COVID-19 hospitalizations fall below 3,000, Ontario reports 32 deaths
Posted January 31, 2022 10:20 am.
Last Updated January 31, 2022 10:56 am.
Ontario is reporting 32 new COVID-19 deaths as hospitalizations dip below 3,000 for the first time in three weeks.
Health officials are reporting 2,983 people hospitalized due to the virus — down from 3,019 the previous day. Officials warn the number of hospitalizations is underreported on Monday’s as not all hospitals submit their data on the weekend.
Still the number of people with the virus in hospitals is down significantly from over 3,800 on Monday last week.
There are now 583 COVID patients in the ICU, down slightly 587 the day before. Of those patients, 347 are on ventilators. ICU admissions are down from 615 in the last week.
Source: @jkwan_md
Of the new deaths, the Ministry of Health says all but on occurred in the past 17 days and 14 occurred over the previous three days. Ontario has now reported more than 1,200 COVID-19 deaths since the start of the year.
According to ministry data, 56 per cent of people were admitted to hospital for the virus and 44 per cent were admitted for other reasons but have since tested positive for the virus. Of the ICU patients, 82 per cent were admitted for COVID-19 and 18 per cent tested positive in hospital.
Not including individuals with an unknown vaccination status, 44.4 per cent of ICU admissions and 25.9 per cent of hospitalizations are unvaccinated. This compared to 8.1 per cent of Ontarians 12 and older have not received a single dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
As of Monday, 91.9 per cent of Ontarians aged 12 and older have received at least one dose of the vaccine and 89.2 per cent have received two doses.
The province administered another 91,134 vaccinations in the last 24-hour period.
Source: @jkwan_md
Below is the number of new COVID-19 infections and tests in Ontario. Cases are likely much higher due to changes in testing strategy across the province. More information on these changes can be found here.
Health officials also reported 3,043 new cases but Public Health Ontario has said the number of infections is much higher due to changes to the province’s testing policy.
There were 15,008 tests completed in the last 24-hour period and a test positivity rate of 14.7 per cent for the second consecutive day.
The Ford government’s gradual reopening plan kicked off on Monday with indoor dining at restaurants and bars, gyms and cinemas reopening at 50 per cent capacity to fully vaccinated patrons.
Larger venues now have capacity limits of 50 per cent or 500 people — whichever is fewer. Limits on indoor gatherings have increased from five to 10 people, while outdoor gatherings go up from 10 to 25.
Businesses will also no longer be required to collect customer information for contact tracing, the province says this will allow them to focus their efforts on enforcing other public health measures that remain in place, such as masking.
During his briefing last week, Moore said it’s time for a balanced response to reopening and managing the virus in the province..
“We have to understand with Omicron that we can’t eliminate this threat, in fact, we have to learn to live with it,” said Moore while outlining the new public health measures that took effect Monday.
The province plans to ease COVID-19 measures further on Feb. 21, and further again on March 14. The province has been in a modified Step 2 of the reopening plan since Jan. 5.
