 27.7 per cent.

It’s the first time provincial ICU cases involving COVID-19 cases have surpassed 400 since June 14 of last year.

There are currently 123 unvaccinated patients in the ICU, and 137 are fully vaccinated. Eighteen are partially vaccinated.

There are 457 unvaccinated people hospitalized with the virus, and 1,353 are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. The province says 115 partially vaccinated patients are in hospital.

Ontario reported 13,362 new COVID-19 cases Saturday, but health officials say testing limitations are likely preventing many cases from being counted.

Dr. Bob Bell, former CEO of the University Health Network and Ontario deputy health minister from 2014 to 2018, says Canada is in good company when it comes to seeing its health-care system tested by COVID-19.

Bell says every Western country dealing with Omicron has a strained hospital system right now, but Canada has a lower tolerance for measures like death than places like the United States so will pursue lockdowns and restrictions sooner.

Bell warns that stressed hospitals can also be a symptom of inadequate “upstream” care like access to family doctors, home care and community care.

“The hospital is the canary in the coal mine in many ways for health system challenges,” he said.

The Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health are working to make more rapid-antigen tests available for child-care centres and schools when they return to in-person learning, a move currently scheduled for Jan. 17.

The province initially targetted a Jan. 5 date for the return to school before shifting to virtual learning for the first two weeks of the new year as the province deals with an Omicron-fuelled surge in COVID-19 activity.

Yesterday, Federal Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair said members of the Canadian Armed Forces had arrived in Bearskin Lake, a First Nation in northern Ontario gripped by an outbreak of COVID-19 that has seen more than half the population infected.

The northern Ontario First Nation requested urgent assistance from the military after half of the population of about 400 people tested positive for COVID-19.

Leaders there said boots on the ground were desperately needed to help distribute essential supplies such as food, water and wood for stoves to keep residents warm in freezing temperatures.

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With files from The Canadian Press